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Veronica goes over to him, kneels down and looks up at his face with a smile.

‘Have you been introduced to Marie?’ she asks. ‘She’s David’s friend … I think.’

Reidar raises his glass towards the red-haired woman, then takes a big gulp. Veronica takes the glass from him, tastes the wine, and sits down.

She pushes her shoes off, leans back and rests her bare feet in his lap.

Gently he caresses her calf, the bruise from the new stirrup leather of her saddle, then up the inside of her thigh towards her groin. She lets it happen, not bothered by the fact that Marie is still in the room.

The flames are rising high in the huge fireplace. The heat is pulsating and her face feels so hot it’s almost burning.

Marie comes cautiously closer. Reidar looks at her. Her red hair has started to curl in the heat of the room. Her leopard-skin dress is creased and stained.

‘An admirer,’ Veronica says, holding the glass away from Reidar when he tries to reach it.

‘I love your books,’ Marie says.

‘Which books?’ he asks brusquely.