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storm ; out in a fit of prim, Victorian disgust? She didn't much feel I like doing that and, besides, how could she when Mally
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    and the boys were already on their way? So did she just sit there and wait for them to finish? It was going to feel pretty weird trying to get on with her work while Declan was upstairs getting laid by a long-distance runner. She guessed she just had to hope he wasn't a long-distance lover.
    Walking over to the kitchen, she put more coffee in the percolator, then turned to watch the rain sliding down the windows. It was hard to believe that the man who made love to her so tenderly and boisterously and so damned regularly was upstairs now playing the woman for another man. She felt herself starting to turn hot, then slightly dizzy with the fear of what it really meant. It was as if the past two days had descended on her world with all the vengeance of Nemesis, tearing out the roots of her career and shattering all the trust and belief she had had in Declan. And as the images of what they might be doing to each other began to flash hideously through her mind she knew that she was never going to be able to bring herself to make love with him again after this. The betrayal was absolute and irrevocable. The hurt and the shame was unforgivable.
    Suddenly she was shaking with fury. The bastard! How could he spring this on her now when he knew how vulnerable she was feeling about her job and knew too that since her mother had died and Sammy had gone off travelling he was the only person she felt close to, the only one she ever turned to in times of need. This was one of those times and what was he doing? He was up there literally getting his ass screwed off by another man, while she was down here feeling like a superannuated idiot who didn't know whether to put the kettle on or tie the bastard's balls to his ankles with a short string.
    The bucket was already under the tap, water cascading into it, as she fumed with a deadly mix of resentment, devastated pride and fury. Hiking the bucket out of the sink she marched up the stairs. As she 30
    turned into the studio the light blinded her for an instant; then, seeing them writhing about on the cushions like a negative trying to get processed she dumped the entire contents of the bucket over them, before snatching up a tube of black paint and squirting it all over Richmond's portrait.
    "What the fuck... ?"
    Richmond protested as she started to walk out of the studio.
    "Be-Jesus, she's angry!"
    Declan muttered, using the back of his hand to wipe the water from his face.
    "Penny! Penny, get back here."
    Penny swung round.
    "Oh, I'm not angry, Declan,"
    she seethed.
    "Why should I be angry that you want to play Polo mints with Mr Bassett, here?"
    "She calling me a liquorice allsort?"
    Richmond grunted.
    At any other time Penny might have laughed. As it was, she was too hurt and angry to respond. The only thing that brought her a moment of relief was the sight, from the corner of her eye, of a discarded condom wrapper.
    "I don't know whether you've just lost your virginity, Declan,"
    she said scathingly.
    "If you have, I hope it hurt like hell. But if you've done this before then I'm making you a promise here and now: if there's the slightest hint of any virus whatsoever in my blood when I go to get it tested, I'll be back here to cut off your dick and shove it so far down your throat you'll be wearing your balls as earrings. Have you got that? Are you receiving me?"
    "But Penny, m'darling, you got this all wrong,"
    he said, smothering his slackening genitals with his hand. To be sure, you got this all wrong. I thought this was what you wanted, so I did. You said you wanted two men ..."
    That was fantasy, Declan,"
    she shouted.
    "Don't you know the god-damned difference? And if it was what I wanted, it was supposed to be me who had the other man, not you\'
    Declan grimaced.
    "Well, to be sure, I can see there's
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    been some confusion here/ he said.
    "But I love