"I didn't mean that. I meant that the way I feel about you scares me."

"Does it make you happy as well, though? Does it conjure up pictures of a house in the country and two point four kids?"

"Three point four, actually."

"Be brave, then; face up to the prospect of life with me. Think how brave I'm being; I'm taking a chance on a guy who slept with someone else on his honeymoon."

"Yeah, but it was you I slept with."

"So?"

I left her smiling and went off to dish up the pizza; I cut it into segments and laid them on a kitchen tray, then I picked up the champagne and carried the lot through.

"Rhona Waitrose hasn't changed," Susie said, when I got back.

I was taken by surprise. "You know her?"

"Before she got mildly famous, she used to sing with a band in Glasgow.

They played at a club I used to go to, when I was fancy free. She practically screwed the guitarist on stage, and they said that off stage she screwed the whole bloody band.

"You tell her from me that if she comes near you again, I will fix her, big time."

"I think she may have worked that out," I said, 'but I'll tell her, discreetly'

"You do that. The other slut, Alison; she's the one in whose business I was going to be daft enough to invest, is she?"

"That's her. She doesn't need our help any more though." I told her about Ewan Capperauld's unexpected Galahad act.

"Very noble," she murmured. "What's he like, the great man?"

"Takes a bit of getting to know, but he's all right once the ice is broken." I told her about his run-in with Miles.

She whistled. "Silly man, then; your friend Mr. Grayson is definitely not someone I would cross. There's something lethal behind that smile." She frowned. "He's a bit like you in that respect." I didn't know whether that was a compliment or not, but eventually I decided that coming from Susie, it probably was.

We finished the pizza, and Bolly, then went back to bed; I set the alarm for six-forty-five and we made love until we fell asleep.

When Darren Adam woke me next morning on Radio Forth, Susie was up and in the shower. I decided that I liked that; it felt like home. But maybe I also liked, just a wee bit, the fact that she was going back to Glasgow and leaving me to my own life .. . hell, I didn't know.

She was ready for the road by quarter to eight, having called Ethel to make sure that the baby was okay. "When will I see you again?" she asked, as we stood waiting for the lift.

"The first chance I get," I promised, and I meant it. Listening to Susie talk to the nanny made me realise how much I wanted to see my daughter again too. "I'll see how today goes; if it works out, maybe I'll be able to come through tonight.

"Not tomorrow night, though; the fun starts on Sunday morning, very early."

She smiled. "Sometime, I'd like to come through and watch you work.

Would that be okay? Could you fix it with Miles?"

"Yes, I reckon I could. Once I see the schedule, we'll set something up." The lift arrived; I put a foot in the door, to hold it.

Her eyes narrowed, as a thought crossed her mind. "Here," she muttered, 'that Rhona Waitrose. Do you and she get to .. .? You know what I mean."

"We've got a clinch later on; nothing horizontal, though, and we both get to keep our kit on."

"Hmmph!" Susie grunted. "That'll be a change for her."

She patted my chest. "Right, I'm off. Before I go, though, I'll make you a promise. No more surprises; thinking about it, I suppose I was taking a lot for granted."

"No," I said. "I loved your being here .. . eventually."

She patted my groin. "Sorry about the kick in the balls. It didn't do any lasting damage, though; in fact.. ."

I stopped her with a kiss, and pushed her into the lift.

Ewan Capperauld arrived ten minutes later, shaved, scrubbed and still wearing that black leather coat. I gave him coffee, and offered him toast; he declined, in favour of the last wedge of cold pizza, which he spotted on the work surface. I was getting to like the man more by the day.

He was halfway through it when the buzzer sounded again. "Package for you," said Ricky Ross.

"Bring her up, then."

"No, I'll put her in the lift," he said, tersely. "It's a bit early for me to be mopping up blood."

I was waiting when Alison arrived, wearing the clothes she had picked out the night before. "You'd better not be mad at me," I warned her.

She smiled. "I'm not; I just told Ricky I was."

"You went to his place then?"

"I asked that Mandy girl to take me there. She phoned him first and he said it was okay. What an action woman she is, by the way... although nothing compared to your girlfriend. Did you calm her down?"

"Eventually, no thanks to you and that other one."

"Yes," Alison exclaimed. "What a brazen cow she is!"

"Jesus!" I gave up and ushered her into the apartment. Ewan was still in the kitchen, demolishing the last of the pizza. I introduced Alison, who switched into business mode straight away. She handled it just right, I thought, letting him realise that she knew how important he was, but that she was not about to be overawed.

I went off to shower and shave; I took my time over it, leaving them alone for as long as I could.

When I got back, their deal appeared to be done, for they were shaking hands. Ewan looked at me as I came back into the room. "What do you think the chances are of the judge going easy?" he asked me, dropping into his Skinner accent.

"Pretty good. The Crown Office is making all the right noises.

Alison's lawyer's pretty confident that they won't press for a jail sentence. Your involvement will probably help too, if you're happy to have it mentioned in court, that is."

He shrugged. "No problem." He glanced back at Alison. "Who is your lawyer, by the way?"

"His name is Charles Badenoch."

Ewan laughed, suddenly. "What a fucking village this is," he exclaimed. "I was at Heriot's with Charlie. He was the classroom lawyer, even then. He used to defend guys who were accused of misdemeanours by the prefects. He got a few off, too, until he became a prefect himself, then he switched to the prosecution side."

He glanced at his watch, then pushed himself up from the dining table, at which they had been sitting. "Come on, Oz," he said. "Glen Oliver, my minder, is waiting downstairs in the car; we'll give you a lift to the Assembly Rooms, after we've dropped Alison at her office.