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She thought that he spoke it like a word he was unfamiliar with. "Yes, us."

He smiled, but Vivian thought that it was a cool smile, even though he touched the tip of her nose with his lips.

"I know that we’ve been having a relationship and that it’s a very agreeable relationship."

Very agreeable? He made it sound like a piece of classical music playing on the radio!

"I see." Vivian said.

He wondered if she did, but in the sweet afterhaze of making love his mind had been busy. "Shall we get dressed and go and find ourselves a drink?"

If it had been anyone else, she might have thought he was searching for Dutch courage, but Scott was not the kind of man who needed alcohol to spur him on to say something, no matter how unpalatable.

She sensed that the end was coming, and that, if it was, she would face it calmly and with dignity. "I’d love a drink," she said lightly.

He might not need courage, but she certainly did. They dressed in silence, bending to pick up discarded pieces of clot