Temptation — Shirley Kemp

Isobel Grant is a writer, living in a quiet village, writing and recovering, over a period of two years, from an abusive relationship. She has a friend, Grace Gittings, with whom she occasionally goes walking along the local towpath. She is happy in her current situation but Spring has sprung this year with an unusual and unwelcome bout of restlessness and difficulty with the characters in her latest book. The story begins with a phone call from Jenny Brown, an acquaintance who lives the other side of the village, close to Grace. Jenny is leaving, to take care of her mother, after an operation, and is worried about her husband, Pete. Apparently, they have never been apart since they married and she is not sure how he will cope. Isobel can't imagine why Jenny should be phoning her about her worries, but finds herself, uncharacteristically, promising that she and Grace will keep an eye on him to make sure he is okay. She tells Grace, who suspects Jenny is worried about Pete going astray in her absence, and that the phone call had been a warning 'HANDS OFF'. Isobel says 'Ridiculous, he's too skinny for me, so Jenny can rest easy where I'm concerned.' Grace laughs. 'But not where I'm concerned!' Isobel is shocked. 'But you're married!' Grace shakes her head and laughs. 'Welcome to the REAL world.' Nevertheless, since she had promised to keep an eye on him, Isobel finds herself, some days later, making a cottage pie and inviting Pete Brown to dinner. And later, despite her dislike of skinny men, she finds herself in bed with him. The whole thing was a hopeless disaster from Isobel's point of view, and she just wants to forget about it. But Pete doesn't agree. And this is where all the trouble begins.