Maybe even, in its own peculiar way, romance on a grand scale. There was a real bond between Lara and Jamal, a depth to his caring for her. The clandestine quality was confined to their sexual escapades. There were surprise holidays in Rio and Paris, a week in a castle in the Atlas mountains in Morocco. At those times they were careful that no one should guess their deeper relationship. Only during their secret romantic trips, when no one they knew was likely to appear – a river journey up the Nile, a sneaked break in Spain, another on safari in Africa – did they behave in public as the lovers they were in private. When those secret holidays came to an end and they returned to live apart – she in the world of deception he insisted they maintain – the sense of loss Lara felt was nearly unbearable. The family watched her drift away from them, but without anxiety: she would drift back again. They labelled it ‘finding her place in the world’. Only Henry was concerned when Lara rejected a holiday with David, or another with Max in India.
