CHAPTER ONE

      ‘MALLORY left you?’ Josh lowered his water bottle and stared at Gib in surprise.

      ‘Ironic, isn’t it?’ said Gib with a somewhat crooked grin, shifting his back against the ice wall and putting on his jacket. It had been hot work climbing the last pitch, but at this altitude you soon lost heat. ‘The boot’s usually on the other foot!’

      Josh grimaced. ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ he said slowly. ‘I always liked Mallory. You seemed really good together too.’

      ‘That’s what I thought,’ said Gib wryly. ‘Mallory’s a very special lady. Smart as anything and beautiful and independent…I really thought she was going to be different.’

      He tapped the side of his crampons with his ice pick to loosen the balled ice. ‘But then the old C word started cropping up and I knew that was the beginning of the end.’

      ‘The what word?’ asked Josh, diverted.

      ‘Commitment.’ Gib stared morosely out at the spectacular view.

      They had stopped for a rest on a frozen ledge, high up on the mountain. It was still some way to the summit, but you could look out at the hills stretching off to the hazy horizon. Gib loved the mountains. The air was clean and pure and the only sound was the wind cutting icily through the brilliant sunlight.

      He was glad that Josh had called him up and suggested a climb. It was good to be up here where everything was simple and there was not a tearful woman in sight.

      It certainly made a nice change.

      ‘Why are women so obsessed with commitment?’ he demanded. ‘They all start off pretending that they’re independent and just want a good time, but you’re lucky if you get to a third date without them planning their wedding dresses!’

      ‘You and Mallory had been together a bit longer than three dates,’ Josh pointed out reasonably. ‘It’s nearly a year now, isn’t it?’

      ‘Exactly!’ grumbled Gib. ‘We were getting along great, everything was fine…why did she have to go and spoil it?’

      ‘What did she say?’

      ‘Apparently I am completely unable to “commit” or to “relate”.’ Gib hooked his fingers in the air to add sarcastic emphasis to the inverted commas. ‘According to Mallory, I just thought of her as part of some kind of smorgasbord of women!’

      Josh looked blank. ‘A smorgasbord?’

      ‘You know, one of those buffet affairs where all the dishes are set out along a big table and you go round to help yourself to whatever you fancy.’

      ‘Right,’ said Josh, none the wiser.

      ‘Mallory’s theory is that I treat women like so many different dishes, so that even if I find one I really like, I won’t be content to stick with one because I’ll always be wondering if there might not be one I might like even better further along the table.’ Gib gave an exclamation of disgust. ‘Don’t you hate it when women analyse you?’

      Josh didn’t answer directly. Behind the dark glasses that protected his eyes from the glare, his expression was unreadable as he studied the view and considered Mallory’s theory.

      ‘She’s right, though, isn’t she?’ he said at last.

      ‘Listen, whose side are you on?’ demanded Gib.

      ‘You’re