Holly glanced back at Charlie, feeling the slightest sense of unease. ‘I don’t think he’d be hugely worried about my disagreeing with him.’

‘You’d be surprised,’ he said. ‘So long as it’s in private, you’re all right. But express an alternative view in public and things might get tricky.’

Holly felt a bigger shiver of disquiet at the man’s words. She and Charlie, potentially, could have a lot to disagree on. Would growing attraction and affection be enough to counteract that?

‘But don’t you worry too much,’ he broke into her thoughts again. ‘Perhaps it’s a bit different now to what it was.’

Holly smiled but said nothing. Something told her that things weren’t as different as all that.

‘Everything OK?’ Charlie asked as he turned towards her. He slipped a hand into hers, where the one not occupied with her wine glass was resting in her lap. His hand was warm and dry and did not betray for a moment any nervousness about having to make a speech in front of all these people.

Holly again wondered if that confidence came from conviction that he was right, or if he’d trained himself to project it. What if they truly were at opposite ends of the political spectrum these days? She felt a frisson of nerves that wasn’t just to do with Charlie’s hand in hers.

‘Fine,’ she smiled tightly. ‘You’ll knock them dead with your speech.’

‘Not literally, I hope,’ Charlie said dryly. ‘One or two of them look like they’re halfway there already.’

As the coffees were served, Holly’s sense of disquiet was growing. She sat quietly beside Charlie as he took a sip of his coffee, before the leader of the Chamber of Commerce tapped his wineglass with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. Gradually, the buzz of chatter diminished and, as it did, Charlie got up to speak. He glanced briefly down at Holly as he rose, and she tried to summon up an encouraging smile.

‘Good evening, ladies and gentleman,’ he began, looking around the function room at the assembled diners, who, replete with three courses, coffee and wine, were in a mellow, responsive mood. ‘It’s such a pleasure to be here among you tonight…’

As Charlie launched into his speech, acknowledging the hard work of the Chamber of Commerce and the local party faithful, singling out particular business owners and local bigwigs for dutiful praise, Holly felt increasingly conflicted. Charlie was a charismatic speaker, who struck the perfect balance between deference, knowledge and personality. He was rubbing all the right tummies, making these fat cats purr with pleasure, and it was easy to write him off as just another one of those self-serving politicos on the make. However, just as Holly’s mind was starting to wander, Charlie changed tack. What had, up to this point, been an anodyne, palatable speech became something a little different.