‘Sorry,’ Alice said in a small voice. ‘Genevieve had promised not to say anything about what Will did.’

‘So had you.’ Clancy was aware that Alice had moved closer but refused to turn around. For one thing, her eyes had begun to burn. Was it only this morning she’d been so full of hope about making a place for herself in this little village on its headland? It didn’t take much to topple a few dreams. Aaron’s muted response to her idea. Genevieve’s hostility. Hugo’s knobbishness. Alice and Lee … again.

‘I’m going to have a shower before bed,’ she said, moving away from the window, deliberately not giving Alice the assurance she wanted. Without looking at her, she pulled her towelling robe off its hook and went down to the bathroom.

By the time she returned to her bedroom, Alice had gone.

Aaron liked to watch Clancy sleep, especially when it was so warm that she pushed off the bedclothes and lay naked in his bed, as she was this Tuesday morning, the 6 a.m. sunlight outside lighting up his bedroom curtains. It wasn’t that she ever hid from him the soft roundness of her breasts or the sweeping curve of her hip, but in sleep she brought a smile to his face, her limbs relaxed and thrown wide, her expressive eyes hidden but her face peaceful.

She wasn’t asleep now though. She was lying too tidily, her breathing too fast, and she was frowning.

He inched closer, so that his front lay against the smooth, warm skin of her side. He kissed her temple. ‘You OK?’

‘Mm.’ The frown smoothed itself away as if she didn’t want him to see it.

‘Something worrying you? I can almost hear you thinking.’ He wished she’d open her eyes. He couldn’t have a meaningful conversation with eyelids. She’d spent Monday evening and night with him. He’d tried a couple of times to ask whether she’d had her talk with Kaz and Oli about investing in the B&B, because it had felt like an elephant in the room. Both times she’d distracted him by smooching up with her beautiful body and soon they’d been making love, not conversation.

‘I have to get ready for work soon,’ he went on. ‘Make the most of the dry weather. Mrs Edge in Holme-next-the-Sea’s waiting for me to create a stone waterfall water feature beside her patio. She’s hosting a family barbecue for her Silver Wedding anniversary on Sunday and she’s hassling me to get it done.’

Clancy turned and slid her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder, one hand drifting down to his hip. ‘I could walk Nelson for you after you’ve gone. Then we’d have time to …’ She ran her fingertips over the morning erection that was a reliable result of waking up next to her nakedness. ‘It’s a shame to waste this.’

His focus changed to what her hand was doing and he allowed himself, once again, to be distracted by sex. He couldn’t make her talk if she didn’t want to but, by giving her pleasure, he could try and take her mind off whatever was bothering her. Not very selfless, he knew.