Meredith rolled over sleepily to find the space next to her empty. She opened her eyes wide. Where was Philippe, and what the hell time was it? She scrabbled about on the bedside table. Ten a.m. She never woke late like that. Admittedly she had been a little more busy than usual in the night. A slow smile spread across her face just as the door opened and Philippe appeared, clean-shaven and fully dressed, carrying a tray bearing a teapot, milk jug and two cups.

‘Room service, madame,’ he beamed. ‘I know how you British like your tea in bed.’

Meredith sat up, wondering how she looked and trying not to think about it.

He handed her a cup.

‘Amazing,’ she pronounced with a smile. ‘How did you get fresh milk? They never have it in France. Only that horrible long-life stuff.’

‘I milked the cow myself,’ he smiled seductively.

‘Liar! Anyway, why didn’t you wake me?’

‘I had the crisis at the restaurant to deal with. We couldn’t afford to lose another day. In fact, Jean-Christophe had a stroke of genius. No gas, so my clever son buys three barbecues from the hypermarket! Formidable! We still need to get the gas back, though.’

He took away her cup and saucer and kissed her.

‘Hey,’ she protested, ‘what if I want another cup?’

‘You’ll have to wait.’ He took his clothes off in record time.

‘You’ve done this before,’ she accused teasingly. ‘Only a lunchtime lover could get undressed as quickly as that!’

‘Actuellement, it’s because I go to the gym.’

‘What if the chambermaid comes in?’ she protested, laughing.

‘This is France. She will think, Bon! The couple in No 6 are making love. I will come back later. Now stop raising ridiculous arguments, and kiss me.’

David stared at the handbag, and then at Suzi. Admittedly he didn’t have much of an eye for these things, but the bag seemed perfectly ordinary to him. A bit unpleasantly showy, perhaps, and rather too large. In fact, he preferred the one Steph had bought herself in Debenhams.

‘Is this some kind of joke?’ he asked, trying to be patient and understanding but genuinely bewildered. ‘You aren’t seriously considering paying this woman five thousand euro for a handbag?’

But Suzi’s face had a rapt quality, like someone who’d just seen a vision and didn’t expect anyone to believe her.

‘But it’s cheap! A real bargain, in fact. They can go for seventy thousand euro.’

David shook his head. He knew that he and Suzi were different; in fact, different didn’t begin to encompass how separate were their worldviews.