‘You always seem to be such a good husband,’ purred Suzi, making it sound as if this somehow made David a total failure as a man.

‘It’s not just about being a husband,’ David replied, piqued. ‘We run a business together, after all.’

‘And very successfully too.’ Suzi swiftly recovered her ground. ‘I hear very good things about your B&B. But isn’t it amazingly hard work?’

‘Yes – but then, we came out here because we both love France and wanted to live here, and we couldn’t have afforded to otherwise.’ He looked round the characterful cafe with its old Ricard signs, a framed poster of Jean-Paul Belmondo in Breathless, Guillaume’s famous moustache-twirling mirror, plus a reproduction of Toulouse Lautrec’s cancan dancers at the Moulin Rouge – clichéd but still charming – and a series of atmospheric black-and-white images of Bratenac’s vineyards during the grape harvest.

‘And what will your wife think of you being in here at four o’clock in the afternoon?’ Suzi asked provocatively. Jackie wasn’t the only one who had noticed David’s slightly guilty look.

‘It’s nothing to do with her,’ he snapped back. ‘We both need some time to relax. We work hard enough!’

‘Quite. And you’re much too attractive to put up with being told what to do by your wife.’

David looked at her with a slightly stunned expression. Was this woman . . . coming on to him? He sipped his beer, feeling flattered and slightly terrified in equal measure. She was quite attractive, when you really looked at her.

‘Where is your wife? I suppose she’s back at the ranch, slaving away?’

‘As a matter of fact,’ David replied, looking at his watch, ‘she’s been looking round a château with her old schoolfriend.’

‘Did you know it’s up for sale? Your wife’s not thinking of buying it?’

David looked appalled. ‘Good God, no!’ They could hardly keep their current venture afloat. In fact, he’d been putting off having a serious conversation with Steph about their finances. ‘Anyone who bought a heap like that would be out of their minds. Imagine how much it would cost just to heat it!’ He thought of their own unpaid bills mounting up and felt slightly sick.

‘Fancy another?’ To his amazement, she’d got through her drink already.

‘Well, I . . .’ He really ought to be getting back. God only knew what chaos the LeBrun children, imprisoned by their sibling’s illness, would have created.

His hesitation was enough encouragement for Suzi, whose long career of suburban seduction meant she understood husbands better than their wives. David was attractive, but had lost confidence in himself as a man. That meant he could be ripe for the plucking. And the best thing was, he didn’t know it.

She avoided Guillaume’s eye as she ordered their next round.