“Because you have nothing to offer him.” He looks me up and down. “You’re far too young. You’re inane and probably stupid. He’ll be bored within a couple of months.” He laughs. “Hell, he’s forgotten you already.”

We both look at Zeb, who is in intent conversation with another man. At that point he looks up and smiles. It’s intimate and devastating. Warm and almost loving. My lips tip up in reply but dip immediately as I remember the row and his behaviour and realise that he can’t be smiling at me. I turn back to Patrick who’s watching me intently, a pleased expression on his face.

“You see,” he says. “It’s not you he’s looking at. It’s me. It will always be me.”

“So, if it’s like that why are you not together and why are you getting married to a woman?”

He shrugs. “That doesn’t mean anything. Frances knows that. She just wants to get married. And as soon as there’s a baby on the way I’ll pick up with Zeb again.”

I shake my head. “That’ll never happen,” I say, confident for once. “He’s the most honourable man I’ve ever met. He won’t go for that.”

“Really?” he purrs, looking vastly amused. “Well, obviously what you know about Zeb is not exactly much. Do you know when he agreed to be my best man?”

I stare at him, thinking back to the conversation I had with Zeb in the car. Somehow it seems like a long time ago. “You were getting on together again, I think,” I say.

He throws his head back and laughs, and I briefly imagine karate-chopping him across the throat.

“That’s one way to put it,” he chuckles, rubbing his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

He shakes his head. “Jesse, we were in bed at the time.” I stare at him, completely unable to say anything, and he smiles coldly with the light of triumph in his eyes. “He said he’d be my best man while my come was still running down his chest.” He looks me up and down and smirks. “Well, I’ll leave you with that. Enjoy the rest of your stay, Jesse.”

I watch him walk away, assured and handsome, and I look intently at Zeb’s face as Patrick comes near. The smile that plays on his face is warm, and I feel suddenly stupid. And very, very young.