She watches as he marches back towards the hotel. Who the hell does he think he is, talking to her like that? She isn’t under anyone’s spell.

‘Who are you to judge?’

He stops in his tracks and turns back. ‘What did you just say?’

She parrots Kate’s words at him – about her relationship with Tom, the fact they’d both gone too far, her assurance that it had never happened before. When she reaches the part about Buddha and judging others Damian raises a hand. ‘That’s enough. It’s bullshit, Jenna. All of it.’

‘Maybe it is, but I made Kate a promise and whether that’s right or wrong I have to keep it.’

‘As I said, you told me.’

‘And I’m really regretting that decision.’

Neither of them speaks as they wander back into the complex; doubt burying itself in Jenna’s mind with every step she takes.

Chapter 17

Now

KATE

Even in the darkness of the garden there’s no mistaking the look of horror on Geraldine’s face as Kate draws closer. Joy drops her cigarette and stamps it into the grass. One more thing for Kate to tidy up, but she doesn’t say anything.

‘Hello, ladies,’ she says, in the sweetest voice she can manage. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Yes, fine.’ Everything about Geraldine’s body language, from the raised voice, to the way she angles her body away reinforces Kate’s suspicions.

‘Joy?’ Kate asks. ‘Everything okay with you?’

‘Wonderful.’ Joy beams at her. ‘It’s so lovely out here. It’s not like London; you can actually see the stars.’

Kate gives them a cursory glance. ‘We’re very lucky.’

‘Did you come out to see them too?’ Kate stiffens at Geraldine’s tone. She thinks she’s so clever.

‘Actually’ – she smiles tightly – ‘I noticed that Joy was smoking and came to remind you both that the smoking area is at the back of the house. We wouldn’t want to set fire to anything, would we?’

‘Unlikely,’ Geraldine says. ‘It’s been raining.’

Before Kate can respond, Joy lets out a little squeal of apology, dips down and plucks her cigarette butt from the grass. ‘I’m so, so sorry, Kate. I didn’t think. I’ll get rid of it now.’

She scurries away, her dumpy little legs moving faster than Kate would have thought possible.

‘You’ve got good eyesight,’ Geraldine says as Joy disappears round the back of the house. ‘To see the light of a cigarette from all the way over there.’

Kate smiles. ‘Eyes like a hawk.’

As much as Kate might want Geraldine to think she’s all-knowing, it was luck, rather than some kind of ESP, that led her to spot the red tip of Joy’s cigarette dancing at the far end of the garden.