‘And I didn’t think you’d be here, obviously,’ she said, bristling at how awkward he seemed at running into her. It wasn’t her fault he was here. Of all the beaches in all the world, he had to be on this one.

‘It was a last-minute thing,’ he said. ‘Grandad wanted to go out for a drive, so we brought his car. Since we were going to the beach, I thought I’d offer to take Paddy here with us. Especially since his usual walker was away. We were going to walk him on Lisfannon Beach, but, well, Grandad seemed to have other plans. He’s sitting in the Drift Inn, claiming his legs were no good for a walk after all. I couldn’t deal with the guilt of not letting Paddy have a good run about, so we headed to the beach alone. The rascal ran on ahead of me. He must’ve spotted you.’

‘I’d say it’s more likely he caught a whiff of the chips I was eating,’ Jo said.

‘Mr McLachlan not treating you to dinner then?’ Lorcan asked and if Jo wasn’t mistaken, there was something smug in his assertion.

‘No, he’s not. He’s working. He did tell me to order room service, but I decided to go for a walk, grab a bag of chips and blow the cobwebs away. I was just heading back to the hotel to do some work myself. I hate to disappoint you, but this hasn’t been some big plan of his to take advantage of me. We actually have been working today. And now I’ve a head full of ideas that I really want to write down, so lovely as this unexpected meeting is, I need to head back. I’m sure Harry will be wondering where you’ve got to as well.’

Lorcan’s eyes widened. ‘I never said this was a plan for him to take advantage of you!’

‘Are you sure this isn’t his equivalent of showing you his etchings?’ she mimicked. ‘Or whatever it was you actually said. The implication was very clear, Lorcan. He couldn’t possibly be genuinely interested in mentoring me. There had to be another motive.’

‘That’s not what I meant, Jo. C’mon! You know me better than that.’ His expression was pained, as if he was truly shocked at how she had interpreted his words.

‘Here’s the thing, Lorcan. I don’t know you better than that. I barely know you at all. And you don’t know me. We spent a couple of days in each other’s company. That doesn’t mean we know each other inside out. Or that we have the right to judge each other for our decisions.’