‘Do you have to get your flight early? I could get Noah to come and pick us up…’ To her shame, she realised her voice was a little shaky. There was something about Ewan’s manner which unnerved her. The intensity that had bubbled under the surface for the last few days was now threatening to boil over, but this time it wasn’t a sexual tension. It was something darker.

Ewan turned the key in the ignition and slammed the car into first gear. ‘I am honestly fine to drive,’ he said. ‘And I do have to catch my flight. I have a meeting with my editor and Graham, as it happens, in London tomorrow to discuss my new book.’

His voice was flat, any enthusiasm he had for the story he had been so excited about at breakfast was gone.

Jo took a deep breath and decided that she should maybe try and lighten the mood just a little. ‘Okay. Cool,’ she said. ‘That must be very exciting for you, especially since you’ve been writing so much and you have all these new ideas. Tell me, what’s Graham really like? Is he very intimidating? He seemed lovely in his email, but…’

‘Jo,’ Ewan interrupted, ‘I’m fine to drive, but I have a sore head and I really need to concentrate. Especially on these unfamiliar roads, so would you mind if we just didn’t talk for a bit?’

Chastened, Jo faced forward again and looked at the road ahead while confusion danced around her head. Yes, he was feeling unwell. Yes, he was the colour of ‘boiled blooter’, as her granny used to say. (Jo didn’t really know what blooter was, or how you boiled it, but it was fair to say it wasn’t something pleasant, and implied a grey, almost dead appearance.) Yes, he might even be tired, but he was being so sharp with her she couldn’t help but feel she must’ve done something wrong.

Was he angry that she hadn’t run down the corridor after him the previous night and returned his kiss and maybe a bit more? Had he expected a quick kiss in the dining room before breakfast? He’d been in good form when she walked in, she remembered. They’d bantered a bit until she’d told him about Graham. That’s when everything had changed. She could see it in her mind’s eye now – how the colour had drained from his face at her news.

Surely that couldn’t be it? Why on earth would he be upset at his agent offering to represent her too? It made no sense.

Jo shifted in her seat, afraid to speak in case he told her to be quiet again.