‘Who is in charge of this gathering?’ I demanded.

Jamie, believing I was the real thing, opened his mouth, his brow knotted with tension but several others smirked and pointed at Byron. Keeping my expression severe, I looked straight at him. He wasn’t as naïve as his Moncrieffe friend and I could already see the angry recognition in his eyes that his buddies had hired a stripper to make the evening more entertaining. His reaction sent him up a notch in my estimation – a tiny notch, anyway.

Bob was right: Byron looked painfully tired. He might be dressed to the nines but the shadows under his eyes were very heavy and there was a pallor to his skin that I’d never seen before. I quashed my worries and glared, still in my role as angry policewoman. ‘You’re going to have to explain yourself,’ I said loudly.

Byron, still looking irritated, got to his feet. ‘I don’t want this.’

‘Oh,’ I answered, injecting the tiniest amount of breathiness into my words, ‘you’re going to have to try harder than that.’ I deliberately dropped my gaze to his crotch. ‘The borough of Perth doesn’t enjoy limp responses.’

Laughter rose amongst Byron’s friends. He rolled his eyes. ‘Look,’ he said, in a way that almost made me feel sorry for him, ‘I’ll pay you if you just…’

I walked up to him. ‘Did you just try to bribe a police officer?’ I pulled the handcuffs from by my belt and dangled them in front of him. ‘I think that’s a very serious offence.’

He raised his hands to try to get me to back off and in one swift movement, I snapped the cuffs round his wrists. Now he was even more pissed off. I gave him a tiny shove, forcing back onto his chair, then I lifted my foot, nudged his legs apart and rested my shoe on the edge of the seat, right in front of his groin.

Catcalls rose all around us but this time I barely heard them. Byron was mine. ‘You’ve been a naughty boy,’ I purred. ‘But I’ve lost my truncheon. I don’t suppose I could borrow yours? It looks … big.’

The shouts got louder. Byron, glancing around at the crowd, realised that he’d get out of this faster if he just played along. He sagged back, irritation still flickering in the emerald green depths of his eyes. I flicked a hand at the DJ and the music started up again. This tune was much slower than before.

I took three steps backwards and the men formed a circle round me. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the lot of them had started drooling and I’d ended up drowned in puddles of spit. Bleurgh. I played along, however, reaching up and loosening my hair from its tight constraints. I shook out the dark waves that were so unlike my own tresses.

I spotted Jamie in the corner, shrugging to himself then turning away to line up shot glasses. As I started unbuttoning my blouse, he poured vodka, moving up the line until every glass except one was full. I threw back my head and laughed while he surreptitiously sneaked a bottle of water from his pocket and used that to fill the final glass. Now that was interesting.