I bit back the urge to tell her I had nothing but questions. ‘I have one…’

I wondered whether she would tell me the truth. I knew that logically, it shouldn’t matter; this was my job and I needed to do it. But the word ‘why’ just kept on floating into my mind.

‘If Jake truly hates romance and pities the people who love them, then why has he agreed to this trip? It can’t just be about money. I mean, he must be a millionaire…’

Hayley barked out a laugh. ‘Not quite: I don’t make that much commission out of him. But yes, he’s had a lucrative career… and it’s one that I want to keep on managing. All I know is, he’s asked me to get him another book deal and that’s what I’m going to do. Anything else, you’ll have to ask him.’

I stared at her, knowing that would be impossible. There was no way we could have that kind of tête-à-tête on this trip.

As Hayley went on again about saving his reputation, I zoned out a little bit and drew a heart in the margin of my notebook. I wondered if what Jake cared more about than money was his reputation. He had gone from being the number-one romance author in the UK, maybe even the world, and that kind of fall from grace must have been hard to take. He had always seemed super confident to me, a man with a large ego, so maybe he wanted to get his power and status back.

‘The only thing Jake has refused to do at the conference,’ Hayley said, drawing me back from my thoughts, ‘is to have his own stand on the final day. He said he didn’t want to be in the room with everyone in the industry and all the conference attendees because he might be murdered.’

I snorted. ‘He has a point, to be fair.’

Hayley gave me a warning look again. ‘Perhaps, but I told him the welcome drinks on the evening you arrive are non-negotiable. Everyone at the conference will be there so I suggest you both go, take a tour of the room, make sure he’s seen and is polite to anyone who matters then get him the hell out of there before there is a hint of murder.’ She said this so matter-of-factly, I had no idea if she was joking or not. I didn’t want to find out though so I underlined the note I had jotted down about leaving the welcome drinks ASAP.

The meeting with Hayley lasted most of the morning but thankfully, she then told me to go home so I could pack and get a good night’s sleep ahead of my flight to New York in the morning.