‘A bumpy start, to be honest. He’s had an icy reception,’ I hissed back. ‘But he’s pretending not to notice and is ploughing on.’ I checked my phone. ‘It’s actually time for us to head out. I didn’t want him to be here for too long; we don’t need people starting to talk about the article once they’ve had too much to drink. We need to build him back up slowly.’

‘Well, if anyone can do it, you can,’ Liv said. ‘He’s lucky to have you. I’ll circulate for a bit. I need an early night after the journey, though, to be ready for the rest of the conference. Shall we have breakfast together tomorrow? I’ll message you.’

‘Let’s do that,’ I agreed, happy I wouldn’t have to have an awkward breakfast with Jake. We had a quick goodbye hug then Liv faded back into the crowd and I tapped Jake on the shoulder. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt but, Jake, you have that phone call to take…’

Jake’s eyes found mine and he nodded. ‘Oh yes, you’re right, thank you for reminding me. If you’ll excuse me,’ he said to the author he had been speaking to then he followed me towards the exit. I felt eyes on us as we weaved through the room, as if we were a zoo exhibit or something, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to escape the claustrophobic room and lie down on my hotel bed.

We had reached the door and my chest was sagging with relief when a man stepped smoothly in my path, forcing me to come to an abrupt halt. Jake paused beside me and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him tense.

‘Fancy bumping into you here, Richards,’ the man said, arching an eyebrow. His dark eyes swept over me then. ‘And who is your lovely date?’

‘This is Freya,’ Jake said, sounding like he was speaking through gritted teeth. ‘We work together.’

‘How delightful.’

I regarded the man, who appeared to be Jake’s age with fair hair, wearing a crisp, blue suit. I realised then he was familiar to me too. ‘And you are?’ I asked pointedly, even though I recognised him to be the very successful crime writer Davis Mulberry.

‘I’m surprised to see you here,’ Jake said then as Davis’s eyes narrowed at me, clearly put out that I didn’t know who he was. ‘You know where you are, right?’

I was surprised he was here too. It was unusual for a romance conference to have authors who wrote other genres in attendance.