‘I don’t think anyone would be surprised that I’m happy with a smaller life.’

‘No,’ he sneered. ‘It’s perfectly clear how your life’s going to unfold.’

She stared back at him, hating him, as he sat back in his chair, enjoying himself. ‘You’ll do this for a bit. Then you’ll meet a guy in a suit. You’ll get a house, have kids, get fat. And spend the next thirty years having TV dinners.’

She felt stung by his withering prediction, but she wouldn’t let it show. ‘Well, only if I’m very lucky,’ she replied pithily.

She dragged her gaze off him and back to the others. Matty was looking worried again, her big eyes wide at their unconcealed antagonism.

‘Actually, I would have to disagree with you there, Kit,’ Julian said, surprising everyone. ‘I think Clover’s future trajectory is far more aligned with yours than she’s letting on.’

‘Excuse me?’ Clover almost choked.

‘You both have trophies. You both prepare exhaustively for your goal, immerse yourselves fully in the lifestyle, commit to getting a win. Neither one of you would be where you are now without that singular vision and obsessive drive. I don’t see you becoming a housewife any more than I do Kit.’

The pause that followed his pronouncement bloomed into a silence and Clover reached for her glass. She could feel Foley staring at her still. His scowl had deepened, his finger tapping intermittently on the table, one arm slung out in front of him idly, waiting to pounce on any perceived weakness he could find.

She forced herself to smile brightly. ‘And I understand your trip to Salzburg was very successful the other day?’ she asked, unapologetically changing the subject.

‘Indeed it was.’ Julian glanced at Matty. ‘Martha helped more than she could know.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yes. In fact, it was the reason I was so keen we should all have dinner tonight. I have a rather special announcement to make.’

Julian glanced at Kit, who was looking back at him with outright suspicion; the relationship between the two men was distant to the point of out of sight.

‘At ten o’clock tonight . . .’ He checked his watch and tapped it. ‘A little over an hour and a half from now, an announcement is being released to the press: Kaprun, and specifically the JOR snowpark, will from next year host a four-day tournament – covering Big Air, Slopestyle and, of course, Halfpipe – as an official stop on the World Snowboard Tour. JOR shall be the official sponsors and Kit, as our original signing, will be the face of it.’

Kit looked stunned. It was clear he had had no idea of these discussions. A small smile came into his eyes and as his defence weakened momentarily, Clover realized how walled up he was all the time. Now he looked like a seventeen-year-old boy being given his first car. ‘Seriously?’