‘You could say that.’ He looked back at her as if seeing her for the first time. ‘High spirits at high altitude. We ended up taking it on to a club.’

‘Sounds fun.’

A sound upstairs made Clover look up, but she was out of sight of the mezzanine at this end of the table, away from the window, a fact not lost on her when she’d been deciding where to sit. She would not be spied upon again. Once had been quite enough. She had clearly not been alone in wanting to get a preview of her new housemate, but if Kit Foley wanted to see her, he would have to do it face to face.

‘How do you find being in the mountains?’ she asked Ari. ‘Do you miss being on the coast?’

‘Is that a formal question? Are you filming already?’ His tone was defensive, the atmosphere around the table instantly thickening.

Johnny paused, his fork speared with egg and bacon just inches from his mouth. ‘Not filming.’

‘Ari, I’m just making conversation. Nothing more.’

He looked at her with resentful black eyes. ‘Good. Because before this goes any further, we need to have a frank discussion.’

‘Okay, sure.’ She took another sip of her tea, waiting patiently, although her heart rate had shot up to the low hundreds.

Ari’s mouth opened—

‘Woah! . . . Oh shit, I forgot.’

They looked up to find a lanky, dishevelled man again stopped by the stairs. Clover immediately rose to standing once more. Friend, not foe. ‘Beau? Hi! I’m Clover.’

Beau’s eyes slid over to Ari as he shuffled over. ‘Hey,’ he said, shaking her hand. Clover kept her smile fixed, hoping he had washed it. She couldn’t help but remember his shoddy bathroom habits.

‘It’s really great to meet you. And this is Matty, our researcher and PR and marketing manager. And Johnny, our cameraman and editor.’

‘Hey,’ the others said, half-rising out of their chairs to shake his hand too.

‘How come we’re sitting this end of the table?’ Beau asked, taking the next empty seat beside Ari and immediately pouring coffee from the pot. He missed the cup somewhat, dark stains bleeding into the ivory linen tablecloth.

Matty winced as she watched. ‘Your chalet is amazing,’ she said to him quickly as Beau glanced up at her again. Matty drew a lot of second looks.

Beau grinned. ‘I know. Pretty rad, right?’

‘You’re so lucky. I’d sell my granny to live in a place like this.’

Beau looked at her with blue eyes that were less dangerous than his brother’s, certainly less focused. His shaggy brown hair was still sun-bleached at the ends and around his face from their old life and he was deeply freckled. He had none of his brother’s sharp edges. ‘Well, I guess now you won’t have to,’ he said after a moment. ‘Our casa, tu casa and all that.’