Beth was not having a good day. It had been Josie’s turn to cook lunch and she had decided to make them a concoction of leftovers, mainly consisting of spam and cabbage, which was fine for most of them, but the plentiful cabbage had had a rather unfortunate effect on Maude, who had to keep dashing to the ablutions. In fact her trips had become so frequent she had been excused guard duty for the day, leaving Beth to man the fence by herself. To make matters worse, whilst she was patrolling, a military car approached the gate and she saw a familiar but unwelcome face behind the wheel. It was Ralph, and he did not look pleased to see her. She shot him a withering glance. ‘What?’

‘I haven’t come to see you, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ Ralph said.

‘Glad to hear it.’

He parked the car and walked towards her. ‘I’m here to surprise Liv. Do you know where she is?’

Beth stared unblinkingly at him. ‘How can you pretend nothing happened? How can you look her in the eye and tell her how much you care for her when just a few weeks ago you tried to kiss me?’

‘I’d never have tried to kiss you, had you not thrown yourself at me. Call it a gut reaction, one I very much regret. You might be a pretty face, but that’s where it ends. Olivia’s got breeding.’

Beth laughed scornfully. ‘Which is more than you’ve got.’

He shook his head. ‘Maybe, but I’ve got a brain, which is why I chose Liv over the likes of you.’

Beth stared at him. When she first found out that Ralph had asked Olivia on a date, she had assumed it was because he was attracted to a woman with a fuller figure, but that couldn’t be right, because he had practically pounced on Beth in the car. Only if he didn’t find Olivia attractive, why had he asked her out? And what did he mean when he said he’d chosen Olivia over Beth? He’d made it sound as though he’d picked her out of a line-up, but he couldn’t have, because he didn’t have a clue who Olivia was before she arrived for training. She mulled this over for a second or two. When they applied for training, they’d had to write down all manner of personal information so that the officers could choose the best recruits for the job.

Her head snapped up. ‘You knew who she was before you’d even clapped eyes on her, and that’s what you found so attractive – her father’s wealth.’ Seeing the look on Ralph’s face, Beth knew she’d hit the nail on the head. ‘Of all the poisonous, malicious, calculating …’

He shrugged his indifference. ‘You can’t prove anything.’