The next time she opened them and tried to focus, someone was sitting on her bed, a hand on her forehead. She shook it off, irritated by the intrusion.

‘Connie … Connie, wake up …’

The voice was familiar and sounded urgent. She wished it would go away.

‘Connie …’ Now hands were shaking her gently, pulling off the duvet, opening the buttons of her jacket. The weight on the mattress was temporarily absent, then a blessed coolness was being pressed to her forehead. She forced her eyes open. Jared, his face pale with concern, was staring down at her, holding the hotel flannel to her brow.

‘What …?’ Some part of her brain told her he shouldn’t be there, but she was so pleased that he was. She untangled her hand from the duvet and took his free one, comforted by the feel of his fingers closing round hers.

‘You rang me.’

She considered this information through the haze, then said, ‘Are you sure? I wouldn’t have done that.’

A small smile crossed his face. ‘I’ve called a doctor.’

The word ‘doctor’ rang alarm bells. She struggled to pull herself into a sitting position, banging her head on the padded headboard as she did so, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Jared laid the flannel on the bedside table. ‘You really gave me a scare,’ he said. ‘You were incoherent on the phone. Couldn’t even tell me where you were.’ He stroked her damp hair back from her forehead. ‘I was getting to the stage where I thought I’d have to call the police, but suddenly you said the hotel name as clear as a bell.’ He let out a long breath. ‘Lucky I wasn’t out of the country.’

She nodded, although her head throbbed so much she wished he would be quiet.

‘Reception came up and opened the door for me when I explained that I thought you were ill.’

She was aware of a loud knock on the door. Jared rose from the bed to answer it and a man appeared, dark stubble on his chin, rumpled and middle-aged, carrying a doctor’s bag.

‘You’re her husband?’ the man asked Jared, in an accent Connie could not place. She saw Jared nod, but was too dazed to correct him.

‘What time is it?’ she suddenly wanted to know. Something was odd about all this, her brain still not really comprehending how she’d got to be fully dressed in a hotel bed, with Jared and a strange doctor in attendance.

‘Three in the morning,’ the doctor replied patiently.