As he put down the glass he rested his arm on the bar and half-turned to face the rest of the room. It was then he did an almost comedy double-take as he saw Elizabeth standing there. The expression of surprise was quickly replaced with guilt. He moved his body so that he shielded his pint and picked up the glass of orange juice which was sitting on the bar.

Elizabeth admired his tactic and foresight; it was just a shame the execution and delivery were poor. She smiled back at him and walked over. ‘Owen! What a surprise. I thought it was you coming in here.’ She air-kissed the side of his face. ‘What on earth are you doing in Kendalton?’

‘Hi … er … I had to come over on business,’ he said, not meeting her eye. ‘Can I get you a drink? I was just having an orange juice. Sore throat.’ He gave a small cough and patted his neck with his finger. ‘Think I’m getting a cold.’

Not a bad bit of acting, thought Elizabeth. She gave a sympathetic look. ‘There’s a lot of it going around at the moment. I’ll have a white wine, thanks.’

Owen caught the attention of the woman behind the bar and ordered his sister-in-law’s drink. ‘What are you doing over here?’ he asked as the glass of wine was placed on the bar.

With her forefinger Elizabeth traced a path through the condensation on the glass. ‘Had some shopping to do and needed to pick up your mum’s dry cleaning.’ She took a sip of her drink. ‘I was just having a cup of coffee when I saw you across the road.’

The uneasy look on Owen’s face returned. ‘Well, it’s a nice surprise. Are you on your own, then?’

‘Harry’s back at the resort sorting out the new booking system. I’m surprised you’re not there.’

Owen shrugged. ‘Need-to-know basis, apparently.’ He tried to look nonchalant, but Elizabeth could tell he wasn’t very happy about it.

‘It’s terrible that they don’t keep you in the loop with everything,’ she said. ‘It’s almost like they don’t value your opinion or input on anything.’

‘That’s exactly what it’s like.’

‘And, from what I can tell, you get outvoted on a lot of the decisions.’ A small tide of red rose up Owen’s neck. Elizabeth knew she was hitting all the right places with her comments. She continued. ‘I thought it was a ridiculous decision not to sell the land for development.’

‘It’s not really any of your business.’

‘I’m about to make it my business,’ said Elizabeth.

‘What are you on about?’

‘You need to protect yourself.’

Owen straightened up, his face full of suspicion. ‘Against what?’