Dominic smiled broadly at his guests. There was no doubt about it, he was coming across now as everything you’d expect from a successful businessman, thought Steph – eloquent, charming, but rather different to how he had been to her outside after Sonia had left. Steph cast her gaze around the room and landed on Harry. He looked the part too but there was something missing, she could see it in his eyes. It wasn’t grief, as she might have expected, even though it was two years since his wife’s death. No, it was a disconnect. It was as if he’d rather be anywhere than where he was right then.

As Dominic left the stage, some of the guests began to head towards the check-in desk and Steph made her way over too. She wanted to get out of this room as quickly as possible and have a bit of time to herself in her accommodation. The receptionist furnished Steph with her welcome pack and handed her a key.

‘Lodge 174,’ she said. ‘That’s just behind the swimming pool.’ She circled the building on the map.

‘Thank you,’ said Steph. She took a moment to study the map and then, with as much haste as she could get away with without looking as if she was about to break into a sprint, she left the reception room, crossed the terrace and trotted down the steps towards her lodge.

‘Someone’s keen!’ another guest called out as she overtook them.

Steph looked back and gave a polite laugh but couldn’t think of anything particularly witty to say in response. She reached the foot of the steps and had to physically restrain herself from breaking into a run. She didn’t know what was wrong with her but she wanted to get as much distance between herself and the reception room as possible. As she turned the corner of the pool house, she glanced back up to the terrace. Her heart bumped hard against her breastbone. Dominic was standing on the terrace, tracking her with those piercing blue eyes of his. He tipped his head a fraction in acknowledgement.

‘Shit,’ Steph whispered to herself. Surely he couldn’t be on to her already?

The lodge she had been assigned was a one-bedroom accommodation, situated at the end of a terraced row of five other lodges which curved around the main hub of the resort, shielded by trees. Each lodge had its own courtyard at the front, with a wall separating one from the other to give some privacy. They were painted a cream colour with oak doors and window frames. She could tell just from the outside that it was high-spec. But then, she expected nothing less at Conmere.