I frowned, bemused by her concern. ‘Why are you being so intense about this? It’s just a drink,’ I replied quietly. ‘Just have the cash waiting when I get back.’ Then, allowing her no time to raise any further objections, I strode purposefully across the office to where Cameron sat with his back now to us, apparently engrossed in a table of figures on his screen.

However, when I cleared my throat and he swivelled slowly in his chair to face me, his unsurprised, neutral expression was that of someone who had actually been fully aware of my arrival, and perhaps not entirely delighted by it either.

‘Hi,’ he said, a nod of his head making the word sound like an indication that I had permission to speak, rather than a greeting.

‘Hi.’ I managed a small smile, whilst attempting to suppress an early and uncomfortable suspicion that Ruby’s stated opinion of our newish colleague might not have been entirely wide of the mark. But anxious not to let my doubts take hold, I stretched my smile to breaking point and decided to get straight to it.

‘I tend to get rather absorbed in my projects and, since I got back, I haven’t taken the time to say a proper hello. I was just saying to Ruby that I feel really bad about that,’ I began apologetically.

At the mention of her name, his grey-green eyes narrowed, flicking quickly left and past me, towards Ruby. I turned to see her sitting at her desk, leaning over her work, her hair falling forward and obscuring her face from view.

‘So anyway, the pair of us are going out tonight,’ I continued a little uncertainly, turning back towards him, ‘to a wine bar, if you fancy coming along. Fingers crossed you’ll have dried out by then and, if not, we’ll just sit you next to a radiator and let you steam.’ I laughed lightly and waited for him to join in.

There followed a silent and mildly uncomfortable pause, during which, if he smiled, I missed it. Instead, he simply stared up at me, before at last taking a deep breath and picking up his wrap. ‘It’s fine. I know from Alison how focused you are,’ he began, his tone low and deeply serious, which did nothing to lessen a growing tension in my spine. ‘I’m afraid I’m busy tonight, so I’ll have to say no to a drink. But thanks for asking.’ And with that, he offered me a nanosecond of a smile, glanced briefly again in Ruby’s direction and then swivelled in his chair to face his desk.