Emergency Engagement

CHAPTER FOUR

F OR A FEW seconds Sammy thought she must have missed a crucial link somewhere. How had Rafael’s dilemma suddenly become her problem? Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him, oblivious to a smiling waiter with a jug of punch topping up their glasses.

‘Hence my reason for waylaying you,’ Rafael volunteered into the yawning silence.

‘Rafael,’ Sammy was constrained to enquire, ‘How has your problem become my problem?’

‘I’m not proud that I’ve dragged you into this but on the spur of the moment, and with that woman standing in front of me at two in the morning, my options seemed limited. I told her to get lost or I’d see what Clement makes of her after-hours escapades and she immediately warned me not to try reporting back—said all she was looking for was a bit of closure for herself. Like I said, Sammy, Victoria has a vindictive streak and if she wants to cause chaos she’ll make sure to do so—she would try and spin some fairy story to Clement and, trust me, the story would not be in my favour. But if I have a serious girlfriend in tow? She wouldn’t dare try and there would be no risk to the deal being done.’

‘But...’

‘Hear me out.’ He pushed the half-empty plate of nibbles to one side and leaned towards her, his fingers linked on the table, his whole presence swamping her.

‘Do I have a choice?’

‘I realise that this was possibly not what you were expecting...’

‘ Possibly not what I was expecting? Rafael, that’s the understatement of the decade! I was expecting an oven, a hob and a non-stop round of food preparation!’

‘So, it might be a brief with a slight difference, but I’ll make it more than worth your while.’

‘Really. And how exactly are you going to achieve that?’

‘I’m prepared to...er...alter the terms and conditions of the agreement we had in place.’

‘You’re losing me.’

‘No working here for six months, no probationary period. I know you were probably a little apprehensive about having to prove yourself in unfamiliar surroundings...were you? Maybe you were excited at the opportunity...’

‘No probationary period? What does that mean? No working here for six months? And, just for the record, more apprehensive than excited, as it happens. Six months on an island where I don’t know anyone...’

‘Naturally, you would have been introduced to the various people at the hotel.’

‘Like I was saying...where I don’t know anyone, at the end of which I could have been found wanting, didn’t exactly make for a relaxing prospect.’

‘Look, it’s a big ask. I know that. Work with me here and I’m prepared to release you from any commitment to prove your worth to me. When this stint is over, you leave here with a cheque in your hand and the wherewithal to advance your career however you want to.’ He reached for his mobile, typed something in and pushed the phone towards her.

Sammy’s mouth, already open, opened a lot wider. In fact, her jaw hit the ground. The figure he had typed in was eye-watering and she wondered whether he had accidentally hit too many noughts by mistake.

‘You’re buying me.’

‘In a manner of speaking. But look at it this way: what I’m buying is just a week of make-believe from you. You’re my personal chef, an old friend who’s now my lover... You’ll still do the catering, and you can mingle on the side-lines as befits the working woman that you are. We really won’t be spending much time in one another’s company. You’ll be preparing food and I’ll be working to get this deal done before it can be scuppered. I refuse to let malice destroy the lives of innocent people who are depending on this.’

Sammy’s brain had got stuck on the word ‘lover’ and she felt slow heat crawl into her cheeks. She tried to think of herself in that role; her mouth went dry and her thoughts became a big, scrambled mess.

‘I get it that you’re horrified.’

‘This is not what I was expecting. Like I said...’

‘In the big scheme of things, a week is neither here nor there. I won’t expect anything from you but a bit of acting and, like I just said, you’ll probably be busy preparing food so the acting will be limited—a smile here, a fond glance there. I’m not a touchy-feely person at the best of times.’

‘And your important business colleagues are going to buy into you falling madly in love with an impoverished chef you happened to know when you were a kid?’ She shot him a look of blazing disbelief. ‘They surely must know that you date models and...gorgeous blonde women with big hair and long legs?’

‘Well if they don’t, then you certainly seem to.’

‘No one will believe you for a second, Rafael.’

‘I’ll say straight away that Victoria did.’

‘Well...’

‘In a lot of ways, it’s far more convincing that, after a string of unsuitable beauties, I’ve lost my heart to...’

‘The girl next door? Or should I say the girl who used to be next door ? Thanks for the compliment.’

‘To a girl who’s the complete opposite of what I’ve always gone for—to a proud and ambitious working woman who isn’t interested in living a life of leisure, whiling away her time doing her nails and shopping for designer clothes.’

‘Which is what the women you date enjoy doing?’

‘I’ve never had a problem with that. At any rate, being a full-time model involves more than nail-doing and designer-clothes shopping.’

‘Of course,’ Sammy agreed dutifully. ‘Who could disagree with that?’ She was half-thinking about the temptation of taking him up on an offer that could open a million doors for her and would certainly solve all her financial problems for the foreseeable future, if not for ever. If she did agree to his crazy scheme, would that make her easily bought or incredibly canny?

‘It’s an impossibly tall story to pull off, Rafael. What does this ex of yours look like?’

‘Six foot one, blonde hair, long legs.’

‘Exactly! Now look at me. ’

‘I’m looking.’ He paused just long enough for her to blush. ‘Why are you so touchy?’

‘I’m not touchy! I’m being realistic.’

‘Look,’ Rafael said gravely. ‘For the reasons I’ve outlined to you, I really would like you to play along with me for the next few days. Like I said, once it’s under our belt, you will walk away a wealthy woman with the career opportunities you dreamed of within your reach immediately —no need to spend six months on an unfamiliar island.’

The carrot dangled tantalisingly. It was a truly astronomical amount of money on offer. Maybe to him it was less than a drop in the ocean, but to her? Yes, all those career opportunities would be firmly within her reach, and more besides. She would be able to treat her mother to all the things she deserved after a lifetime of scrimping and saving for her kids.

Rafael was right. What were a few days in the grand scheme of things? It would all be just a game, and one rooted in good intentions at that. Rafael would be spared the inconvenience of an ex-lover making a play at him behind her husband’s back, and Sammy would get to skip the six-month stay and head straight home to Yorkshire to achieve her dream of starting her own restaurant.

‘I’m tired,’ she said truthfully. ‘It’s been a long day.’

‘Let’s go.’ He stood up immediately and she followed suit.

The utter madness of this man being her lover flashed through her head. But then, her mind veered off on a tangent and began playing with all sorts of inappropriate images that made her burn up inside. Images of him touching her...looking at her with those clever, dark eyes...seeing more than just a nuisance who had shown up at his office clutching her portfolio and calling his conscience into question.

It was madness, of course. Rafael Moreno would never see her in that light. Men tended to go for women who were clones of one another. He went for catwalk models, or at least women who could be catwalk models. He was the guy who could have anyone.

‘How long do I have to think about this?’

‘The duration of the car ride back to my villa.’

‘And if I say no?’

‘Then you say no.’

‘What would you tell your ex, after you’ve said that we’re an item?’

They were walking towards his car, a warm breeze rustling her hair. She’s spent hours travelling and yet she couldn’t have felt more alert.

Alongside her, Rafael’s towering presence made her shiver. She threw a sideways glance at him and all she could take in was formidable, sexy masculinity which made her think back to the fascination that had held her in its grip all those years ago. Thank God times had changed and she had grown up.

He helped her into the pick-up, swerved round to the driver’s side and, as soon as he was next to her, she repeated her question, curious to hear his answer.

Rafael murmured with a shrug, ‘I’d tell her that we had an argument and were no longer an item. Then I’d just have to take my chances and work things out another way, if such a way exists. And, if old guys get laid off in the process, that would be something my conscience would have to come to terms with.’

He angled his body back against the door, one arm resting lightly on the steering wheel, so that he could look at her.

‘Wow,’ Sammy said. ‘That would be a speedy break-up. One minute you’ve told her that we’re all loved up, and the next minute, it’s all over?’

‘Not that unusual.’

‘I always thought that things just drifted along until one day it all fizzled out...’

‘Maybe for you. Is that how it’s worked for you, Sammy? On the relationship front?’

‘I didn’t think we were talking about me.’

It suddenly felt hot and stifling in the car. Her heart picked up pace as their eyes remained locked. He’d started the engine but rolled the windows down so that fresh air blew through but, even so, she could feel her clothes tight and prickly against her skin.

‘For me,’ Rafael drawled, ‘break-ups tend to be a little more abrupt. I’m not a great believer in the gradual fizzling out of a situation. I’m inclined to restlessness before the boredom sets in.’ He waited a few seconds and then said matter-of-factly, ‘Victoria would have no trouble believing that what was working one minute suddenly failed to work the next.’

He began reversing out of the space. Outside, people were coming and going, walking slowly, laughing loudly and having fun.

‘And the reason for that speed-of-light change of direction?’

‘You suddenly started trying to pin me down,’ Rafael said without batting an eye.

‘Wait. Me—try to pin you down? Just for the record, that may pass muster with your ex as a reason for a swift break-up, but I can’t think of a single one of my friends who would ever fall for that as an excuse for this unlikely relationship coming to an end!’

‘So isn’t it a good thing that we don’t have to convince your friends?’

‘I mean,’ she continued, ‘does that happen often with you, Rafael? Women trying to pin you down ?’

‘It’s been known to happen.’ Rafael looked at her, head tilted to one side. ‘Women not understanding that I’m a free agent, utterly uninterested in settling down, even though that’s something I always make clear at the start of any relationship. I don’t do commitment. So, trying to pin me down? Always a reason for me to walk away. Never tried to pin a guy down, Sammy?’

‘No,’ she scoffed.

‘Then what a good match we are.’

‘You say you don’t do commitment. Don’t you believe in love?’

‘I don’t believe that this conversation is going anywhere. Have you decided?’

Sammy blinked and grounded herself back in the here and now.

‘What if something goes wrong with this so-called failsafe plan?’

‘Nothing will go wrong. You and I are going out and it’s the only way she’ll get the message that she needs to keep out of my way.’ His voice became husky, the only real indication that the favour he was asking meant more to him than he had volunteered. ‘A handful of days, Sammy, and then your life changes for ever...’

‘Okay.’ She breathed in deeply. ‘I’ll do it.’

Rafael hadn’t been lying when he’d told Sammy that he’d suddenly found himself in a place from where, faced with an ex naked under a bathrobe with a crazy desire for closure via a bit of sex behind her husband’s back, the only exit strategy he could think of was to involve her.

The arrival of Victoria, latched onto her much shorter and much, much older new love interest, had sent a shiver of apprehension through him. Even so, he’d greeted them both warmly and ushered them into his villa to meet the other assembled guests without a flicker of concern on his face. At his most optimistic, he’d hoped that she wouldn’t be a nuisance. At his least, he’d wondered just how destructive she might turn out to be.

Truth was, theirs had been a messy break-up. Very quickly into their relationship he had discovered that she was a fragile and vulnerable woman who needed therapy a lot more than she needed him. He had done his best to encourage her into getting help but, the harder he’d tried, the more clingy she’d become and in the end, when her calls had come in every five minutes, he’d had no choice but to begin the process of detangling himself from her.

She hadn’t forgiven him but she had eventually disappeared from his life and he had breathed a sigh of relief. To be confronted with her now was a nightmare.

He glanced sideways at Sammy who was beginning to nod off against the door. If he could have waited until she was rested in the morning to have the conversation, he would have.

As things stood... Yes, in a sense he’d bought her, as she’d said, but not just because of the reasons he’d given her, although those were all valid. He’d offered her everything he knew she wouldn’t be able to resist because, after all, he was the root cause of all her problems. It seemed that, when it came to guilty consciences, she was very good at making him rediscover the one he’d assumed he’d buried. Something about her reminded him of a time when he hadn’t yet become the hard, invincible guy he was now. She was a memory of days spent raging against the world whereas now, as an adult, he no longer raged against what he had learned to control.

He half-smiled as he heard the soft sound of her breathing and, when he looked at her, it was to see that she was fast asleep.

Sammy surfaced as the pick-up slowed and then stopped. For a few seconds she was disoriented, without a clue where she was, but she remembered fast enough as she straightened and glanced sideways at Rafael’s profile.

A trip that hadn’t been straightforward to start with had morphed into something she couldn’t have anticipated in a million years.

He killed the engine and turned to her.

‘We’re here, Sleeping Beauty.’

‘I didn’t intend to fall asleep.’

‘Travel has a way of catching up with a person. Still on board for...?’

‘For pretending to be the couple we aren’t? I suppose so.’ She heaved a heartfelt sigh. ‘It would be great to leave here with a plan going forward. Is there...anything I should know before we begin this charade, aside from the fact that your ex has suddenly appeared on the scene? Should we agree on where we met? How we’ve ended up here in this unlikely position?’

‘That’s the beauty of this plan,’ Rafael assured her. ‘We have history. There’s no need to make anything up. We met accidentally after years apart, discovered a connection as we travelled down memory lane and, hey presto.’

‘It all sounds so easy if you ignore the glaring holes in the story.’

‘Let’s not focus on the glaring holes. I find it pays to think positive.’

‘So we meet, chat about old times and suddenly it’s love at first sight and marriage on the cards?’

‘Crazy love. Isn’t it what the world wants to believe?’

‘I’m thinking only an idiot would believe that a guy like you would be a victim of crazy love. ’

‘That’s because you probably know me better than anyone who’s here. After all, we do go back a way, and you do have fond memories of me as a teenager to fall back on. Crazy love was definitely not my motto for the day.’

‘Yes, but...’

‘Don’t dwell on the details. Leave it to me to do the convincing.’

Sammy couldn’t tear her eyes away from his darkly handsome face. She vaguely thought that stuff that seemed too easy to be true always turned out a mess, but that thought didn’t have time to grow legs before he broke eye contact and pushed open his door.

Sammy blinked and actually began to pay attention to her surroundings. She’d slept her way through a drive up a hill and emerged from sleep to an avenue of coconut trees behind her and a courtyard fringed with trees and bushes ahead. Everything was lit with the same beautiful fairy lights that had lit up the terrace where they had earlier sat with their rum punches.

His villa sat squarely off the courtyard. She had envisaged something with a sprawling wooden veranda and a hammock or two, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, it was a solid white house, very, very large, set on two floors, the entrance guarded by two columns that spiralled up both floors to the terracotta roof. It nestled amidst the trees and was uber-modern in its sharp angles and uncompromising lack of frilliness. This was the villa of a guy who didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.

Nerves kicked in fast and she was almost glad of the steadying hand that reached to usher her out of the pick-up, then stayed on her arm as they made their way to the front door.

‘Don’t stress,’ Rafael murmured, flipping a key from his pocket and sliding it into the door. ‘It’s going to be just fine, trust me. The partners will be out during the day doing things on the island; I got my PA to arrange a series of activities to keep them busy. The business associates will be locked away discussing all the complexities of the deal I’m trying to navigate. Dovetailing several companies so that they become one takes a lot of time and patience, hence the fact that we’re all here instead of in a hotel somewhere. We need to focus and relax at the same time. You’ll be in a pretty amazing kitchen, working some magic with food while everyone else is busy elsewhere. Couldn’t be an easier scenario.’

‘Let’s agree to disagree on that.’

Before she could continue, he’d pushed open the door and, on cue, someone appeared to fetch her bags from the pick-up and bring them through.

It was after eight in the evening and she could hear the rumble of noise coming from somewhere towards the back of the villa beyond the hall in which they were now standing.

He’d released her but now it was her turn to grip his arm. She was aware of magnificent furnishings as they made their way through the villa, all white. It should have looked sterile but the white was interrupted by flamboyant tropical paintings on the walls and the rich lustre of expensive rugs on the marble floor. It seemed to go on for ever as they passed various rooms, again all white, all housing local paintings and sculptures. There were various rooms for various purposes. She felt she’d stepped between the covers of a very high-end interior design magazine.

‘Where’s everyone?’

‘Outside—dinner is served poolside. The plan is for you to briefly meet everyone and then retire: jet lag, et cetera et cetera. I expect after the day you’ve had you won’t be arguing with that.’

‘After the past few weeks I’ve had,’ Sammy said, ‘I could sleep for the next hundred years.’

‘Sammy.’ Rafael stopped dead in his tracks and turned, stilling her with his hand on her arm. ‘The Yorkshire hotel...that was business.’

‘I get that, but you must have known that I had made an offer on the side building?’

‘I knew, but it wasn’t a consideration when I decided to outbid you. Business is business, after all. Besides, I had no idea who had offered on the outbuilding. It wasn’t my concern.’

‘Would it have made you stop and think if you’d known that it was me?’

‘No.’

‘When did you get so hard, Rafael?’

‘That’s a big question for eight-thirty on a Thursday evening.’

‘Does that mean that you don’t want to answer?’

‘It means that, whatever our game entails, questions about my personal life are off-limits.’

Sammy shrugged, but her green eyes were still curious and steady as they collided with his.

‘Okay. And, just for the record, questions about mine are off-limits as well.’

‘Good. Glad that’s settled. Great match, like I’ve said. Is it any wonder we’re rushing recklessly into marriage when we get one another so well? Now, shall we meet the assembled party?’

But, as they strolled through the villa, heading out towards the massive infinity pool that was perched on manicured grounds leading down to a private cove, Rafael could feel his curiosity about her pique. He’d warned her off thinking that, because they were in this unusual situation, she was somehow owed access to his private thoughts or to the things that had made him the man he was: the hurt, anger and disillusionment that had struck during his formative years, emotions never to be forgotten. No one would ever have access to that part of him.

It was fair enough that she had laid down the same ground rules for him as he’d laid down for her, and really, since when had he ever been curious about any woman’s back story? So he was surprised to find himself wondering about the woman by his side with her chin held high and grim determination plastered on her face.

The sound of laughter was getting louder the nearer they got to the sprawling French doors that led out to the terrace and pool area at the back of the villa. The nights drew in early here but it remained warm enough for people to swim at night if they cared to. He never did.

He could feel her stiffen next to him. Good Lord, could she look more as though she were being dragged to face a hangman’s noose?

Some nerves were understandable. He’d understand a shy smile, perhaps, as he introduced her to people she didn’t know...and maybe, just maybe, an adoring look up at him... Was that asking too much?

When he glanced down, it was to see the last thing she seemed likely to give would either be adoration or a shy smile. Her mouth was pursed, her eyes were narrowed and her posture was rigid. This wasn’t a woman in love with him. This was a woman who wanted to hit him over the head with a rolling pin.

He sighed to himself. There was only one thing for it. He turned to her and called her name in a low whisper. As she looked up at him, he cupped the nape of her neck with his hand, tangled his fingers into her short, dark hair and kissed her.

That kiss...

It was the last thing Sammy had been expecting. The mouth that covered hers was cool, the tongue that probed was moist and the reaction she had was devastatingly powerful. She was so surprised that she didn’t pull back; so stunned that she lost herself in it and yielded to a drowning sensation quite unlike anything she had ever felt before in her life.

She tiptoed to return the kiss and her hand crept along his neck and curved the shape of his jaw just as he pulled away and murmured with husky amusement, ‘Thank you.’

In a heartbeat, she realised what had just happened. About to introduce the love of his life, and fearing that love was probably the last thing on her face, he had pulled her to him and kissed her...kissed her until she’d been soft, compliant and rosy- cheeked... kissed her senseless ...until she’d displayed all the classic signs of a woman in love: pink cheeks, parted lips and dazed eyes.

Blinking like an owl, she turned to a collection of very appreciative faces. Some people were standing, some were lounging on recliners and a couple was actually in the pool. The backdrop of a starry night, the dark shadows of swaying coconut trees and in the distance the even darker strip of ocean made the scene look almost staged—especially as everyone seemed to have stopped whatever they’d been doing.

‘Let me introduce you to Sammy.’

Rafael’s voice snapped her out of her stupor and she duly plastered a smile on her face. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, the lights mounted on the wall behind them picking out over-sized planters with bamboo bursting up, several sun loungers with canopies that were the size of single beds and a shaded area, beneath which was a long table and chairs and a bar area. The pool itself was absolutely enormous, flat, shiny and still.

It could only have been a matter of seconds, but it felt as though it took for ever before the silence was broken by a woman slow-clapping and stepping out of the pool.

‘I never thought I’d see the day when the inveterate bachelor decided to join the ranks of us in love...’ came a low, amused, husky female drawl with just the tiniest thread of bitter rage detectable, Sammy was sure, only to Rafael and her. Because of course the woman in question emerging out of the water could only be his ex.

She was an Amazonian beauty with long, long blonde hair piled on her head in an artfully tousled bun and with a figure made for wearing very, very little. That was precisely what she happened to have on: a tiny bikini that left precious little to the imagination.

She took her time wading up the shallow steps and moved to stand behind a plump, elderly man sitting at a table with a couple of other, slightly younger, guys.

‘Happens to all of us in the end,’ Rafael said politely.

Sammy felt the weight of his arm slung over her shoulders and, because she’d taken an instant dislike to the woman, she linked her fingers through Rafael’s and smiled, her smile as polite as Rafael’s response had been.

He raised her hand to his mouth and grazed her knuckles with his lips. Sammy thought that it was a tremendous performance for the guy who didn’t do touchy-feely. Her brain said that. Her body, however, blazed in instant response and she knew that colour was again crawling into her cheeks.

On wicked impulse, she slid her hand along his back and then dipped her finger beneath the waistband of his jeans and got a kick when she felt his body stiffen. She smiled and wriggled her wandering finger under the shirt to feel hard, muscled skin before slowly removing her hand.

Then she was being introduced to everyone.

‘I told her that there was no need for her to sweat over a stove, cooking for us all when she got here,’ he crooned, arm still firmly in place, this time with his hand just below the small swell of her breast. ‘But...’ He turned to her and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘You insisted, didn’t you, my darling?’

‘I did, indeed... I plan on setting up my own restaurant, and practice is always going to make perfect. Practising on a captive audience for a few days couldn’t suit me better!’

For fifteen minutes, doing the rounds, she was able to make some judgements on the group of people she would be deceiving for the next few days. There were seven men, aged between about forty to the oldest, Clement, who was in his seventies. The seven women were mostly in their forties and fifties, with the exception of Victoria, who was a mere year or two older than her.

Rafael still had his arm slung over her shoulders. He was still fully playing to the audience, and it was wreaking havoc with her composure.

She yawned and edged away just a little. There was only so much her blood pressure could take with this game of make-believe.

‘Come along, darling, time for bed,’ Rafael crooned and Sammy looked up at him with a suitably adoring expression. She batted her lashes; he grinned and in return dipped his head to kiss her again. This time his tongue flicked between her parted lips and her breathing hitched. He pulled back with a convincing sigh of regret.

Just as soon as they hit the stairs, she pulled away from him and glared, because he was grinning.

‘Convincing acting,’ he murmured, leading the way.

‘I thought you weren’t the touchy-feely sort. What choice did I have but to respond in kind?’

‘Very true.’

‘It’s why you’re paying me so much money, isn’t it?’

‘I don’t like it when you put it like that.’ Rafael frowned.

‘Too bad. It’s all just an act and I’m fine playing make-believe when we have to.’ Her body was trying hard to agree with that infuriated statement but, when their eyes met, hers were cool and composed.

He nudged open one of the doors at the very end of the landing, outside which was a seating area complete with plants and a window overlooking the back.

Sammy stopped dead in her tracks. In the middle of the room were soft chairs and a sofa interrupted by a low, square coffee table in the middle. There was a sideboard, a bar and a business-like desk that drew the eye to French doors opening out to a warmly lit veranda. Through another door to the side, she could glimpse the bedroom.

‘We’re sharing a bedroom,’ she said flatly, folding her arms and gazing at her luggage waiting for her just outside the bedroom door. The door was ajar, and she couldn’t see the bed through it, but she was guessing that there weren’t conveniently going to be two singles.

‘It’s a thing in this day and age when two people are going out and in love.’

‘We’re neither.’

‘Sammy, perhaps I should have warned you, but I thought you’d probably work that one out without any help from me.’ He turned round, shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at her. Just those dark eyes resting on her reminded her of the kiss that had shaken her to the core and then, hard on the heels of that memory, why he had kissed her in the first place.

‘Don’t worry,’ he said wryly. ‘You can have the bed. I’m happy to take the sofa out here. As you can see, it’s plenty big enough for me, even though I’m not small.’

‘You could have said that from the start.’

‘I know, but it’s fun watching you blush.’

‘This isn’t about fun. ’

‘I know.’ He raised his eyebrows and stared at her with his head tilted to one side, still half-smiling. ‘On a practical note, I think we managed to pull off the business of you working your fingers to the bone while you’re here instead of relaxing and enjoying time out with the others...or with me...even though we’re crazy about one another and can’t bear to be apart.’

‘Being a personal chef doesn’t allow for much free time.’

‘So you made clear to everyone there. Who’d have thought that making puff pastry could consume half a day? Well played, though, I must admit. No one will question you, although you might find that you have visitors popping in now and again. Perhaps you shouldn’t have made it sound quite so interesting.’

‘As long as Victoria isn’t one of the visitors, then that’s fine.’

‘Who knows? You might find that I make an appearance just to catch up on how a roux gets made...’

‘Ha ha.’

‘Seriously, though, Sammy—thank you for this evening. Only a few more days left and life can get back to normal.’

She heaved a heartfelt sigh. ‘I can’t wait.’