The rain returned to torment us the following week, which meant I had the constant joy of eight muddy horses, and worse, I discovered one of my boots leaked.

By the time Friday evening arrived, I was dead on my feet, and I began to see the attraction of Susie's spa. All I wanted was to sink into a hot bath with a glass of wine, but as I didn't have a bath or any wine, that option was out. And if yesterday and the day before's showers were anything to go by, I didn't have any hot water either.

So I did the next best thing. I changed into my newly acquired yoga pants, wrapped the duvet around myself, then settled onto the good end of the sofa to watch a movie about mutant guinea pigs.

The opening credits were barely over when my phone rang on the other side of the room. Why did phones do that? It was as if they instinctively knew when you'd just got comfortable. With a sigh, I levered myself up and went to answer it.

"Are you still on for poker this evening?"

As I hadn't heard from Luke, I'd assumed he'd changed his mind.

"I thought you'd forgotten about that."

"Of course I didn't. I've been looking forward to seeing you all week. Do you want me to pick you up?"

At least his memory was better than his communication skills. I almost wished it wasn't, because I could do without going outside in the rain again. Then I looked over at the TV where the guinea pigs were doing a hula-hula dance. Oh dear. Perhaps going out was the lesser of two evils.

"A lift would be good if you don't mind?"

"It's no trouble. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Can you make it half an hour? I need to take a shower, but I've been putting it off due to a lack of hot water."

"It's broken?"

"Yup, for three days now. George promised to look into it, but he has no sense of urgency when it comes to these things."

Although I imagined if it was him who had to take a cold shower, he'd get onto it pretty sharpish.

"Why don't you bring your stuff with you? I can spare some hot water."

Hallelujah. "I'm not going to turn down that offer. Ten minutes, then."

As Luke swung left into his tree-lined drive, I got my first glimpse of his home. An imposing wall hid the house from the road, but as we rounded a curve, it came into view, lit up by spotlights at the front. The style was mock-Tudor—all exposed beams and imitation leaded light windows.

I couldn't make up my mind whether I liked it or not.

The impeccably decorated, chintzy interior wasn't what I'd expected from a bachelor pad. An overstuffed sofa and ornate credenza flanked the front door, although the fake flowers on the latter looked kind of dusty. Either Luke had been exploring his feminine side, or he'd had help.

My inspection didn't escape his notice. "The decor isn't exactly what I'd have chosen."

I raised an eyebrow.

"When I moved out, mother got a little upset. The only way I could calm her down was to ask her to help with the furnishing. It made her feel wanted."

"You live alone, then?"

"Tia's got a room here, but she doesn't use it much."

"How is she? After the ball, I mean?"

Don't mention the drugs. Be tactful, Ash. A foreign concept to me.

"She's okay. Or at least, as okay as Tia gets. You were right about her being in a foul mood the next day. She slept until one, and when I tried to bring up what happened, she stormed off and refused to speak to me for the rest of the afternoon. Mother picked her up in the evening, and I haven't heard from her since. I don't know what to do."

"I'm sure she'll come round. Just give her time."

"You're female, and didn't you say you went through a wild phase? Any idea how I can get her to behave?"

My wild phase had lasted from the age of twelve until just after I turned fourteen. What can I say? I'd always been precocious. I knew about drugs not because I'd been educated in the dangers of substance abuse by a loving family, but because I'd tried most of them. What snapped me out of it was waking up in a dingy squat one morning to find a guy I'd been partying with the night before dead beside me. An overdose combined with malnutrition, or so I heard.

After that wake-up call, I knew things needed to change, and change they did when I met my father. Not my real father—I had no idea who that arsehole was—but the man I'd nominated for the job. He and his wife took me in and smacked some sense into me. That was the start of my journey to the person I'd become.

I didn't think hearing about my early years would be particularly comforting to Luke, though.

"How about finding her a mentor? Someone she can look up to? If you're not around and your mother isn't up to the job, she needs someone else."

"Where on earth do I find one of those?"

"Could her school help? They might have a program?"

"I'll call them on Monday. Anything else?"

"Does she have any hobbies besides the horses?"

"Shopping."

"Not sure there's much we can do with that."

"I tried cutting off her allowance, but she 'borrowed' my credit card and ran up a five-figure bill on the Selfridges website." He sighed. "But enough about my sister. I'll show you where the bathroom is so you can clean up while I finish dinner."

"You're cooking?"

"Don't act so surprised."

Luke gave me a quick tour. The formal lounge was decorated for show, fussy and uncomfortable with stiff-backed couches and tables full of knick-knacks. The dining room easily seated twelve but looked unused.

"Where do you live?"

"What?"

"Where do you spend your time? Not in these rooms, unless you really do read the copies of Woman & Home magazine on your coffee table."

"What? No!" He led me to his den, one hand on the small of my back. "In here."

This was more like the man-cave I'd been expecting. A messy desk dominated one end, with a battered leather sofa facing a large-screen TV at the other. The dartboard on the wall had a photo pinned in the middle.

"Who's that?" I asked, stepping closer.

He sighed. "A programmer at work. Usually, I'm a firm believer in talk rather than action, but he made some really vulgar comments about my secretary and frustration got the better of me."

I admired his restraint. I'd have been throwing the darts at the programmer.

While the row of computers on the desk was undoubtedly for work, the surfboard propped up next to the TV and the snowboard hanging on the wall behind it hinted at Luke's adventurous side. Maybe we had something in common?

"We're playing in here?" I asked, spying the poker set on the coffee table.

"Yes, after we eat."

He walked back along the hallway, and I trailed behind, enjoying the view. The house was quite nice too.

"The gym and pool are down there." He pointed at a doorway. "But it's getting late, so I'll show you the shower. Will half an hour be long enough?"

What did he think I planned to do? Get ready for an evening on the red carpet?

"More than enough."

I hadn't taken a decent shower for a month, but I resisted the temptation to stand under the steaming water until I went pruney and got out after ten minutes. Since the house was blissfully warm, I only needed to put on jeans and a T-shirt, and I found a blow dryer in a drawer and gave my hair a quick blast. Twenty-five minutes. Slow for me.

"How's dinner? I'm starving."

Luke jumped at the sound of my voice. "I was expecting you to be ages yet."

I glanced down at my watch. "I said I'd be half an hour."

"Yes, I know, but normally when a woman says that, she takes at least double. I'll try to hurry the food along."

"What are we having?"

"Cheese soufflé to start, salmon asparagus gratin and steamed vegetables for the main course, then crème brûlée for dessert."

"And you're cooking all that?"

Did he moonlight as a Cordon Bleu chef in his spare time, or was he cheating?

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Well, I'm heating it up." He looked a little sheepish. That was more like it.

"Hey, I'm impressed you're doing that much instead of hiring a chef and a butler."

"I did consider it," he admitted. "But I decided I'd rather have you all to myself."

I let that last comment slide. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Could you put the salad on the small plates?"

Between us, we got the food dished up and carried it through to the dining room to eat. I'd suggested eating in the kitchen, but Luke said the dining room hardly got used and he had to justify having it somehow.

"You surf?" I asked as I forked soufflé into my mouth.

"I used to, but since I took over the company, I've barely had time to use the gym let alone travel abroad."

"Do you miss it?"

"More than anything. Before my father died, sports were my life. Skiing in the winter, surfing in the summer. I was working the ski season in Switzerland when Mother phoned to tell me he'd died. I figured I'd head back there in a month or two, but it never happened."

"Because you had to run the company?"

He put his fork down and sighed. "That and Mother had a nervous breakdown, and there was nobody else to look after Tia. It took a year for Mother to recover and another two for me to turn HC Systems around."

A nervous breakdown? Miracle of miracles—the two of us had something in common.

"It must have been satisfying to build it up from nothing."

"I guess. Sure, I've made money, but now I'm stuck there. I always liked messing around with computers as a teenager, but I never wanted to do it for a living. The corporate side sucks."

"Couldn't you sell it?"

"I've thought about it, but it would be like selling part of myself. Besides, I still enjoy working on the ideas side of things. It's the day-to-day management that gets me down."

"Get good managers in place and delegate."

"That's the crazy thing—I have good managers." He stared at the wall over my head. "It's the leap into the unknown that scares me."

"Sometimes a gamble can pay off. You could free up enough time to do what you enjoy."

"Maybe I'll try it. Hell, I could do with some excitement in my life." He leaned back in his chair. "Dammit, just listen to me. I invite you over to dinner, and we spend the evening talking about business."

"Talking can help."

Fuck, now I sounded all preachy. It was very much a case of do as I say, not as I do.

The oven timer bleeped from the kitchen, and I helped Luke to clear away the plates and bring out the next course. The salmon and asparagus dish was delicious, better than Susie's cooking and infinitely tastier than mine. While we ate, the discussion turned to Lower Foxford.

"There's a rumour going around that Henry got taken to hospital after the Hunt Ball, but nobody knows why," Luke said. "Have you heard anything?"

I choked, and he looked at me strangely.

"I think it may have been something to do with having his testicles rearranged."

"Who by?"

Oops. I forgot I was talking to Mr. Violence-never-solves-anything, and he sounded kind of shocked. I stayed quiet.

"You did that?"

"He should have kept his hands to himself."

Ten seconds passed. Twenty.

"I suppose he had it coming."

Phew.

After the main course, I helped Luke to stack the plates in the dishwasher. He'd gone a bit quiet. Was he more upset than I thought about the kneeing-in-the-nuts episode?

I turned to face him, and under the brighter lights in the kitchen, he didn't look so good.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You've gone kind of grey."

"I think I'm just tired. I had to work late every evening this week so I could take the weekend off."

Really? I wasn't totally convinced. Mental note: don't admit to walloping any more arseholes.

While Luke slouched over the breakfast bar, I made myself useful by caramelising the tops of the crème brûlées. Wow, it sure smelled better than taking a blowtorch to human skin.

"Here you go." I pushed a tiny dish over to Luke then dug into mine.

He picked at the top, staring at the table. Should I offer to leave?

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes. No. I don't..."

He shoved his stool back and ran from the room. Okay, kind of drastic considering my question. Or was it...? A door slammed somewhere along the hallway, and I bit back a groan. Had Luke gone to worship the porcelain god?

I very much suspected he had.

So much for a relaxing evening.