Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor. Faith Bleasdale

spit it out,’ Freddie interrupted.

      ‘Sorry.’ Poor Pippa looked both uncomfortable and distraught. ‘The thing is that well, of course, you have your month’s trial, which I didn’t want, but anyway, we were wondering if you’d be able to give us a presentation at the end of it, so we can all sort of see where we are with the hotel planning so far.’ Pippa looked down, unable to meet Gemma’s gaze.

      For selfish reasons, Gemma might not be thrilled about it, but of course they were perfectly within their rights, actually sensible, to do this. She just needed to pull the presentation off in order to keep her job. And at the moment, she was still pretty unsure if she could.

      ‘Of course, I was going to do that anyway,’ Gemma fibbed. ‘At the moment, I have so many ideas that they all need putting in some kind of order, which was my next step, so no problem.’ She smiled broadly. ‘But also, Pippa, I’ve made a list of five of the nearest small hotels in Somerset, and I thought we could visit them all – research purposes. I want to show you what’s already out there. Mostly so we make sure we do something different, stand out.

      ‘And, Freddie, we need to have a proper chat about the bar you’re planning. I have already started looking into the licences and legalities, but it would be good if we could start talking through the details.’ She felt her leg shaking under the table, but she hoped she sounded professional.

      ‘Of course,’ Freddie replied, surprise lacing his voice.

      ‘Great.’ Gemma smiled. ‘So, Pippa, how about today for the hotel visits? No time like the present.’

      ‘Oh, I’d love that,’ Pippa squealed in delight. ‘And we get to spend the day together!’ She really needed to take “boss” lessons from Harriet.

      ‘And I’ll start putting down my bar ideas today as well,’ Freddie said. ‘Then we can have a meeting.’ He seemed to have a found little bit of respect in his voice too, as he gave her one of his gorgeous smiles, which almost made her melt.