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‘I’ve already interviewed Isabella and have her answers to the questions, so let’s see just how much your answers align.’

The word ‘align’ jolted Fox and he was back on a sunbed in the dark with Robyn, her head on his chest, his hand in her hair. He swallowed and took another pull of his beer.

‘First question,’ Alex said, pulling a collection of white handwritten cards from his checked shirt pocket. Etienne shuffled his stool in closer and leaned on his elbows to listen. ‘What is Isabella’s favourite colour?’

‘Too easy,’ Etienne said. ‘Baby blue.’

Fox thought of Robyn and the scarves she used to tie her hair back – they were usually purple or green.

Alex made a show of looking at the card and then giving a thumbs up.

‘Isabella’s answer was exactly that. Baby blue.’ He turned to the next card. ‘Next question. And they’re getting harder.’ He eyed Etienne warningly. ‘Who, out of you and Isabella, is the most attractive?’

Etienne laughed and shook his head. ‘She is, by far. But in her answer, she will say that I am.’

Fox had a vision of Robyn in the garden, playing football with the boys after school. Missing a goal and throwing her head back in laughter, hair blowing in the wind.

Alex read the answer and groaned.

‘Right again,’ he said. ‘Isabella, poor mistaken woman, says you. Although what she sees in you is beyond me.’ He knocked his fist to Etienne’s shoulder affectionately and cleared his throat. ‘I always was the better-looking twin.’ Etienne threw a beer mat at him, laughing. ‘What, with that nose?’

Alex ignored him and read the next card.

‘What was the last thing Isabella cried about?’

Etienne frowned and thought for a moment as Fox remembered the tears Robyn had tried to hide as they rolled silently down her cheeks when she talked about her father.

‘A charity advert on the television looking for donations to children in Sudan,’ Etienne said.

Alex nodded, showing the card round the table. ‘Yup. You two are in sync.’ He plucked a card from further back.

‘OK, bit of a tone change here. What’s her favourite sexual position?’

Fox glimpsed a memory of Robyn riding him all that time ago on the night they met, her hair tumbling over her shoulders, lips open, her gasps, eyes glued to his. Fuck. He took a long swallow of his beer.

‘Well?’ Alex prompted but Etienne raised one eyebrow and shook his head.

‘No way, bro. That’s for me to know and you lot never to find out.’

Alex ripped the card into pieces and threw it in the air. ‘Those were her exact words too. Final question, when did you first realise you loved her?’

Etienne screwed up his face, shaking his head at the memory. ‘When I thought I’d lost her,’ he admitted.

Fox’s stomach plummeted. Robyn would be gone in a month. Sinking the rest of his beer, he grabbed another from the bucket. Alex clapped him on the shoulder and passed bottles all round.

‘I think you can safely say you just won Mr and Mrs, and that you have also won a beautiful bride, soon to be off the market for ever,’ Alex said. ‘So, come on, boys. It’s Etienne’s last rodeo. Let’s make the most of it.’

They clinked their bottles together in the middle of the bar and drank.

A few hours later, when the beer bucket was almost empty, the resident band, Runaway Train, took to the stage while Etienne chose a lasso from the wall. ‘Much as I love you guys,’ Etienne assured as he twirled the rope, ‘I’m going to get my girl for dancing.’ He squared his cowboy hat on his head and set off onto the dance floor.

The guys all followed suit, downing their beers and leaving the saloon booth. Fox hoped Robyn would still be there, having no idea what time she’d have to head home for the babysitter. Maybe he should have offered Millie to look after all three of the children. Seemed almost daft to have someone in the house for Reggie and George and someone else in the pool house for Willow. He could always suggest it next time. He caught himself – if there even was a next time. He rounded the corner of the booth just in time to see Robyn, blindfolded and holding a large paper penis in her hand. The girls were all laughing and cheering her on as she pinned it vaguely in the proximity of the crotch of a life-size cardboard cut-out of Etienne. When he looked closer, he saw it was actually Etienne’s face superimposed on a beachwear model, and he now had a very generous penis on his mid-thigh. The girls rolled about laughing until Etienne threw his rope lasso over Isabella’s head and tugged her inch by inch to the dance floor. She shrieked in delight at the sight of him and was a very willing captive, shimmying closer in her disco gear. The other men were claiming their girls too. Alex serenaded Amber, Walker lifted Gabi over his shoulder, and they all disappeared into the crowd. Wren and Rosie interlaced their fingers and headed for the dance floor behind the guys.

Fox stepped in close to Robyn, who was struggling to remove her blindfold and was facing away from him in the direction of the cardboard cutout. He watched for a second as her fingers fumbled with the knots, her unpainted nails picking at the fabric, and then she reached out, blindly in front of her, looking for help. He took a moment to appreciate her body while she couldn’t see him looking. Her legs in those heels went on for days, the fabric of her skirt just reaching the top of her toned thighs.

‘Hey!’ she said, turning in a circle. ‘Where are you guys?’ Fox couldn’t leave her floundering around, but at the same time, he could never say no to a game. He came up behind her, cupping his hands over her eyes, holding the fabric in place as he brought his mouth to her ear.

‘Guess who?’ he murmured, inhaling the vanilla of her skin and feeling a flush of pleasure as she laughed out loud, completely comfortable in his hands. She knew him.