It took her some time to get the words out between chuckles, but when she'd finished he gave a reluctant grin. Despite his gloomy mood he found her sunny approach to life infectious.

“I'm afraid I'm not anything as interesting as a white slaver,” he said.

“Pity,” Dottie said, making a face. “I could sell you Brenda at a discount. That would make her leave my fiancé alone.”

“She's certainly making eyes at him. And he doesn't seem to mind.”

“Oh, Mike's an innocent,” Dottie said cheerfully. “He needs me to look after him.”

“Shouldn't he be looking after you?”

“We look after each other, we always have, ever since we were at school. On my first day, someone knocked me down in the playground and he picked me up and stopped them doing it again. And I helped him with his sums.”

Yes, Randolph thought uncharitably, the bumpkin looked like someone who would need help with his sums.

“Is that all you want out of life,” he asked, “to settle down with a garage mechanic?”

“What's wrong with him being a garage mechanic?” she fired up.

“Nothing,” he said hastily, reading dire retribution in her eyes. “I just thought you might have been a bit more ambitious.”

“Why?” she asked, honestly baffled.

“Because a girl as pretty as you could take her pick of men.”

“Do you really think I'm pretty?”

“Ravishing,” he said, adding shamelessly, “With that tiny waist and those smoky blue eyes, you could be a model.”

“You are a white slaver,” she said triumphantly. “I must tell Mike. He said you could have me for three camels.”

Randolph felt all at sea. Nothing in his previous life had prepared him for a woman who turned everything into a joke.

“Why does he want three camels?” he asked, grasping at straws.

“When he's sold them he can afford the deposit on a garage.”

“I'm not sure how much three camels would fetch,” he mused, keeping gamely up with her.