HOPE gulped. Why was Andreas acting as if she had done something wrong? She had no desire to whinge about Elyssa's unkindness or indeed to tell tales about the younger woman. Yet if Andreas knew that she had seen his sister with another man, why was he making a mystery of that embarrassing event?

'No, nothing comes to mind,' Hope answered uneasily, wishing she did not feel quite so guilty about keeping quiet on Elyssa's behalf.

'You were seen with Ben Campbell,' Andreas imparted icily, but there was a dauntingly rough and unfamiliar edge to his intonation. Disconcerted by that reference to Ben, Hope turned pink and shifted uncomfortably, but she could see no reason to be the slightest bit apologetic on that score. 'Yes, I did speak to Ben for a couple of minutes.'

'Finlay, my brother-in-law, saw you with him. You were in Campbell's arms.'

That particular choice of wording sent a stab of sincere annoyance travelling through Hope. Could something so minor and innocent in every way be responsible for causing so much bad feeling? She had not even met Elyssa's husband. But she could not help thinking that there was surely something rather mean-spirited about a man capable of reading anything suspect into her brief chat with Ben. 'It wasn't quite as you make it sound-'

Andreas elevated a black brow. 'Wasn't it?'

Her usual calm chipping away at an ever-faster rate, Hope stared back at him in an effort to comprehend the mystery of his unusual behaviour. He had never shown signs of being unreasonably jealous or possessive. Now all of a sudden he was acting like a stranger. 'Of course it wasn't. For a start there were at least half a dozen other people nearby,' she pointed out. 'Ben wasn't even flirting with me, he was just fooling around.'