‘Of course I do!’ He pretended to sound affronted. ‘I’m in investment banking.’

‘Oh…banking,’ said Lucy disparagingly. ‘That’s not a real job.’

‘Hey, it’s not all late lunches and corporate jollies, you know!’

‘How did you get into banking?’

Guy smiled crookedly. ‘I have to admit that it’s a family firm.’

Just as she’d thought. No doubt he’d been given a token job with a plush office to sit in while everyone else did all the work, Lucy decided. He probably rolled up at ten and spent most of the day at lunch catching up with pals on the old boys’ network.

‘I don’t think you can compare working in a bank with what Kevin does,’ she said, determinedly unimpressed. ‘You don’t need the same kind of skills.’

‘Maybe,’ said Guy, ‘but what can Kevin do that I can’t?’

‘Well…he’s a brilliant horseman.’ Lucy had never, in fact, seen Kevin on a horse. As Guy had pointed out, she was usually in the kitchen when the stockmen were at work, but she had heard them talking about how good Kevin was often enough.

‘I can ride.’

‘I don’t mean English riding.’

‘English riding?’ Guy raised his brows, a smile hovering around his mouth, and she gestured irritably.

‘You know what I mean. Just sitting on the back of the horse and pottering along a country lane. I’m talking about real horsemanship-working with the horse, being able to control it absolutely the way Kevin can. Taming a wild horse, or bringing down a cow without hurting it…all the things he does every day.’

‘I admit I don’t spend a lot of time on horseback in the bank, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be a stockman if I wanted. Could Kevin run an investment bank, do you think?’

Lucy looked at him suspiciously. ‘Are you really telling me that you can ride like Kevin?’

‘I’m not saying I’m any good, I’m just saying that I could be a real man if I wanted to.’