His voice reminded Liam of Colin Firth, the English actor. Classy.

Suddenly Liam wished he had taken time to shower first. Self consciously, he ran his hand over his wet hair, “Um, I’m interested in the diving tour. Tomorrow.”

‘Right. Which one? Morning or afternoon? I take the afternoon one myself,” he added, his grey eyes smiling.

Was Morrison hitting on him?

Of course not, Liam dismissed the thought hastily, he was just being a friendly host.

“Ah. The afternoon one, please.”

Morrison tapped into the laptop. “No problem. Name?”

“Liam Hennessy.”

“Aussie?”

“You can tell?” Liam laughed. Maybe the cartoon kangaroo on his tee-shirt had been a bit of a giveaway.

Tim Morrison’s grey eyes held his as he leant forward confidingly. “I’ve been here a couple of years now. I’m pretty good with accents.”

“My turn to guess. You’re from the UK?”

“Scotland, aye,” his voice suddenly took on a lilt. “Originally. Then England.”

“A long way from home.”

“ Yeah, second son. My brother Gordon was always going to be the next laird of the castle so I decided I’d seek my fortune elsewhere.”

“You lived in a castle? You’re kidding right?” Liam was wide-eyed, imagining towers and turrets, set up high on a bleak mountain, or maybe at the edge of a loch.

“I wish!” Tim laughed, “Just a manner of speaking.”

His mind flashed back for an instant to the family he had left behind. Gordon had always been the favourite as well as the eldest. There had never been any question that he would take over the small pub when his father retired, despite the fact that Tim had been the one to complete the hotel management course with top grades.

He pressed ‘enter.’ “There, all done. You’re booked in for tomorrow.”

His warm smile changed into polite welcome as someone came up behind Liam.

“There you are,” said Sophie cheerfully and slung an arm over his shoulders. “I thought you’d been kidnapped or something. Ready for a drink yet?”

A shuttered expression came over Tim’s face. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said coolly.

“Damn!” thought Liam. Maybe the other man had been flirting with him after all. He turned away to follow Sophie, not at all certain how he felt about that.

Tim looked after him, condemnation in his eyes. He was almost positive Liam was gay. What on earth was he doing with a girlfriend? Was she his beard or was he fooling both of them, faking a relationship? Fuck! Until that moment he had really fancied him.