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David frowned at him and interjected. “Yes, a cable must have been cut when they were setting up the festival. Wi-Fi seems to be down all around the district.”

She looked at him curiously. “Do you live here all the time or are you on holiday?”

“I live here some of the time. Why?”

“I was wondering if you could recommend a plumber. There seems to be no water at the cottage.”

“No, I couldn’t.” His voice was terse and he obviously didn’t want to talk to her. Megan moved her leg away, trying to ignore the warmth of his jean-clad thigh close to hers.

Moody bastard. She’d shared her table on his request. If he couldn’t be civil, he could go find another table.

While he stared away in the distance, the other two men engaged her in conversation for a few minutes. To her relief all of their meals arrived at the same time.

She wouldn’t have to stay and be polite too long. The last thing she felt like was being sociable in a pub; even if it was an English pub and a beautiful afternoon.

“So you’re here for the festival?” Bear looked at her across his bowl of chips and she was aware of David pausing as she answered.

“Yes, I’m here to do some research for my thesis,” she replied.

“We can get you some backstage passes if you want.” Bear winked at her and took a swig of his second pint of beer.

“No, thank you. Mr. Morgan here has already made me a few offers, which I’ve rejected.”

Bear slapped his thigh and his booming laugh sounded around the garden, and a few heads turned. “Was he rude to you? He tries to keep this bad-boy rock star thing going.”

Megan looked at David to gauge his mood but his expression was inscrutable. “Let’s just say, I know that David doesn’t like having neighbours.”

“Well, that’s because—”

“Bear.” David’s voice was clipped and the other man stopped talking immediately. “Put a lid on it. You’ve had too much beer in the sun.”

After a moment, Bear dropped his eyes and muttered into his drink. “Sorry. Forgot when we were.”

“Where we were,” David said loudly.

“Yeah, where we were.”

Megan gathered up the paper her sandwich had been wrapped in and stood. “I’ll leave you to it. It was nice to meet you .”

Actually it was decidedly unpleasant; the friendly conversation had ceased and the atmosphere had become uncomfortable, but they could still help her out with a bit of local knowledge.

“Do you know where I would find a phone that works or an Internet connection that hasn’t been affected by the cut cable?”

She was surprised to notice a furtive glance between the two men, who both turned to David.

“You really need to get access?” His voice was reluctant.

“I need to check my e-mail and call home. My cell is dead and I need to buy a power adapter.” She expelled her breath and continued. “It’s not life-threatening, but I do really need to check on a situation that I left at home before I left Australia.”

“Man trouble?” David stood and shook the crumbs from his shirt.

“No, I don’t have ‘man’ trouble.” Her voice was terse.

For goodness sake, was the man focused on sex?

“I have an issue at work to sort out.” Megan gathered up her grocery parcels and turned to him before she walked away. She lifted her chin and stared at him. “Luckily it’s only men who base everything on sex or the world would be in chaos.”

Bear and Slim burst out laughing and she nodded at them.