His host grimaced in sympathy, but his deep blue eyes twinkled. “Tip it is, then. I’m Steve.”
Bloody typical. Not only was Steve unbelievably good-looking, he had a perfectly sensible name to boot. He’d probably turn out to be rich and intelligent, with a fantastic career in brain surgery or fashion photography or both. Although probably not in beekeeping, which had been the number one of Tip’s three dream careers as a kid. For some reason, everyone always laughed when Tip told them that.
“Meet a lot of tortoise shape-shifters, do you?” Tip asked, unable to keep a sullen tone out of his voice and to be honest, not really trying. “You seem to be taking this awfully well.”
Steve smiled and sat up, one broad shoulder brushing Tip’s in disconcerting fashion. “Well, my family’s from the island originally—one of my ancestors was the first landlord of the Hare and Hounds pub up on Arreton down. I spent a lot of time here as a kid—you kind of get used to unusual things happening.”