Read the book: «Doctor On Her Doorstep»

If she’d stayed still, quiet, then maybe he could have resisted her.

But he felt her fingers on his jaw, gently brushing the night’s stubble. Then she whispered his name and ripped every last thread of his resolve to tatters. His hands found her waist and she slid onto his lap. He kissed her, heat banking and flaring in his chest until his head began to swim.

If the first kiss could be explained away as a heat of the moment thing, the second trashed that particular excuse. They both knew exactly what they were doing. Her gaze was locked with his and he heard her murmur his name, felt her lips against his in a smile.

Adam poured everything he had, everything he was into the kiss, letting the long, slow beat of their passion take him.

Dear Reader

When I was planning this book, one of the things I pondered long and hard was where to set it. I wanted somewhere exciting, interesting, possibly a little challenging. Romantic, definitely. And although I’ve been to many places that would answer that description exactly, none of them quite seemed to fit the bill as the backdrop for this story.

The answer turned out to be in the very last place that I thought of looking: quite literally, right on my doorstep.

Like many big cities, London is a place of shifting populations. People come from all over the world—as tourists, to study, or to work—and Dr Adam Marshall is one of those people. He’s in London for a month, and soon he’ll be moving on.

Dr Jenna Weston knows just what it’s like to be left behind. She’s promised herself that she’s not going to allow her future to follow the pattern of her past, and that if she opens her heart again it’s going to be to someone who’ll stay with her. So right from the start Adam’s completely wrong for Jenna—despite the fact that his good looks and charm set her pulse racing.

Thank you for sharing Adam and Jenna’s story with me. I loved writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. I’m always delighted to hear from readers, and you can e-mail me via my website at www.annieclaydon.com

Annie

About the Author

Cursed from an early age with a poor sense of direction and a propensity to read, ANNIE CLAYDON spent much of her childhood lost in books. After completing her degree in English Literature, she indulged her love of romantic fiction and spent a long, hot summer writing a book of her own. It was duly rejected and life took over, with a series of U-turns leading in the unlikely direction of a career in computing and information technology. The lure of the printed page proved too much to bear, though and she now has the perfect outlet for the stories which have always run through her head, writing Medical^™ Romance for Mills and Boon. Living in London, a city where getting lost can be a joy, she has no regrets about having taken her time in working her way back to the place she started from.

Why not check out Annie’s fantastic debut?

ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS

Also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk

Doctor on

Her Doorstep

Annie Claydon

www.millsandboon.co.uk

There are so many people to thank.

My family and friends, who believed in me

with such certainty that sometimes I feared for their

sanity. The talented and lovely Medical Romance

writers, who have welcomed this new recruit to

their ranks with such warmth and kindness.

And last (but not least) the editorial team at

Harlequin Mills & Boon, especially Lucy Gilmour, who

has guided me with insight, patience and good humour

every step of the way. My heartfelt thanks to you all.

CHAPTER ONE

JENNA had been longing for this moment. She slid her car into the parking space outside the rambling Victorian house that had once been her family home and killed the ignition. A shower and a pizza were waiting for her inside and nothing now stood between her and the solitary, relaxing evening she had promised herself.

There was something, though. Someone to be more precise, and he was sitting on the steps, in the shade of the wide arch of the porch, his elbows propped on his knees, legs stretched out in front of him. His demeanour said he was waiting for someone, and since that someone was unlikely to be her, he must be another of Janice’s endless stream of boyfriends.

It was a shame, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Janice had moved out of the ground-floor flat three weeks ago, and if she hadn’t seen fit to share her forwarding address with him, then Jenna certainly wouldn’t. The best she could do for him was to take a contact number and promise to pass it on.

Okay. This won’t take long. Pity really. She didn’t like giving people the brush-off and there was something about his relaxed pose that said he was someone you’d like to spend time with. Jenna hauled the two heavy shopping bags out of the boot of her car and manoeuvred her way through the front gate, kicking it closed behind her, rather harder than she had meant to. The low sun dazzled her, and she was halfway down the front path before she could get a proper look at the stranger.

He looked like a rock star. Distressed leather jacket, jeans and boots. Light brown hair streaked with gold, which was just long enough to slick behind his ears, and the kind of tan you didn’t get from a two-week Easter break. His eyes were hidden behind dark glasses but the tilt of his head indicated that he was watching Jenna as she walked towards him and dumped her shopping bags at his feet.

‘Hello. Can I help you?’

‘I’m looking for Dr Weston.’

‘Oh! That’s me.’ Something crawled up Jenna’s spine, and she wondered whether a bug had got into her shirt. A bug that was somehow making her fingertips tingle as well.

‘I’m Adam Sinclair. Dr Greene told me he’d mentioned my name to you.’ His accent was English, but he’d obviously been in America for a while. Mid-Atlantic. Rolling between the familiar, cut-glass consonants of home and a heart-stopping drawl.

‘He said …’ Jenna gulped back the words. It wasn’t tactful to repeat what Rob Greene had said in his email. ‘I thought you weren’t going to arrive until next weekend.’ Jenna’s reflection stared back at her from the dark lenses of his glasses.

He seemed to realise that the sunglasses were unnerving her and he pulled them off, hooking them into the open neck of his shirt. ‘I flew in from America this morning, and I’m driving down to Exeter tonight for the week. I thought I’d swing by and try to see you on the way.’

His tawny gaze looked as if it had been kissed by the same sun as his hair and was a hundred times more unsettling. Jenna fixed her eyes on a point somewhere between the bridge of his nose and his hairline and issued a mental instruction to pull herself together. ‘That’s something of a detour. North London’s not exactly on the way from Heathrow to the M3.’

‘Well, I did say swing. Implies an arc.’ He shrugged off the twenty miles of crowded roads as if they were a minor obstacle. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘No.’ Jenna didn’t move. It wasn’t really a problem. He just wasn’t quite what she’d been expecting. To be absolutely honest, she wouldn’t have known how to expect someone like this, appearing out of nowhere, on her doorstep.

‘I should show you some ID.’ He’d mistaken her bewilderment for mistrust, and pulling his wallet out of his jacket pocket he opened it and handed it to her. Credit cards. A Florida driving licence. A photograph of a woman. Jenna closed the wallet and handed it back.

‘Thanks.’ She reached for her bags of shopping, but he got there first, picking them up as he got to his feet. ‘You’d better come inside.’

Adam followed her up the stairs to her flat in silence, keeping his distance as she opened her front door and waiting for her to motion him in. He followed her through to the kitchen and put her bags onto the counter.

‘I’ll just put my shopping away, and then show you the flat.’ Jenna threw her keys down on the countertop and slipped out of her jacket, rolling up the cuffs of the plain white shirt she wore underneath. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’

‘Tea would be nice, thanks.’ He had retreated back to stand in the doorway, obviously intent on not crowding her. ‘I’m getting the feeling that I’m not quite what you expected.’

He could say that again. ‘Well, actually, I somehow got the idea that you were a woman from Rob’s email. But it makes no difference.’

There was a whole world of difference in the wry grin that melted his chiselled good looks. No medical doctor had any business even being in possession of a smile like that, let alone using it.

‘Ah. Sorry about that. If you’d prefer not …’

‘It’s not a problem. Rob does tend to write as if he’s being charged by the word.’ Rob’s characteristically staccato email had, as usual, provided more questions than answers. Travelling alone, concerns about hotel. Security and quiet needed. Speak on return from hols. Rob wasn’t back for another week and in the meantime Jenna had jumped to the conclusion that Dr Sinclair was a woman.

‘Yeah. When Ellie was born he emailed me a photo of her and Cassie, and wrote “7 lbs. Beautiful” underneath. I sent him a text demanding details and he replied “Girl”.’

Jenna snorted with laughter. ‘He sent you a photo? You were honoured, most of us just got “Born” with a couple of exclamation marks. You’ve known Rob a while, then, as Ellie’s nearly five.’

‘Ever since med school. Ellie was born just after I went abroad.’ He gave her a confiding grin and Jenna hung on to the countertop for support. ‘If it wasn’t for Cassie I’d never know what he was up to, though. She sends photos, letters. Even had a copy made of that drawing they have in their sitting room of Ellie and Daisy.’

He was clearly aware that she was alone in the house, and was trying to drop as many reassuring details into the conversation as he could. By chance, the reference turned out to be particularly appropriate. ‘That sketch is one of mine. Cassie asked me to do a second copy for a friend who was overseas.’ Someone who was going through a tough time, Cassie had said.

Laughter escaped his studied reserve. ‘Really? That drawing is remarkable, I have it hung in my study at home. It always makes me smile.’

It was only a pencil sketch. Jenna had been pleased with how it had turned out, but it was nothing all that special. He seemed to want to say more, but she cut him short before he got the chance. ‘I hear Florida’s a beautiful part of the world. What do you do there?’ Jenna opened the refrigerator and started to stack her shopping away.

‘I’m a plastic surgeon.’

So this was the image that sold nose jobs and liposuction to the rich, was it? Adam probably did pretty well out of it. Jenna reckoned that a good percentage of the female population would go through hell, high water and even general anaesthesia to see approval in Adam Sinclair’s face.

Taking advantage of the fact that the open fridge door hid her from him, Jenna rolled her eyes. ‘And that’s what you’re going to be lecturing on?’

‘Yes. I was looking to spend some time back in the UK and when I got the offer of a month here as a visiting lecturer, I jumped at it. I’m spending a week visiting family, and I’ll be back here on Sunday week for my first lecture.’

‘On a Sunday? It’s a public lecture, then.’ Not that she was even vaguely interested.

‘Yeah. Three o’clock in the Fleming Lecture Theatre.’

He didn’t invite her to come, and Jenna didn’t express any interest in doing so. Instead, she straightened up, flashing him a brisk smile. ‘I’ll make the tea and take you downstairs to see the flat.’ Perhaps she’d been too harsh in judging him. Okay, so Adam wasn’t a woman. That was hardly his fault, neither was it a crime, although that smile of his ought to be kept under house arrest. If he chose to use his talents and an expensive education to carry out largely unnecessary surgery, that was a matter for his own conscience. He was what he was.

As a sign of penitence she picked up a packet of chocolate biscuits, along with her mug and the keys to the ground-floor flat, before leading him down the stairs. ‘I’ve just had the walls done, and it stinks of paint at the moment, but it’ll air out by next week.’

‘That’s fine. I just want somewhere to stay. Rob offered to put me up, but with two children and another one on the way he doesn’t have the room. And I don’t like hotels much.’

‘No. Rob mentioned that.’ Jenna led the way into the lounge and plumped herself down on the dust sheet that covered the sofa.

‘He did?’ The look he shot her was half-wary. Three-quarters guilty.

‘In passing. I don’t much like hotels either.’ It wasn’t her business. Jenna reached for the biscuits as a change of subject, opening the packet and offering him one. ‘Why don’t you take a look around? There isn’t much furniture, I’m afraid, just the basics.’

‘That’s what I like about it.’ He ignored the biscuits and walked over to the window, drawing the shutters back to let the evening sun spill into the room, slanting across the walls and floor. ‘And there’s plenty of light.’ He turned to Jenna. ‘This will be fine, if that’s okay with you.’

‘Don’t you want to look at the rest?’

‘Should I?’ He gave her a quizzical look, and Jenna felt the back of her neck begin to burn.

‘It’s the usual practice. I’ll stay here if you don’t mind.’ She felt awkward under his gaze, the way the corners of his mouth twitched slightly when he looked at her spare frame and her dark red hair, scraped back off her face and secured tightly at the back of her head. His profession, and those smouldering tawny eyes, seemed to make a constant, unspoken judgement of her.

‘So you’re not going to come with me and point out the finer features of the property?’

‘No, I take a relaxed approach. Drink tea and let you show yourself around.’

He chuckled. ‘Fine. I can take a hint.’ He disappeared out into the hallway, the sound of his footsteps indicating his progress around the flat. He was back again almost before she could extract a second biscuit from the packet. ‘One of the doors is locked.’

‘Ah, yes. That’s the second bedroom. My last tenant went to Spain to work and she’s left some of her stuff here for me to send on when she gets settled. I can clear the boxes out if you want that room, but the main bedroom’s through here.’ Jenna led him the full length of the hallway and opened the door.

He strode inside and looked around. ‘Big room.’ He sat down on the bed. ‘Decent mattress. That’s a real bonus.’

‘I think you’ll find that’s my line. As I’m here, I’ll also point out that there’s plenty of cupboard space.’

‘Which would be my cue to look inside.’

‘Absolutely. Let me know if you find any skeletons. I don’t think Janice left any behind, but you never can be sure.’

Adam opened the doors wide, inspecting the interior of the wardrobe. The smile that was playing around his lips broadened when Jenna jumped as he flinched back suddenly. ‘Nope. She must have taken them all with her.’

‘Well, that’s a relief.’ Jenna brushed a few crumbs from the front of her shirt. ‘What do you think, then?’

His eyes travelled around the bedroom. ‘May I see the other room, please? The one that’s locked.’

‘Of course.’ Jenna led the way down the hallway. ‘This room’s a little smaller and there isn’t so much cupboard space. I like it better, though, there are doors out on to the patio and you get the early morning sun.’ Most tenants preferred the extra cupboard space.

The soft leather of his jacket brushed against her arm as he walked past her into the room. ‘I like it too. Would it be okay if I swapped the boxes over to the main bedroom and brought the bed through here?’

Jenna shrugged. ‘I’ll do that some time next week for you.’

He shook his head. ‘No. I’ll do it.’ He didn’t wait for her answer and turned to walk over to the French doors, staring out into the garden. ‘Big garden. What’s the area at the end there that’s attracting the butterflies?’

Her beloved butterfly garden. Jenna was both pleased and slightly embarrassed that he’d noticed it. ‘That’s part of the garden too. My grandfather and I planted it when I was little. There are herbs and shrubs to attract the butterflies, but it’s getting a bit out of control now.’

‘So this was your family home?’

‘Yes. It was my grandparents’ house. I split it into two flats after they died. I was a student then and the income came in handy.’ He nodded as if he understood, but there was no way that he could have done. Jenna herself didn’t fully understand what had happened with her parents.

‘You lived with your grandparents?’

‘Yes, I’ve lived here since I was ten.’

He said nothing. Jenna began to wish that either she’d not said so much or that he would question her more. Anything but this half-story, which he seemed to accept so unquestioningly. Or maybe it wasn’t acceptance. Maybe he simply didn’t care.

Adam turned away from the window and followed her through to the sitting room. ‘So, do we get to haggle over the rent now?’

She’d rather he didn’t. That way he had of quirking his eyebrow gave him an unfair advantage. ‘It’s seven hundred for the month. I’ll stock the fridge up for you.’

‘You will not. Seven hundred pounds is daylight robbery, this place is worth twice that. I may have been away for a while, but I haven’t lost touch with London property prices.’

‘I keep the rent low so I can pick and choose who I have here. Anyway, you can’t haggle upwards.’

‘Why not?’ He lifted one eyebrow.

‘You just can’t. I won’t have it.’

He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘Okay. Done.’ Adam reached into his jacket and brought out his wallet. ‘Would you like a deposit?’

‘Not particularly. The place is empty anyway.’

‘Fair enough.’ He picked his mug of tea up from the coffee table and took a final swig. ‘I’d better get back on the road, then, and leave you to get on with your supper.’

Jenna flushed. He’d noticed that she was already on her third chocolate biscuit and was regarding the packet pointedly. So what? She was on her feet all day in a busy A and E department, not sitting in a leather chair behind a swanky desk, and she worked up an appetite. And she might not have curves, but at least her figure owed nothing to silicone. ‘Thanks. I’ll see you in a week’s time, then.’

CHAPTER TWO

SUNDAY morning. Ten-thirty. Jenna should have been drinking tea and reading the paper, but instead she was studying the street outside. A car drew up and she twitched the muslin curtains back into place, stepping away from the big bay windows.

The bell sounded when she was halfway down the stairs. As soon as she opened the door, a four-year-old bundle of energy launched itself at her.

‘Hello, Ellie. Did you have a nice holiday?’ She nodded at Rob and crooked her finger at him. ‘Come in. You’ve got some explaining to do.’

Nothing was going to dent Rob’s good humour this morning or dim the violent hue of his Cornwall Surfers T-shirt. He followed Jenna up the stairs, replying indulgently to Ellie’s chatter, and flung himself into an armchair while Jenna fetched some juice, a pad of paper and a box of assorted pencils and crayons for Ellie.

‘Don’t give her that pad, Jen. She’ll only make a mess of it.’ Rob was looking at the thick, white cartridge paper that Jenna had put in front of Ellie.

Jenna nodded at Ellie, who was smoothing her hand across the pad. ‘You’re never too young to be able to appreciate the texture of nice paper.’ She bent and tore one of the thick sheets from the pad, clipping it on to a board for Ellie, and selected a soft pencil from the box. ‘Here you are, sweetie, try using this.’

Rob rolled his eyes. ‘Well, if she turns out to be the next Picasso, then I suppose we’ll have you to thank. Look, sorry about the mix-up last week.’

‘We managed.’ Jenna walked through to the kitchen to make some tea and Rob followed her. ‘You might have told me, though.’

‘Well, it’s a bit tricksy, you know how these things are.’

‘No, not really, not until you tell me.’

‘Okay, well, Adam’s a decent bloke. One of the best people I’ve ever known, in fact, but he’s not had it easy these last eighteen months. I’ve been trying to find him somewhere to stay where he can have some peace and quiet, get back on his feet.’ Rob shrugged. ‘Tactfully, you know?’

Rob was no good at tact, he usually left that kind of thing to Cassie. ‘Which explains all that cloak-and-dagger stuff in your email.’

‘Yeah.’ Rob brightened. ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ It wasn’t it at all. There was a whole list of other questions that sprang to mind.

‘So he’s not staying with you and Cass?’

‘No. We offered, of course, but he says that we’ve no room. And what with Cass being pregnant and everything …’ They both jumped as the doorbell went. If that was Adam, he was early.

‘Can you get the intercom?’ Jenna reached up into the kitchen cabinet for another cup. ‘And don’t worry. He’ll be fine here, and I’ll keep an eye on him.’

‘Thanks, Jen.’

Rob disappeared out of the kitchen and Jenna gave the teapot a swirl, even though she’d already done so once, and dumped it down on the tray. It would have helped if she knew what on earth she was meant to be keeping an eye out for, but Cassie would be a much better bet than Rob when it came to straight answers.

The commotion in the hallway indicated that the object of her speculation had arrived and that he was being greeted by both Ellie and her father at the same time, the child squealing with laughter and demanding a hug.

Jenna popped her head around the kitchen doorway. He was a picture of health and good humour, tanned, taller and broader than Rob and grinning as he lifted Ellie up so she could fling her arms around his neck. No trace of whatever it was that Rob was so concerned about.

‘Hello, there.’ His head jerked upwards as Jenna spoke.

‘Hi.’ He came forward, still carrying Ellie, who looked as if she was going to have to be prised away from him with a crowbar. ‘I hope we’re not crashing in on your morning.’

‘Not at all. Welcome back.’ She held her hand out to him, and he took it, his touch cool, measured. He seemed to be less careful about keeping his distance now that he was not alone with her, and held on to her hand for one moment too long before Jenna pulled hers back again.

‘Where is my present?’ Ellie was demanding now, beating her hands against his shoulders.

‘In a minute, honey. We’ll just collect the keys from Jenna and get out of her hair first.’ He was smooth, she’d give him that. Perfect poise. Nothing but easy charm.

‘I’ve just made tea.’ Jenna waved him into the sitting room. ‘And Ellie’s been doing some drawing, I expect you’ll be wanting to see that. Let her open her present here if she’d like to.’

When she brought the tea in, Ellie was already working on the package that Adam had given her. Pink paper on the outside, a pretty bow and layer upon layer of paper underneath, firmly bound with sticky tape.

‘Hope it lives up to all this anticipation.’ Rob was making no move to help his daughter as she whooped with delighted frustration, trying to rip the parcel open.

‘Me, too.’ Adam too was letting Ellie get on with the task of unwrapping her present unaided. ‘So how was the holiday? Catch any waves?’

‘Fabulous. We were on the north coast, and the hotel was close to this great little surf beach, so I could go out first thing in the morning and make it back in time for breakfast.’

‘Nice one. You’ll have to come back to Florida soon.’ Adam accepted a mug of tea from Jenna, taking a grateful sip.

‘We will. You can sit on the beach with Cassie and the kids and I’ll show you how it’s done.’

‘Yeah, right, in your dreams.’ He shot a bright grin at Jenna. ‘Takes more than a hideous T-shirt to make a surfer. What was Cassie thinking, letting you go out in that?’

Rob laughed. ‘She reckons that if I go out in it then she won’t have to put up with it around the house.’ He ran his hand over the garishly coloured fabric. ‘What, don’t you like it?’

Ellie’s delighted squeal meant that Adam never did get to deliver his verdict. She’d reached the inside of the package and was holding up a string of beads.

‘Aren’t they pretty?’ Ellie brought the beads to Jenna to show her and when she examined them carefully she could see they were hand painted, each one different.

‘I got them in Mexico.’ Adam watched as Jenna carefully wound the beads around Ellie’s neck for her, nodding with approval. ‘You look beautiful, honey.’

Ellie was climbing up on the sofa, between Adam and Rob, to catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror over the fireplace, and Rob tugged at her sleeve. ‘What else have you got, then, El?’ He gestured to the folded fabric that still lay amongst the ruins of the wrapping paper.

Ellie pulled the fabric out, turned it around a couple of times then held it up against herself, and Jenna caught a glimpse of colourful embroidery on a white cotton background.

‘It’s a bit big, isn’t it, mate?’ Rob was surveying his daughter. ‘She’ll be sixteen before she grows into that.’

‘No, idiot. It’s a dress.’ Jenna smoothed the fabric and held it against Ellie. It was roomy, but the drawstring at the waist meant that it could be adjusted to fit her perfectly.

‘Can I wear it?’ Ellie was jumping up and down with excitement.

‘Not until you’ve said the magic word.’ Rob smiled at her.

Ellie launched herself at Adam, nearly knocking his tea over and flung her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. ‘Oh, that’s nice … Can I have another one? Right here?’ His finger was on his other cheek and Ellie obliged eagerly. ‘Thank you.’

‘I drew you a picture.’ Ellie’s hands were on Adam’s shoulder, pulling as hard as she could, and Jenna saw alarm flare in Rob’s face.

‘Gently, El. Adam’s shoulder isn’t properly mended yet.’

Adam waved him away. ‘I’d love to see your picture, Ellie, will you show me?’

Ellie fetched her drawing and climbed up onto Adam’s knee. ‘That’s Mum … and Dad … me and Daisy … and that’s you.’ Her finger was moving across the paper.

‘That’s very good. And who’s this, up there?’

Ellie shook her head, as if the stupidity of adults never ceased to amaze her. ‘That’s your friend. Mum says she’s in heaven.’

Rob’s face tightened, but Adam’s smile never faltered. ‘That’s lovely, honey. I’m so pleased you drew her too, along with the rest of us.’

‘Will you tell her?’

‘Ellie …’ There was a note of anxiety in Rob’s voice but Adam’s glance quieted him.

‘Of course I’ll tell her. She’ll be so happy, I expect she’ll tell all her friends up there.’

Ellie glared up at the ceiling and nodded, as if satisfied. ‘Can I wear my dress?’

This time Adam allowed Rob to step in. ‘Not yet, El. We’ve got some things to move around downstairs and I don’t want you getting it all dirty. Later on, when we’ve finished.’

The circular face that Ellie had drawn, giving no hint of who Adam’s friend might really be, released its grip on Jenna’s attention and she bumped back down to earth. ‘Oh, no, that’s okay, I already did that.’

Adam’s gaze was on her now, so palpable that it almost tickled her skin. ‘You did what?’

‘I moved the boxes and the bed. And put a few things in the fridge, just essentials, to keep you going until tomorrow.’

His eyes slid down her thin bare arms, and her fingers jerked in her lap. ‘On your own? I thought I said I’d do that.’

Rob came to her rescue. Kind of. ‘What I love about this woman is that you can say anything you like to her, and she’ll hear you, but she won’t listen. Eh, Jen?’

Adam pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘In that case, perhaps I can just put my bag downstairs and take you all to lunch before my lecture.’ He glanced at Ellie, his face breaking into a smile. ‘Go and ask your dad if you can wear your new dress.’

The dress fitted perfectly. Adam and Rob had disappeared downstairs with the keys, while Jenna stripped off Ellie’s jeans and T-shirt and drew the dress over her head, running her fingers over the hand embroidery and arranging it just so.

‘Can I have some perfume?’ Ellie was obviously keen on playing the lady.

‘No, you know what your mum says about perfume.’ Ellie’s idea of a dab behind her ears was to tip half a bottle of Cassie’s anniversary gift over her head. ‘Tell you what, this is much better.’

She trimmed a couple of stalks of lavender from the bunch in the fireplace and tied them firmly with a ribbon from the drawer. ‘Here, I’ll fix it onto your dress … like this … and you’ll smell nice and look nice as well.’ She leaned back and admired her handiwork. Ellie looked beautiful.

‘Are you going to dress up, too?’ Ellie had unpinned Jenna’s hair and was arranging it around her shoulders.

‘No, I’m fine as I am.’ Jenna looked down at her jeans and cotton, sleeveless top. This was about as good as it got, and however much she wanted to make an effort to look nice today she wasn’t going to do anything that might betray that to either Rob or Adam.

‘Perfect.’ Adam’s voice boomed behind her and she jumped. He obviously meant Ellie.

‘Doesn’t she look pretty?’ She flashed a smile at him.

‘Yes, she looks perfect, too.’ His mouth twisted in a smile as Jenna flushed. ‘Thank you for the flowers.’

She’d arranged lavender and sweet-smelling greenery in a vase, putting it downstairs in the hearth to break up the stark, white walls and bring a little of the garden into the flat. And he’d noticed them. ‘They’re not really flowers.’