Tess gasped, then reached up impulsively to kiss Jonty’s cheek and promptly rubbed her mouth vigorously. ‘When did you last shave, Jonty Bell?’ she asked accusingly. ‘Don’t say you’re trying to grow a beard!’

Jonty gave her another squeeze, then put his arm round her and guided her towards the concourse. ‘I haven’t had much time to attend to my personal beauty lately,’ he said, grinning down at her. ‘We’ve all been busy with the preparations for the party, as well as our everyday work. But now you’re here I shall shave every morning and have a bath on Friday nights. I don’t think I smell because Pamela, being a nurse, is awful fussy and she’s not said I pong.’

‘I think you smell nice,’ Tess said dreamily, then pulled herself together. This was no way to behave with someone else’s boyfriend. She had been within a cat’s whisker of resting her head against his ancient tweed jacket, for the moment she had set eyes on him she had felt a rush of warmth and affection so strong that she thought he too must be aware of it. Now she pushed him away, half playful, half serious. ‘Oh, Jonty, you smell of stables and cowsheds and hay and straw . . . even a little bit of the horses. Oh, you’ve got a new car; very sporty.’

Jonty, unlocking the passenger door of a low-slung bright red vehicle, gave the seat a proprietorial pat. ‘That’s it. We call her Ginger, after Ginger Rogers,’ he said, and Tess, who knew him well, could hear the pride he was trying to conceal. As she climbed into the passenger seat a rather disturbing thought occurred to her, but she waited until Jonty was driving out into the road before voicing it.

‘Is Pamela on duty? She works at the Norfolk and Norwich, doesn’t she?’ she asked anxiously. ‘Will I meet her? Only no one puts their best bib and tucker on when travelling by train and I got pretty smutty and dirty one way and another . . .’

‘No, you won’t meet her this evening,’ Jonty said reassuringly. He drew up at the lights and cast a quick, comprehensive glance at her from top to toe; then grinned. ‘What odd creatures women are! That’s exactly what Pamela said: that she didn’t want to meet you for the first time wearing her nurse’s uniform.’

Tess leaned back in her seat with a relieved sigh. She told herself that of course she wanted to meet Pamela, but she knew she lied. From the moment that Jonty had put his arm round her she had known, without a shadow of a doubt, that he mattered more to her than anyone else on earth, even more than Gran, and definitely very much more than poor Snowy, though it was scarcely fair to think that since they had not seen one another for the past two years. For all she knew, as her feelings for Jonty had changed, so might her feelings for Snowy.