He put his hand on top of hers. ‘Shall we call the cheese on toast a starter? Shall I cook you supper? Nothing fancy. Only with what I happen to have in the fridge and the cupboard, of course.’

‘I’ll go and get what I’ve got in my fridge. There’s some chorizo and some lovely little tomatoes.’

‘Excellent!’

On the way back to her studio Helena found herself thinking about her mother and Leo. He had escorted her to lovely places and her mother seemed to really like him. But would he make her happy in the long term? She’d feel a lot less worried when she’d found out why he’d been driving so fast that day, when he’d nearly killed her and her mother.

She wasn’t going to ask Jago what he’d managed to discover though, not tonight. Tonight she was just going to have a nice meal and a couple of glasses of wine with a man who threatened to become more than just a good friend in her heart. Which was fine, as long as no one ever found out about the heart bit.

Gilly was a bit taken aback by how quickly William’s aunts got their act together to arrange their mini-coach tour. She had hardly had time to change the sheets on their beds before Daphne was on the phone looking for dates.

‘We can come next weekend, if you could have us,’ Daphne said. ‘And have supper with you, too.’

Gilly looked at the diary and decided she could do that if she moved the one booking she had to her bed-and-breakfast friend.

‘Um – I wouldn’t be able to cook dinner if I was showing you the sights. Maybe—’

‘Yes, you would!’ said Daphne, not to be gainsaid. ‘Just do a casserole and put it in the range cooker. You could serve it with rice. I find that packet rice you put in the microwave very easy.’

Gilly couldn’t help smiling. Daphne was obviously one of those people who was used to getting their own way. ‘Well, it couldn’t be an extensive tour of the Cotswolds …’

‘We wouldn’t want that. We’re too old for too much culture. So we can come? Oh,’ Daphne added, ‘and we think William should drive. And we need a minibus so we have plenty of room. Now that’s sorted, I must go. See you soon!’

The moment Daphne had said goodbye Gilly rang William.

‘William!’ she said as soon as she was through. ‘I think Daphne is being a bit unreasonable!’

‘Only a bit? She must be on some new medication.’

Gilly laughed. ‘Seriously! She wants you to drive a minibus round the country for her and the rest of the gang.’ She paused, distracted. ‘Is there a collective noun for aunts, do you think?’