Or that she was afraid she was coming to feel more for him than he’d ever be able to reciprocate.

Her parents loved her, she knew that, but when they’d brought her up to be self-sufficient and independent they’d done it for a reason and she never cried on their shoulders. Instead, she signed off, Hope you’re having a great time in Namibia. Lots of love, Clancy xxxxx

Finally, after a luscious salad that she hardly tasted and a glass of wine to make up for the one she hadn’t drunk at the Roundhouse, Clancy shut down her laptop and prepared to drive home through a starry evening with a bright half-moon scooting across the sky half on its back. In no hurry, she looked about her as she drove sedately through Titchwell, then turned right through the pinewoods, tree trunks flashing past in her headlights. Enjoying the peaceful purr of the engine as she rose up Long Climb, she eased into the elbow bend that led into the village.

Illuminated, as she straightened the vehicle up, were a man and woman, barely an inch between them, her face turned up to his.

Luckily, Clancy was able to react fast enough to spin her steering wheel to the right and jink wildly around them, braking to check back shakily in her rear-view mirror, not sure she’d seen what she’d thought she had.

But now both faces were turned her way and it was unmistakeable.

Alice and Lee.

She completed the final hundred yards to the Roundhouse, parked and beeped the car locked, wishing she could unsee what she’d seen. Because then she wouldn’t be put in a dilemma about whether to keep it from Aaron.

Under her breath, she cursed Alice.

She went straight to her room, casting a disdainful look at Hugo sleeping on the sofa in front of a reality show. It was barely ten minutes later when a gentle tap fell on her door. She’d put off undressing in the expectation of this moment. With a sigh, she opened the door and let her cousin inside. She didn’t ask Alice why she’d come because they both knew.

Alice’s cheeks were pink, her eyes glittering, apparently over her tipsiness of the early evening. ‘Lee doesn’t want his family to know yet,’ she whispered, wearing a beseeching puppy-dog gaze.

Clancy sighed. ‘I don’t suppose you want Hugo to know either, do you? What the fuck are you doing, Alice?’

Alice tried to stroke Clancy’s arm. ‘Don’t be angry. We’re only talking … at the moment.’

Clancy pulled away, crossing to the window, staring out at the inky black sky with its spangling of pinprick lights and wishing life were simpler. ‘So you’re asking me to keep a secret from Aaron? Not very fair, Alice.’

‘But you and I are cousins!’ Alice sounded faintly shocked. No doubt she’d thought this little interview was a formality, that Clancy would unhesitatingly see things her way.

‘You only remember that when it suits you.’ Clancy lowered her gaze to the street lamps that curved away up Long Lane in the direction of Potato Hall Row. ‘Seems as if you’ve been talking about my private affairs freely enough.’