‘Come on, let me take over.’ David was sounding a bit like the old solicitous husband she was missing. ‘Take a coffee and go and sit down in the orangery. The sun’s round there already.’ His smile of concern warmed her more than any sun could. Maybe things were all right after all.

‘Mum! Meredith!’ Sophie burst excitedly into the salon of their shared apartment. ‘I’ve had this really great idea!’

Meredith smiled to herself. She often encountered youthful enthusiasm in business back home – no, it wasn’t home any more, she reminded herself with a slight shock, this was home now – and it usually had to be treated tactfully, since it tended to be unworkable or even illegal.

‘To get the château noticed I think we should come up with some kind of introductory offer. We could it give a clever name – I don’t know, Launched with Love maybe . . .’

‘You mean a cheap deal?’ Jo enquired. ‘Because if so, I think that would be a mistake. We need to have an exclusive image – “Your own château for a day”, that sort of thing. To start pricing ourselves too low usually leads to a lot of problems in my experience.’

‘And in my experience your problem is you’re always too cautious, Mum.’ Meredith could see Sophie’s spark of resentment, swiftly extinguished.

‘That’s because I’ve had to learn to be,’ flashed back Jo.

Clearly working with a mother and daughter was going to have its issues, Meredith noted. ‘Come on, gals, bear in mind what the old duke said.’

‘What did the old duke say? Apart from Thank Heaven for Leetle Girls?’ Sophie demanded. ‘No, sorry, that was just the way he looked at me.’

‘We’re in the happiness business, remember?’

Ten

Steph sat in the tiny cubbyhole off the kitchen and stared glumly at her screen. Summer bookings were definitely down on last year. She sipped her coffee, wondering what on earth they could do about it. Maybe Sophie, who understood the digital world of Airbnb and Booking.com better than she did, might have some bright ideas.

She was about to turn off her laptop when she noticed an email from her sister Veronica. What on earth was that about? Veronica never just got in touch with chatty news about the family. She must want something. Probably, knowing Ronnie, free accommodation.

Steph and Ronnie had a rather prickly relationship, partly because fifteen years ago her sister had thrown away a perfectly good husband on the pretext that he was too dull and wouldn’t do anything or go anywhere – whereas she, Ronnie, was a colourful and vibrant creature who needed change and excitement and expensive holidays (mainly funded by dull Derek). Then, when Derek had quite quickly found a replacement in his doting assistant, Ronnie had done nothing but moan. She had been moaning about it ever since.