And then it happened. In what seemed like slow motion, Dan unwrapped his arms from around her, stepped back and dropped to one knee. There were people walking across the bridge; some stepped around him with a tut, but others saw what was going on and stopped, indulgent smiles forming on their lips.

Jeannie blinked. No, wait. Was this … what she thought it was? Her heart thudded against her ribs. Was Dan going to propose? She hadn’t even dared imagine this moment, and now she was in the middle of it. A proposal … that was a moment that only happened once. In your whole life.

Suddenly Jeannie felt dizzy, as if Dan had taken her to the edge of the bridge.

‘Jeannie McCarthy,’ Dan was saying, and now the passers-by had stopped, gathering into clumps along the sidewalk. ‘I know we’ve only known each other for five months, but they’ve been the happiest five months of my life. Will you marry me?’

Manhattan rose behind Dan like a second, bigger crowd of well-wishers, smiling at the lovers, twinkling its lights like stars. Phone cameras were surreptitiously raised; breath was held. Jeannie felt as if all New York was waiting for her response.

Dan gazed up at her with those melting blue eyes. He was gorgeous, intelligent, and he’d flown her to New York to propose. Jeannie shook herself. What more could she ask for? What more did she want?

Her mouth opened before she had time to answer that in her head.

‘Yes!’ she said, and everyone on the bridge applauded.

UNEXPECTED LESSONS IN LOVE

Lucy Dillon

Jeannie always wanted to fall in love, and now she’s finally got the whirlwind romance she dreamed of. Dan’s gorgeous, he’s a successful young vet, and he flew her to New York and proposed on Brooklyn Bridge. Jeannie has to remind herself this is actually her life. It seems too perfect, too magical, to be real. Yet it is.

But now she’s on her way to the wedding she can’t shake off the tight sensation crushing her chest. Is it just nerves … or is this all happening a bit too fast?

Jeannie has one last chance to shout, ‘Stop!’ But just as she grabs it, a bizarre twist of fate throws everything she knows into the air like confetti. What Jeannie learns about Dan, about her own heart, and about the power of love itself, will change her world for ever …

‘Real, heart-breaking – I loved it’

Katie Fforde

WHERE THE LIGHT GETS IN

Lucy Dillon

If Lorna’s learnt one thing recently, it’s that courage is something you paint on like red lipstick, even when you’re panicking inside. And right now, with the keys to Longhampton’s gallery in her hand, Lorna feels about as courageous as Rudy, the anxious dachshund trembling beside her.