‘You’d do better standing at the bar.’ Bronwyn frowned at Drew. ‘Young Maddy’s got enough problems.’ She hustled away to remove Bernie from the attentions of a mini-skirted stable girl, leaving Drew and Maddy helpless with laughter.

Maddy wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. ‘Oh well, if I am pregnant, we’ll know who to blame, won’t we?’

‘It’ll look good on the birth certificate, I must say.’ Drew grinned. ‘Father – teak veneered circular table.’ He suddenly became serious. ‘Maddy, if you are –’

‘Don’t!’ Maddy raised her eyes in horror. ‘I’m not superstitious, but even so …’ She swallowed. ‘Look, I won’t be, so don’t talk about it, Drew. Please.’

So he didn’t. He talked about horses, and The Derby, and briefly about travel arrangements.

‘The village hires an open-topped bus,’ said Maddy. ‘Everyone who isn’t actually involved travels down on Derby morning. Bronwyn makes egg and bacon rolls and we have Buck’s Fizz.’

Drew frowned. ‘So is that the way you normally go to The Derby? On the bus? I would have thought that when you and Mr Knightley were together he would have chauffeured you in whichever penis-substitute car he happened to own at the time.’

Maddy giggled. It was a combination of three quarters of the whisky and being in love and the joy of Drew’s description. ‘Peter never went to The Derby, but I suppose he might this year, if he’s intending to impress Stacey and Jeff Henley with his social standing.’

‘I invited you to come with me, but now I don’t think that would be a good idea. I just wanted to make sure that you would be there.’

‘Oh, yes. Definitely. I couldn’t miss it, could I? Don’t worry, Drew, Caroline will be your partner, not me.’

He looked at her bleakly for a moment, then sighed. ‘I’ve asked you out twice, and each time Caroline has got in the way.’

‘Hello, both.’ Kimberley beamed hugely through a schooner of gin. ‘That’s the baby table, Maddy. Did you know?’

‘Bronwyn’s just reminded me, thanks.’

‘Good-oh.’ Kimberley leaned forward in a cloud of Rive Gauche, which was completely out of character. Maddy wondered if she’d doused herself in it for Drew’s sake and hoped not. ‘Maybe I ought to sit there myself, what with the old biological clock ticking away and all that. I’ve just been talking to Suzy, and she tells me –’