‘It’s lack of sleep,’ Maddy said, leaning against her bike in the rain. ‘Newmarket was wild. I’m getting too old for weekend-long partying.’

‘Don’t tell me – I’m already jealous. It’s yonks since I had any fun.’ Kimberley wiped her face with a large red

handkerchief. ‘I wish I could have been there.’

‘So do I.’ Maddy could feel the rain penetrating her cheap cotton jacket. ‘I could have done with a friend. I felt very much the odd one out. Fran was with Richard, and Suzy was all over Luke like a rash.’

‘Serious, is it?’ The raindrops on Kimberley’s round face looked like tears.

‘Sickeningly so. Not suitable viewing for unattached ladies like us, I’m afraid. We have to gain our fun from things like Bronwyn’s meetings. You will be there this evening?’ Maddy shivered. ‘Apparently, she’s commandeered the village hall.’

Kimberley nodded. ‘Definitely. Unlike a lot of the others, I actually grew up here. I climbed trees in the spinney as a girl, scrumped apples from Maynards Orchard. It’s a beautiful area of natural woodland and I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it. Bloody Peter Knightley won’t get his hands on it if I can help it!’

‘Oh good.’ Maddy grinned, flicking rain from her bicycle saddle. ‘We can expect a few fireworks, then.’

‘Just a few. Oh, my head’s like the proverbial sieve. I knew there was some snippet of goss I had to tell you. Apparently Caroline Fitzgerald went back to Jersey last night.’

Maddy cycled out of Kimberley Weston’s yard wearing a broad smile, all the loneliness of the Guineas festival swept away in an instant.

As she skidded to a halt outside her cottage, Drew was walking head down against the slanting rain, across Peapods’ cobbled yard. Maddy watched him covetously through the raindrops. Even from a distance he made her stomach turn over. Unlike the other trainers in Milton St John, Drew didn’t wear the uniform of Barbour and chequered cap. His hair, sleekly black in the rain, was plastered to his forehead, his long legs were encased in tight faded denim, and the collar of his battered brown flying jacket was turned up against the storm. Maddy thought he looked glorious.

He glanced up, and spotting the bicycle, changed direction.

‘You’ve been avoiding me since the party.’ His eyes flashed as he approached her. ‘Haven’t you?’

‘Of course not,’ she lied, smiling. ‘I suppose our paths haven’t crossed, that’s all. We’ve both been busy. You went up to Yorkshire, so I believe. I’ve been to Newmarket, and –’

‘Crap. You were supposed to be cleaning Peapods on Friday afternoons. I waited for you last week. I got a skinny blonde.’

‘Jackie.’ Maddy nodded. ‘She casuals for me. I, er, couldn’t fit it in. She was all right, wasn’t she?’

‘Excellent. But she wasn’t you. I don’t want substitutes.’ He looked up at the steely sky. ‘This weather looks like it’s set in for the day. Come and have a coffee – or are you too busy for that, too?’