‘Not tonight,’ he said, wrapping one arm around my waist and gently drawing me closer. ‘I want to spend every minute of this evening with you. Besides,’ he added, starting to move in time with the soft jazz number, ‘after the past two days I’ve kind of grown sick of it.’

It should have been perfect.

Twinkling lights, exquisite decor. Champagne and slow dancing to beautiful music. A gorgeous man who’d given up his dream to be with me.

For the first time ever, I genuinely believed that we could make it work. No squashing of deep-down doubts or cheerily glossing over our issues. Adam had finally grown up. Become the man I’d longed him to be – had known with an increasing sense of frustration that he could be. And here he was, making it clearer than ever that he was serious this time, mine if I would have him.

The whole point of this evening was to give Adam a chance to show me that he’d really changed but as we swayed beneath the chandelier I knew with utter certainty that it wasn’t going to make any difference.

Not because Adam wasn’t good enough. I didn’t need or expect him to be anything more than who he was.

Because I couldn’t stop thinking about Henry.

Adam had been the beating heart of my past, and I would always, always love him for it.

But I wanted Henry to be my future, and even if that never happened because he didn’t feel the same, I couldn’t say yes to Adam now Henry was stuck in my brain.

Without realising it, I’d come to an unsteady stop.

‘Are you okay?’ Adam said, leaning back so he could see my face.

I took a couple of steady breaths. ‘We need to talk.’

‘Right.’ Adam’s hand automatically went to brush back his hair, forgetting that gel already held it firmly in place. ‘You sure you want to do this now?’ He gave a cross between a grin and a grimace. ‘Because from the look on your face I’m going to wish I’d made the most of this dance by the time you’re finished.’

Instead of replying, I walked back to our table, his other hand still in mine, but as we approached it Adam steered us away. ‘Let’s find somewhere quieter.’

A short way down the corridor we found a small alcove containing a leather sofa along with a huge vase full of gold and silver branches. Adam kept hold of my hand as we took a seat, his eyes refusing to leave my face.

‘You know I’ve been thinking a lot about what you… about your proposal.’