Her aunt never missed a detail. ‘Yes. I bought myself a few new clothes. About time.’

‘The colour suits you.’ Sarah rocked the baby gently. ‘How much did it cost?’

‘Oh, too much. But I couldn’t resist it.’ She couldn’t resist little Amy, either. She held out her arms and took the child on her lap for a cuddle. And couldn’t help thinking yet again how much she would like a child of her own. A little boy with Ben’s eyes and strong body, and—

What on earth was she thinking of? She hardly knew him.

She hid her blush by cuddling Amy. Well, she hoped she’d hidden it, but Sarah was staring at her sharply. Let her cousin stare. She wasn’t going to tell Sarah anything about Ben. Two days wasn’t long enough to get to know someone well enough to – to start making announcements.

And anyway, there was nothing to tell them about.

She smiled brightly at Sarah and looked at Don, who was sitting gazing at his little daughter with a fond smile. He was a quiet man, a good foil for lively Sarah, but Megan knew she could never marry a man like him. He was too placid for her, too focused on domesticity.

‘You look as if you’re plotting something, Megan,’ her aunt said abruptly, just as she had when her niece was much younger.

‘I am, I suppose. I’m – er – considering applying for another job somewhere abroad. France might be nice. Or Brussels.’

‘You don’t want to go working abroad,’ said Don instantly. ‘You’ve got a good, secure job here. Don’t throw that away.’

Megan stared at him. He was a type England had been breeding for centuries, the sort of guy who went out to a foreign country and immediately set to work to make it into a replica of England. Now he really was a stick-in-the-mud.

‘But I’d like to travel!’ she insisted.

‘You always said you were happy here,’ Sarah protested.

Megan shrugged. ‘I was. Now I’m not. I went back to Wellburn at the weekend and it sort of crystallised things for me. You were right about one thing. I have been stuck in a rut. But I’m about to climb out of it.’

‘Bet you don’t!’

‘Bet I do.’

Sarah looked at her thoughtfully. ‘I hope you do.’

Megan didn’t stay long. Suddenly she felt greedy for life, for experience, for – Ben Saunders. You couldn’t call it love, not when they’d only just met. But maybe, if she was lucky, love would grow from the attraction between them. She couldn’t help hoping for that.

How long would it be before he called again?