He interrupted her. ‘Megan-girl, are you in some sort of trouble? Because if so, you know there’s always a home for you here. Or if it’s money, we have some saved and…’

She smiled and looked apologetically at Ben, who could hear every word. ‘No, I’m not in trouble, Uncle John. I’ve just – when I met Ben we – it didn’t take us long to decide that we wanted to get married.’

‘I can’t take this in. Look, speak to your aunt, will you.’

There was a smothered murmur of voices, then her aunt’s sharp tones on the phone, demanding to know if this was true, and if so, how had it all happened so quickly and why hadn’t they been told about it before?

Megan tried again to explain, growing more incoherent by the minute with tears threatening again.

In the end, Ben plucked the phone out of her hand. ‘Mrs Ross, Megan is a bit overwrought. May I introduce myself? I’m Ben Saunders, the man who’s going to marry your niece today.’

‘Oh, are you? Well, then, perhaps you can tell me why our Megan is so upset?’

‘It’s my fault. I’ve rushed her into it. The thing is, I have to fly out to Australia tomorrow and I can’t get back to the UK for a while. So it made sense for us to get married now and for her to come with me.’

‘Oh?’

He smiled. She sounded totally unconvinced and unimpressed, too. He liked that. ‘Look, will you and your husband please come to the wedding, Mrs Ross? We’ll explain things properly then. I’d love to meet you and I’m sure you’ll want to meet me. Your being with us means a lot to Megan. She’ll be really upset if you don’t come.’

There was a moment’s silence, then Megan heard her aunt say briskly, ‘Well, of course we’ll come!’

‘What about her Cousin Sarah?’

‘She and Don are visiting friends in the Lake District this week.’

‘There won’t be time for them to get here, then, but I’ll send a car to pick up you and your husband.’ He handed the phone back to Megan.

When she put it down, she flung herself into his arms and hugged him ruthlessly. ‘Thank you!’ She smacked a kiss on each of his cheeks, and wiped her eyes determinedly. ‘I must look a real mess! I’m sorry, Ben. I’m not usually such a fool.’

He eyed her up and down. ‘Well, I have seen you looking better, I must confess. But not to worry, I’ve always had a weakness for women with red eyes and matching noses.’

She threw a cushion at him before asking the question that had been floating at the edge of her mind. ‘What are you doing here at this hour of the morning, anyway?’