‘And no man could want a more beautiful bride than you,’ he said, then glanced at his watch. ‘Better give your aunt and uncle a quick ring and suggest they join us downstairs as soon as they’re ready.’

They went down to a function room on the mezzanine floor, where several attentive staff were standing around and a buffet table was half-prepared. A waiter brought them some champagne and when Ben raised his glass to her in salute, she clinked hers against it.

Then her aunt and uncle turned up, together with his aunt, and their few moments of peace and togetherness were over. The first arrivals followed soon after, then a stream of people.

Megan stood beside her new husband to receive their guests’congratulations. They’re only people, she told herself, but it didn’t help because they were such confident, well-dressed people – and they all seemed to know one another.

She watched her aunt and uncle surreptitiously to make sure they were all right and was surprised at how relaxed they looked. Well, her uncle didn’t get fussed about much and from the gleam in her eyes, Auntie Eileen was thoroughly enjoying this brief taste of high life and would boast about it to her many friends after they got home again.

Cocktails and intricate finger food were followed by a buffet meal of considerable opulence, and the rich people turned out to be just as greedy as anyone else, Megan noted. Had she not been so nervous, she might have been amused by it all, but she could feel the eyes on her and for once, her appetite had quite deserted her.

By the time the meal was over, her head was aching fiercely from lack of sleep the previous night and people’s voices seemed to be alternately fading and booming around her. She sat through three brief but witty speeches, which taught her that her husband was both liked and respected as a businessman and colleague.

But people didn’t say much about him on a personal level. No jokes about his quirks or times when things had gone wrong. Was that because they didn’t know his other side?

Did she know it? she wondered. He was intelligent, charming and certainly good-looking, but she had little idea what was going on in his mind. Why had he pushed her so quickly into this marriage? She had thought that question answered, but today these people had made her wonder about it all over again.

Why would such a successful, confident man want to marry an ordinary person like her? Any one of these immaculately turned out women would have made a better partner for him in this world of wealth and style.

Ben leaned closer and murmured in her ear, ‘Like animals at feeding time, aren’t they?’ which made her feel slightly better.