Henry turned to Mina and was shaking his head at all the changes to her body in the last few months. ‘Hey, gorgeous,’ he said, and welcomed her warm smile and embrace just as much as he had Ben’s.

‘Hey, that’s my pregnant wife you’re talking to.’

‘You know I saw her first too,’ he said to Ben over Mina’s shoulder.

‘Possession is nine tenths and all that.’

‘Possession?!’ Mina demanded, pulling out of Henry’s embrace to glare at her husband.

‘Not what I meant, my love.’

‘Better not have been, or you’ll be sleeping on the …’ Mina stopped and looked around. ‘Just how many rooms does this place have?’ she asked, unable to keep the awe from her voice.

After showing them around the estate, they retired to the private living room in the west wing where Henry had set a fire in the fireplace, taking the edge off the cool of the night, despite the summer’s heat.

‘It really is beautiful,’ Mina said again with an appreciative sigh, settling back into the sofa and gently smoothing circles around her large bump.

Henry couldn’t help but smile. ‘It suits you.’

‘The bump? Don’t let Ben hear that, or he’ll have me knocked up again in no time.’

‘That’s the plan,’ Ben said smugly.

He’d missed them. He’d missed the banter, the friendship, the familiarity of them. The last few months he’d spent at the estate, he hadn’t realized just how isolated he’d made himself. Rarely going into town where people would stare, just about stopping themselves short of actually pointing. He’d sent away the staff so that he could have time to think, to process, and to decide what to do, but …

‘It’s really good to see you,’ Henry said into the companionable silence.

‘Don’t go soft on me now.’

‘I wasn’t talking to you, Ben.’

He snorted. ‘’Course not.’

Henry peppered Mina with questions about the last meeting she had in France, about the apartment that they’d found in Singapore, and how excited her family were to have her back home and looking forward to the baby. Ben seemed content to let his wife talk away the hour or so but Henry wasn’t fooled. The clock chimed eleven, ‘And that, gentlemen,’ Mina stated, ‘is my cue. Bed calls.’

She placed a firm kiss on Ben’s lips, laughing as he tried to affectionately grab her arse.

‘Get a room!’ Henry admonished.

‘That’s my intention, Hawkesbury.’

Hawkesbury. Lily had called him that. She was the only person apart from Ben and Mina who had.

‘I don’t want to see you until that bottle is done,’ she commanded.

Henry frowned. ‘What? You actually expect us to—’