Jenna was sitting with her feet tucked under her on a gold brocade sofa, her red velvet dress so low cut that Nory felt sure she had sticky tape holding her boobs in place. Guy was on the sofa talking animatedly with Jenna, while leaving his hand territorially on Camille’s knee, as she sat beside him looking starstruck in Jenna’s direction.

Ameerah and Dev wandered toward the piano, and Charles smiled and called hello without missing a single note. Jeremy was standing beside a sideboard that showcased various military-themed statuettes in bronze. He was looking intently at his phone, but when he looked up and saw Nory, he pocketed it and crossed the room.

“You look lovely,” he said, smiling, and handed her a glass of something bright green off a tray.

“Thanks, Jez. You scrub up well yourself. I’m used to seeing you in camel cargo trousers and baseball caps on Instagram.”

He laughed. “Yeah, it’s a bit of a change-up from being in a rainforest.”

Nory saw his hand unconsciously touch the phone in his pocket. “How’s Katie?”

“Am I that transparent?”

“It’s understandable.”

“I wouldn’t mind so much if she was in a city at least. I just worry about her and the baby. I mean, we’ve got medical insurance and all that sort of thing, but I’m counting the hours until she’s back in the UK instead of being on an eighty-mile trek along dirt roads to the nearest hospital.”

“How does your mum feel about being a grandma?”

Jeremy’s family owned an estate in the Scottish Borders, not quite as big as the Robinwood Castle lands, although the manor house that he had grown up in was almost as grand as the castle itself. Nory had visited on several occasions during school holidays, and most recently at his wedding to Katie four years ago—Guy had thankfully been on assignment in Mexico at the time and hadn’t been able to attend. Jeremy’s mother was a formidable woman, mostly to be found wearing head-to-toe tweed with a shotgun resting open across her right forearm. His father, Michael McIntosh III, by contrast, was a naturalist and often joked that it was his life’s mission to preserve the local wildlife from being shot at by his wife.

“My mother is beside herself with joy and relief that one of her children is finally giving them a grandchild.” Jeremy smiled. “She’s already bought the baby a pony, and it’s not even born yet. She wants us to hurry up and put our name down at a good school, but Katie and I have decided our child is going state school all the way.”

“What will your mum say to that?”

“I’ll tell her it’s all Katie’s idea; she worships the ground Katie walks on. I think she’s grateful to her for marrying her weird bug-loving son.”

“That’s sweet.”