There was no doubt it was one of the most magnificent houses in the area, both inside and out. The stone was a soft rosy colour and when illuminated by the setting sun, like now, seemed to be swallowed up into the sky itself. A decorative stone terrace ran the length of the property and this, along with the house, had red and green ivy climbing over it. Inside, it was surprisingly light and modern; Verity’s grandfather had obviously been a forward thinker. Sunlight poured in through large Palladian windows reaching from floor to ceiling in most rooms, and from a central glass dome onto the huge winding staircase. The classical proportions and the scale of the house meant that light was carried from room to room; nowhere was there a hint of dullness or darkness. It was a residence that was meant to impress and it did, and the army of indoor servants under the jurisdiction of Josiah Kingston’s butler, Hutton, kept it running like clockwork. Outside, four gardeners saw to the extensive grounds and walled kitchen garden and greenhouses, and the fine semicircular stable yard with its many horse boxes and beautiful Arabian animals was manned by two grooms and three stable hands. All those servants looking after a family of four. Edward stretched and then put his foot down on the accelerator. How had he allowed himself to be sucked into it all? He must have been mad. He had been mad when he’d first met Verity; mad with grief at losing Ruby and in a state that had verged on self-destructive.

As he drew up outside the massive front doors of the mansion they were opened immediately and a tall, slim woman stood in the aperture. Verity Kingston was her father’s only daughter and the apple of his eye. Her older brother, Randolph, was a somewhat dour and cold-hearted individual who had none of his sister’s whimsical charm and teasing ways. It had only been lately that Edward had come to realize that Verity’s winsome allure concealed a nature every bit as ruthless as her brother’s. She had been denied nothing she wanted from the moment she could toddle, and she had made it clear from the outset that she wanted him. And he, fool that he was, had been flattered and gratified.