‘Speech, speech!’ demanded a beaming Sir William. It was good to be back on good terms with his friend.

Sir William’s call was taken up by all the others and Oliver obliged them by standing up. A sudden quiet fell over the room.

‘If I am to make a speech,’ Oliver declared, gazing at all the eager faces around his table and those at the door. ‘Then Kerensa, your mother, your mother-in-law, her ladyship, your friend, or whatever this wonderful lady is to you, will stand at my side.’

Kerensa was a little stunned. Oliver helped her to her feet and they stood very close, his arm round her shoulders, hers round his waist. ‘You say something first,’ he whispered in her ear.

‘Me? What shall I say?’

‘You’ll find the right words, my love.’

She took a deep breath. ‘I’ll say only what I want you to know, and then what you want to hear. All of you gathered here mean everything to me, and I thank you for all the love and loyalty you’ve shown me over the years. I love you all, and,’ she raised her face to Oliver, ‘most of all I love this great man at my side and always will.’

Oliver bent his head and kissed her. The noise broke out again to deafening pitch. He motioned with his hand for silence. ‘I have no different sentiments to express, only to say I love this woman, this most precious, beautiful woman more than ever. And now, let us go to the great hall and get on with the entertainments.’

‘I go up to London with a different heart this time, Cousin,’ Luke remarked to Bartholomew, during a break in the dancing.

Bartholomew took his eyes off Alicia, who was sitting with Jack across the hall. She was glaring at him, the same malevolent look he had received with ever-increasing regularity at the supper table. Never before had someone looked at him with such utter hatred, but he was undisturbed. She could do nothing to harm him. Even an anonymous communication to the authorities disclosing how Lord Alexander Longbourne had really met his death would be laughed at. Nothing could be proved.

‘And so you should, Luke. Before we set out the day after tomorrow, I have a little personal business to attend to.’

Luke followed Bartholomew’s eyes and was alarmed to see them fixed on Alicia. ‘You had better not be planning to harm her!’

‘You have my word Mrs Jack is safe from me. No, I was thinking of my uncle and aunt. I don’t believe anything could ever spoil their happiness again, but I’d do anything to make sure nothing could even be a nuisance to them.’