“The cab is waiting outside, my lord,” the butler informed him. “You said you were leaving ten minutes ago.”

“I had certainly intended to do so,” Guy said. “But I found myself unavoidably detained.” He cast a glance at Freddie, who looked sheepish as he still stood in the library doorway. “Come, ladies.” He swept them both ahead of him outside into the crisp early November air.

The hackney dropped them off outside Fortnum’s just as Fenella stepped out of a cab at the door. She hugged Petra fiercely. “We’ve missed you so much. I hope you haven’t told Diana everything and left nothing for me.”

Petra laughed. “As it happens I’ve told Diana very little, so whatever you want to know I’ll tell you all through lunch. Not that there’s that much to tell,” she added, going ahead of them through the swing doors into the foyer. “Oh, there’s Annabelle Fine, she’s still with Theo Frazier. I thought they’d have parted company long before now.” She smiled and waved at the couple in question, who were sitting at a round table in the middle of the restaurant.

“No, it’s still on again and off again,” Fenella told her. “Apparently Lady Fine is going berserk because Annabelle won’t make up her mind. One minute they’re talking trousseau and the next Theo’s about to up sticks and leave town for foreign parts.”

Petra smiled, taking her seat, leaning back as the waiter shook out her napkin, placing it on her lap. It was good to be back among her friends once again, surrounded by the comforting familiarity of the regular world, even though the closeness she and Guy had enjoyed on their four-week journey was bound to be stretched. But stretched didn’t mean broken. He would have his own friends and commitments as she had hers, but there were a lot of hours in the day, and particularly the night, when they would be alone together.

“So what is anyone going to eat?” she asked, picking up her menu. “French onion soup, I think, with lots of melted cheese.” She looked up over her menu and an expression of distaste crossed her face. “That woman is everywhere. Was it too much to hope she’d have gone back to where she came from while we were out of town?”

“Who?” Diana followed her eyes to a corner table. “Oh, the Delmont woman. Actually I haven’t seen her around for a long time. She must have just come back to town. Have you seen her recently, Fenella?”

Fenella shook her head. “No, but then I haven’t exactly been looking for her.”