“Yes, a moment ago,” Fenella said, regarding the pair of them with a bemused question in her eyes. Something had happened between them, but before she could say anything further, a cheer went up from the party in the box as Diana and Rupert returned. Diana’s eyes were shining, and the sheen was more than pure joy and excitement, her friends could see the gloss of tears and knew she was thinking of Jem, and wishing he were beside her to revel in their filly’s triumph.

“Congratulations, dearest.” Petra hugged Diana tightly. “It must feel wonderful.”

“It does,” Diana agreed, smiling through her tears as she turned into Fenella’s embrace. “Jem would have been so thrilled. Rupert . . . ?” She looked around for her husband. “Oh, what’s going on now?”

An ensign in royal livery was talking to Rupert, who nodded and came over to his wife. “We’ve been summoned to the Royal Box, Diana. His Majesty wants to congratulate us on Kimberley Diamond’s race.”

“Then I suppose we had better obey the call,” Diana said. “We won’t be long. Don’t go anywhere,” she enjoined her friends, following her husband to the Royal Box.

“Well, here you are, my love. Thirty pounds.” Edward materialized out of the crowd, flourishing a handful of banknotes. “Not a bad return on a fiver.”

“No, indeed not.” Fenella tucked the winnings into her handbag. “What about the next race? Should we put money on that?”

“If you wish,” her husband said. “I’ve never seen the appeal of gambling just for the sake of it.”

“Oh.” Fenella looked a little deflated. “I thought that was quite exciting.”

“Well, we’re going to collect Petra’s winnings,” Guy said. “I’ll be happy to put a bet on for you for the next race.”

Fenella shook her head. “No, really I agree with Edward. It was only so exciting last time because it was Diana and Rupert’s horse.”

“Come then, Petra.” Guy guided her through the box and out to the bookies’ enclosure. They collected her winnings and Petra turned to make her way back to the others.

Guy put an arresting hand on her arm. “Do you really want to go back?” he asked. “Could we make our excuses? I feel we have some unfinished business.”

Now that the excitement of the race was over, Petra forgot everything but the astounding few minutes before the race. Had Guy really proposed? Had she really said yes? The enormous significance of it all swamped her and she gazed at him, for the moment numbed into silence. Then with an almost visible shake of her head she brought herself back into the world.

“I’ll send a message to Diana,” she said finally. “I can’t possibly go back and pretend everything’s just the same as it always was.”