Gabe was her partner and from what I could make out, Angus was forever getting him, and Mick, the handyman, into all sorts of capers.

‘I’m sure he’ll catch you up at some point,’ said Dorothy, pointing at the clock. ‘Now, would you like your tea before or after you’ve shown Dolly and Hattie around?’

It was decided we should have it after, even though it would be a little late, with Catherine in the morning room. Beamish went off with Mick to see if they could track down Angus and Gabe and Dolly and I went out the other end of the kitchen with Catherine and her soon to be daughter-in-law, Anna.

‘Catherine tells me you’re staying with Dolly for a few weeks,’ she said to me as the two older ladies took the lead into the great hall.

‘That’s right,’ I told her, gazing around at the beautiful wood panelling and vast tree which Dolly was making a beeline for. ‘I’m moving to Abu Dhabi in the new year and wanted to spend some time with Dolly before I left. I’m going to miss her.’

‘Well,’ Anna nudged, ‘you haven’t gone yet.’

‘What do you mean?’ I frowned.

‘I came here a few Christmases ago,’ she explained, ‘as a sort of companion to Catherine who was recovering from knee surgery. My contract was only for a few weeks . . .’

‘But you’re still here.’

‘I am,’ she laughed. ‘Within weeks my life was turned upside down by the Connelly clan. I had fallen head over heels in love with Jamie, given up my job and moved in for good. There’s something in these Wynthorpe walls which draws folk in,’ she said mysteriously.

‘In that case,’ I told her, ‘it’s probably just as well I’m staying in town.’

‘Oh, I’m pretty certain it’s in the Wynbridge air too,’ she said seriously. ‘You mark my words, Hattie, the longer you’re here the harder you’ll find it to leave. You’re bound to fall in love with it.’

‘But I have stayed before,’ I told her, thinking that she was perhaps a little too besotted with it all. ‘I’ve holidayed with Dolly at the cottage plenty of times and always managed to leave.’

‘Something tells me that this time there’s an added attraction.’

This hadn’t come from Anna, but Molly who had swept in behind us, her feet making not a sound on the ancient wooden floor.

‘Before there was a missing ingredient,’ she said dreamily as Anna nodded in agreement. ‘But it’s here now.’

There was a sudden blast of freezing air as the huge door at the end of the hall was pulled open and Beamish wandered in, giving me a hundred-watt smile with Mick, the handyman, trailing behind him.

‘Oh,’ laughed Anna, as Molly drifted back in the direction of the kitchen again. ‘Right on cue!’