“An original Land Rover Defender,” Arthur said. “Held together by mud and rust. He would probably have towed it away but he was afraid it would fall apart.”

“You’re a farmer.” Lizzie remembered Kat’s breathless disclosures about him.

Arthur nodded. “It’s a busy time of year for me,” he said. “I should be back in Norfolk really. Luckily I have a very efficient and long-suffering farm manager.” He took the mug from her with a word of thanks and took a deep, appreciative swallow. “Ah, that’s good. I thought you’d have a coffee machine.”

“I do,” Lizzie said. “But if you need proper, strong coffee, the cafetière is best.” She poured for herself and added a generous measure of sugar.

“When we met at Dudley and Amelia’s wedding you were on TV, weren’t you?” she asked. “What made you give all that up to farm?”

Arthur gave her a direct look. “That’s a very personal question.”

“Sorry.” Lizzie shrugged. “It’s part of my stock in trade, I suppose, interviewing and presenting. I was interested, that’s all.”

Arthur didn’t reply immediately and she thought he wasn’t going to answer at all but then he did.

“It felt very glamorous when I started out.” He spoke slowly, thoughtfully, as though he was thinking back over something he hadn’t talked about in a long time. “I was only nineteen—they signed me up for the TV show after I’d just gone to college. Mum was furious when I dropped out; she’d walked away from the whole modelling thing because she said celebrity was corrupt but I just thought she was spoiling my fun.” He shrugged, a little awkwardly. “She said fame bred insecurity and unhappiness. I told her not to be stupid. I’d had my head properly turned.”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” Lizzie said. “And you were very young.” She was surprised all the same. Arthur seemed so grounded but perhaps he had learned the hard way what was real and worthwhile and what was not.

“Yeah, well...” Arthur shifted a little. “It was all new and exciting for me, and after a couple of years I met Jenna, my fiancée, and she was a model and an actress and it was very glamorous... It felt as though we were really living, if you know what I mean.” He looked at her. “It’s as though all the special treatment and first-class travel and people fawning over you validates you in some way, but I guess you’ve experienced that for yourself.”

“Yeah,” Lizzie said. “It’s easy to believe in your own legend. You need to be very sure of who you are before fame happens if you’re not going to get spoilt.”

A smile touched Arthur’s lips. “Who knew you were so wise?” he said.

“Bitter experience,” Lizzie said lightly. “I was very young when I started and it did spoil me. I can’t deny that. I do try to be aware of it now but a sense of entitlement can be a hard habit to break.”