Oh, and she was bored. She’d posed through five – or was it six? – incarnations of the polka-dot trend. She’d been centre-stage for countless reruns of ‘ladylike chic’ and ‘fashion’s new laid-back aesthetic’. Navy had been the new black, as had white and red. Then black had been the new black. Images of Tess had told readers that fashion was all about fantasy. Six months later, her picture had assured them that fashion had got real.

That wasn’t all. Her tolerance for bullshit had dipped to a dangerously low level. She read a glossy feature about a fellow model who ‘kept fit by chasing the chickens around her idyllic country estate’. The woman in question was a major coke fiend who’d only ever chased her dealer and whose off-duty look was more hobo than boho. Another model was lauded for her devotion to extreme exercise. ‘Tuh,’ said Tess, ‘devotion to liposuction and sticking her fingers down her throat, more like.’ That she had benefited from similar dishonesty didn’t make it any easier to take.

So, after talking to Miles, Tess decided to give up on modelling before it gave up on her. Estelle was bewildered. She enthused about all the geriatric models – she preferred the term ‘mature’ – fronting major campaigns. ‘Everything’s changing for the better,’ she insisted. Tess reckoned that the only change was negative. ‘Being young is what matters,’ she said. ‘It’s what sells. And I don’t feel young.’

At least she didn’t have to worry about money. It had taken her several years to adjust to her multimillionaire status. Her fortune was based on sheer dumb luck: on the face and figure she’d inherited from her mother and the thick skin she’d grown in Kilmitten. She tried to be generous. She offered to buy her mam and Flan a grander house. They declined. Lauren wasn’t so proud, and Tess was paying for her sister’s – never-ending – education.

For the first year of their marriage, while Willowthorpe Hall was renovated, Miles and Tess lived in London. Her friends were puzzled by their decision to move to rural Lincolnshire. ‘It’s where Miles was born,’ she explained, ‘and he’s always wanted to return.’ Her new husband’s parents lived less than thirty miles away.