‘I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have spoken this way but for Nicholas saying what he did. I felt I must give an explanation of the circumstances. Nicholas is very fond of his mother and he hates seeing her distressed. Of course he loves his father too but Lawrence was away for large chunks of time before the accident, so the bond is not the same.’

‘I understand,’ she said quietly, ‘and you really didn’t have to explain, Mr Bembridge.’ Should she be calling him Major Bembridge? She didn’t know and didn’t like to ask.

‘Yes, I did.’ What was it about this woman that had captured him from the first moment he had laid eyes on her? She was beautiful of course, but he knew other beautiful women and had slept with quite a few, but she – she was different. His eyes were riveted on her face and he felt as though he could stand here for the rest of his life just looking at her. She had a quiet strength about her, a composure and natural dignity that he’d rarely come across before.

Rose was feeling anything but composed, the beating of her heart threatening to suffocate her. He shouldn’t be standing here talking to her and looking at her like that; she had already noticed the curtains in the house across the street twitching. Somehow she managed to say evenly, ‘Thank you for seeing us home and Merry Christmas. I must get Betsy in the warm.’

‘Of course, of course.’ He glanced up into the sky as though he had only just noticed the falling snow, and then his gaze rested on her again for a moment before he looked down at Betsy and said, ‘I hope you have a lovely Christmas and Santa Claus brings you everything you want, Betsy, but just in case he forgets something with being so busy tonight, you can go to the shops after Christmas with your mother and buy a present for yourself.’ He had put his hand in his pocket as he had been speaking and now pushed a coin into Betsy’s little fingers.

As Rose began to protest he smiled and said softly, ‘Merry Christmas,’ before turning and climbing into the carriage.

She didn’t wait for it to trundle off before she opened the door and went inside, but once she had shut it she stood listening for a few moments, her head whirling. Who would have thought she would run into him again at the pantomime of all places? And with his godchildren? He hadn’t spoken of a wife or sweetheart and surely if he had either they would have been with him today helping with the children? And then she mentally shook her head at herself. What did it matter if he had a wife or sweetheart, for goodness’ sake. It was none of her business.