The letter from Delaney seemed to be burning a hole in Sarah’s pocket all morning, but she was kept so busy with invoices, wage packets and the paperwork involved in getting the timber delivered, that it was well into her lunch break before she finally had a chance to escape the office to read it.

She locked the door and found a quiet, secluded spot in the formal gardens near the manor house and sat down on a stone bench beneath a rose arbour. It was peaceful amongst the high, sheltering rhododendrons, the sounds of the axes and saws in the forest as distant as the booms coming from across the Channel, and although the planes were still noisy, their racket had become so familiar of late she didn’t really notice it any more.

The letter had been written, as Peggy had observed, the day before the invasion, and she fondly pictured him sitting in his officer’s billet, his forehead creased as he concentrated on what he had to write. She slit the envelope open to find four closely written pages, and settled down to enjoy them.

My darling Sarah,

My precious, sweetest English rose, I cannot express how much it meant to me to see you the other day, and as I sit here waiting for my orders, my thoughts are full of you, fearing that I may never see you again, but praying that fate will bring us together at some time in the future.

The mission I am being sent upon will probably prove to be the most dangerous and daring of this war, but of course I cannot reveal what it is – yet I’m sure that by the time you receive this you will know, and understand why it was so important to me to write to you.

This war has brought us together, and because I have no idea whether I will survive the days and weeks ahead, I want you to know that although my love for you is true and steadfast, I am guilty of having lied to you – and for that I am profoundly sorry and ashamed.

When I came to England, I decided, probably foolishly, to invent a wife and children, for I didn’t want to be distracted as so many of my fellow officers were, and lose focus on my military commitments and the part I would have to play in this war. I have never married, Sarah. There are no children. But my family do own a ranch and that is where I shall return, God willing, once the war is over and I’ve been discharged of my military duties.