‘Am I really?’

‘Yes.’

I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by the approach of an uber-glamorous woman, wearing six-inch heels and what was clearly a couture outfit that accentuated and made the best of her slim figure.

‘So this is where you’re hiding.’ The cut-glass accented words were followed up with a full-lipped smile that had definitely had some help from a cosmetic surgeon.

Jack turned away from me to greet her. ‘Persephone. How lovely to see you. Looking stunning as always.’ He took a step back so as not to completely exclude me from the conversation. It was hard to tell from his face as to whether the compliment had been genuine, but it was clear her delight at seeing Jack was definitely real.

‘Oh, Jack.’ She batted him on the arm, leaving a hand to rest there for just that little bit too long. ‘You always were such a flatterer.’

She turned to me. ‘They say flattery gets you nowhere, but I’m afraid it gets people everywhere with me.’ She laughed a high, tinkly laugh and curled her arm around Jack’s bicep a little more.

Jack, in contrast, was studying the bottom of his glass intently. Clearly there was history here and I had to admit to being intrigued as to what kind, and how deep it ran. As a writer, I was inherently interested in people, how they worked and how they thought. My self-imposed isolation had put rather a damper on my ability to do such things and I realised now how much I had missed watching the interaction between others and the inspiration that could be gained from it.

The woman stuck out her hand. ‘Lady Persephone Forbes.’ She smiled as she took my hand and shook it. ‘I’ll introduce myself, as clearly Jack’s not going to do the honours. Honestly. It’s just as well he’s so good-looking, otherwise he’d never get away with half of the things he does.’

I gave a noncommittal smile. ‘Lily Thomas.’

‘Wonderful to meet you, Lily. I hear Jack is staying with you?’ It appeared that news travelled fast at this party.

‘That’s right. He’s helping me redesign my garden, too.’

‘Oh! How lovely and… helpful. He always was good with his hands.’ She squeezed the bicep and looked doe-eyed at him. I turned away towards the rest of the party for a moment, trying to smother the smile that was threatening to break on my face. It appeared that Jack Coulsdon-Hart’s lothario history was coming back to haunt him. I knew I shouldn’t really laugh, but my one attempt at trying to seduce him had resulted in a pat on the head in front of all my friends, so although I wasn’t prepared to stand and let his mother run either of us down, I also wasn’t beyond enjoying a little bit of his discomfort at the hands of one of his many ex-girlfriends. Lady Persephone turned away from us momentarily to call a couple of people over. Jack ducked his head towards me. ‘Don’t think I can’t see you smirking over there.’