‘It’s not easy, being the girlfriend of the most eligible bachelor in the whole country. After Prince William, that is, and he’s out of the running now!’ The crowd gave an excited laugh. You could sense them thinking: At last. Someone’s mentioned it! Rose, in her absolute element at the microphone, gave a wicked chuckle. ‘They’re pretending not to hear me. Well, big sisters are supposed to embarrass their little brothers, aren’t they?’ Laura shot a glance at Nick out of the corner of her eye, but his gaze was fixed firmly to the floor. In front of them was the shop, its new sign bold green and white:

Laura’s Place

A bookshop for children and their grown-ups

Once again, Laura wished her parents were here. But she’d been too – shy? Worried? – to invite them, and they’d come down the previous weekend instead to see the shop. It was stupid, because they’d have loved it. They were so proud of her, getting this whole thing off the ground. If the rest of her life baffled them, this, at least, was something they could entirely get their heads round and tell their neighbours about. ‘It’s hard, dear, knowing what to say to people. I don’t like to brag about it. After all,’ her mother had said, without meaning to sound unkind. ‘What is there to brag about? You’re not married to him. He just happens to be . . .’ And she’d trailed off. He just happened to be Dominic Edward Danvers Needham, twelfth Marquis of Ranelagh, Earl of Albany Cross, Lord of the Handfast, owner of Chartley Hall and 10,000 acres of land.