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Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at her door. It was Julia. The room was in chaos, clothes strewn everywhere. Kitty was in a tizzy, picking what to wear. As her eyes scanned the room, dresses were draped on every available piece of furniture.

She hardly recognised herself. The mayhem around her was a far cry from the woman who arrived in this house a month ago.ThatKitty always kept her room perfectly ready for a kit inspection.ThatKitty craved order and calm.ThisKitty grunted in exasperation as she threw items out of a drawer, looking for the perfect pair of knickers.

“We have a visitor, Kitty,”Julia said outside the door.

Josh!Had he gotten away early and come to see her before the party?

“I’ll be down in ten,” she said, holding up the successfully located knickers with a grin of triumph.

After applying some makeup, Kitty chose a silk dress of dark jade, slipping it on over her head. The fabric caressed her skin as it slid over her body, and her thoughts drifted to Josh’s lips. The dress clung to her long, willowy frame, its thin spaghetti straps raking over her collarbones and the neckline plunging between her small breasts.

She wouldn’t have had the courage to wear the dress before, but her lips spread into a smile as she admired herself in the mirror. Kitty popped her phone in her bag, picked up the matching green heels she’d bought with the dress, and headed downstairs in a spritz of cherry blossom.

Low voices drifted from the garden, and her heart skipped a beat. She followed the sound of laughter and swept onto the patio, ready to see Josh. The face that greeted her wasn’t his but Daniel’s. He looked like the hungry, big bad wolf as his eyes moved up and down her body, and Kitty’s heart sank.

“Christ, Katherine. You look incredible,” he said, standing up and drawing closer to give her a lingering kiss on the cheek.

Doused in spicy cologne, he wore a simple but beautifully tailored black suit and white shirt. He looked and smelled expensive.

Kitty plastered a smile on her face when she saw him, telling herself to go through the motions until she saw Josh. She’d agreed to go to the ball with Daniel, so she had to see it through. Julia disappeared to get changed. Kitty and Daniel sat on the patio, the bees still buzzing in the honeysuckle around them. He settled his dark, dangerous eyes on her.

“Where did you disappear to after the match? Last time I saw you, you were slipping into the trees.”

Kitty’s body crackled with heat. Had he seen her and Josh?Based on recent slips of the tongue, she hoped not.

“I was dizzy. I’d had too much to drink.” Kitty’s smile was laced with deceit. “Julia took me to get some fresh air.”

One of Daniel’s eyebrows raised. “Well, I have to say, Julia looks great in jeans and a T-shirt.”

Kitty’s face scorched hot. Hehadseen them, and he knew she’d lied.

“And are you feeling better now?” he asked, unscrewing the top off the bottle of single malt he’d already opened.

“Thankfully, yes.”

He tipped up the bottle and poured some of the amber liquid into aglass.

“It was probably the sun more than anything. I wanted your opinion on this, but I understand if you’d rather not. I bought it with you in mind, though. It’s a thing of beauty. Smooth and dark.”

The last thing she wanted was to drink hard spirits with Daniel Cunningham. Her track record in that area wasn’t the best. “No, I won’t, thank you. You go ahead, though.”

Julia joined them for a drink, looking like a bird of paradise in a feather-trimmed kimono, golden curls pinned up on her head. Daniel made a fuss of her, making a great show of “taking them to the ball.” He had Julia in stitches as he escorted them to theircarriage. Kitty smiled at her aunt’s delight. For all his faults, he certainly knew how to be prince charming.

Daniel left the top of his car down, and they quickly covered the short journey to Patricia’s house.She was hosting the party, and this time Kitty remembered to hold her hair back as they whizzed along the lanes, the warm breeze lashing at their skin.

They pulled up to the beautiful stone facade of the manor house, and Daniel parked right at the front of the gravel driveway, much to Patricia’s annoyance. She walked towards them, tutting and muttering about flowerbeds and tyre tracks, but Daniel soon soothed her irritation, insisting on escorting her and Julia into the party.

The festivities were in full swing. The garden was decorated with hundreds of fairy lights and lanterns, keeping with the midsummer night’s dream theme.

A bar, run by Amber, was set up near the ornamental fishpond. Whoever thought glasses, booze, and fishponds were a good mix was crazy.Kitty had already wobbled in her heels on the paving. Judging by the look of some of the other partygoers, it was only a matter of time before somebody fell in.

Julia and Kitty waited in the dusk for Daniel to get drinks. Garden statues of stone nestled in the hedges, and a smile touched Kitty’s lips. Someone had drawn a moustache and glasses on a statue of Eros, and a reproduction Venus de Milo sported a cocktail umbrella at her groin. Kitty giggled. Take that, Patricia.

Julia spotted one of her friends across the garden. With a wave and a kiss, she drifted into the throng of the crowd. Julia and her friend jostled and swayed to the music, a riot of colour. Kitty was left alone, wishing she had access to a Sharpie and a blank statue, but Daniel soon returned, holding two glasses in his hands.

“Thank you,” Kitty said as he passed her a flute of champagne. “I can’t believe how much effort people have gone to.”

“But none can hold a candle to you, fair Katherine.”He touched his glass to hers and looked deep into her eyes.“You’re doing wonders for my reputation. There’s not a man, and perhaps a few women here, who wouldn’t swap places with me tonight.”