‘I don’t like what money does to people.’

‘The man hasn’t finished his dinner yet,’ Jack protested. ‘Have a heart.’

‘It’s a bit rude to invite him to eat and put him out,’ Lorna added, looking curiously at Jenny.

‘Jenny’s just itching for a fight,’ Jack told Lorna, speaking across the table as if no one else was there. ‘Dunno what’s got into her, really.’

‘It’s hormones,’ Lorna decided. ‘You have a nice cup of tea, Jen.’

‘Lorna…’

‘She could do the wedding if she wanted to,’ Lorna said, turning to Guy. ‘She’s the cleverest lass. I used to run the salon, making dresses for locals and organising caterers for out-of-towners. Only then the out-of-towners grew to so many that I had to employ Jenny. It was the best thing I ever did. Her mum didn’t have any money, and her dad lit out early, so there wasn’t enough to send Jenny to anywhere like university. She took on an apprenticeship with me. She’s transformed the business. She’s just…’

‘Lorna!’ Jenny said, almost yelling. ‘Will you cut it out? Mr Carver doesn’t want to know about me.’

‘Yes, I do,’ he said mildly. ‘I need to persuade you to use some of your skills on my behalf. Where could you get caterers on Christmas Day?’

‘I don’t-’

‘You tell him, lass,’ Jack said. ‘Don’t hide your light under a bushel.’

She stared wildly round, but they were all watching her expectantly. Even Henry.

‘This town is full of retirees,’ she said at last, trying desperately to get her voice under control. ‘Most of them have a very quiet Christmas. If we had all the food planned the day before-if we settled on country fare that all the women round here can cook-if Anna settled for a late wedding and if we told the locals that they could come to the dance afterwards-there’d be queues to work for us.’

‘Locals come to the ceremony?’ he said, incredulous.

‘Not the ceremony. The idea would be that there’d be a huge party afterwards, with workers welcome. Think of the publicity for Anna and Barret. If you got onto that nice PR person I talked to this afternoon…’