I stood and, linking arms with my sister, we went downstairs together to dinner.

When I saw Richard I blushed, and he laughed at me.

“Every time I look at you until I see you at the altar, I’ll remember this afternoon,” he murmured, leading me into the dining room.

Richard behaved in exactly the same way towards me as he had always done, and I took my cue from him. At first, I was shy in his presence, and sure everyone knew, or could see the difference in me. But I saw no change in anyone’s behaviour and I felt easier as time went by.

The relaxed atmosphere persisted, as though our tension had pervaded the whole house before, and now had dissipated, only, I feared, to begin to rise again. Lust wasn’t what I felt for Richard, but if I was totally honest with myself, it was part of it. I found him immensely attractive, and I knew I wasn’t alone in that. His experience was diverse and plentiful before I had met him.

I looked forward to my wedding, and even more, what would come afterwards.

That Friday we were due to go to the Assembly Rooms. Martha had asked the Skerrits to dine, and then we would all go to Exeter together. My brother Ian, as usual, cried off, feigning illness. He had suffered a lot in childhood but he had grown out of most of the illnesses that had made him a sickly child. Now he enjoyed all the benefits of the reputation and none of the inconveniences, using the excuse to avoid anything he didn’t want to face. He preferred the company of his books to other people.

I dressed with care. I’d had a new gown made for when I came out of mourning, pink silk with flounces, fly braid and ruched trims, lightly embroidered with little flowers in silver around the hem and front opening, worn with one of the new smaller hoops. When I was dressed, I stood in front of the large mirror in my room and for once, smiled at what I saw. I looked frivolous, something I hadn’t been able to achieve for months. Mourning precluded that. The pearls Richard had given me were the finest jewellery I possessed, so I put them on.

When I went downstairs to the drawing room, Richard complimented me, before his attention went to my necklace, and he frowned.

“Lovely though they are, I’m not sure the pearls are set off by that gown. You look beautiful, as always, but don’t you think this would be better?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gervase watching me closely, and I wondered what Richard was about.

Richard drew a glittering string out of his pocket. Diamonds, a delicately worked necklace of flowers and foliage entwined together in a fiery chain. Everyone in the room including me drew a breath as the chain twisted in his hand, flashing dazzling sparks in the candlelight.

He came towards me, smiling. “Forgive the subterfuge. My mother had them when she was first married, and now they’re yours. I sent to Derbyshire for them last week, when the trip to the Assembly Rooms was first planned.”

I couldn’t speak. I could see the mirror above the fireplace from where I stood, and silently I looked into it while he unclasped the pearls and fastened the diamond necklace about my neck instead. The jewels flashed every time I breathed.

“It’s part of a set.” He handed me a box, which had lain unnoticed on a side table. Inside, on a bed of blue velvet, lay matching earrings, a bracelet and several brooches to fasten to my stomacher. I touched them wonderingly with one finger, watching them glitter, then Richard spoke and I looked at him instead.

He gazed at me as though we were the only people in that room, openly loving, openly proud “I wish the whole of the Assembly tonight to know you are the future Countess of Southwood. And my chosen bride.”

He’d known what this meant to me, to show me as his in that place. I groped in my mind for the words to show him how I felt, but couldn’t find any.

Then Tom laughed, and broke the spell. “I’ve never known you lost for words before, Rose.”

The rest of the room burst with expressions of delight, admiration and amazement. Richard stepped back, allowing Lizzie and Georgiana to come forward to examine my new jewels.

I hooked the earrings in the piercings in my ears. Although they were girandoles, three pendants from one central stone, they were light and easy to wear. The cold gold setting fell against my neck when I swung my head. Georgiana Skerrit took a deep breath of admiration while Lizzie pinned the brooches to my stomacher, and then made me sit down while she fixed one in my hair. It was set en tremblant, so it quivered every time I moved my head, and sent flashes of light about the room.

I lent the pearls to Lizzie for the evening, which delighted her, and then I touched the necklace, still cold around my neck. “Thank you.”

Richard took my hand, and kissed it. “It’s your triumph tonight. Mine will come later, when I present you in town. They’ll all hate that I saw you first, and seized the prize.”

We had dinner, and then the carriages arrived at the door. Richard and I shared a carriage with Martha, James, Lizzie and Gervase. It was fortunate fashionable hoops had decreased in size recently, because there wouldn’t have been room for us all with the wide, oblong hoops of the