The End of her Innocence. Sara Craven

back early.’ There was music coming from the sitting room where Uncle Hal was relaxing, his paper open at the crossword. ‘Have a good time?’

      ‘As always,’ she returned cheerfully, lowering herself into the chair opposite. ‘What are you listening to?’

      ‘Mozart, of course. A selection of favourite arias, and this is mine starting now.’ He turned up the sound a little. ‘The Countess lamenting her lost happiness from Figaro. “Dove sono I bei momenti”.’

      ‘Oh, yes, I remember,’ she said slowly. ‘When you took Aunt Libby and me to Glyndebourne for her birthday. It was wonderful.’ And quoted, ‘ “Where are the beautiful moments of pleasure and delight? Where have they flown, those vows made by a deceitful tongue?” ‘

      He nodded. ‘A supreme moment of artistry.’

      Then the poignant music and the soaring melancholy of the exquisite soprano voice captured them and held them in silence.

      The aria was still in Chloe’s head, plangent and heart-wrenching, as she went up to her room.

      Maybe not the ideal thing to have listened to in the circumstances, she acknowledged wryly as she got ready for bed.

      Yet nothing had really been lost, she thought. They’d just got off to a rocky start, that was all. And somewhere soon, with Ian, she would find that those ‘moments of pleasure and delight’ hadn’t disappeared at all, but were still waiting for her.

      It will all be fine, she told herself, turning on her side and closing her eyes. I know it.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      ‘I MET Sir Gregory’s charming nurse last night,’ Chloe remarked, watching her aunt extract a tray of scones from the Aga. ‘She was in the Willowford Arms having a drink.’

      Aunt Libby shot her a swift glance as she transferred her baking to a cooling rack. ‘And you thought—what?’

      Chloe shrugged. ‘That she seemed intent on charming her patient’s son and heir.’

      ‘You mean she was with Darius?’ Her aunt’s brows lifted.

      ‘Well, they’re both single, so why not? Another blonde, like Penny, of course. He runs true to form.’ Chloe espied a crumb escaping from the rack and ate it.

      ‘I never noticed he had any particular preference,’ her aunt said drily. ‘However, Lindsay Watson’s a lovely girl as well as being extremely capable with a lot of sense.’ She added slowly. ‘Darius could do far worse.’