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in my speech. You look lovely tonight, Lucy.’
    Her cheeks grew warm again. ‘Thanks. Mattie chose our dresses. She has very feminine tastes.’
    He let her self-effacing comment pass.
    ‘It’s been a perfect wedding,’ she said to make amends, but then she was ambushed by an involuntary yawn. ‘But it seems to have worn me out.’
    ‘You’ve probably been working too hard.’
    She shook her head. ‘My work doesn’t very often make me tired. Weddings, on the other hand…’
    ‘Can be very draining.’
    ‘Yes.’
    He was watching her with a lopsided smile. ‘It’s not always easy to watch your friends tie the knot.’
    ‘I…’ Her mouth was suddenly dry and her tongue stuck to its roof. She shot Will a sharp glance, uncertain where this conversation was heading. She tried again. ‘I’m really happy for Mattie, aren’t you?’
    ‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘Marriage couldn’t have happened to a nicer girl.’
    Lucy nodded. A small silence limped by. ‘I suppose weddings are tiring because they involve lots of people.’ Hunting for a way to disguise the fact that Will’s presence at this wedding was her major problem, she made a sweeping gesture towards the crowded marquee. ‘I’m more used to animals these days. They’re so much quieter than humans.’
    ‘And I’m used to rocks.’
    Lucy laughed. ‘I dare say they’re quieter too.’
    ‘Silence is one of their better attributes.’ Will chuckled again. ‘Sounds like we’ve turned into a pair of old loners.’
    ‘Maybe,’ she said softly, but she knew it was hazardous for her to talk of such things with this man.
    Quietly, he said, ‘It’s happening all around us, Goose.’
    Goose… her old nickname.
    Only her father and Will had ever called her Goose, or Lucy Goose…and hearing the name now made her dangerously nostalgic.
    She tried to shake that feeling aside. ‘What’s happening all around us?’
    ‘Friends getting married. Starting families.’
    Lucy stiffened. Why did he have to bring up that subject? ‘It’s hardly surprising, given our friends’ ages.’
    ‘Yes, and we’re older than all of them.’
    Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…
    Lucy closed her eyes as the familiar breathless panicgripped her. No. She wasn’t going to think about that worry tonight. She’d declared a moratorium on all thoughts that involved babies, having babies, wanting babies, losing babies. She couldn’t imagine why Will had raised such a sensitive topic.
    Or perhaps he didn’t know about her miscarriage. After his brother’s death, she’d barely spoken to Will at the funeral and then he’d moved as far away from Willowbank as was humanly possible. Since then, if they’d run into each other, it had been by accident, or because their friends had invited them to the same Christmas party.
    Will had always been polite but he’d kept his distance and Lucy had always been busily proving to him that she was managing damn fine splendid on her own.
    So why this?
    Why now?
    Lucy knew her sudden breathless fear would not be helped by a continued discussion of marriage and babies with Will Carruthers.
    ‘Is there a point to this conversation, Will?’ She thrust her feet back into her shoes and grimaced as they pinched. ‘Because I don’t enjoy being reminded of how old I’m getting.’
    She jumped to her feet, only to discover she was shaking violently. Her knees had no strength whatsoever and she had no choice but to sink down again.
    She was too embarrassed to look at Will.
    In a heartbeat, he was bending over her solicitously. ‘I’m sorry. I thought I was stating the obvious. Marriages, births, christenings all around us. Are you all right? Can I get you a drink?’
    ‘I’m fine,’ she lied, dragging in oxygen. ‘But I…I should go back inside. Mattie might need me.’
    ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’
    She gulped another deep breath. ‘I’m certain.’
    Will’s hand was at her elbow, supporting her as she got to her feet again, and