Chapter 1

On a hot August day in 1966, the tall skinny figure of a sixteen year old boy emerged from a Cotswold stone house. Pushing back the lick of dark brown hair from his forehead, he shielded his eyes against the glare of the sun and looked across to the line of trees, which followed the bend in the lane. As he had already suspected, there was not a breath of wind in the air and he knew that the four-mile bike ride from his home in Doctor Green’s Lane, a few miles from the market town of Melvesham, was going to be a warm one.

Crossing to where his gleaming aluminium sports cycle was propped against the garage door, he fastened the bulging overnight bag that he had been carrying to the small rack behind the saddle. Then, after pushing the bicycle down the drive and negotiating the front gate, he mounted and was off.

Toby Adamson was bound for the tiny Gloucestershire hamlet of Northolt, or more accurately, for the brand new ranch-style bungalow that lay on its outskirts. This was the new home of the Stevenson family and he was looking forward to spending a few days there with keen anticipation. He had been saddened at the beginning of the Easter holiday when his closest school friend Andrew and his family had finally moved away from Doctor Green’s Lane, where they had been near neighbours since they were eleven years old. He was, however, beginning to see that there would be certain compensations. Overnight stays, swims in the sparkling new swimming pool beside the house and perhaps the chance to see Andrew’s pretty blonde twin sister Natasha in a bikini. Grinning to himself at that particular prospect, Toby began to pedal slightly faster.

As he bowled along the main road with the summer traffic rushing past him, everyone seemingly intent on reaching their destinations in the shortest possible time, Toby’s mind wandered idly back in time. Back to the early days of his friendship with Andrew and Natasha, a friendship which began when they met each other in the Kindergarten of Lane House School in Melvesham, a private school founded shortly after the end of the second world war to take care of the educational needs of the children of the middle classes.

Lane House, with its high ceilings, polished wood floors, rickety staircases and the perennial smell of cabbage wafting gently from the direction of the school kitchens. It held fond memories for Toby, with its small classes and friendly atmosphere. How very different from the ancient King Henry’s College in the city, the secondary school that he now attended. He sighed. It seemed such a long time since he and the twins had all been together at Lane House. Toby frowned as he tried to recall his earliest memories of school life. It was not easy. The only one that came immediately to mind was the story, which his mother trotted out to friends with monotonous regularity, of his first day at school. Aged five-and-a-bit, Toby had been duly enrolled at Lane House School and let loose on an unsuspecting world. Dressed neatly in shorts of grey, a white cotton shirt and a maroon bow tie, he had followed his mother obediently through the school gates. He looked with interest at the wood-panelled entrance and smiled hesitantly at the headmistress as she greeted him in her study. He was intrigued by all the other children, both big and small, who were milling around. He was appalled when he realised that his mother intended to go away and leave him there. He cried. He pleaded. All was to no avail. Mary Adamson, tears in her eyes, waved goodbye to her beloved child, a forlorn figure, holding the hand of his form mistress.

‘Yes, I had quite a nice day thank you.’ he had said when collected that afternoon. ‘But I don’t think I’ll bother to go again.’

Toby snorted with laughter, wondering for the umpteenth time whether he had really said that, or whether the story was in fact apocryphal.

It was during the course of that first term that Toby was to form a firm friendship with fellow classmate Andrew Stevenson. For some reason that neither of them could ever really fathom out, they just got on like a house on fire. They began to visit each others houses at weekends and it was while at Andrew’s house that Toby fell under the spell of his best friend’s exceedingly pretty blonde twin sister Natasha.

Life went on and the ‘terrible threesome’, as Toby, Andrew and Natasha came to be known at school, completed their primary education. Toby and Andrew moved on to the prestigious ‘King Henry’s College’ in the city while Natasha was enrolled in its sister School, ‘Benningford Hall’.

They all quickly settled in to their new schools. Life was good and nothing much changed really, until 1966 when the Stevenson family moved house. To Tony’s immense dismay they left Doctor Green’s Lane where they had lived just around the corner from Toby and his family, since the kids were eleven years old.

So the single most striking event of Toby and the twins’ sixteenth year was this move, during the Easter holidays, to a newly built ranch style bungalow in the countryside. The completion of the home was the culmination of years of planning by Tom and Jackie Stevenson and indeed by the children as well. The Managing Director of an old established family firm of builders, Tom had acquired the site, in the midst of rolling countryside near the tiny hamlet of Northolt, shortly after the twins were born in 1950. Although the original plans were drawn up in the mid fifties, development was fated not to begin until almost eight years later. The bungalow was quite magnificent, a sprawling building constructed of local stone, built round a central courtyard. Beyond that, in its own high walled seclusion, was a heated swimming pool. The plot in which it all stood extended to two acres and was reached by a long winding drive off the lane which led to Northolt itself.

Toby had been fascinated by the building from the first time that he was ever taken to see it and had always jumped at the chance of further inspections as construction work proceeded. It was, without a doubt, the most palatial home that he had ever come across and was certainly the talk of Middle School at King Henry’s College when Andrew took in a set of photographs as construction continued.

Tom Stevenson did quite a lot of the building work himself in any spare moment available and the entire family became involved when came the time to paint out the interior. Slowly, piece by piece, the project took shape and in February Tom said with some confidence that they should be able to move house at the beginning of the spring school holidays.

To a great extent the soft furnishings for the bungalow were new. Biscuit-coloured carpeting covered the floor throughout and the windows, including ceiling to floor glass facing onto the courtyard, had pale translucent curtains to match. Jackie Stevenson had spent most of the winter months with long lengths of material spread out on the floor of the lounge in their old house, working away busily with her sewing machine. Eventually the bed in the spare room was positively groaning under the weight of completed curtaining, all carefully laid out to avoid creasing. Carpets laid and curtains hung, the new house simply lacked furniture to complete it. The only finished rooms were the bathrooms, all with white suites and the latest Italian tiling, and the fully fitted state of the art kitchen which Jackie was particularly pleased with and which she had designed herself, along with the new laundry room in an adjoining area.

Just after school ended for the holidays Andrew and Toby were appointed rag and bone men and spent many happy hours helping Jackie and Natasha to clear out the old house in preparation for the move. Tom had to hire a rubbish skip which was placed in the drive in front of the garage and it was soon piled high with the usual selection of heterogeneous junk that householders invariably seem to acquire over the years. As the boys threw in heaps of old clothing, discarded toys, various pieces of obsolete electrical and kitchen equipment, off cuts of carpet, old curtains and sundry other trash, Jackie shook her head in disbelief and kept saying that she could not for the life of her imagine how they could possibly have collected so much worthless garbage.

Once she had satisfied herself that all useless items had been discarded, in September Jackie allowed Tom and the boys to begin moving non essential furniture and other bits and pieces up to the new bungalow. The guest bedroom was stripped out completely and the dining room furniture was moved, all meals being taken, in the interim, in the kitchen. As both houses had fitted wardrobes in the bedrooms, Jackie also began to shift clothing up to Northolt and the children eventually found that they were left almost with only the clothes they stood up in. The arrival at Northolt of the furniture people with the new lounge suite, bedroom furnishings for Tom and Jackie’s room and new beds for the children, meant that the final move could take place.

On the chosen day Toby arrived at the Stevensons at seven thirty in the morning and found that there was already a hive of activity. Initially Jackie and Natasha stayed at Doctor Green’s Lane to pack things into boxes while Tom, Andrew and Toby piled stuff into the firm’s light van and ran several loads up to Northolt, some four miles distant. By lunch time they had moved almost everything and after sharing bread and cheese standing at the draining board in the old kitchen, the five of them set to work to pack up the remaining paraphernalia and loaded everything left in the house into the van and the estate car. As Tom and Jackie checked round the deserted house, Toby suddenly realised that the excitement was over and that his friends were finally moving away. A wave of misery engulfed him and a hard lump formed in his throat.

‘Right, that’s it,’ announced Tom, returning to the hallway where the three youngsters were waiting. He held out his hand. ‘Thanks very much for all your help, Toby old chap. I don’t know how we’d have managed without you.’

Toby was surprised and delighted when he took Tom’s hand, to have some folded pound notes pressed into his palm.

They went out into the sunlight and Tom closed and locked the front door for the last time. Jackie put the bags that she was carrying into the car and turned to face Toby who was watching her unhappily. She took hold of him and kissed him.

‘Now remember. We’re only four miles away,’ she said, realizing the sadness that their departure was causing him.

‘It’s not far on your bike,’ added Andrew, patting him on the shoulder.

‘You’ll come and see us often, because we’ll miss you otherwise,’ said Natasha gravely. She held out her arms for a hug. Toby embraced her, fiercely and then impulsively, he leaned forwards and kissed her full on the lips. She gave him a warm smile and much to his intense embarrassment he blushed furiously.

‘OK, let’s be off,’ called Tom from the driver’s seat of the van, ‘Come and have a ride with me Natty. Andrew can go with Mummy.’

With that they were gone and Toby stood waving until both vehicles disappeared round the bend in the lane before turning sadly for home.

From the time that they reached Northolt until evening, the family worked steadily to get their new house into shape. By about seven o’clock they were all ravenous and Jackie prepared a scratch supper of beans on toast with fried eggs on top, remarking that for a first effort in her new kitchen it wasn’t exactly a gourmet meal. Indeed it may not have been but nonetheless they all ate heartily. By about half past nine Jackie suggested that they should turn in early. Both Andrew and Natasha accepted the proposal willingly and after saying good night made their way along the hall to their new bedrooms.

Their bedroom suite was their pride and joy, for they had designed it themselves. Initially Tom had planned to give them each a small bedroom with shower room en suite and a joint lounge cum study in between. As it was a family project and he felt that they were old enough to take part, he showed the twins the drawing and asked for their comments. After much discussion they had decided that they would rather do without the lounge area and opted instead for two much larger bedrooms. Natasha then asked if it would be possible for her to have a bath instead of a shower. As this would not fit into her shower room Andrew suggested that they should share one bathroom between them with a shower for him and a bath for his sister. Tom had jokingly sketched it up on a piece of paper with two entrances, one from each bedroom and the youngsters were delighted with the idea.

The amalgamation of the bathrooms resulted in two substantial bedrooms and Jackie then wondered if it would be possible for them to be twin bedded to allow for visiting friends. Both Andrew and Natasha thought this a splendid idea, but when Tom measured up the new plan he said that it would destroy the ‘studio’ concept of the design and leave little free floor space. As by this time the shell of the bungalow had already been constructed there was no way that the rooms could be made any bigger. It was Natasha who came up with the answer by suggesting double beds. Tom was initially highly amused, but bearing in mind the fact that within a relatively short period of time his attractive offspring would undoubtedly be bringing home intimate friends, he saw sense in the proposal and agreed without demur.

Thus the twins ended up with identical studio bedrooms, each with double bed, fitted wardrobes and a long desk cum work top cum dressing table running down the entire length of one wall. The rooms were linked by their bathroom which had a fitted shower cubicle and bath on one wall and a pair of basins against the other, with a toilet housed in a separate area in one corner. Both Andrew and Natasha argued against that but as Tom pointed out, visiting friends might not share their liberal views.

‘Do you know, I can’t really believe that we’re finally living here,’ cried Natasha from the bathroom, as she turned on the taps to run her first bath.

‘It’s great, isn’t it!’ called Andrew from his bedroom. Stripped naked, the twins met in the bathroom.

‘How funny seeing you here,’ quipped Andrew.

‘I might say the same thing,’ laughed his sister.

‘It’s warmer here than it was at home I think,’ observed her twin.

‘Yes, isn’t it,’ agreed Natasha, turning off the taps and stepping daintily into the bath. She lay back in the water and gave a sigh of pleasure.

Andrew got into the shower and turned on the mixer tap.

‘Yowee!’ he yelped, ‘It’ll take a while to get the hang of these new taps. That was bloody freezing’

Natasha laughed.

‘We should have had two baths end to end instead.’

‘I never thought of that,’ responded Andrew, ‘How decadent. Oh, I say, you haven’t got a bar of soap have you?’

‘Yes thank you.’

‘Very funny. Can I borrow it please?’

‘Here, catch,’ Natasha lobbed the bar over the side of the shower screen.

‘Thanks,’ Andrew lathered himself up.

‘Can I have it back when you’ve finished?’

‘Sure,’ Andrew threw it back over the screen. There was a dull thud followed by a splash.

‘Ow!’ cried Natasha.

‘Oh, sorry Nat,’ called Andrew, ‘Did I hit you?’

‘Only on the tummy actually. I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.’

After rinsing himself off, Andrew stepped out of the shower and took his towel from the nearby rail.

‘As you’re here, will you soap my back for me please?’ asked Natasha.

‘O.K. Just let me get a bit dry first.’

‘There’s no hurry.’

When Andrew finished towelling himself Natasha sat up and offered him the soap. Lathering up his hands he proceeded to soap her back lavishly. As he was doing so he noticed the curve of her left breast beneath her arm which was raised and could not resist the temptation to run his slippery hand over it.

‘Hey, get off,’ protested Natasha, looking up at him and grinning.

His caress caused her nipple to harden and Andrew felt the reaction beneath his thumb before he reluctantly withdrew his hand.

‘Do you know Natasha,’ he said, stepping back and looking at her thoughtfully, ‘You’ve turned into a woman since last summer.’

‘Oh get away with you,’ laughed his twin and lay back in the bath to rinse herself off. Standing up, she pulled out the bath plug and flicked droplets of water off her arms, legs and body.

‘Could you pass me my towel please?’ she asked.

As she stood drying herself Andrew continued to regard her critically, appraising with pleasure her firm high breasts, narrow waist, flat stomach and long shapely legs. Suddenly he could see the reason why Toby was constantly rhapsodising about her.

‘Very beautiful,’ he murmured to himself.

‘What was that?’

‘I said you’re very beautiful, Toby’s quite right.’

‘Did Toby say that?’

‘Toby’s always saying that and I’ve just realized that he’s right.’

‘Gosh, thank you Andrew,’ Natasha blushed demurely, highly delighted by her twin’s unexpected compliment.

Casually she passed her towel between her legs and taking one end in each hand she began to see-saw it back and forth. As she did so she tilted her pelvis rhythmically and Andrew, surveying the action from one side, found it rather erotic. So much so in fact that it provoked a strong erection. Natasha noticed it and giggled.

‘What brought that on?’

‘You did,’ laughed her brother, ‘Waggling your bottom about like that.’

‘Oh sorry,’ said Natasha contritely and dropped her towel.

‘Don’t be. I enjoyed it to be truthful.’

Turning to the basin nearest him Andrew brushed his teeth while Natasha finished drying. She then did the same while Andrew put talcum powder first under his arms and then on his penis which was still firmly erect.

‘I think I’ll make myself come to christen my new bedroom,’ he said suddenly. ‘Will you watch while I do it? You haven’t for simply ages.’

‘Yes all right,’ agreed his twin and together they went into his bedroom.

‘I do enjoy having you watch while I do it,’ chuckled Andrew wickedly.

‘Do you? I’d be far to embarrassed to let you watch me.’

‘No honestly, it’s nice,’ said Andrew, the true significance of Natasha’s remark escaping him completely.

She watched attentively as her brother began to caress himself.

‘No baby oil tonight? I could have done it for you otherwise.’

‘I don’t know where it is to tell the truth. If I can find it will you do it for me tomorrow night?’

‘It’s a deal.’

Andrew’s hand was moving up and down swiftly and soon he began to pant audibly. Reaching out, Natasha stroked his balls gently. The result was electric and with a cry he came, heavy streams of white fluid snaking forth onto his chest and stomach.

‘Whee!’ cried Natasha, ‘It still amazes me the way it shoots out like that.’

‘What made you think of stroking me the way you did? It felt gorgeous,’ gasped Andrew.

‘They looked furry and inviting,’ replied his twin and then giggled.

‘Ask a silly question,’ laughed Andrew, ‘I say, you wouldn’t get me a couple of tissues would you?’

Natasha nodded and rising to her feet went into the bathroom. What Andrew did not realize was that her answer to his question was perfectly serious. Possibly because of his reaction to her own body, she was much aroused and in turn had looked at him in a different light. For the first time ever she had felt a strange hunger within her.

Returning to the bedroom she gave him a handful of tissues and perched on the corner of the bed. It was only then that she realized that she was lubricating copiously and standing up quickly she turned to inspect the spot where she had been sitting, to make sure that she had not marked the new bedspread.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Andrew, curious at her behaviour.

‘Oh ... er ... nothing. I just ... I just thought that I felt something ... um ... sharp, that’s all.

‘How odd. Can you see anything?’

Natasha made a pretense of rubbing her hand over the bed.

‘I must have been imagining it. Right, I’m off to bed now.’

‘O.K,’ responded Andrew and pulling back the cover he got into his own. ‘Mmm, it feels lovely and comfortable. Good night Natty. Do I get a kiss?’

He pursed his lips and Natasha, following their childhood ritual, did the same. She leaned over him and their mouths touched. Without knowing quite what made her do so, Natasha parted her lips slightly. Andrew did the same and their usual perfunctory gesture suddenly turned into a tender kiss, fraught with a new significance. As she drew away their eyes met momentarily and simultaneously they shied away from the intimate contact.

‘See you in the morning,’ said Natasha abruptly, ‘Sweet dreams.’

She left the room and the moment passed. Andrew lay motionless for a long while, trying to rationalize what had happened.

‘I’m imagining it,’ he said aloud and shook his head as if to banish the thoughts that were whirling through his mind.

He looked around his new room and was extremely gratified by what he saw. The soft warm colours and simple modern furnishings were a delight to his eye. Sighing contentedly he rolled over onto his side and stretched out his hand to turn off the light. As he did so he heard a muted scream from the direction of Natasha’s room. Leaping out of bed he flew through the bathroom and threw open her door.

‘Whatever is the matter?’ he cried.

Natasha, her bedclothes thrown back, was still busy between her legs working rapidly towards a second climax. She jumped violently and grabbed hastily for the sheet.

‘Matter? Nothing’s the matter,’ she replied, ‘What do you mean?’

‘I just heard you scream didn’t I?’

‘Did you? Oh dear,’ Natasha blushed.

‘What happened?’

‘Er...,’ said Natasha uncomfortably.

‘Well?’

‘I...,’ began Natasha, looking desperately for an excuse, ‘Umm ... I thought I saw a frog.’

‘A frog?’

‘No, not a frog,’ said Natasha hastily, ‘Silly me It couldn’t have been a frog. I mean a ... a spider. Yes, that’s it. I thought I saw a spider.’

‘And that made you scream.’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘But you aren’t afraid of spiders,’ Andrew pointed out gently, ‘In the sixteen years that I’ve known you, you’ve never screamed when you saw a spider.’

‘Aah, well ... an attack of arachnophobia,’ said Natasha, clutching at straws. ‘That’s what I had. Phew, it was terrible. I’m quite all right now though. You can go back to bed. I’m sorry that I disturbed you,’ Natasha looked at her brother hopefully, willing him to go away.

‘Where was this spider exactly?’ questioned Andrew suspiciously.

‘On the wall. Over there,’ replied Natasha, waving her arm vaguely.

‘It wasn’t in the bed then.’

‘In the bed?’

‘When I came in you had the covers pushed back, so I thought that perhaps it was in the bed.’

‘Mmm, yes, that’s what I thought too,’ agreed Natasha, burying herself deeper each time she spoke.

‘But you just said it was on the wall,’ Andrew observed patiently.

‘So I did. Well ... yes ... you see ... I was trying to escape. Yes, that’s what I was doing. I was having a nightmare. There was this horrible frog chasing me and then it turned out to be a spider on the wall and I thought it was going to jump onto me, so I tried to escape.’

‘But the light was on and anyway you hadn’t really had time to go to sleep, let alone have a nightmare,’ observed Andrew, ‘You only left me a about ten minutes ago.’

“Aah,’ sighed Natasha resignedly.

‘Please correct me if I’m wrong,’ said her brother drily, ‘But I get the feeling that you’re not being entirely truthful about all this.’

“Er ... well, perhaps not entirely truthful,’ admitted Natasha.

‘Well?’ demanded Andrew.

‘I did scream,’ responded his sister, ‘I’ll try not to do it again.’

‘But why did you scream?’ asked Andrew, trying his level best not to burst into fits of laughter.

Natasha sighed heavily.

‘All right. I suppose you had to find out eventually. If you must know, Mr. Nosy, I screamed when I came.’

‘Screamed when you came where?’ asked Andrew, quite mystified.

‘No silly. Came as in climaxed. Had an orgasm, like you just did.’

‘You can come?’ Andrew was astounded. ‘I didn’t know that girls could do that.’

‘Oh yes,’ replied Natasha airily, ‘Nothing comes out of anywhere like it does with boys, but otherwise I believe it’s about the same.’

‘Good Lord,’ said Andrew, highly impressed, ‘How do you do it?’

‘I rub myself.’

‘Where?’

‘There’s this special spot just behind my left ear,’ giggled Natasha.

‘Oh you fool,’ laughed Andrew and the two of them collapsed in fits of laughter.

‘Oh dear, I’m aching,’ gasped Natasha eventually.

‘That really was very funny,’ conceded her brother, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, ‘But I don’t think I entirely believe it.’

‘It would be very handy though, wouldn’t it.’

“Very.’

‘No, actually it’s somewhere a bit lower than that.’

‘I kind of imagined it might be.’

‘This is a very personal discussion you know,’ said Natasha primly.

‘Oh come on Natty. Fair’s fair. After all, you know how I do it.’

‘That’s true I suppose,’ she admitted, ‘I do it by rubbing my clitoris with the middle finger of my right hand. OK? Satisfied?’

‘No,’ said Andrew, ‘What’s your clitoris for a start.’

‘Sometimes I think you’re amazingly ignorant Andrew Stevenson,’ said his twin loftily, ‘The clitoris is the female equivalent of the peen.’

‘It is? Where is it and what does it look like? Show me.’

‘Oh all right,’ agreed Natasha wearily.

Throwing back the bedclothes again she lay back against her pillows and parted her legs. She gestured for Andrew to look between them. It had been a long time since their last game of ‘Hospitals’ and Natasha had matured considerably since her twin had last had such an intimate view of her sex. He was entranced by the perfect roseate symmetry of both outer and inner labia.

‘My God, Natasha,’ he breathed, ‘It’s absolutely beautiful’

‘Don’t be silly,’ she giggled self-consciously.

‘I’m not,’ he said firmly, looking at her and shaking his head, ‘It’s just about the most gorgeous sight I’ve ever seen.’

‘You’ve seen between my legs before.’

‘That was a long time ago and now I know the reason for what’s there. Wow!’ he gazed at her with awe and his penis began to tumesce slowly.

‘Andrew!’ exclaimed his pretty blonde twin, pointing at it.

‘Sorry. You know that I can’t control it. It is a compliment though.’

‘Yes, I realize that. Anyway, look.’

Natasha held her inner lips apart and pointed at the area where her clitoris lay.

‘I can’t really see anything,’ admitted Andrew.

‘No, you can’t really,’ agreed Natasha, ‘It’s very tiny. I can feel it when I’ve been rubbing it for a while because it goes hard.’

‘Does it really?’ Andrew was absolutely fascinated.

‘Uh huh. It’s kind of like a mini-peen I suppose.’

‘How absolutely fantastic. Do you have to rub it for long before you come?’

‘Not really, it all depends on how I’m feeling. On the nights when I made you come before I felt super-sexy and then it took no time at all. Otherwise I suppose it takes five, ten minutes. Maybe longer. It varies on the mood I’m in and also how long I want it to last.’

“Sounds just like me.’

‘Yes, I suppose it’s quite similar.’

‘Why are you looking all wet down there?’

‘Because when I get sexy I get sticky. All girls do,’ she giggled, ‘That’s why I was looking at your bed. Watching you come made me feel so sexy that I was afraid I’d marked your bedspread.’

‘Oh Natasha, that’s hilarious,’ laughed Andrew, ‘You are super telling me all this. Thanks awfully.’

“Well, as you said, I did owe you.’

‘How did you find out how to do it by the way? Did somebody tell you about it?’

‘No, I found out quite by accident. I’ve got you to thank, to be honest. That first night that you let me make you come was when it happened. I was lying in bed afterwards feeling awfully sexy. I started touching myself and it felt nicer and nicer and nicer and then all of a sudden I came! I simply couldn’t believe it.’

‘I bet you couldn’t.’

‘I talked to Mummy about it a couple of days later.’

‘What did she say?’

‘She seemed thrilled that I’d found out about it. She said I could do it whenever I wanted.’

‘Good old Mummy,’ laughed Andrew.

‘She does it too you know,’ confided Natasha.

‘Does she?’ Andrew raised his eyebrows in surprise.

‘She says that the whole Stevenson family is sex mad,’ laughed Natasha.

‘I think she’s probably right,’ chuckled Andrew. ‘Aren’t we lucky!’

“Definitely!’

‘Does Emma do it?’

Emma Knight was Natasha’s best friend at Benningford and she and Andrew were, in a quiet way, beginning to flirt with each other quite explicitly every time that their paths crossed.

‘Not that I know of,’ laughed Natasha, who knew and thoroughly approved of the relationship that she could see developing between her brother and her closest friend. ‘She has never said anything to suggest that she does and somehow I’ve never found a way to slip it into a conversation.’