one loves us,’ James piped up. ‘And we don’t love anyone, just each other.’

      Slowly Lyle backed towards the door. Poor wretched little brats … But what on earth could he say to them? That he had loved the four and two-year-old sons he had been forced to leave when Heather wanted her divorce, but that the ten and twelve-year-olds they now were were strangers to him? Heather had demanded sole custody and had told him that she thought it would be better for the children if they didn’t see him, and his solicitor had advised him to accept her demands, so they had come to him virtually strangers.

      Justine was right, he thought, opening the door abruptly. They did need someone of their own. She was also right about the pressure of his personal problems and the effect it was likely to have on his work, and as a doctor he could not afford to make mistakes.

      What was she like, this woman who advertised so boldly for a husband, merely describing herself as twenty-six, single and self-supporting?

      Well, thanks to Justine it looked as though he might soon find out.