Page 2 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

‘How lucky for me,’ said Lily between clenched teeth. ‘Shall we?’ She held out her hand to encourage him away from the priceless prehistoric exhibit.

‘Anything for you, sweetheart,’ he replied.

But, unfortunately, he used their hands connecting to pull her in towards him and press his body up against hers.

Lily felt a flare of anger at his disgusting behaviour. She was just about to knee him in the groin and follow it with a karate chop to his neck when she remembered where she was – andwhoshe was, these days. She was wild Lily Harper no more. These days, she had to be responsible and practical, regardless of the man’s vile actions. She had to be professional.

So she grabbed the drunken man and manoeuvred him across the rope barricade until he was finally on the right side and the stegosaurus was safe.

She pushed him down into a chair and went over to Mary, who was standing nearby. ‘If he goes near any of the dinosaurs again, you have my permission to beat him over the head with a large fossil,’ she whispered.

Mary grimaced. ‘Do I have to? He looks like he’d probably enjoy it.’

‘You can handle him,’ Lily told her. ‘Now, about the party bags. There were some spare ones lined up outside in the courtyard. I’ll go and grab some.’

Lily looked around the room again for Mark but couldn’t see him. Perhaps he was in the gents’, trying out his speech. She wondered what he would say. Would he go down on one knee, even in the middle of the dancefloor? She secretly hoped so. That was how she had always wanted it to be done. And now the time was finally near.

A small frown creased her forehead. In fact, the time was actually a little overdue according to her life plan. She had wanted to get engaged on her birthday, but Mark had given her a lovely necklace instead of a ring. He knew about her plans to be engaged by the time she was thirty, so he only had until her next birthday to propose.

But she could forgive him for the short delay, as it was such a glorious setting that summer evening and would make an amazing story to tell their children. Perhaps they would come back to the Natural History Museum when the kids were old enough to understand.

‘And that’s where Daddy proposed to Mummy. Right by that dinosaur.’

Lily smiled expectantly at her reflection in the hallway mirror. She tucked a stray lock of red hair behind her ear, but her ponytail and simple makeup had remained in place. Her green eyes were framed with just a lick of dark mascara, her lips painted with a natural matte colour. Nice and neat. Nothing too outlandish.

She allowed herself a satisfied nod as she carried on past the mirror and downstairs to the cloakroom.

Her relationship with Mark might have been going well, but the recent loss of her job had been a massive disappointment. Even now, the panic was simmering inside her.

She didn’t like surprises or anything unexpected occurring in her life. She hadn’t done ever since the car accident that had knocked her whole world off its axis when she was sixteen years old.

These days, her life was mapped out so that there could be no room for hurt or pain. To be in total control was a good thing. It protected her from the very worst that life could offer. She was safe from hurt and would continue to be so, as long as everything went to plan each and every day.

She stepped outside into the spacious Darwin Centre courtyard and took a moment to enjoy the night air.

It was a perfect summer’s evening with a full moon shining down from the night sky above. Not that you got to see too many stars in the centre of London. She felt a brief pang of longing for her home village of Cranley, where the sky was endless and full of stars, with not a skyscraper blocking the view.

She didn’t know why she was feeling so unsettled and homesick at the moment. It had to be about losing her job, she supposed. But she had left her home village many years ago to take the burden of having to support her away from her parents. After all, she had hurt too many people back then. The ripples of pain were still being felt to that day by her family.

She focused back on the job in hand and spotted the spare party bags in the far corner of the terrace. As she walked away from the other partygoers, she thought she spotted movement behind the large trees lining the terrace. Lily had organised enough parties to know about all the sexy comings and goings that occurred. She would ignore whoever it was, grab the party bags and get out of there before anyone was embarrassed.

But at that moment her colleague, Julie, staggered out from behind a large tree. ‘Easy, babe,’ she said, laughing. She looked as though she was about to dive back in for another embrace when she saw Lily.

‘Oh! Hi!’ she said, the blush spreading across her cheeks.

‘We need the spare party bags,’ said Lily in a chilly tone of voice. ‘You haven’t left enough in the main hall.’

‘Oh. Sure.’ Julie stole a glance at the man who was still hidden behind the tree before grabbing as many of the bags by the handles as she could.

She almost ran across the terrace in her haste to get away.

Lily decided not to confirm the existence of the man who was probably one of the guests. It was just so unprofessional, she thought. Once more, she wondered why Julie should have been chosen for the job and not her.Because she didn’t mess up her life and went to university, unlike you, whispered her inner voice.

But as Lily reached down for the bags, she glanced back at the man’s feet, which were sticking out from behind the tree trunk, and was struck by the familiar blue of the shoes. That is odd, she thought. They look just like…

And then the man stepped forward.

Lily drew in a shocked breath as she stared up at Mark. His immaculate navy suit was covered in tiny little leaves that had fallen from the tree. At least he had the grace to look embarrassed whilst they stood there in stunned silence.