She stopped dead in the doorway, paralysed by what her husband to be was doing to his brother. Carrie had always suspected that there was someone else but she had thought that Jack would get over it once they were married. Obviously she was wrong.

They still hadn’t noticed her and Carrie backed out of the room, shutting the door without a sound.

“Carrie dear, are you all right? You look terribly pale,” her mother-in-law said as Carrie walked past her.

“Fine Joanne.” Carrie flashed the little woman a false smile and kept going. She was an intuitive young woman and for some reason that she hadn’t been able to put her finger on, she had never liked Lucas. Now at least she knew why; he was fucking the love of her life.

Well, not for much longer, Carrie thought. She had reached the marquis, set up outside on the church green. She picked up the knife that she would cut the cake with and went back inside, heading for the side room where Lucas and Jack were.

“Darling, the wedding’s off,” she said.