SARA CRAVEN was born in South Devon and grew up in a house full of books. She worked as a local journalist, covering everything from flower shows to murders, and started writing for Mills & Boon in 1975. When not writing, she enjoys films, music, theatre, cooking and eating in good restaurants. She now lives near her family in Warwickshire. Sara has appeared as a contestant on the former Channel Four game show Fifteen to One and in 1997 was the UK television Mastermind champion. In 2005 she was a member of the Romantic Novelists’ team on University Challenge—the Professionals.

CHAPTER ONE

       April

      THE EAR-RINGS WERE the most exquisite she had ever seen.

      Nestling in their bed of black velvet, the single diamond drops glowed with a fierce inner fire that made her wonder if her fingertips would burn as she touched them.

      But, in fact, they were cold, she thought with a small ironic smile as she fastened them into her earlobes.

      Cold as the rest of the jewellery she had been given over the last endless months.

      Cold as the chill in the pit of her stomach when she envisaged the evening ahead of her. And its possible aftermath.

      She took the pendant, which had been the previous gift, from its case, and handed