‘Oui. They’re at an age when they need me around. Although if you’d heard my maman telling me off the other day for not wearing a coat, you’d think I was still six years old.’ He paused. ‘And there was this place of course.’

‘Were you upset when you discovered Nigel now owned it?’

‘Non. It stops my parents worrying about money and they’re ’appy for me to have a job while things sort themselves out.’

Belinda waited for him to explain what things needed sorting out, but he stayed staring out over the river.

‘Were you living with them before the cottage was ready? Or have you got your own place in the village?’

‘I was back in my old childhood room with them. Still covered with motorbike posters.’ Alain grinned at her. ‘A virtual time warp.’

‘Did they mind you moving out again so soon?’ Belinda asked. Then, as something Alain had said the day she did her first site inspection flashed into her mind, she turned to look at him. ‘Hang on, why are you still living in the cottage now I’m back? Why haven’t you returned to your parents’ place to keep an eye on them? You told me you had no intention of living on site until the season started properly.’

Alain returned her glare with one of his own. ‘And leave you living on site by yourself? Don’t be ridiculous. And don’t accuse me of being a chauvinist again. It’s the way I was brought up – you don’t leave any woman in a vulnerable situation.’

‘We’re in the middle of the countryside, not the inner city,’ Belinda said. ‘There are campers around. I have a phone to call the gendarmes if I have to. And I have BB. I don’t need looking after. You should be looking after your parents.’

‘Like it or not, I’m staying put in the cottage until you leave for good. Now let’s get back,’ and Alain waited for her to start walking before he fell into step alongside her.

Back at the cottage, Belinda said a polite bon nuit and went straight to her room to get ready for bed. She supposed she should be grateful that Alain was such a gentleman. The campsite was in an isolated position and under the cover of darkness it could be eerily spooky with the owls calling to each other and the nocturnal animals rustling through the bushes as they hunted for food. But she’d have coped. Although, if she was honest, she did sleep better knowing that there was someone else in the house with her. Any emergency and help would be instant.