Nelson flew to meet them with a wildly wagging tail, rearing up to put his paws on Aaron’s shoulders. ‘Hey, big stuff.’ Aaron patted and petted the excited dog until he could persuade him to get down onto the four paws dogs were meant to walk on. ‘Say hello to Clancy then you can go out.’

Nelson was happy to plaster his ears back and treat Clancy to a wide doggy smile, but once he’d checked out the weather through the open door he turned tail and headed for his basket.

‘Wimp,’ Aaron muttered. His wet hair curled into his eyes as he smiled at Clancy. ‘At least it’s one less of us to dry.’

Her stomach lurched. His gaze was hungry. Intense. She was aware of all of him at once, of the clean line of his jaw and the way his shoulders and chest moved beneath his clothes as he breathed; of him moving closer, damp skin sliding across damp skin as he pulled her close.

‘I want to kiss you again,’ he murmured. ‘But I don’t want to stop there.’

He didn’t kiss her. His gaze just remained fixed on hers and suddenly she realised what he was asking. He wasn’t going to kiss her if that’s all there was to it. He wanted …

A blush ignited in the pit of her belly and flew up her body to her face. ‘Oh!’ she gasped, hyper-aware of his hands circling gently over her back as he waited. Her smile felt tremulous and almost not her own. ‘I want to … kiss you too. And not stop.’

And then he was kissing her. No gentle kiss, as in the garden at Keelmarsh House; no questing exploration of her mouth like on the clifftop; but a demanding kiss, lips hard on hers, his tongue stroking, settling her body against his so snugly she could feel his heartbeat hammering. Or was that hers? If she’d chilled in the rain she was no longer aware of it. Heat from Aaron’s body stole around her as if they were in the mid-afternoon sun. She let her palms trace his back and shoulders, the firm contours that came from physical work.

He broke off to give her a long, searching look. ‘You know what I’m asking?’

She joked, shakily, ‘Is this like data protection legislation – I can’t get into your bedroom without a double opt-in?’

His eyes brimmed with laughter. ‘You’ve already ticked all my boxes.’

She cocked her head to one side. ‘And met all your terms and conditions?’

‘Tick.’ He dropped a kiss on her wet hair and began to lead her upstairs. The room he took her to proved not to be his bedroom, but the bathroom. The laughter in his eyes subsided. ‘Let’s get you out of those wet clothes,’ he suggested huskily. First he pulled a thick blue towel from the airing cupboard and gently rubbed her hair, then stroked the softness of the towel over her forehead, her cheeks and chin, pausing to kiss each eyelid. Slowly, he reached behind her and tugged at the tie of her dress, smiling in satisfaction when the bow unfastened. ‘I sat behind you at the meeting wanting to do that.’