Matt held up a finger. ‘Take the 2015 Classic Cuvée. It had a year on its lees and it’s now had six months in the bottle since dosage. Six months.’ He stressed this last bit before jogging into the wine store to retrieve the bottles.

Clare chewed her lip. ‘He means we need to sell it, Jensen. Sales have ground to nothing since Ted became ill. And your gran doesn’t seem interested. We’ve all offered to go through the emails, but …’ She shrugged.

Jensen winced. ‘I’m on it. I hadn’t realized quite how bad her sight was. I think now that’s out in the open things will get easier.’

He looked sideways at me and I felt a flush of relief that I didn’t have to keep that particular promise to Betsy any more.

Matt wiped the dusty bottles on his jeans and handed them over.

‘Thanks.’ Jensen looked at me. ‘Lottie, Gran would like to know if you’d care to join us for lunch. My great-aunt is here too; they’re both on the terrace. There are things about the vineyard I’d like to discuss if you’ve got the time?’

My face had cooled down a bit since he’d first arrived but I was still conscious that I was in a grubby vest top and shorts whilst he was immaculately dressed in soft indigo jeans and a pale blue linen shirt which brought out the colour of his navy eyes. From nowhere my stomach churned with nausea; possibly too much sun, although my head felt better.

‘You’ve gone as white as a sheet.’ Clare peered at me. ‘Do you need to sit down?’

I breathed deeply and shook my head. ‘I’m okay, thank you.’

‘Not the most enthusiastic response to a lunch invitation I’ve had from a woman,’ Jensen teased. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

I produced a smile. ‘Absolutely, but would you mind if I just joined you for a drink, rather than lunch? I don’t have much of an appetite at the moment.’

We left Matt and Clare to finish off what they were doing and lock up the winery for the day and we set off across the yard. Jensen did a double take when we reached the centre and stopped by a patch of new cement.

‘Someone has filled in that big pothole.’

‘I did,’ I said lightly. ‘I googled it and worked out how to fix it. I didn’t want your grandmother to fall down it. Nor your great-aunt’s wheelchair, come to that.’

His eyes slid sideways to me. ‘You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?’

I shrugged. ‘That’s nothing. You should see me twenty feet up a tree with a chainsaw.’

He laughed, assuming I was joking, and I just smiled sweetly, not bothering to correct him.