Meet Roni and Skipper, two English Setters rescued by Agnes, who’ll be coming to live with me and Darren as soon as we can possibly get them home. I love them so much – can’t wait for us to be a family!

Family, I thought; we might not get to choose them, but anyone in the Allbright family was guaranteed to be cocooned in love. I rested my hand lightly on my tummy. And that includes you.

Later that evening Jensen found me in the vineyard crouching down, checking up on the Chardonnay vines that Sidney had advised me on. They were looking a lot healthier already.

‘Should you still be working this late in the day?’

‘This isn’t work,’ I said hastily, brushing the dried mud from my knees and hands. ‘This is an evening stroll to say goodnight to the grapes.’

He grinned. ‘My granddad would have loved you.’

I glanced at my watch. ‘Talking of granddads, I’ll be delivering the new baby news to my dad tonight.’

‘I’ll walk up to your cottage with you if you like,’ he said, offering a hand to pull me up. ‘I’m leaving now.’

I accepted his help gratefully and took hold of his strong warm hand. He steadied me with his other hand on my elbow as I half stumbled into him.

‘You’re not staying the night?’ I said, trying not to sound too disappointed.

‘I’d love to but I’ve got to go home and pack.’ He brushed a dried leaf from the front of my T-shirt. ‘I’m flying to Cape Town on Sunday for work and I’ve got a report to finish tomorrow.’

‘Oh, in that case I’m doubly grateful that you made the time for me today. Um …’ I opened my mouth and closed it again.

There was a question on my mind – more than one, actually – but now that I had the perfect chance to ask it, I wasn’t sure I could.

He grinned. ‘What are you thinking?’

I took a deep breath, working myself up to it, and he patiently took his sunglasses out of his breast pocket and polished them on his shirt.

‘Okay, I’ll ask, and I want you to be honest,’ I said, which was only partly true. Because if he didn’t feel the same as me, I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope.

‘I’m nervous already.’ He peered down at me from under a blond curl which had flopped over one eye. I’d thought he was gorgeous the first time I met him and now I knew him, I liked him even more. It took all of my self-control not to brush my fingers through his hair and pull his face close to mine.