Lloyd maintained an intermittent limp for effect as they returned him to the car, and Tara clipped him in with the harness the receptionist had sold them on the way out. She wasn’t thrilled by the concept of a dog on her back seat, but a tiny part of her liked the idea of being prepared for Lloyd’s company. Somewhere in the future.

‘Well, the good news? Is that that mac is dry-cleanable,’ said David, and Tara was overwhelmed by a powerful impulse to hug him.

Since there was no one around, and she couldn’t work out how to thank him in the right words, she did.

It took them both by surprise how easily Tara’s arms wrapped around David’s neck, how neatly her head fitted into the curve of his neck. How easily – after a moment’s hesitation – David’s arms slipped around her waist and pulled her body into his.

It was strange, Tara thought, breathing against the tender spot just under David’s ear, that the same tingly, silvery shivers of excitement she’d felt that night on the fire escape were exploding over her skin now, even though she hadn’t had a drop to drink. This felt like the right way to express the surging gratitude in her heart.

Gratitude. That was it, she told herself. Relief.

She hugged him tighter, resting her lips against the smooth curve under his strong jaw. More gratefully. Then she dropped her forehead to his shoulder, conscious of where her lips wanted to go next.

‘I know what you did in that field, David,’ she said into the fine cotton of his shirt, damp with rain and warm from his physical exertions. He’d walked so specifically to the right place. So surely.

‘I would never have asked you,’ she added. ‘But thank you.’

David didn’t reply, but he tilted his head so his cheek pressed against hers. For an uncomfortable moment, Tara wondered if his silence meant he was about to admit it was bollocks after all, and she felt oddly disappointed.

But would it matter if he did? They’d found Lloyd. He was safe. Would it change what she thought about David?

‘Love has a loud voice.’ He sighed, his breath hot across her wet hair. ‘Sometimes … sometimes it’s too strong to ignore.’

Tara squeezed her eyes to hold in the tears.

‘It’s incredible what we animals will do to come home,’ he said. ‘When you love someone, you always sense where home is. Always.’

I’ll stay here until I’ve stopped crying, Tara told herself, burying her eyes in David’s shirt. I don’t want him to see me crying.

Although that was a weak argument when he’d seen her crying all day.

David’s arms didn’t slacken either. The hug had now gone on for several minutes, and if anything, it was evolving into something different.