There were lots of jobs still to do on the yard but they would have to wait. She wondered again how they would survive without Lester.

‘I must go back to the hospital and you must have a rest,’ she told Luca over-brightly, beckoning him to follow, aware that the poor man was on his knees with fatigue. ‘I’ll quickly show where you’re staying – it’s a bit of a labyrinth, but the outlook’s pretty. You’ll have the run of the house and use of the car,’ she briefed him as she marched off the yard. ‘I don’t eat supper as a rule, but I’m happy to count you into soup at lunchtime and breakfast after the yard’s done. Or you can self-cater. It’s up to you. Use the main kitchen whenever you like – yours is very basic – and you can have friends round any time as long as they don’t frighten the horses. Pip, the housekeeper, might reappear at some point and will probably try to mother you, shag you or both. Again, up to you. UK calls only from the phone, I’m afraid. There’s mobile reception up the lane. All your liabilities are your own. I can only afford you long enough to get the foals down and the mares covered again. And please don’t forget,’ she paused in the rear courtyard, glancing up at the top row of dormers, ‘to be nice to Pax. She’s going through a bloody tough time.’ She turned to him.

He looked unimpressed behind the gentleman-explorer’s beard. ‘And you’re not?’

‘I’m just plain bloody tough.’ She indicated the long glass vestibule that formed the rear entrance of the house and doubled as a boot room. ‘Your flat is through there, the door straight ahead here. It’s all unlocked.’ Amid a sudden din of barking, the gate creaked behind them.

Dressed in an ancient shredded Barbour, yard boots and an ugly woolly hat, Pax was holding out Lester’s overnight bag. Her swollen red eyes were as fierce as before, emotional Armageddon barely in check. At her feet, Stubbs was defending Knott from the heeler bitches.

‘I’ll do the yard while you’re visiting Lester,’ she said, not looking at them. ‘Bring everything in and tidy up.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘I told you, I need to keep busy.’

‘I’ll help,’ offered Luca.

‘I don’t need your help.’

Oh dear, she really was spoiling for a fight, thought Ronnie, taking Lester’s bag and, as an afterthought, gathering up Stubbs. ‘I’ll try to be back as quickly as I can.’

‘Take as long as you need.’ Pax pocketed her glasses and rubbed her face, raking her fingers up through her hair and retying her bun so tightly her red eyes tilted up at the edges.

Ronnie’s heart turned again. Oh, the pure, unrelenting hell of a marriage ending. ‘The broodmares need bringing in first.’

‘Fine.’

‘I’m really very grateful, Pax, and I—’

‘I want to do it.’ Her big hare eyes warned her off sentimentality like all good Percys. ‘It helps to help. Send Lester my love.’