Apart from a squirrel, and a couple of tiny, roly-poly brown birds, we didn’t spot another living creature, until suddenly, turning past a particularly large tree trunk, we found ourselves at the edge of a clearing carpeted with bluebells.

‘I can’t believe that this is basically your new back gard—’ Steph stopped, mid-word, and turned to me, eyes round and jaw hanging open. In the split second before I had a chance to respond, the surprise morphed into a wicked glint, causing my own eyes to widen in alarm as I mouthed, ‘Don’t you dare!’

She shrugged, pressing one hand to her chest with a puzzled, who me? expression that made me want to scuttle back behind the tree. Especially when I grabbed her arm and turned to go, and instead of moving with me she took a big step into the open.

‘Helloooo!’ she called out as my stomach plummeted into the dirt.

The man on the other side of the clearing lowered the chainsaw in his hand and turned to see who’d yelled like a teenager trying to get a selfie with her favourite boyband. His broad chest was bare, faded jeans riding low on his hips. When I tried to swallow, it appeared as though every drop of moisture in my mouth had evaporated along with Steph’s sense of shame.

The man placed the chainsaw on the ground and quickly shrugged into a checked shirt, which only made me feel even more embarrassed. He had the type of physique earnt through a lifestyle of hard work, rather than pumping away in a gym, and the way the shirt hung slightly open to reveal the tiniest smattering of hair on a solid chest seemed almost worse than when he’d been half naked.

Crap, Ollie. Don’t even think words like ‘naked’ right now. My current train of thought might not have been in breach of the No-Man Mandate, but I was pretty sure it should be.

Then he pulled off the orange hard-hat with the face visor, and at least I stopped thinking about his chest. Running a hand through mussed-up, light brown hair streaked with natural highlights, he offered us a slightly awkward, yet utterly dazzling grin.

Oh my.

Steph’s laughing eyes flickered to mine. ‘Now if this doesn’t get you packing your bags and whizzing through that boring old list, I don’t know what will,’ she muttered out of the side of her mouth.

‘Can I help you?’ the man asked. His voice was warm and deep and matched the rest of him perfectly.

‘I hope so!’ Steph said, moving closer. It was only when he flicked one hand in a stay gesture that I spotted two collies lying in the shade of an oak tree.

‘We’re new here. Well, my friend Ollie here is new. She’s just bought a cottage that backs right onto the forest.’