‘Yes, my dear, they’re both asleep at last. I’ve ordered Lydia not to leave them. They would have stayed settled at home.’ Not a reproach, but in the short time since arriving in her former home, Catherine now wished they had not brought the children with them for the forthcoming event. She felt a need to keep track of Clem while back in this parish, where Kerensa Pengarron lived.

In the two years at Greystone’s Farm, Clem had rarely mentioned her name, yet Catherine knew, that all too often, she was inside his head. Already, she felt the invisible bond that he shared with the flame-haired lady of the manor placing a stronger grip on her husband. Clem had been so eager to come. Instead of being slightly distant, closed and guarded, he shone, he was animated. Catherine tried not to resent it – she had not entered this marriage blind to Clem’s yearnings – but she wanted every bit of him to herself.

‘I like my children near me,’ Clem said.

Catherine wound her littlest finger around his, just one of her many gestures of understanding. She took comfort in his statement. Clem was a loyal family man and she was the mother of two of his children. ‘The nursery is very well done, no doubt my brother will be hoping for a child of his own soon.’

‘Pleased to be back here, are you?’

‘It’s very pleasant. My room was the one next to this. I enjoyed the sea view.’

‘Miss it?’

Catherine took heart. He had lost interest in the view and was looking steadily at her. ‘Not particularly. I swapped the view for the fields and valley of Trecath-en Farm and then for the beauty of the moors. I have you and my beloved family and feel myself the most fortunate of women. Have you missed Trecath-en, Clem?’

‘No, but I’ve missed the sea.’

‘You must take the opportunity of its nearness.’ But not Trelynne Cove, she wanted to add. It was a special place to her.

‘I will. What think you of the bed? Shall we knock two of the farm’s bedrooms into one and buy such a giant?’

Clem was gently pressing his fingers on the softness of Catherine’s neck. With nothing to do until they were due to dine with Jessica and Kane in the evening, he felt a desire for his wife. Intimacy between them was long overdue. The twins’ recent attack of croup, and the unexpected gales of two weeks ago, resulting in damage to farm buildings and early crops, had seen to that. And Catherine was watching him, trying as she sometimes did to get inside his thoughts; she knew the reason for his lighter spirit. Making love to her would put her off guard, release him, at least for a while, from her probings. ‘We’re also s’posed to be resting after our journey.’