Rosie herself thought Matthias would make someone a good husband and she had looked him over once or twice. He wasn’t much older at thirty than she was and alongside his religious zeal he owned a surprising sense of humour and enjoyed many a hearty laugh with the Trenchard menfolk. To Alice he even displayed a certain amount of charm, to the twins and Jessica he was like a favourite uncle. But he treated Rosie rather as he did the children and she wondered if he’d noticed yet that she had grown up.

The talking in the clearing had stopped. Rosie eased herself up on stiff legs and peered round the side of the tree. Nathan had left, she had no idea in which direction, and waited awhile to see if he would come back. Sir Oliver reached into a pocket for his tobacco pouch and filled his clay pipe. Rosie liked to look at his hands. They were large and rather elegant and although toughened by the hard manual work he liked to do they were not as rough and calloused as Clem’s and her father’s were. His long fingers, adorned with only one discreet ruby set in gold on the ring finger of his right hand, were different to those of Matthias Renfree, whose were smaller and stocky like the rest of him.

Thinking again of Matthias reinforced Rosie’s feelings of guilt. She should not be wanting a secret meeting alone with a married man, especially with him being her father’s landlord, Matthias’s employer, the husband of her sister-in-law’s best friend and the man who had broken her brother’s heart by stealing his bride. It was so very wrong. No good would come of it. Sir Oliver had not and probably never would live down his reputation as a womaniser. It was probably not safe to be alone with him. But Rosie could not help herself. Taking a deep breath she walked towards him.

Oliver glanced up from lighting his pipe, showing no surprise at seeing her there. He looked stern as she came before him like a child sent for by a headmaster.

He considered her for a moment, then said, ‘I was wondering how long you were going to stay hiding behind that tree.’

‘You… you saw me, sir?’

‘It is easy to discern a flash of golden hair against the background of the trees.’

‘Did Nathan see me too, do you think? I wouldn’t like for him to get the wrong idea.’

‘And what idea would that be?’ She was acutely embarrassed and Oliver wickedly prolonged it for her, playing the verbal predator he’d enjoyed subjecting Kerensa to in their early days together, before she became wise to him. ‘Why should Nathan get the wrong idea about you being here alone Rosie? I have always allowed my tenants to wander freely on estate property if they are prepared to respect it.’