‘Ooh, I’m not sure I like that. It’s a bit spooky, actually. Now, let me see… Over there, by that group of tall, skinny trees. There are some weird little branches sticking out of the side of one of the trunks. It looks like—’

‘Antlers,’ Nico replies in a hushed voice.

Nico puts a finger to his lips, and we watch in fascination as a deer forages around amongst some low-level shrubs. The tiniest of sounds catches his ear and his head shoots up, ears straining. He turns this way and that, head cocked – his eyes fixed in flight or fight mode. Seconds later, all we can see is his bobbing white tail as he runs off.

‘It’s a roe deer, un chevreuil. He’ll shed his antlers soon.’

‘Well, it was worth coming just to catch a glimpse of him.’

Nico jumps off our perch and extends his hand to help me down. My left foot slips and I end up almost pushing him over; only a pair of strong arms and a taut body saves us from landing in a heap on the compacted earth floor.

Nico stares down into my eyes. ‘Your hand is cold; you should have worn gloves. We’ll whip through the last few things and get back.’ His voice is uneven and my heart begins to pound.

Berating myself for my stupid reaction, I say the first thing that comes into my head. ‘You don’t find this all rather fascinating? I thought it would be something and nothing, but it makes me realise we walk around all the time not really seeing what’s there. If we switch off the whirling thoughts we carry around in our heads, then maybe we’d all begin to see things differently. It’s liberating, isn’t it?’ I disentangle myself from Nico’s arms with a brief ‘thank you’, but I can still feel his eyes on me while he’s considering my question.

‘Sometimes people are liberating,’ Nico mutters, as he turns away to read the next task on Pierce’s list.

‘People?’

He turns to look at me once more, but it is with a sense of reluctance. ‘Whenever I’m around you, Fern, I find myself looking at things differently. My eyes have been opened and the world seems a better place with you in it.’

Nico holds my gaze for a few agonising seconds. It isn’t only the deer that has been startled on this little walk and I have no words to explain how that statement makes me feel.

As I head back to the château in the early evening, Nico is in the hallway with his arms wrapped around a large box.

‘Just in time, Fern – can you get the studio door for me? It’s rather heavy, thanks.’