‘Well, it’s not exactly a castle anymore.’ He shrugged. ‘Sadly. At least that would have given me some revenue,’ he said with a crooked grin. ‘When my grandfather bought it, he built the house you saw as you came in. It’s always been pretty modest. They were farmers.’

It was true, the stone house wasn’t anything grand, though it was certainly beautiful. Unlike a lot of the houses across the countryside, his wasn’t painted white, but had been left as natural stone.

‘It’s still really special having an estate with this much history attached to it.’

‘Yeah, I guess it is,’ Stuart agreed.

Elle tried to make sense of the jumble of emotions rushing through her. The story that had been told to her like a bedtime fairy tale had been true. The characters had been real people in a tragic story, and they were buried right here.

A few chunks of rock were missing from the arch, and the stones were black in places where mould had grown, but to think it had withstood the ravages of time so well was truly remarkable.

She tried probing Gran, keen to know what she was thinking, but there was only silence.

A light drizzle started to fall, which brought their visit to an end and had them running for cover as the heavens opened. By the time they climbed back inside the car, Elle was breathless from laughter and from slipping and sliding on moss-covered rocks and mud, in their mad dash to get out of the sudden downpour.

Elle combed her fingers through her wet hair, and inwardly cringed. Her head would be a mass of wild, dark red ringlets.

Stuart handed her a towel from the back seat and she lifted an eyebrow as she thanked him. ‘Were you a boy scout?’ she asked. ‘You know, always prepared?’

He chuckled and shook his head. ‘Just necessary. In case you haven’t noticed, we get a bit of rain here on occasion.’

She rubbed the towel through her long hair and patted her face. Feeling a little more human, she offered the towel back, and watched as Stuart dragged it roughly across his face and head, before tossing it onto the back seat.

Ah, to be a man, she thought, never having to care about your hair or how you looked.

The rain had shrouded the hills in a low mist, and Elle shivered despite the fact she wore a waterproof jacket over a long-sleeved shirt.

Wordlessly, Stuart reached out and adjusted the car heater, and a gentle rush of warm air blew across her.

When they eventually pulled up outside the house, he surprised her by asking if she would like to come in for a cup of tea.