Gran, you can’t be here now, she said silently, horror-struck by the fact her gran had decided now was a perfectly acceptable time and place to re-enter her life after mysteriously vanishing for days.

Oh, stop being so dramatic. I’m under no illusions that you’re still a virgin.

Elle squeezed her eyes tightly shut and felt a blush creep up her neck. Gran, you need to leave right now. Come back later.

She heard her gran give something between a scoff and a chuckle. Darling, you seem to assume I have any say whatsoever in where and when I turn up.

Gran! This was so humiliating.

‘Elle, are you all right? What’s wrong?’ Stuart was now looking at her with a great deal of concern.

‘I’m fine. I just remembered …’ Now she was stammering like a fool as she searched wildly for some kind of explanation that didn’t make her seem like a lunatic. ‘I forgot to put my clothes on to wash last night and I haven’t got anything to wear,’ she finished lamely.

He seemed to relax a little after that, though he was still watching her a little oddly. ‘Is that all? I put them on after I got up through the night. They’ll be done by now.’

‘You did?’ she asked, momentarily surprised by his thoughtfulness.

‘Well, it was the least I could do after I was the one who distracted you from doing it earlier,’ he pointed out.

‘Oh, well, thank you. That was really sweet of you.’

‘Christ, woman, you almost gave me a heart attack when you jumped up like that,’ Stuart said, with a chuckle. ‘I thought you’d seen a ghost or something.’

‘Ha,’ Elle managed with a shaky laugh. She wasn’t game to even think about Gran in case she was still there, but the mood of a few moments earlier had certainly gone now. ‘How about I go downstairs and make breakfast?’ She was out of bed before Stuart could protest, and grabbed a T-shirt off the floor to pull on.

‘Wait a minute and I’ll come down with you,’ he said, throwing back the bed covers. For a moment Elle stopped and stared at the masculine beauty of the man now standing before her. She itched to grab her sketchpad. He would make a great subject; she could already see the lines appearing on the page, long and sleek before shading and defining his abs, and that particularly enticing little hollow between his hip and his … She cleared her throat and dragged her mind away from where it had been trying really hard to go.

‘Are you sure you’re okay? You seem a little jumpy.’

‘No, no. I’m fine.’ She waved a hand carelessly and forced out a laugh, which sounded a little less convincing than she’d hoped for, judging by the eyebrow he raised in response.