She got to her feet and took more photos for inspiration later in case she wanted to do some more sketching, but she knew the image of this place would stay with her for a long time without the need to look at photographs.

They walked back to Stuart’s four-wheel drive slowly, hand in hand, and Elle savoured every minute, tucking the memories into a safe little corner of her mind to reflect on later. She didn’t want to waste time analysing everything now—when she knew that very soon she would need to make some big decisions.

In order to stay in Scotland, Elle needed to secure a job—she couldn’t live on the leftover money from Gran indefinitely, and the United Kingdom was a very expensive place to live. What she didn’t know was whether staying on meant staying on … here.

That evening as she and Stuart cooked dinner in his beautiful kitchen, inside his even more beautiful house, Elle knew she had to bring up the subject they had both been avoiding, but as she went to open her mouth, Stuart spoke first.

‘Do you have any plans for tomorrow? If not, I was thinking maybe you might want to come along and help me with some sheep work.’

‘Sheep work?’

‘I need to move some stock up before the cold weather sets in, and there’s a few other jobs I need to take care of. I could use a hand.’

‘Oh. Sure,’ she said, surprised by his request. ‘I mean, I’m not exactly experienced, so I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, but I’d like to give you a hand.’ How could she say no? It was her fault he was falling behind on his jobs because she’d been holding him hostage in the bedroom for the past few days. And then there was all the tour-guide work he’d been doing. She owed him at least a day of labour for all that.

‘I was thinking I should probably get back on the road soon,’ she said, reaching for another carrot to chop as they worked companionably across from each other at the huge island bench.

‘Where were you planning to go?’ he asked, after a moment passed in silence.

‘I’m not exactly sure. I’ve got a few more things I’d like to see, but I’m thinking I’d like to stay on in Scotland a bit longer, so I’ll need to find a job. I thought I’d probably head back up to where my family are in Portsoy.’

‘I see.’

‘I was originally flying home in a few more days, but the longer I think about it, the more I’m just not ready to go back yet.’

‘You could stay here,’ he offered, holding her gaze for a moment, before Elle dropped hers to take another carrot.

‘I can’t,’ she said with a sad smile.