She was happy for Aila and Steven, who had finally stopped dancing around their attraction for each other and done something about it, but seeing them together made her miss Stuart. She kept telling herself she had made the right choice by leaving, but she also felt like she’d left a piece of herself on Skye, and she didn’t know what to do about it. She was happy since coming back to Portsoy, but she missed him. More than she’d thought it was possible to miss someone she had only known for a handful of days. They sent occasional text messages and he kept her up to date with what was going on at the farm, but as much as she looked forward to hearing from him—it only made her realise what they’d had and what she’d walked away from.

She also missed Gran.

There were still times Elle found herself staring out to sea, longing to hear her grandmother’s comforting voice. She often went to the headland to sit and unwind—Gran’s place, she now called it. But she didn’t hear her anymore.

Sitting there now, Elle closed her eyes in the late-afternoon sun and let the wind whip her hair about her face as she turned it up to the sky. Only moments later, though, she opened them at the sound of approaching footsteps on the rock steps behind her, and she stifled a moment’s irritation at having her precious solitude broken.

She turned, and her forced smile wavered slightly as she met two dark eyes and a hesitant expression.

‘Stuart?’ Oh God, she hoped she hadn’t resorted to conjuring up visions now instead of voices.

‘I went to the shop and your cousin told me where I’d probably find you.’

His deep voice sent a stab of longing through her, and as she let her eyes roam over the broad chest beneath his woollen jumper and his strong denim-clad thighs, she had to admit she had missed all of him.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, too stunned to try to form a less direct question.

She watched as he shuffled forward and lowered his gaze before looking at her once more. ‘I missed you.’

His simple, honest words made her bite the inside of her lip as her heart melted.

‘I know I should have asked if it was okay to come and see you, but I was afraid you’d say no,’ he said with an uncertainty she had never seen in him before.

‘I wouldn’t have said no,’ Elle said quietly.

Her reply seemed to make him feel a little more confident, and he walked across the remaining distance between them to sit beside her. They didn’t touch, or speak, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. They both seemed to be weighing up their next words.

‘I’m sorry—’

‘Elle, I—’