Ten minutes later, she was still alone, gazing across towards the Cheddar Gorge. It began to rain, and she decided to wait in the car. As she turned away from the windmill she saw him on the other side of the gate, Barbour buttoned to his neck, hair dusted with drizzle. He must have walked, because there was no sign of a car. She hurried over to him.

‘Let’s sit inside,’ she said, pressing the fob and pulling open her door. Jared, who had said nothing so far, gave a brief raise of his eyebrows in greeting, but made no attempt to reach for the door handle. There was none of the characteristic amusement in his face today as he stared at her over the roof of the car. ‘Get in,’ she urged. He gave her a half-smile, which didn’t convince her, finally opening the passenger door and sliding into the seat.

Skewing herself sideways so she could face him, she spoke softly. ‘What are you doing, Jared?’ Seeing him there, on her home turf, the absolute manifestation of her worst nightmare, made her body feel leaden, cold as the stone of the windmill tower. The unrestrained lust that in the past had ignited at the sight of him was now like the ashes of a dead fire in the morning.

Jared bowed his head, hands clasped in his lap. When he raised his eyes to hers, he appeared defiant. ‘I was worried about you, Connie. You were in such a terrible state when I left you. How was I to know that you hadn’t died right there in that grim hotel room?’

She saw his point. But she had to make hers. ‘We agreed this thing between us was over,’ she said evenly. ‘In Inverness, I said it had to stop, that I couldn’t see you any more … and you agreed, Jared.’

‘To be fair, I didn’t agree,’ he replied, his tone also reasonable. ‘I said I understood what you were saying.’

Alarmed and frustrated by his semantics, she responded more sharply: ‘Can’t you see what you’re doing to me by being here? You must go. Please, Jared, please … Just leave me alone.’ Connie could hear the anguish in her voice, and clearly he could too, because his outstretched hand was prising hers from where it was clamped, white-knuckled, to the steering wheel. He folded her icy fingers gently into his warm palm. ‘Don’t,’ she said weakly, wrenching free.

Another car pulled up beside them. Heart hammering, she peered through the rain-spattered window at the occupants, then let out a small moan of relief: it was no one she knew. ‘Jared?’ she prompted, as he still didn’t acknowledge her entreaty.

‘I would never do you any harm, Connie, you know that,’ he said eventually. Then he fixed her with his turquoise eyes. ‘I love you,’ he said simply.

His words stunned her. ‘Love?’ she croaked, her throat closed with fear.