He sat forward, forearms on his thighs, hands clasped, seemingly intent on making his case to her. ‘I’m on my way to Warsaw to meet this new design group.’ She must have looked puzzled, because he quickly explained, ‘I’ve just sold my kitchen design business, and I’m looking for partners in a new venture.’

Connie waited. So that’s what he does, she thought. It made him slightly less mysterious, but he had questions to answer. ‘Are you telling me you just happened to arrive in Kraków at the exact same time as me? And that you just happened to stumble across the information that I was staying in this hotel?’ Her voice was low but fierce. She wished she could stop trembling, but the combination of his presence in her bedroom and her naked lower half was not exactly helping.

Jared smiled sheepishly. ‘I won’t lie to you, Connie. I checked out your tour website and timed my meeting to coincide because I wanted to see you again.’

‘Jared! You can’t just follow me around Europe when the fancy takes you.’

His look was hard to read. ‘I had to see you, Connie. That night at the lake …’

Now he stood and came over to her. She felt quite incapable of stopping him as he sat on the bed, put his arm round her shoulders and drew her close. His jacket was cool and smelt of the outside – it reminded her of the night at the lake too. She wanted to bury her face in it, to inhale the scent of him.

‘You shouldn’t be here,’ she repeated weakly, closing her eyes as she tried to resist the surge of desire his touch engendered.

He didn’t reply. His hand was lightly stroking the skin of her upper arm, his thigh lay tight to her own bare one.

Connie managed to pull away but did not stand up. She wasn’t sure she could. ‘You have no idea what a day I’ve had,’ she said desperately, not looking at him, not daring to.

‘I have. I went last year.’

She gave a shaky sigh. Without thinking, she allowed him to take her in his arms again, feeling the agonizing pleasure of his hair brushing her forehead, the pressure of his arm, holding her close.

‘It was so unbelievably awful,’ she whispered, trying to distract herself from the arousal she couldn’t suppress. ‘Incomprehensible. We all know about it. Know every grim detail. But seeing it close up … imagining those families …’

‘That’s the thing. People just like us,’ Jared said. ‘Hell.’

Then she felt his fingers under her chin, raising her face to his. For the longest second, they gazed at each other before he kissed her. It was slow and soft and exquisite – but not demanding. It turned her body to water, nonetheless.

‘We can’t,’ she whispered, although every inch of her told her they must.