The proposal Ava had quietly shared with Mim and Stella after Lorenzo’s visit, but it was never mentioned to Zac. Everyone skirted the edges of their strained relationship as if it were a minefield.

Stella wished Lorenzo was there. It was extremely uncharacteristic of her to look for support from others. She stood alone, had done for twenty-four years, so why now did she need support?

But the empty kitchen didn’t make her want to cook and the silent house didn’t ask her to clean. Even the dog had wandered off, because Jock and Hana had gone for a drive. Mim was resting. Everyone was doing something except her, the cattle were weak and the ground dry, and her brain gyrated and galloped with the worries of the week, with no one to spill it out to. She really wanted to walk and stomp and shout, but an unusual loneliness stopped her.

The arrival of a car out the front jerked her head up. She knew the sound of that engine, so she turned and walked, with the occasional slip in the gravel in her haste, back to the house. Slow down, goose, she admonished herself but couldn’t help the sigh of relief and anticipation that he’d come.

‘How did you do that?’ she said as she made it to the driveway and marched across to meet him.

Lorenzo climbed gracefully from his seat, smiled at her and stepped close. ‘Do what, bella?’

She gestured a little wildly with her hand in a half-circle. ‘Arrive when I’d just admitted to myself that I wished you were here.’

He steepled his hands in a very Italian gesture. ‘It is our connection, cara. We transcend mere telephones.’

She snorted. ‘I don’t believe you.’

He slid his arm around her and drew her close. ‘I missed you. It is good you missed me.’ Then he shrugged. ‘Also, your mother rang. She believed you could benefit from my company this afternoon. She is an excellent woman.’

Stella couldn’t believe her mother had done that. Her cheeks heated in dismay. ‘I’ll kill her.’

‘And I will kiss her.’ He bent his head. ‘And you.’ Which he did with a quirk of his brows and with masculine thoroughness. By the time he had finished, she wanted to kiss her mother too.

He let her go but held onto her hand. ‘Is it so bad that I am here?’

‘No,’ she mumbled into his solid chest. Had she said that grudgingly? Her mouth felt soft and swollen and her head half dazed. She needed to be careful of that – the man could sweep her away with his kisses.

It was only the second time he’d kissed her and it was even better than the first. He was moving the pace along. She wasn’t sure she was ready, but it felt so damn good to be held again.