‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘But both of the nearest pubs will be full of people who know me and know of you, and I didn’t think you’d be too comfortable sitting in a corner chatting with half the coastline listening in. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going tonight and the gale means it’s unlikely anyone saw me arrive at your door.’

Anna opened her mouth and then shut it again. ‘I suppose so.’

‘I also figured, given what you seem to have left behind in London, that gossip might be something you’d like to avoid.’

‘You’re not wrong there,’ she admitted.

‘Besides, you would have said no, because it would have been too much like having to make a deliberate choice to go out with me, and for some reason you’ve decided that would be a bad thing to do. So I thought what you needed was to get to know me behind closed doors. Has it worked?’

Anna laughed. ‘Seriously, have you so exhausted the choice of women in the area that you needed to grab the first new one to move in?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘But I’m going home in three months. And I… am not planning to take anyone home with me, put it that way. And you… don’t want to start anything that might actually be the start of anything, because you’re not planning to stay either, and you’ve recently come to the end of something long and painful. Am I right?’

‘Hmm,’ she said, watching as he put down his wine glass. ‘You are, as it happens.’

‘There you go then,’ he said, his eyes fixed on hers. ‘Perfect for each other, that’s us, right now.’

Anna again laughed and gulped more wine because actually his argument was a pretty decent one and besides that, he was gorgeous and seeming more so by the minute. Dammit.

‘There is another reason,’ he said, as he moved closer, still on the floor, eyes still locked with hers.

She took a breath, cleared her throat and put down her wine glass. ‘And that is?’

Liam stopped, kneeling beside where she sat on the sofa. He reached up and touched her cheek before stroking his fingers through her hair. ‘You’re beautiful.’

Anna couldn’t stop looking at his mouth. Her good sense seemed to have abandoned her completely and her heart was in overdrive. ‘Flatterer,’ she said, her voice distinctly uneven.

‘It’s true,’ he whispered, and then his lips were against hers, his hand was in her hair, and her insides were in the most delicious kind of freefall.

‘I don’t know,’ she murmured, a minute or so later, ‘if I think this is a good idea.’

He let her go and sat back on his haunches, looking up at her. She felt the separation like a chill wind. ‘All right. That’s fine. I’ll go.’