‘You surely don’t miss having to descend a rope to catch your dinner?’ the earl chuckled. ‘Graves makes things so much easier, don’t you, Graves?’

‘I do my best, sir,’ Graves intoned.

‘Heavens! Is that what you used to have to do? Go out on ropes and catch dinner?’ his wife gasped. ‘But you simply don’t look capable.’

Effie bridled, though she was sure the countess hadn’t meant it as an insult. She glanced at Sholto to find him watching her now. He looked nervous. Could he tell she’d been offended by his mother’s words? Did he remember how important it was to her to be capable? Or was it the mention of ropes that had him scared?

‘Being light worked to my advantage on the rope, my lady.’ She looked back at the earl. ‘And actually, sir, I do miss it, the climbing and the hunting . . . It’s nice not to be hungry or scared about going hungry; but I miss the physicality of my old life – feeling the ground beneath my feet and being out in the elements.’ Since arriving here and starting work in the collection room, she had spent more hours inside than she ever had in her life. ‘Everything here is much more . . .’ She looked down at the delicate fabric of her dress, her feet encased in high-heeled satin shoes. ‘Removed from the natural world.’

‘Clarice, it’s a continuing sadness to me that you couldn’t have seen this young lady in action on the sea cliffs,’ Lord Dumfries said to his wife. ‘What a spectacle it was! When we first turned up, the islanders put on a climbing “exhibition” for us—’

Effie let her eyes drift again towards the fireplace. Sholto’s gaze was cast down towards the floor again, his jaw balled. He looked stiff with tension. Resentful at being made to remember the moment they had first met, supposedly the moment he had ‘fallen’ for her.

‘—sea cliffs that would make your stomach drop just to look at, and believe me when I tell you, no one held a candle to her. Miss Gillies could shimmy up and down those ropes like a monkey in a tree. We’d never seen anything like it, had we?’

Sholto automatically shook his head, but his gaze remained down.

‘There was, I think, some consternation among the men when we said we wanted her as our guide, but I was resolute. And I was right. What a week it was.’

‘Not quite a week, sir, sadly. The storm chased you off a few days early. We were very sorry to see you go.’ This time she didn’t take her eyes off the earl but Sholto had to know she was addressing him, surely? It was as bold as she dared to be. An olive branch extended, something to bridge the divide between them.