Liam crouches down and puts his fingers in the water. ‘Yeah, that’s cold,’ he admits. ‘But I still bet I could do it.’

‘I’m sure you could,’ I tell him, patting him on the arm. ‘But we didn’t bring towels, so maybe next time.’

He nods quite seriously, and I wonder if he’s joking, because I certainly was, but he doesn’t seem to realise that.

We walk halfway along the beach and then Liam stops. ‘I’m starving,’ he suddenly announces. ‘Let’s go back and eat.’

‘Can we keep going to the end?’ I ask. ‘I’m enjoying it.’

But Liam is insistent, so we turn back and as soon as we reach the blanket, I find out that he has other things on his mind besides the picnic. He pulls me down onto his lap and fishes a present out of his pocket. It’s a small gift-wrapped box.

‘Open it,’ he says, excitedly.

I do and discover a gold chain with a Celtic cross on it. ‘It’s beautiful,’ I say, touching it.

Liam takes it out of the box, and I lift my ponytail so he can put it around my neck. ‘Thanks,’ I say. ‘Where did you get it?’

He shrugs. ‘I got it a while ago. I saw it and I thought of you and, well, it seems fitting, with us being in Scotland.’

I kiss him. ‘Thank you.’

Liam’s always buying me jewellery – rings, a bracelet, a few necklaces. He has good taste and I feel spoiled beyond measure, as until I met him my jewellery box was mostly full of things from Accessorize.

‘Do you like it?’ he asks.

‘I love it,’ I say, turning around to kiss him.

He pulls me closer. I can feel him getting aroused, so I climb off his lap and stretch towards the picnic hamper, but Liam catches me around the waist. ‘Where are you going?’ he asks, teasingly.

He flips me over onto my back and lowers himself on top of me with a wicked grin.

‘What?’ I ask, my eyes widening. ‘Here?’

He shrugs, his lips just inches from mine. ‘It’s not like there’s anyone here to see.’ He kisses me, the grin stretching his mouth wide, and his hands start to rove up inside my sweater. The wind slices against my skin like a razor as Liam eases off my clothes.