‘You need to let this go,’ Ned seriously said, as he gently blew on the graze, ‘otherwise you’ll never have a happy life. It absolutely isn’t your fault that your dad died and it’s not your fault that Wynter’s isn’t the right fit for you either. From what Dad’s recently told me, this place was thrust upon you during a very difficult time. It’s no wonder you never fell in love with it.’

But I might have done. Eventually. Had Chelsea not poisoned it. Too late now. I closed my eyes and my mind flicked over, through and around my muddled thoughts. Was it time to let it all go? Not just my attachment to Wynter’s Trees, but my guilt too. Ned had said my life wouldn’t be happy all the time I hung on to it and that thought terrified me. I was planning a brand-new life, a new business and an exciting adventure, but what would be the point of any it, if I was never going to be happy? If I wasn’t free?

Ned was right. It was time to let it all go. Even my desire for him.

‘Liza?’

My eyes fluttered open again.

‘Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?’ he asked, his eyes raking across my face before looking deep into my eyes.

‘One hundred per cent,’ I said, moistening my lips.

His gaze flicked to my mouth.

‘You aren’t feeling dizzy?’ he throatily asked. ‘Your vision isn’t blurred, is it?’

‘No,’ I said, lifting my head and pressing my lips to his.

It was a soft kiss. Sweet and tender and it felt perfect. He began to kiss me back but I gently drew away.

‘My vision is completely fine,’ I told him. ‘Thank you, Ned. I can see everything clearly now.’

Chapter 15

Without a word, Ned kindly fetched my PJs and helped me up to bed. I slept all the sweeter for that conclusive, soft lipped kiss and I would have laid late too, had he not woken me before he took Bandit for his run early the next morning.

I think he was still worried I might have been concussed and the look he gave me and the tender words he uttered, suggested that he might also have been thinking that the kiss I had bestowed upon him meant something.

It had meant something, but a different thing for me than him. For me it marked the end of my romantic feelings for him. Yes, I still fancied the pants off him and yes, he was a truly great guy, but if I was going to properly move my life forward, then hanging on to my feelings for him, the man I had already set up with another woman and who was in charge of the place I was going to great efforts to free myself from, would have been entirely counterproductive.