He didn’t budge and I wondered if his hands were actually frozen to the bonnet. It was certainly cold enough for that to happen.

‘I’ll move if you promise you’ll come back in.’

I shook my head.

‘Please, Liza,’ he pleaded, his teeth chattering.

‘What’s the point?’ I shouted over the noise of the engine as I revved it a little and my voice cracked. ‘What’s the point in me staying now?’

‘The point is,’ he shot back, his voice louder as he stared intently at me.

‘What?’ I demanded, revving the car again.

Perhaps the heat from the engine might warm him a little. If he persisted in standing there much longer, he was going to catch a chill and then I’d be held responsible for ruining his health on top of everything else.

‘The point is,’ he said, his eyes never leaving my face, ‘I need you.’

‘Why?’ I shrugged.

Why would he need me? Our relationship, professional or otherwise, was over, wasn’t it? His reaction to hearing that I’d changed my mind and wanted to build a life at Wynter’s Trees had certainly made me think it was.

‘Because I love you.’

My foot slipped off the accelerator and the engine spluttered and died. Thankfully I hadn’t put the car in gear or released the handbrake.

‘I’m in love with you, Liza Wynter,’ he confidently declared, smiling in spite of the bone-chilling cold, ‘and I have been from the very first moment I set eyes on you.’

Wasn’t that the line I’d had stuck in my head for the last few weeks?

‘Did you hear what I said?’ he shivered.

I felt rooted to the spot, but not because of the cold. The heat coursing through me and blazing a trail to my face was searing enough to thaw even the deepest frost. I was rigid with shock. I did manage to open and close my mouth a couple of times, but no sound came out.

‘Are you going to say anything?’ Ned asked, finally letting go of the bonnet and tucking the towel tighter around his waist.

I shook my head, not knowing what to say. But then the image of him dancing with Maya popped into my head.

‘But what about Maya?’ I spluttered. ‘You’re in love with her, aren’t you?’

Ned walked round to the driver’s side door and pulled it open.

‘No,’ he said, looking down at me. ‘I’m not in love with Maya. I never have been and she’s fine. A little bemused perhaps, but totally fine.’

‘I don’t understand.’

How could she be fine? She was head over heels for him, wasn’t she?

‘She knows everything,’ Ned softly said.

‘What do you mean?’