‘I have,’ he agreed, crossing the room and throwing me a coat from the rack, ‘and I have to warn you,’ he added, waggling his eyebrows, ‘fresh air gives me an appetite.’

‘Why does that not surprise me?’

The cold initially took my breath away, but by the time we’d walked to the family tree, I was feeling warmer.

‘It’s looking all right, isn’t it?’ I said, staring up into the branches.

‘It’s a bit too soon to say to be honest,’ said Ned, also scrutinising it. ‘But I’m pretty sure it’s going to be fine. It’s bound to take a little while to realise its roots aren’t bound to the confines of the pot, but then it will hopefully romp away.’

‘A bit like a Victorian miss released from her corsets,’ I grinned.

Ned looked at me, a wicked smile playing about his lips.

‘I’d like to release you from your corsets,’ he said, reaching towards me but I jumped out of the way.

‘Oh, no you don’t,’ I said, ‘not out here anyway. It’s freezing!’

I skipped further away as he lunged for me again and our silly antics set Bandit off.

‘Don’t you go running off,’ Ned called as I hid behind a tree. ‘I know what happened last time and I can’t believe you think this is cold. You should try standing out here naked, soaking wet and with nothing more than a tiny towel between you and the elements.’

I stepped out from my hiding place, laughing.

‘Yes,’ I said, taking the hand he offered, ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. Why are all your towels so small?’

‘They’re not,’ he said, squeezing my fingers, ‘but the first time I grabbed the one that was closest to hand.’

‘And the second?’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘the second time, I knew you were about to head for the hills and selected what I thought would show me off in the best light.’

I let out an inelegant, but uncontainable, snort.

‘You mean you thought that if I got another look at your toned torso, then I simply wouldn’t be able to resist following you back inside?’

‘Exactly,’ he said, marching ahead and pulling me along with him.

‘That’s terrible,’ I tutted.

‘My body?’

‘Oh no,’ I said, ‘that’s stunning.’

He let out a bark of laughter and pulled me into his arms for another lingering kiss. The resulting goosebumps and tingles were nothing to do with the temperature.

‘I didn’t really grab that tiny towel to seduce you,’ he said, when we finally came up for air. ‘It was sheer panic. The thought of losing you had me down those stairs and out the door before I’d given it a second thought. There was no way I was going to let you go, Liza.’

I felt even warmer after he’d said that.