‘And I don’t know about you two,’ I said, ‘but I think we should help Maya get Ned under the mistletoe before Christmas.’

My new friends didn’t look so sure.

‘Come on,’ I encouraged. ‘They’re made for each other. All they need is a bit of coaxing.’

‘I think it’ll take more than that,’ said Wren.

‘On Ned’s side anyway,’ added Abbie.

‘Rubbish,’ I loudly said, banging my glass on the table. ‘Ned and Little Miss Perfect, are a match made in heaven!’

‘Pipe down,’ said Wren, tugging at my sleeve as out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Maya striding across the bar and out the door.

‘Bugger,’ I said as Abbie and Wren shook their heads. ‘Do you think she heard me?’

‘Call her Little Miss Perfect?’ frowned Abbie. ‘Er, yeah, I think she might have done.’

‘But I wasn’t being mean,’ I hastily pointed out.

‘We know that,’ said Wren, ‘but I daresay she didn’t catch the whole conversation, did she?’

‘Damn,’ I sighed.

We were still in the pub when Sam called time and Tess began clearing the tables. I had put off driving back to the lodge in case Maya had already told Ned her version of what she thought she’d heard. The fact that he was still up and looking grumpy when I slipped through the door warned me that that was exactly what had happened.

‘I’ve had Maya on the phone,’ he gruffly said before I’d even got my coat off.

‘Look, Ned,’ I said. ‘I can explain…’

‘She seemed to think that you, Wren and Abbie were talking about her in the pub,’ he interrupted. ‘You weren’t bitching about her, were you?’

‘No,’ I hotly said. ‘Of course not.’

‘That’s what I told her…’

‘Although,’ I cut in.

‘Although what?’

‘Although, I did say something that she might have taken the wrong way.’

‘Oh?’

‘I called her Little Miss Perfect,’ I said, feeling a total fool. ‘But not in a mean way,’ I quickly added. ‘Just because she is.’

Ned looked at me and quirked an eyebrow. ‘You think Maya’s perfect?’

‘Well, duh. Don’t you?’

‘Perfect for Wynter’s Trees, you mean?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘She’s total employee of the month material.’

‘Well, yes,’ he said. ‘I suppose she is.’

I let out a long breath. I was off the hook.

‘But she heard my name mentioned too,’ said Ned, immediately catching me again.

‘I just said that the pair of you work well together,’ I told him.

There was no way I was going to explain my matchmaking mission. Given that Ned had, albeit drunkenly, told me he fancied me, I didn’t think he’d appreciate my efforts to fix him up with someone else.

‘You didn’t happen to mention that you were hoping to sell up as well, did you?’