Not that my ex-boyfriend featured much in last night’s fray, but this morning I understand why Jake was totally pissed off with me. And I feel bad that it’s taken another man to show me that. But, hey, not that bad! Something has sparked in my heart that has been missing for far too long. And I feel that I’m hiding this badly. If I need to hide it at all. I’m wandering round the camp gaily singing to myself. I had a pee in a smelly, eco-friendly loo (hole in the ground) just now along with the resident mice and I didn’t care a jot. Funny, that.

Everyone else is on their second bowl of porridge when Dean emerges from his tent. He looks like a creature from the deep and as if he’s had no sleep at all. But as he approaches, I can see that there’s a contented smirk on his face.

Jim does a wolf whistle as he comes closer. ‘Did the rain keep you two awake?’

Ah. Perhaps the rain wasn’t as loud as we thought. Or perhaps we were louder than we thought. Both Dean and I flush to our hair roots. So at least one person was witness to our nocturnal activities. He’s not an undercover cop for nothing. Then everyone at the table giggles and bursts into a spontaneous round of applause.

‘It’s the mountain air, dear,’ Saffron says and pats my arm.

I think it was more to do with our guide being a particularly gorgeous specimen of humanity—but I say nothing to incriminate myself.

‘I fancied a bit too,’ she adds with a wistful look in her eye. ‘It’s all that physical exertion. It gets the hormones twitching.’

Saffron moves up and lets Dean sit next to me.

‘Hi,’ he says sheepishly.

This is torture in the full glare of the rest of the group. ‘Hi.’

He slides his hand under the table and squeezes my leg. And that’s nearly enough to start me off again. I’ve never jumped into bed—or sleeping bag if we’re going to be technically accurate—with a stranger before and I’m not sure how to behave. I’ve been in a committed relationship for too long and, therefore, I haven’t a clue about modern sexual etiquette. If I were younger, perhaps I would. If I were younger, perhaps I wouldn’t care!

‘Are you as tired as you look?’ I murmur as close to Dean as possible without attracting attention.

‘No,’ he says. ‘I feel great.’ My new lover gives me a shy smile. ‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘No regrets?’

‘None whatsoever.’

‘I guess we weren’t as sneaky as we thought.’

‘No.’ And the thought flashes through my mind that I should have taken some lessons from Jake, who seems to be the king of being sneaky.