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Katie’s fingers twitched with the urge to touch him and hold him yet she owed it to Ned to do the right thing.

‘That means a lot to me,’ she said, putting all the warmth she could into her voice to let him know how much she meant it. ‘I’ll see you in a bit. I don’t expect I’ll be that long.’

‘I can wait.’

‘No, please, don’t. I mean, that’s kind of you, but I can’t rush this.’

‘I’ve managed to leave my phone in the hall so I need to go back and get it anyway. Message me if you need me …’ He allowed himself a small smile. ‘And if you want to stay over here longer, I can always chop some more wood.’

‘I admit you’re very good at chopping wood,’ she said.

He laughed softly. ‘It’s one of my greatest talents.’

Katie made to walk away when Arlo called her name.

‘Katie!’

She turned.

‘Please hold on a moment. I can’t let you go without telling you something that might explain why I’m so – well, not the most cheerful, charming person I ought to be.’

Her pulse fluttered. ‘I don’t want you to be charming. It wouldn’t suit you.’

‘No, I don’t expect it would.’ Arlo smiled but then he swallowed. ‘You see, after what happened in Nepal, I don’t find it easy to trust – people – again or to open myself up. The accident changed me. I wasn’t the life and soul before but afterwards, I went into some dark places. I wasn’t easy to live with and shut out the people around me. The one person I tried to talk to couldn’t cope.’

Katie held her breath, feeling as though she’d been handed a precious gift that could shatter in her hands at any moment. Arlo was letting her in and she was keen to encourage him. ‘You mean Rowan?’

‘Yes, but she’s gone and you’re here … and perhaps it’s because you and I have only known each other a few days that we’re both able to be the people we are now rather than before. Maybe that’s why I felt I could open up.’ He looked into her eyes. ‘You make me want to tell you everything but this is the wrong time, right now, when you have to go.’

‘I don’t have to go this second.’ Katie’s stomach did somersaults. ‘I’m ready to hear whatever you want to say.’ At least until after New Year, she thought, with a cold dread.

He opened his mouth and then closed it, seeing something behind Katie. ‘I can see Ned’s waiting for you by the gate of the Bothy,’ he said tightly.

Katie’s heart sank lower. She was torn between staying and listening to Arlo and putting Ned out of his misery.

‘Please go,’ he said, and she could see he’d pulled down the shutters again. ‘You don’t need any extra burdens.’

Ned waved at her from the gate. She suppressed a groan of frustration. ‘I will be back and I do want to hear everything. Now you go and chop lots of wood and don’t forget your phone.’

He frowned. ‘My phone?’

‘The one you left in the hall at the house?’

‘Oh, yes.’ He nodded. ‘See you later,’ he said gruffly.

With a smile, Katie left, wondering if Arlo really had left his phone or was simply making an excuse to be nearby. Either way, she crossed the lane on feet of lead and found Ned had opened the door to the Bothy before she’d even reached it.

She had to break Ned’s heart and try to stop herself falling head over heels with a man whom she’d only just met and who was probably trying to warn her off, no matter how reluctantly.

‘Why do I feel like I’m about to be loaded into a tumbril and carted off to the guillotine?’ Ned joked after they were safely inside the Bothy.

‘That’s me,’ Katie joked back, although every trace of mirth had been sucked out of her.

He showed her into the kitchen. ‘Tea?’

‘Yes, please, that would be lovely.’

‘Strong with sugar,’ he added with a smile. It was such a small detail, knowing how someone liked their tea, but also reminded Katie how well he once knew her.