She turned away. ‘Don’t look at me like that,’ she ordered huskily.
He broke his gaze as if in a daze. ‘Sorry,’ he said abruptly. ‘You’re so damned beautiful,’ he murmured throatily.
‘You’ll make me conceited if you keep telling me such things.’ She blushed fiery red.
‘Sorry,’ he said more briskly. ‘Come on, I’ll help you over the side.’
There was no avoiding his touch and Stacy felt excitement course through her veins. As he slowly lowered her into the water his eyes held hers so that she couldn’t look away, only the coolness of the water about her feet jolting her out of the spell he was casting over her. The water only came up to mid-calf, the sand smooth beneath her feet.
‘Here,’ he handed her the chilled wine before climbing over the side himself, hoisting the picnic basket after him. He put this down on the sand beside her. ‘I’ll just go and get some blankets to lie on, and secure the boat. I wouldn’t want the tide to come in before we’d realised it and the boat to drift away.’
Stacy sat down on the sand, amazed at how warm it was here, the high rocks either side of them stopping all the wind.
Jake dropped her sunglasses and handbag down on to the sand beside her before spreading out the blanket he had brought back. ‘I should put some more oil on that delicate skin of yours,’ he advised. ‘I’d hate you to burn up.’
She did as he suggested, holding out the tube to him when she had finished. ‘Would you like some?’
‘Not necessary. I have naturally dark skin and very rarely burn.’
She watched as he picked up the bottle of wine, walking to the water’s edge to secure it between two rocks but still in the water. She frowned. ‘What did you do that for?’
‘To keep it cool.’ He came back, sitting down at her side. ‘We aren’t going to have lunch yet and if I leave the wine out in the sun it will be a waste of time my having put it in the refrigerator. The water will help keep it cool.’
‘You think of everything!’
He gave a penetrating look. ‘I try to.’
He certainly did. He had thought to bring the food, the wine, and he had borrowed that fantastic boat for the day. And all so that he could be alone with her. The thought terrified her.
She stood up hurriedly, activity helping to banish the intimacy of her imaginings. ‘Shall we swim?’
‘Sure.’ He put out a hand for her to pull him to his feet and she had perforce to take it, the leverage pulling him dangerously close to her body. ‘Do you swim well, Stacy?’
She stepped back, pulling her hand free when he would have still held it. ‘Moderately so.’ She looked down at her feet in the silky sand.
‘Mind the currents here, they can be treacherous,’ he warned.
Stacy shivered as the cool water began to envelop her body. ‘I’m sure you’ll be able to save me if I get into trouble,’ she said dryly. She felt sure he was as accomplished in swimming as he appeared to be at everything else.
‘I hope so. But stay close to me, no going off on your own.’
She immersed her shoulders in the water. ‘You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?’
‘Very serious. People die along this part of the coast every year.’
‘Have you been here before?’
He swam off with long easy strokes, turning to float on his back as she joined him. ‘I told you, I was born near here.’
‘Yes, but you—you speak as if you’ve been here recently.’
‘I have.’ He pushed the dark swathe of wet hair from his eyes. ‘The research for the book was done around here.’
She nodded. ‘I suppose you stayed here with Mr Weston?’
‘Yes,’ he agreed tersely. He trod water. ‘You look like a mermaid lying there, your hair floating out behind you.’
She turned over selfconsciously. ‘Don’t let me hold you back, I’m sure you’re a much stronger swimmer than I am.’