Emily struggled to sit up, but he pushed her flat and then wished he hadn’t. For the first time since he’d first met her, she had left her hair loose, but even those tumbling curls failed to hide the shape of her breasts clearly visible through the fabric of her pajamas. He’d found himself wishing that whatever had triggered the panic had occurred after she’d dressed.

He wondered what it said about him that she was lying there dazed and vulnerable, and he was thinking about sex.

“Stay there.” He shifted slightly, but his attempts to stop her sitting up had shifted her pajama top, giving him a perfect view of the swell and dip of her breasts. “Don’t move.” He spoke between his teeth, and she looked confused.

“Are you all right?” Emily asked.

“You scared the shit out of me.”

Her eyes were soft and dazed. “I’m sorry.”

Nowhere near as sorry as he was going to be if he didn’t get himself under control. “I’m calling a doctor.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Emily, you passed out.”

“I’m fine now.”

“Has it ever happened before?”

She gave a brief shake of her head. “No.”

“I’m taking you to the medical clinic.” Somewhere he wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on her, preferably with a large expanse of water between them. “Or maybe the mainland. You should have tests.”

“I don’t need tests.”

“One moment you were sprinting across the sand as if you were trying to break records, and the next you collapsed.”

Aware that Lizzy had been watching, scared, he’d tried to look as if this was normal behavior. As if having a panic attack on a beach was nothing out of the ordinary.

He’d held her, calmed her, breathed in the summer scent of her and tried to forget she was built like Venus. He was fairly sure she’d forgotten she was wearing nothing but thin silk pajamas.

“Where’s Lizzy?” Her voice was urgent, and he could see she was about to drag herself from the sofa and prove to herself that the child was safe.

“She’s fine. She’s in the garden with Cocoa.”

“The front door—”

“I locked it.”

“She—”

“I know. She told me she stood on the chair to get the bucket. She told me you’d forbidden her from going to the beach.” And he wanted to know why. In fact, he had so many damn questions, it was a struggle to hold them back. He intended to ask them later, but first he needed to be sure she wasn’t going to pass out again. “Are you feeling dizzy?”

“No. You must think I’m crazy.”

“What I think,” he said slowly, “is that something scared you. Do you want to tell me what?”

“I woke up and found her gone. Saw the door open. I thought—”