“With the toys? Of course. You will decide what we keep and what we give away. Do you like books?”

Lizzy nodded slowly. “Emily has been reading to me.”

“Good. Because I have more books than the library.”

It was one thing to let Lizzy play in a different room, something else entirely to leave her alone with someone. Emily shook her head. “I can’t.”

“She’s safe here with me.” Agnes spoke quietly. “We’re not going to leave the house.”

Lizzy was holding Andrew tightly. “I’m not allowed to go to the beach.”

Emily bit her lip. “Lizzy—”

“I’m too old for the beach,” Agnes said calmly. “I’m too old to be brushing sand out of my shoes and out of the house. We are going to stay indoors and have fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of young company.”

To refuse would be insulting to Agnes, but to accept would mean being alone with Ryan.

“She isn’t used to strangers.” She realized how ridiculous that was as an excuse, when Lizzy had virtually been raised by strangers.

Lizzy must have thought it, too, because she climbed onto the sofa next to Agnes. “I want to stay.”

Deprived of excuses by the excuse herself, Emily gave a helpless shrug.

“If you’re sure—”

Agnes smiled. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more. Don’t rush. We’ll still be here when you get back, and nothing is going to happen.”

Lizzy inched closer to Agnes. “Sometimes there are men with cameras.”

Agnes’s mouth tightened. “Not on my property, pumpkin.”

As she left the house, Emily felt Ryan’s hand on her back.

“You told my grandmother the truth?”

“Yes. Was that a mistake?”

“No. And you have no reason to worry about her safety. If Puffin Island were ever invaded, Agnes would lead the defense. She raised two children of her own and then took on three grandchildren. Lizzy is in good hands.”

She tried to ignore the warmth of his hand. Tried to forget how those hands had felt as they’d moved over her body. “Four. You’re forgetting to include yourself.”

“I was part of the management team.” His smile made her heart beat faster.

Her level of awareness was a constant hum beneath the anxiety about being responsible for Lizzy. “It’s the first time I’ve left her.”