Curled up much as her daugher was inside. One fist bunched near her cheek, her breathing slow and deep and even. He gave in to his weakened knees and sat down beside her, waited for his heartbeat to return to something approaching normal.

He sat, listening to the clothes flap on the line, to the water lick the eelgrass, and to the birds chatter while he wondered what the hell he was going to do with her.

In the end, he simply sighed, rose, then bending down gathered her up into his arms.

She stirred in them, snuggled, made his blood run a little too fast for comfort. ‘‘Ethan,’’ she murmured, turning her face into the curve of his neck and inciting the bright fantasy of rolling over that sun-warmed grass with her.

‘‘Ethan,’’ she said again, skimming her fingers along his shoulder. And making him hard as iron. Then again, ‘‘Ethan,’’ only this time in a squeak of shock as she jerked her head up and stared at him.

Her eyes were dazed with sleep and bright with surprise. Her mouth made a soft O that was gloriously tempting. Then color flooded her cheeks.

‘‘What? What is it?’’ she managed over a stomach-churning combination of arousal and embarrassment.

‘‘You’re going to take a nap, you ought to have as much sense as Aubrey and take it inside out of the sun.’’ He knew his voice was rough. He couldn’t do anything about it. Desire had him by the throat with gleefully nipping claws.

‘‘I was just—’’

‘‘Scared ten years off me when I saw you lying there. I thought you’d fainted or something.’’

‘‘I only stretched out for a minute. Aubrey was sleeping, so—Aubrey! I need to check on Aubrey.’’

‘‘I just did. She’s fine. You’d have shown more sense if you’d stretched out on the couch with her.’’

‘‘I don’t come here to sleep.’’

‘‘You were sleeping.’’

‘‘Just for a minute.’’

‘‘You need more than a minute.’’

‘‘No, I don’t. It’s just that things got complicated today, and my brain got tired.’’

It almost amused him. He stopped in the kitchen, still holding her, and looked into her eyes. ‘‘Your brain got tired?’’

‘‘Yeah.’’ It nearly shut off entirely now. ‘‘I needed to rest my mind a minute, that’s all. Put me down, Ethan.’’

He wasn’t ready to, not quite yet. ‘‘I saw your car about a mile down the road from here.’’

‘‘I called Dave and told him. He’s going to get to it as soon as he can.’’

‘‘You walked from there to here, carting Aubrey?’’

‘‘No, my chauffeur drove us in. Put me down, Ethan.’’ Before she exploded.

‘‘Well, you can give your chauffeur the rest of the day off. I’ll drive you home when Aubrey wakes up.’’

‘‘I can get myself home. I’ve barely started on the house. Now I need to get back to it.’’