‘Pull your skirt down, Mum,’ Lexi hissed, and Ryan watched as Jenna suddenly went from being natural to self-conscious. The colour flooded into her cheeks and she released the skirt. Instantly the hem trailed in the water. Flustered, she lifted it again.

‘Lexi, watch me, watch me—’ Kirsty bounced in the water, but Lexi stepped closer to her mother and dumped the child in Jenna’s arms.

‘Here you are, Mum. You take her. You’re good with kids. Probably because you’re old and motherly.’

Ryan was about to laugh at the joke when he realised that no one was laughing.

Old and motherly?

Was that how Lexi saw her mother? Was that how Jenna saw herself?

How old was she? Thirty-two? Thirty-three? She could have passed for ten years younger than that. She had a fresh, natural appeal that he found incredibly sexy. And, yes, she was different from Connie.

His jaw hardened. Connie wouldn’t have paddled in the sea—nor would she have appeared in public with a face free of make-up. And he couldn’t remember a time when she’d giggled. But that might have been because Connie wasn’t spontaneous. She was a woman with a plan and nothing was going to stand in her way. Certainly not their marriage.

‘I can’t believe you’re brave enough to swim!’ Jenna was beaming at Kirsty, as if the child had done something incredibly clever. ‘I’m so cold I can barely stand in the water, let alone swim.’ She sneaked a glance after her daughter, who was walking away from them, Fraser by her side.

‘I swim with my daddy.’ Keen to demonstrate her skills, Kirsty wriggled in Jenna’s arms and plunged back into the water, thrashing her arms and kicking her legs.

Drenched and shivering, Jenna laughed. ‘Kirsty, that’s fantastic. I couldn’t swim like that at your age. And never in sea this cold.’ The water had glued the skirt to her legs and Logan looked away, forcing himself to concentrate on something other than the shape of her body.

A crowd of locals were playing volleyball, and he could see Evanna handing out plates of food. ‘I smell barbecue,’ he said mildly. ‘We should probably go and eat something. Sausages, Kirsty?’

The child immediately held out her arms to Jenna, who scooped her out of the water and cuddled her, ignoring the damp limbs and soaking costume.

Ryan felt his body tighten as he watched her with the child.

It was such a painful moment that when the phone in his pocket buzzed he was grateful for the excuse to walk away.