Feeling like a teenager on her first date, she leaned towards him, melting like chocolate on a hot day. His hands came down on her shoulders and she heard the harshness of his breathing.

Yes, now, she thought dreamily, feeling the strength of his fingers—

‘Mum!’

The voice of a real teenager carried across the beach, and Jenna jumped as if she’d been shot as she recognised Lexi’s appalled tones. For a moment she stared into Ryan’s eyes, and then she turned her head and saw her daughter staring at her in undisguised horror.

‘What are you doing?’

Her heart pounding and her mouth dry, Jenna was grateful for the distance, which ensured that at least her daughter couldn’t see her scarlet cheeks.

What was she doing?

She was a divorced mother of thirty-three and she’d been on the verge of kissing a man with virtually all the islanders watching.

‘We probably ought to get back to the barbecue…’ Ryan’s tone was level and she nodded, feeling numb.

‘Yes. Absolutely.’ If Lexi hadn’t shouted she would have put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

And what would that have done for her relationship with her daughter, let alone her relationship with Ryan?

This was her new life and she’d almost blown it. If Lexi hadn’t called out to her she would have risked everything. And all for what? A kiss?

‘If they’ve eaten all the food, I’ll kill someone.’Apparently suffering none of her torment, Ryan turned towards the steps that led down to the sand, as relaxed as if they’d been having a conversation about the weather. ‘How are things, Jim?’

Jim?

It took Jenna a moment to realise that the ferryman was standing by the steps, chatting to another islander. Had he been that close all the time? There could have been a fire, a flood and a hurricane, and all she would have noticed was Ryan.

‘Another life saved, Doc.’ Grinning, Jim scratched the back of his neck and looked up at the sky, where the helicopter was now no more than a tiny dot. ‘Another good holiday experience on Glenmore. They’ll be coming back. I overheard someone saying on the ferry this morning that they’d booked a short break here just so that they could ask a doctor about a skin rash, because you lot always know what you’re doing.’

Ryan rolled his eyes. ‘I’ll mention it to Logan. We obviously need to make more of an effort to be useless.’

Jenna produced a smile, pretending to listen, wondering whether she could just slink onto the ferry and take the first sailing back to the mainland in the morning. Maybe distance would make her forget the kiss, because nothing else was working—not even an emergency.

Lexi was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps. ‘Mum? What were you doing?’