‘Don’t be a wimp.’ He jerked her forward. ‘This was your idea and you’re not bottling out now. Anyway, what are you complaining about?’ Conner kept walking, long steady strides that took him deeper into the sea. ‘It’s like bathwater. I can’t imagine why anyone would travel all the way to the Mediterranean when we have this on our doorstep.’ He gave her no choice but to wade in with him and she picked her way gingerly through the dark, swirling water, catching her breath as the waves licked higher and higher on her legs.

‘I’m not sure if I like doing this in the middle of the night.’ She peered towards her feet. ‘Do you think there are jellyfish?’

‘No. It’s long past their bedtime. They’re all curled up asleep with hot-water bottles.’ The water was halfway up his thighs now and as a wave washed over him at waist level, he cursed fluently. ‘I think we’ve just discovered a whole new non-surgical method of vasectomy. If any of my sperm survive this experience, it will be a miracle.’

Flora giggled helplessly and wondered what had come over her. What was she doing? She was standing in the sea at one o’clock in the morning with Conner MacNeil, the most dangerous, unsuitable man she was every likely to meet.

And she was having the time of her life.

‘This is freezing. I don’t think I can go in any further.’

‘The only way to do this is quickly. If you do this every morning then I have new respect for you, Flora. You’re twice the woman I thought you were, flat chest or no flat chest.’

‘It’s bracing. It wakes me up.’

‘No surprise there. If this didn’t wake you up, you’d have to be dead.’

‘It’s colder tonight.’ She clutched him tightly, afraid that the waves would knock her over, and he steadied her and then released her hand.

‘All right, let’s do this…’ He dived forward into the waves and she had a brief glimpse of powerful male muscle and strong legs before he vanished from sight.

She rubbed her hands down her arms, knowing that the goose-bumps had nothing to do with the cold water and everything to do with the way her body had felt next to his. How was it possible to feel hot when she was standing waist deep in freezing seawater?

She followed him into the waves, wondering why she’d never swum in the moonlight before. In all the years she’d lived here and swum here, she’d never done this. And it was fabulous. Magical. The stars and the moon shone in the clear sky and the water glistened.

And she felt daring and more alive than she’d ever felt.

She was so enchanted by her surroundings that she gasped with shock when Conner emerged next to her.