‘Better now?’

She nodded. ‘It still hurts a bit.’

He nodded sympathetically. ‘It should feel better soon.’ He handed her back to her mother with a smile. ‘Any worries, take her up to A and E, but I don’t think you’ll have any problems. And next time you need to watch where you’re stepping, young lady.’

The child nodded and stuck her thumb in her mouth. The mother cast a last longing look at Alex before picking up the bucket and struggling back along the beach towards the rest of their things.

Alex watched them go and Jenny wondered whether he even realised that he was still half-naked. It seemed not. Didn’t he know the effect he had on people? All right, so he’d dragged the shirt on, but he hadn’t bothered doing it up and she kept catching thoroughly disturbing glimpses of a muscular chest covered in curling dark hair. Against her will her eyes traced the line of dark hair down to where it disappeared into his swimming trunks and she felt her mouth dry.

‘Well, that added a bit of excitement to my evening swim,’ he said casually, stifling a yawn and reaching for the towel that he’d tossed on the rug.

‘I’m surprised you didn’t take up her invitation,’ Jenny muttered, and he gave a cool smile.

‘Maybe I will,’ he drawled carelessly, but she suspected that he was just baiting her and watched silently as he draped the towel round his neck and ran his fingers through his damp hair to straighten it.

Suddenly aware that from her position on the rug her eyes were level with his powerful thighs, Jenny scrambled to her feet, her face flushed. All of a sudden all she could think about was the significant bulge she’d seen in his swimming trunks.

What was the matter with her?

She never thought about things like that.

‘You’re not very romantic, are you?’

Alex gave a soft laugh. ‘I can be very romantic when the need arises.’

‘You mean when you want to persuade someone to s-sleep with you,’ she stammered, unable to hide her distaste. ‘I can’t believe women fall for your patter.’

His eyes glittered and he moved towards her with all the graceful stealth of a jungle cat. ‘Is that a challenge, Miss Phillips?’

She backed away so fast she almost stumbled, hideously aware of every muscular inch of him. ‘No. It certainly isn’t. Unlike most of the women you mix with, I know exactly what sort of man you are, Alex Westerling.’

Dangerous.

‘So you keep telling me,’ he said silkily, ‘but you’re obviously finding me incredibly hard to resist.’

She gaped at him. ‘No wonder you need four cottages to live in! Your ego would never fit into just one. For your information, I don’t have any trouble resisting you.’

‘No.’ He was maddeningly cool and relaxed and there was a hint of laughter in his wicked blue eyes. ‘Then why did you bring me the shirt, sweetheart? Go on, admit it. The sight of my body was really disturbing you.’