But she didn’t. Couldn’t. She was mesmerized by the sight of him there, the sun trickling medallions of gold through the trees and onto his skin. The abs on the man! Then he turned and his tanned back was packed with muscle and to her shock she saw that it was also covered in scars, old ones she thought, that had long since turned to random puckered streaks of white. Was that why he was so unconcerned about her own disfigurement? She’d thought he was just being kind, trying not to show how appalled he was at the state of her face, but she could see that this might be the real explanation. He had scars of his own. He understood.

But where did he get them?

Now he was unbuckling his belt, unzipping . . .

I ought to look away . . .

Again, she found that she couldn’t do it. Her eyes were drawn to his taut buttocks, his hard thighs. She’d seen naked men before, she’d had boyfriends, she wasn’t a virgin, but the sight of Jack naked somehow sent her into a tailspin. She was intruding. Spying. It was wrong. But it was also amazingly erotic, watching him as he waded down into the water. She felt her nipples harden, felt heat and moisture between her legs.

He was in the water now, chest deep. Then he swam a couple of strokes, turned – and looked right at her, standing there on the upper bank. He was grinning.

Christ!

‘Going to join me then, Belle?’ he shouted up to her.

Belle felt hot with embarrassment. He’d known she was here, all the time. Cringing, she turned away.

‘Come on down. It’s nice in here,’ he said.

Nice? She couldn’t think of anything worse than immersing herself in water. She turned back to face him and shook her head. ‘No. Thanks.’

‘You’d never make a detective,’ he said over the roaring rush of the river. ‘Trailing the suspect at a discreet distance? Not your forte.’

‘You knew I was there all the time?’

‘’Fraid so.’

Belle sat down on the bank, clasping her hands around her knees. ‘You rotten git,’ she said.

‘Yeah, that’s me,’ he said, and swam off across the river.

It looked so nice down there – cool and inviting. Up here on the bank, her back was in the sun and she was hot from hurrying to keep up with him, his mum’s thick jeans heavy on her legs and his chambray shirt clinging to her sweaty skin. Maybe it would be nice to just dip her toes in. Maybe . . . but then she thought of black waters and terror. No. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t even think of going in.