Trembling, Belle looked down into the water. It was gin-clear, not like the caiman tank. Weed was lapping silkily at her ankles.

Just weed.

Nothing bad. Jack was smiling.

‘It’s not funny,’ she told him through chattering teeth.

Something darted down there. A trout. It brushed against her scarred calf. Belle let out another shriek and leapt forward, her arms going around Jack’s neck.

‘Sorry,’ she said instantly, and started to pull away.

‘Don’t be,’ he said, his eyes holding hers. His hands went to her forearms, keeping her there. ‘You’re bloody brave, Belle. You got in here even though you looked like you were going to shit yourself with fear. You did it.’

‘Oh yeah. Brave as hell, that’s me.’ She was still shaking. But . . . it was nice, her arms around his neck. She felt safer, this close to him. Protected.

He was staring at her face. For one moment she thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t.

No, of course not. All that’s done with.

She turned her head aside, letting her hair drop forward to hide her scars. Her attention was caught by the droplets of water on his broad well-muscled shoulders. The texture of his skin was so different to hers. She was hotly aware now that they were both naked, that this could develop into something way beyond her control. She eased back, disengaging herself. Tried a couple of tentative strokes, not moving too far away from him. The stony chill of the water was better now that she was moving; it was sharply refreshing after the clammy heat of the day. Getting bolder, she struck out for the far bank and Jack swam alongside her.

God, this was . . . this was nice.

She’d always loved to swim, even as a tiny child. Now, the love of it came back to her. Gradually she stopped worrying about what else was in the water besides the two of them. She swam back and forth across the river, enjoying it, until she was too tired to swim any more. Then she waded out onto the bank and flopped there, exhausted, not even bothering to cover up with her towel because all that was done with, she was repulsive anyway, it didn’t matter.

It was sort of liberating, somehow. She closed her eyes and relaxed.