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and maybe a pelican or two. The large birds tended to comb the beach in search of sand crabs or flotsam, but they were harmless enough and kept other predators at bay.
Joanna put on her swimsuit before she left the cottage.
It was navy blue with white piping around the hem of the briefs. It had a tank top to accommodate her swollen belly, and she added a multi-coloured wrap she’d bought when she was in Cable Cay. A canvas bag held water—she’d taken Matt’s advice and never left the cottage without it—sunglasses and a tube of sunscreen. She carried a towel over her shoulder, and managed to slip away without either of the other women seeing her.
The dinghy was still at its mooring, so she dropped the bag and her wrap on the beach near the roots of a palm tree and laid her towel on top. Then, not wasting any time, she walked down the sandy slope and into the water. It wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t cold either, and she revelled in the feeling of freedom it gave her.
It was so good to wade out of her depth and feel the weight lifted from her. For the first time in months, she didn’t feel dragged down by the tiny human being growing inside. Striking out with a lazy breaststroke, she swam a little distance away from the shore. Then rolled onto her back and let the water carry her on.
It was heavenly. Even the sun didn’t feel so hot out here. Obviously, this was why Matt took his boat out early in the morning. To enjoy a cooler temperature before the heat set in.
Her eyes closed and she drifted on the tide, feeling totally at peace with herself and the world. How long was it since she’d been in the sea? Not since last year at Padsworth. She’d gone to spend a few days with her parents in early summer. And then, on her return, David had offered her the chance to become a partner in the gallery. He had also suggested that unless she and Matt were planning on getting back together, she should seriously think about getting a divorce.
Reminded of the divorce and of where she was now, Joanna opened her eyes. Turning over, she got her bearings, and then gave a little gasp of dismay. While she’d been daydreaming, the tide had carried her quite some distance from the shore. It had evidently been going out when she’d entered the water, and now she was going to have to swim the better part of half a mile back to the beach.
Panic flared in the pit of her stomach. She had never been a particularly strong swimmer. When she was a kid, a couple of lengths of the local swimming baths had been more than enough for her.
Treading water, she took a deep breath, calculating the distance in her mind. She could do this, she told herself. She would have to. She’d told no one where she was going, and if Matt was away, there was no one else to come to her rescue…
Matt was still asleep when he heard someone hammering on his bedroom door.
He’d had a pretty rotten night. He seldom slept well these days, and he’d sometimes wondered if it would have been easier to relax if he’d known Joanna was just down the hall.
It didn’t help that he was expecting visitors tomorrow. He hadn’t told Joanna because he’d known how she would react to the news. In consequence, he’d spent half the night downing a fifth of Jack Daniels, and the other half fighting nightmares, that had left him wide awake and sweating like a pig.
It was an effort to open his eyes when the hammering on his door started. He must have fallen asleep in the early hours and now he was heavy-eyed and not in the best of tempers either.
‘What the hell is going on?’ he demanded, springing out of bed.
Teresa gazed at him unhappily. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr Matt, but Mrs Novak has disappeared. When Callie brought her breakfast, she wasn’t in her room, and, although we’ve searched the grounds, we don’t know where she’s gone.’
JOANNA SAW MATT emerge from the palms beside the jetty.
He’d seen her, of course he had, she thought, her initial relief giving way to resignation. He was going to think she was the world’s biggest idiot. She should have told someone where she was going and stayed in the shallows. That would have been the sensible thing to do.
Matt’s voice echoed over the water. ‘Do you need any help?’
Joanna sighed. She wanted to say, I can manage, but she knew that wasn’t precisely true. Nevertheless, she shook her head and started swimming back towards the shore. It was only a little distance, she told herself. And, after all, what could Matt do?
She found out a few tiring minutes later when she was still a few yards out from the beach. She’d paused for a moment, trying to regulate her breathing, when she saw Matt tear off his shirt and plunge into the water.
His strong crawl brought him swiftly within range of her exhausted strokes, and she knew when he reached her there were tears in her eyes. ‘Thank you,’ she said, when he wrapped an arm around her waist. ‘I know I’m stupid.’ Then, defensively, ‘But I would have made it on my own.’
Matt made no comment about how unlikely that was or how stupid she’d been and she was grateful. Instead, he slicked back his hair with his free hand, and she found herself thinking rather foolishly how much she liked looking at him, even when her limbs were trembling with exhaustion and she badly wanted to cry.
His dark features seemed to have acquired a dangerous edge since he’d learned about the baby, and right now, although he hadn’t said anything yet, she knew he wasn’t pleased with her.
Which was a shame, because they’d been getting on so well. But the guarded gleam in his eyes warned of possible retribution to come.
Would she really have made it on her own if he hadn’t come to her assistance? That was something she didn’t want to think about right now. The fact was, she owed him, and she doubted he’d let her forget it.
It took an amazingly short space of time before Joanna felt shifting sand beneath her feet. Her toes touched the ground only briefly as Matt gained his feet. Then, turning, he swung her up into his arms. He carried her out of the water and up the beach, only halting when he’d reached the place where she’d left her belongings.
Joanna was suddenly inordinately breathless. But this time it wasn’t because of her swim. It was the muscled strength of the arm beneath her thighs; the bronzed hardness of his chest brushing sensuously against her breasts. The awareness of her own vulnerability in the face of someone so aggressively male.
It made her realise her tank top had ridden up exposing her midriff. Not the most alluring sight, she thought unhappily, but she couldn’t do anything about it now. All she knew was that Matt was staring down at her, the dark penetration of his heavy-lidded eyes making her wonder if he’d just tumbled out of bed.
‘What possessed you to swim so far out on your own?’ he demanded. ‘You always said you weren’t a strong swimmer.’
‘I’m not,’ she said unhappily. ‘Were you in town? Did Henry get in touch with you and tell you what I was doing?’
‘There wouldn’t have been much point in telling me if I’d been in town, would there?’ Matt asked reasonably. ‘Besides, it’s Henry who’s in town. It was Teresa who warned me what was going on. Callie came rushing over to the villa saying you’d disappeared.’
Joanna felt dreadful. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, aware that her voice was still shaky. ‘You can put me down now.’
But, God help her, being this close to him was both a pleasure and a torment. She couldn’t deny it any longer. Whatever he’d done, she still wanted to be with him. Surely it wasn’t just her chaotic hormones causing her to lose all resistance to this man. Regardless of their past mistakes, was she willing to begin again?
Was