Page 315 of In Love with a Cruel Billionaire

"Aren't you glad I took you out for dinner instead?"

"To wine and dine the truth out of me?"

"Figuratively speaking," Ryder admitted without a qualm, "since neither of us drinks."

Still nothing from the other side, but he wasn't surprised. Even without Diana volunteering much information about herself, moving in the same circles meant Ryder was privy to more information than what was written about her in the tabloids.

Most of the paps described her as the mousy and bullied daughter of Esther Leventis, but Ryder had seen for himself she was a lot more than that. Her heart was chaste, in the way fewer and fewer people were able to keep theirs past puberty, and if there were anything he might do to keep it that way...

"Magnolia's seriously worried about you," Ryder said quietly.

Diana suddenly straightened, her face paling as she said jerkily, "It'shim."

"I see." Guy trouble wasn't good, but it could've been a lot worse.

Diana shook her head. "No, I mean it's him.He's here." She nodded in the direction of the restaurant's main doors, and when Ryder followed her gaze, he immediately noticed the just-arrived couple being assisted by the maître d'.

The woman was a bombshell, Diana thought numbly, but more like a sophisticated version of Marilyn Monroe...or Paris Hilton with breast implants. Either way, she looked extremely good next to the professor, who looked his usual strikingly handsome self.

She glanced at Ryder, noticed his frowning expression, and asked self-consciously, "What is it?"

"It's easy to see why you're attracted to him," Ryder murmured. The man seemed to have stepped out of a Michelangelo painting, and it was no secret that the Renaissancemaestrowas one of Diana's favorite painters. "Is he in one of your classes? Was that how you met?"

"I suppose you could say that," Diana said in a small voice.

"He dropped out?"

"He's my professor."

Ryder choked.

Diana's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Not something you'd expect from a good girl like me, right?"

Him

Kathang Isip by Ben & Ben

---