Page 39 of How To Tempt The Off-Limits Billionaire

“You’re very okay, I can attest to that.”

He grinned. “Thank you, but Sam, the big mouth, called her and told her that she had to patch me up again. Mimi has summoned me to La Fontaine and she’s ordered me to bring you. And to stay for dinner.”

Ro pulled a face, not sure if she was ready to meet Muzi’s grandmother. Meeting the family made her think that this...thing...between them was moving too fast.

“I don’t know, Muzi.”

Disappointment jumped into his eyes. “Her chef cooks like a dream and she’s a character but if you’re not keen, I’ll just head over there and have a quick drink with her.” He drained his glass of wine and put it on the coffee table to his right. He glanced at his watch. “If I leave within the next ten minutes, I could be back by eight.”

“And you are going back to the city in the morning?”

“Yes, I’m so behind and I have a series of meetings I have to take.”

“And do you have any idea when you will be back?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant but knowing that she missed it by a country mile.

Muzi’s look was rock steady. “Is that your way of asking whether I want to see you again, to sleep with you again?”

He was so straightforward. And, after Kelvin’s dishonesty and the confusion around her adoptive parents’ marriage, it was a nice change. “I guess I am.”

He stood up and gripped the arms of her chair, caging her in. “No promises, no expectations, but yes, I’d like to see you again. When that changes, you’ll be the first to know. And, unless something major happens at work, I’ll be back here Friday night.”

Ro nodded, relieved. She stroked her thumb across his bottom lip and sighed when his mouth covered hers in a brief, hard kiss. Ro pouted, disappointed when he stood up and moved away to stand by the railing.

“Talking about work, your lawyers should have the lease agreement by now, can you sign it sometime soon so that my farm manager can put a cleanup crew in the lands?”

“Let him do it, I’m not going to change my mind,” Ro told him, not liking the change of subject. When Muzi talked business, his expression turned implacable and a curtain fell in his eyes. He wasn’t robotic but he was unreachable. And if she only had a few hours until he left her here in Franschhoek for five days she didn’t want to waste a minute of that time.

She wanted to be with him. “I’ll come to La Fontaine with you.” She gestured to her casual shirt and shorts. “Should I change?”

He nodded. “Mimi is old-school and expects us to dress for dinner. Nothing fancy but shorts and flip-flops are not acceptable.”

“Got it,” Ro said, climbing to her feet. Then a thought occurred, and she hesitated. “If I go with you, your grandmother is going to believe the rumors are true.”

“What rumors?”

“That we are having a red-hot affair!” Ro retorted.

Muzi smiled. “Sweetheart, wearehaving a red-hot affair. If it got any hotter, we’d both be dead, burned to a crisp.”

She swatted his arm and he laughed. “You know what I mean! She’ll think that there’s something between us!”

Muzi placed his hand on her lower back and pushed her in the direction of the lounge. “There is something between us...” He hesitated, and Ro’s heart rate sped up and her brain froze. What was he about to say? And was she ready to hear it?

“Let’s take it slow, see where it goes. Right now, we are friends. Enjoying some earthshaking benefits.”

Stupid girl for even entertaining the thought of more. She wasn’t ready for more, and he didn’t want it.

Right. They were both on the same page. That was good...

Wasn’t it?

CHAPTER EIGHT

THREEDAYSLATER, Ro sat in the library at St. Urban, morosely contemplating the floor-to-ceiling shelves of books, wondering who would take a roomful of old and dusty books. And, because the Du Toit family had been überwealthy, she suspected that there were a couple of first editions on those shelves.

She needed to find someone who specialized in old books. Ro sighed and picked up her phone to add the item to her long to-do list.

Ro tucked the phone into the back pocket of her jeans and contemplated the rolltop desk standing between two long narrow windows. If the other two desks in this room were anything to go by, it would be stuffed full of old papers, crumbling bits of newspaper and ancient pens and keys.

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