Page 11 of The Billionaire's One-Night Baby

Although he stood in the shadows, she saw his small shrug. ‘I think you do.’

Was he just shooting in the dark or was her antipathy towards Love & Enchantment not the closely held secret she thought it was? She’d never spoken to anyone about her feelings towards L&E, not even Thadie. Admitting that she hated weddings, and wedding dresses, made her feel disloyal to her grandmother, as if she was throwing Lily’s hard work and sacrifices in her face.

Dodi sighed and stared out into the darkness. Nobody understood how difficult it was to be the object her parents fought over, not because they loved her but because they didn’t. Neither had they wanted to be saddled with her. She’d learned some major life lessons before she hit double digits: that nothing was permanent, that relationships were only temporary and that getting attached was a good way to get hurt. She’d loathed her life, being bounced between her parents’ houses, and frequently wished she lived anywhere else.

She got that wish when her father—Lily’s only child—had left her at Lily’s house without forewarning or an explanation. Up until that point, shortly before her sixteenth birthday, she hadn’t known of Lily’s existence. After a few weeks and being unable to contact either of her parents, Lily enrolled her in school, and she was given chores and rules and regulations.

She wanted to hate Lily and her new life, but she didn’t, couldn’t. Lily was lovely, kind but firm, and so very normal. Life with Lily was so much better, more stable than what she’d ever experienced before. But what she did hate was her lack of choice, the fact that her path had been chosen for her and that her future had been moulded by another’s hand. Being bounced between her parents, coming to live with Lily, inheriting the business...none of those life-changing events was her choice.

After Dan’s infidelity and Lily’s death—the first a real betrayal, the second that felt like one—she vowed she’d never allow anyone to dictate the terms of her life again, to make decisions for her.

But Jago’s sensing of her feelings towards her business was a red flag, an indication that he saw too deeply and too much. So why did he think that?

He shrugged at her question. ‘When you get excited, your eyes turn a deeper shade of blue...some of the smoke clears.’

What was he talking about? ‘My eyes change colour?’

‘Mmm.’

‘You’re talking rubbish, Jago.’

Jago leaned his shoulder into the wall and crossed one ankle over the other. ‘No, I don’t think I’m off base at all. The other day your eyes were a flat grey. I think you appreciate the dresses for their workmanship and beauty but they don’t touch your soul. Do you only feel like that about Thadie’s dress orallwedding dresses?’

‘I don’t feel like that at all,’ Dodi told him, irritated.

‘Liar,’ Jago softly responded. One corner of his mouth kicked up. ‘And, since those dresses cost me a fortune, I’m bloody offended.’

He was nothing of the sort, he was just teasing her. And that was a surprise because she hadn’t thought Jago Le Roux knew the meaning of the word. She knew him to be terse and abrupt, aloof and distant. She didn’t know how to handle a teasing Jago and, because she also wanted to move the conversation along, she thought it prudent to change the subject.

An obvious choice was this house and its recently completed renovations.

‘Why did you decide to renovate the house? It was pretty wonderful before.’

Jago narrowed his eyes, obviously debating whether to pursue his interrogation. Thankfully, he looked around and nodded. ‘It had some structural issues. The roof needed replacing, some of the foundations were sinking. The house, originally, had eight bedrooms but some of the rooms were dark and gloomy so we created five suites, all with en-suite bathrooms. We also created two separate wings at the back of the house with two master bedrooms and two lounges, and separate entrances so that Micah and I can have some privacy when we want it.’

‘And Liyana lives in the house behind this one.’

Jago nodded. ‘When she’s in the country, which isn’t that often, to be honest. Our stepmama is a bit of a social butterfly.’

Since it wasn’t unusual for Liyana to be photographed at an event in Monaco on Wednesday and in New York on Friday, that was the understatement of the year.

‘We wanted Thadie to move in, but she said that living with Liyana, or us, would drive her mad. She compromised by buying her place just down the road.’

Yeah, there was a reason why this street in the ultra-wealthy suburb of Sandhurst was unofficially known as Le Roux Drive.

‘What will you do if either you or Micah marry? Who gets the house?’ Dodi asked, intrigued.

‘Technically, as the older son, I inherited the house,’ Jago replied. ‘But this is Micah’s childhood home too so we designed the renovations in such a way that we both, should that ever happen, could easily have two still ridiculously big but separate homes. We’d share the hall and the entertainment deck and, obviously, the pool and the grounds. And Jabu.’

They both turned to look at Hadleigh House’s butler, a distinguished gentleman who’d been with the family since the twins were toddlers. Jabu, hands behind his back, was watching the hired catering staff with an eagle eye as well as waiting for orders from any members of the Le Roux clan.

He was, she knew, adored by everyone in the family and was, as Thadie informed her, constantly bombarded with offers of employment. Jago followed her gaze. ‘He had two job offers this week,’ Jago told her. ‘One from a Japanese businessman who spends half a year in Joburg, another from the Bahraini ambassador’s wife. One of these days he’s going to leave us for a more exciting position.’

‘What makes you say that?’ Dodi asked him, touched and a little amused at his glum tone.

‘He’s made it very clear that we don’t entertain enough, that there’s not enough to do, that Micah and I work too hard, and that this house needs a young family. Or families.’

Yep, definitely morose. ‘And do you plan on doing something about his demands?’

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