‘I’m going to. But I want them to see the stuff first— so I can see what they really think. And not just be nice because they know it was made by me.’

‘What they think matters that much to you?’

‘Sure,’ she said. ‘They’re my family.’

He went quiet.

‘I want them to be proud of me.’ She tried to explain.

‘There’s no way they’re not proud of you already.’

She smiled. But he was wrong. She’d let them down. ‘I’m not like them.’ But she didn’t explain it further. Rather she let her hands slide over him—her reward for a long day of hard work. ‘You were wrong.’

‘What about?’

‘This just can’t be legal.’

He laughed.

‘I’m serious. It feels too good.’

‘I’ve got a secret for you, honey,’ he whispered into her mouth. ‘Only the things that are right feel this good.’ And that was the moment her heart liquefied.

She tipped her head back to look up at him—a long, searching look. But his gaze slid from her and then the rest of him did.

He splashed up the steps out of the pool. ‘We need to get moving.’

‘You’ve got to be kidding.’

‘A couple of my growers are coming in to Hanmer and we’re going out to dinner.’

‘What, like at a restaurant?’

‘Yeah.’ He turned on the shower.

‘And it’s okay for me to turn up in my bikini?’

He laughed under the stream of water. ‘Absolutely.’

‘Well, what else am I going to wear? My crushed suit from today?’

She wasnaked.

He left the shower running for her and wrapped a towel round his hips. While under the hot jet she watched him open his backpack. He pulled out another pair of jeans and tossed them on the massage table for her.

She switched off the water. ‘I’m not going to meet people wearing your clothes.’

‘Sophy—’ he sent her a look ‘—relax. It’s not a fancy restaurant. Just nice people, nice food.’

Itwasa fancy restaurant and wearing nothing but a pair of men’s jeans that hung on her and a tourist tee shirt from the spa shop wasn’t her idea of fancy restaurant attire. And, worse, wearing his jeans turned her on.

‘Hi, Lorenzo. You must be Sophy.’

So he’d mentioned her to them? She felt an absurdly warm glow about that.

To her relief the older couple were in jeans too and were full of welcoming smiles. Lorenzo explained that Charlotte and Rob Wilson had one of the largest holdings that supplied grapes to one of his labels. They were led to a table, talk turned to food and wine and business.

‘Have you known Lorenzo long?’ Sophy just had to do some digging while Lorenzo and Rob talked about the bar. ‘Fifteen years,’ Charlotte replied.