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“Tell them no.”
“Have you lost your mind? You can’t say no after quitting The Culinary Wanderer. What if they find someone else? What are you going to do then?”
Vince seemed to have forgotten that with several restaurants in various countries, Ashton wasn’t dependent on the money he made doing television shows. He just enjoyed the celebrity and the experiences he’d had over the years.
“Write a cookbook.?
? With the help of a very special woman who was at a crossroads of her own.
“A cookbook? Have you lost your mind? Lifestyle Network is going to make you famous.”
“They’ve left me hanging for four months. Now they’re demanding I drop everything at a moment’s notice?” Ashton’s frustration spilled over. “They’re going to have to wait.”
“I’m not sure they’ll like that answer.” Vince’s eyes shifted toward the group of executives. “They could go with someone else.”
Ashton mentally cursed. This was his project. They’d strung him along and now they were threatening to replace him?
“Let them,” he snarled. “Whatever they do with the show, it’s not going to be a success without me.” His gaze collided with Vince’s.
“Okay.” But his manager didn’t look happy. “You’re the star. We walk away from this deal.” Vince assessed Ashton’s expression and shed his doubts with a nod. “Once word gets out you’ll be hit with a dozen offers before the week’s out.”
Ashton wasn’t sure his manager was right, but he was confident something bigger and better was just around the next curve. In the meantime he would see to Batouri’s grand opening and spend some time getting to know more about Harper Fontaine.
As his thoughts returned to her, all optimism drained away. Why couldn’t he shake the notion that he should travel to Africa to be with her? The thought was ridiculous. She’d insisted he focus his full attention on Batouri. He’d incur her fury if he did anything as idiotic as leave the country mere days before its opening.
“I need to get to the airport,” Ashton announced. “Let me know what the outcome of the meeting is.”
“Are you heading back to Las Vegas now?”
“Not yet.”
“Where then?”
“Pretoria.”
Vince looked utterly baffled. “Where?”
“South Africa.”
* * *
Harper’s second day in South Africa had gone much more smoothly than her first. Before going to bed the night before, she’d contacted Mary and arranged to have her backup documentation shipped to the hotel. Then, with nothing to do but wait, she took the opportunity to sleep late and get her bearings.
Now, bathed in early afternoon sunshine, Harper was enjoying a glass of wine in a corner of the patio. A shadow fell across her South African tour book. Thinking it was her waitress she looked up. Ashton stood beside her chair looking every inch a dashing world traveler in jeans and a pale blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to expose the long faint scars on his forearms. With one hand he held a black leather jacket over his shoulder and the other rested on the handle of his go bag.
Heart jumping wildly, Harper was too stunned to answer the come-and-get-me call of his lopsided grin. “What are you doing here?”
“I decided someone needed to chronicle your first adventure, so here I am.” He pulled out the chair beside hers and settled into it.
“I thought you had a meeting in New York.”
“It was over sooner than I expected so I hopped on a plane and here I am.”
He didn’t elaborate, and she wondered how things had gone.
“My trip took over twenty-six hours. How did you get here so fast?”
“Direct flights from JFK only take fifteen hours.” He settled into the chair across from hers. “What are you drinking?”
