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to her.
    He went into his office, the maple scent following him. She hadn’t just invaded his home, but his workspace too. Had she made it in here when she’d been snooping? If she had, what had she thought of it?
    While he had business headquarters now with staff and the obligatory assistant, he preferred to work from home much of the time. In the early days he’d had to, and running your own company wasn’t a 9-5 kind of job. It made sense to have everything he needed set up right at hand. He touched the trackpad and his computer screen flared to life. It took less than ten seconds to find her company online. The website was slick with crisp colors and a simple but effective logo. Impressive job title too— mueslician . But the single line on the homepage saying that production had temporarily been suspended got his attention in a more serious way.
    Why?
    Was it the cost? Jack had several business interests and knew how to find information. He plugged in a search and it was less than five minutes later when he had his answer.
    Fire .
    No wonder she hadn’t liked the smell of burning food and had lectured him on the smoke alarms. The commercial kitchen she used had been gutted only a few weeks ago. So was she hunting for alternative premises now?
    There were several methods of encouraging someone to do something you wanted them to. Jack Barnes was more of a carrot than a stick man. And he’d just thought of the best carrot for one Libby Harris.

Chapter Five

    Someone was pounding on her door and Libby—currently lying face down on her bed—wasn’t in the mood.
    “Libby? It’s Jack Barnes.”
    The mattress squeaked as she sprang to all fours. She jumped right off the bed and glanced at her watch. Three hours since she’d shut the door in his face and she’d forgotten him, right?
    Never.
    She opened the door and her heart flipped. She’d thought her imagination had embroidered his fit-factor, but he was even more handsome than her memory reckoned. She drew in a sharp breath, aiming to restore order to her arresting vital organ, but it didn’t work. Time for evasive action.
    She stepped outside to the landing and closed her door behind her. He wasn’t getting an invitation in.
    “What can I do for you?” she asked, determined to be perfectly polite and never again let him know how much he got to her.
    He smiled, looking so friendly and charming compared to when he’d first seen her this morning. “Tom’s missing the hazelnuts.” His shoulders lifted in a helpless gesture. “Do you think you can help out?”
    He had to be kidding. “You’d like me to come and make more?”
    “Yes, please.” His smile widened, so gorgeous that Libby was rendered incapable of speech.
    “Are you going to make me grovel?” he asked with a soft tease after a long minute.
    “It’s an appealing idea.” Libby admitted frankly.
    “Okay I’ll grovel,” he stepped closer to her. “My brother is young and obsessive and right now the two things he’s obsessed about are rowing and your muesli. He doesn’t think he can do the former without the latter.”
    Libby blinked and took a step back. She’d known Tom was a fan given he’d hunted her down, but that he was obsessed by her muesli? “He thinks it helps his form?”
    Jack nodded. “It’s the thing that’s going to get him gold.”
    Good grief. “So I need to do this for Queen and country, is that right?”
    “Absolutely.”
    Libby stared in silence, half spellbound by Jack’s vivid blue eyes. She didn’t believe him, but he was looking incredibly intense. And gorgeous.
    “I’ve got a deal for you,” he tempted quietly.
    “What?” She tried to keep her cool on, but couldn’t help her curiosity.
    “And a reward.”
    “What kind of reward?”
    “Come down to the car and find out.”
    She lifted her brows. “You’re not going to kidnap me. I’m good at ju-jitsu.”
    “I’m guessing you learned that at the circus too.”
    “That’s right,” she