Read Online Yesterday's Love by Sherryl Woods - Free Book Online

I think this is worth an exception.”
    â€œI will not be responsible for your fall from grace, Tate McAndrews,” she said saucily, slipping determinedly from his embrace. “Besides, we need to talk some more about this little visit we’re about to pay to my parents. I don’t think you have any idea what you’re letting yourself in for.”
    â€œThat’s not exactly true,” Tate denied with a weary sigh of resignation. “When I came down here yesterday, I didn’t. Now I know I’m in trouble. Your parents are just the tip of the iceberg.”

Chapter Five
    O n the drive to her parents’ house, Victoria tried to think of some way to make Tate understand that he was about to undergo a third degree that would make one of his IRS investigations seem like child’s play. Every time she opened her mouth to explain, he told her to quit worrying. She finally shut up, but she didn’t stop fretting.
    She wasn’t sure what concerned her the most: her mother’s delighted, if mistaken, impression that she and Tate were involved or the possibility that her parents would discover that he was auditing her taxes. Either one posed a minefield of hazards that the man next to her couldn’t possibly have considered when he innocently accepted her mother’s invitation. She still didn’t understand why he’d agreed to do that, much less why he’d wrangled that dinner invitation from her, but right now she didn’t have time to puzzle that part out. She was far more concerned with this sinking feeling of dread that she was about to end the evening with either an entirely inappropriate fiancé or a companion who’d been hog-tied and sternly lectured until he agreed to drop his inquiry into her financial affairs.
    â€œTate, maybe we should forget about this,” she suggested hopefully. “I’ll explain to my parents that your malaria flared up again, and you were in no condition to drop in.”
    The look he gave her was withering. “I don’t have malaria.”
    â€œThey don’t know that.”
    He glanced over at her, his expression puzzled. “It’s just a friendly visit. Why are you making such a big deal about it?”
    â€œBecause my parents are going to make a big deal about it and you don’t seem to be prepared.”
    â€œI’ve been dating since junior high school and been asked every conceivable parental question. They will not rattle me.”
    â€œFirst of all,” she reminded him, “this is not a date.”
    â€œIt isn’t?”
    â€œYou said yourself it was part of the investigation,” she said irritably, then added pointedly, “an investigation I don’t want them to know about.”
    Tate frowned. “Well, it is part of the investigation…in a way.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œIt’s not exactly official.”
    â€œMeaning you don’t usually drop in for dinner when you’re auditing someone’s taxes.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œThen it’s a date after all?” she asked weakly, her head swimming. Dear Lord, this was getting complicated. Maybe she could develop malaria and go home.
    Tate’s frustrated expression reminded her of the way she felt. “That’s what I said in the first place,” he told her, sounding puzzled. “Isn’t it?”
    â€œI suppose,” Victoria muttered, then sighed. “Okay, then. How many times have you been asked what your intentions are on a first date?” she challenged, then shrugged in defeat. “Oh, forget it. If you’re crazy enough to want to go through with this, far be it from me to try to stop you. Turn here.”
    Tate pulled into the driveway of a lovely old farmhouse surrounded by towering oaks that were beginning to bud. Pale green sparkled in the early moon-light against the dark backdrop of massive trucks and mighty branches. Unlike