Virgin Princess, Tycoon’s Temptation / The Secret Child & The Cowboy CEO: Virgin Princess, Tycoon’s Temptation

He smiled and said, “The feeling is mutual, Your Highness.”

Four

Louisa gazed up at Garrett, looking so sweet and innocent. So … pure. He felt almost guilty for deceiving her.

“I think at this point it would be all right for you to call me Louisa,” she said.

“All right, Louisa.”

“Can we speak frankly?”

“Is there ever a time when you don’t?”

Her cheeks blushed a charming shade of pink and she bit her lip. “Sorry. I have this terrible habit of saying everything that’s on my mind. It drives everyone crazy.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s a welcome change. Most women play games.” Unless this was some sort of game she was playing. But his instincts told him that she didn’t have a manipulative bone in her body.

“You should know that I’m not looking for a temporary relationship. I want to settle down and have a family.” She stopped walking and looked up at him. “I need to know that you feel the same. That you’re not just playing the field.”

“I’m thirty-seven years old, Louisa. I think I’ve played the field long enough.”

“In that case, there’s something else I should probably mention.”

Why did he sense that he wasn’t going to like this?

“We should talk about children.”

She certainly didn’t pull any punches, although oddly, he was finding that he liked that about her. “What about them?”

“I want a big family.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “How big?”

The grip on his arm tightened, as though she was worried he might try to make a run for it. “At least six kids. Maybe more.”

For a second he thought she might be joking, or testing him, then he realized that she was dead serious.

Six kids? Bloody hell, no wonder she was still single. Who in this day and age wanted that many children? He’d never felt the desire or need to have one child, much less half a dozen of them! Marrying a royal, he knew at least one heir would be expected. Maybe two. But six?

Despite his strong feelings on the matter, he could see by her expression that this was not a negotiable point for Louisa and he chose his next words very carefully. “I’ll admit that I’ve never given any thought to having a family that large, but anything is possible.”

A bright and relieved smile lit her entire face and he felt an undeniable flicker of guilt, which he promptly shook off. This was business. Once they were married, he would lay down the law and insist that two children at most would be plenty and she would eventually learn to live with that. Or maybe, after the first child or two, she would change her mind anyway. He’d seen the way his parents struggled with a large family, the emotional roller coaster rides. Who would want to subject themselves to that?

Louisa gazed up at him, a dreamy look on her face. “It would be okay if you kissed me now,” she said, then added, “If you want to.”

Oh, he wanted to. So much that it surprised him a little. The idea had been to wait until their second date before he kissed her, to draw out the anticipation. Did she intend to derail each one of his carefully laid plans? “Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked.

“Just because my family treats me like a child, that doesn’t mean I am one.”

There was nothing childish about her, which she proved by not even waiting for him to make the first move. Instead, she reached up, slid her hands behind his neck, pulled him down to her level and kissed him. Her lips were soft but insistent, and she smelled fantastic. Delicate and feminine.

Though he had intended to keep it brief, to take things slowly, he felt himself being drawn closer, as though pulled by an invisible rope anchored somewhere deep inside his chest. His arms went around her and when his fingers brushed her bare back, what felt like an electric shock arced through his fingers. Louisa must have felt it, too, because she whimpered and curled her fingers into the hair at his nape. He felt her tongue, slick and warm against the seam of his lips and he knew he had to taste her, and when he did, she was as sweet as candy.

He was aware that this was moving too far, too fast, but as she leaned in closer, pressing her body against his, he felt helpless to stop her. Never had the simple act of kissing a woman aroused him so thoroughly, but Louisa seemed to put her heart and soul, her entire being, into it.

To him, self-control was a virtue, but Louisa seemed to know exactly which buttons to push. Not at all what he would have expected from a woman rumored to be so sweet and innocent. Which had him believing that she really wasn’t so sweet and innocent after all.

Her hands slipped down his shoulders and inside his jacket. She stroked his chest through his shirt and that was all he could take. He broke the kiss, breathless and bewildered, his heart hammering like mad.

Louisa expelled a soft shudder of breath and rested her head against his chest. “Now that was a kiss.”

He couldn’t exactly argue. Although the whole point of this visit had been to prove to her family that his intentions were pure, yet here he was, practically mauling her out in the open, where anyone could see. If someone was watching, he hoped they hadn’t failed to notice that she’d made the first move and he’d been the one to put on the brakes.

She nuzzled her face to his chest, her breath warm through his shirt. He curled his hands into fists, to keep from tangling them through her hair, from drawing her head back and kissing her again. He wanted to taste her lips and her throat, nibble at her ears. He wanted to put his hands all over her.

“It probably isn’t proper to say this,” Louisa said, “but I can’t wait to see you naked.”

Bloody hell. He backed away and held her at arm’s length, before he did something really stupid like drag her into the bushes and have his way with her. “Do you ever not say what’s on your mind?”

“I just gave you the censored version,” she answered with an impish grin. “Would you like to know what I’m really thinking?”

Of course he would, but this was not the time or place. “I’ll use my imagination.” He glanced up at the darkening sky and said, “It’s getting late. I should get you back inside.”

“Lest I turn into a pumpkin,” she said with a sigh and took his hand, as naturally as if they had known each other for years, and they walked down the path toward the castle.

“I had a good time tonight,” he said.

“Me, too. Although I get the feeling that I’m not quite what you expected.”

“No, you’re not. You’re more intriguing and compelling than I could have imagined.”

As she smiled up at him, he realized that was probably the most honest thing he’d said all night.

Louisa stood in the study, watching as Garrett’s car zipped down the drive, until the glow of his taillights disappeared past the front gate.

She sighed and rested her forehead against the cool glass. This had been, by far, one of the best nights of her life. Kissing Garrett had been … magical. Even if she had been the one to make the first move. Later, when he had kissed her goodbye, it was so sweet and tender she nearly melted into a puddle on the oriental rug.

He was definitely the one.

“He’s using you.”

Louisa whipped around to find Anne leaning in the study doorway, arms folded across her chest, her typical grumpy self. Typical for the last week or so, anyway.

“Why would you think that?” she asked.

“Because that’s what men like him do. They use women like us. They feed us lies, then toss us aside like trash.”

Louisa knew that, like herself, Anne hadn’t had the best luck with men, but that reasoning was harsh, even for her. “Are you okay, Anne?”

“He’s going to hurt you.”

Louisa shook her head. “Garrett is different.”

“How do you know that?”

“How do you know that he isn’t?”

Anne sighed and shook her head, as though she pitied her poor, naive sister. Louisa would have been upset, but she knew that attacking her was Anne’s way of working through her own anger. Not that she didn’t get a little tired of being her sister’s punching bag.

“I can take care of myself,” Louisa told her.

Anne shrugged, as though she didn’t care one way or another. Which she must, or she wouldn’t have said anything in the first place. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Did something happen to you?” Louisa asked, and she could swear she saw a flicker of pain before Anne carefully smothered it with a look of annoyance.

“You think that just because I don’t like Garrett, something is wrong with me?”

“You can talk to me, Anne. I want to help.”

“You’re the one who needs help if you think that man really has feelings for you.” With one last pathetic shake of her head, Anne turned and left. Her sister was obviously hurting, and Louisa felt bad about it, but she wished Anne would stop trying to drag Louisa down with her. Why couldn’t Anne just be happy for her for once?

Maybe she was jealous. Maybe Anne wanted Garrett for herself. Or maybe, like Louisa, she wanted someone to love her, to see her for who she really was. Even though Anne could be a real pain in the neck sometimes, deep down there was a sweetness about her, a tender side, and she was loyal to the death to the ones that she loved.

“You’ll meet someone, too,” Louisa whispered to the empty doorway, knowing with all her heart that it was true. Even though Anne was a little pessimistic and occasionally cranky, there was a man out there who would appreciate all her gifts and overlook her faults. He would love her for who she was, just the way Garrett would love Louisa.

Worried for her sister, she started out the door, intending to collect her Shih Tzu, Muffin—who had spent the afternoon with his groomer and behaviorist—and tell him all about her day, but she ran into Chris in the foyer.

“Poker game over already?” she asked. Typically they played well past eleven. Louisa didn’t play cards, unless you counted War and Solitaire, but occasionally she liked to sit and watch them.

“Melissa was tired and Liv wanted to get back to the lab. Some new research project she’s working on. I assume your evening was a success.”

She smiled and nodded.

“Have you got a minute?”

“Actually, I was just on my way to get Muffin.”

His expression darkened. “I suppose you heard what your little mutt did to the pillows on the library sofa. There was stuffing everywhere.”

She cringed. “Yes. Sorry.”

“The day before that it was Aaron’s shoes.”

“I know. I offered to replace them.”

“He’s a menace.”

“He just wants attention.”

“What he’s going to get is a nice doghouse in the gardens.”

Even if she thought Chris was serious, that wouldn’t work either because every time Muffin was let outside unsupervised he made a run for it.

“I’ll keep a closer eye on him,” she promised. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Let’s go in the study.”

She couldn’t tell if this would be a good talk, or a bad talk. But she had the sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with Garrett.

Louisa sat on the sofa while Chris fixed himself a drink. In preparation for his role as future King, Chris had always been the most responsible and aggressive sibling. He honored the responsibility, oftentimes to his own personal detriment. Still it surprised and impressed Louisa, since having to take their father’s place while he was ill, how effortlessly Chris had slipped into his place and taken over his responsibilities. She had no doubt that if, God forbid, their father didn’t recover, Chris would make a fine king.

But she had every confidence that their father would make a full recovery. He simply had to.

“I want you to know,” Chris said, his back to her, “I didn’t appreciate you waiting until this morning to announce that you had invited Garrett to dinner.”

So he’d asked her here to scold her. Wonderful. “Can you really blame me? Had I said anything earlier I never would have heard the end of it.”

He turned to her, took a swallow of his drink, then said, “You could have been putting the family in danger.”

She rolled her eyes. “You say that like you haven’t known Garrett for years. If he was dangerous, I’m sure we’d have heard about it a long time ago.”

“You still have to follow the rules. We’ve all had to make sacrifices, Louisa.”

As if she didn’t know that. If they didn’t treat her like a child, she would have been more forthcoming. This was more her siblings’ fault than hers. They drove her to it. Sometimes she just got tired of being the obedient princess.

“I’m assuming that he must have checked out,” she guessed, “or he never would have made it through the front gate.”

“Yes, he did.”

“I knew he would, and I didn’t need a team of security operatives to tell me.”

He shook his head, as though she was a hopeless cause. He crossed the room and sat on the sofa beside her. “I had a talk with Father about this earlier today, regarding his wishes concerning the matter.”

Louisa held her breath. If the King disapproved of a man she wanted to date, she would be forbidden. Those were the rules. “And?”

“He told me to use my discretion.”

Louisa wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. At least she knew their father would be fair. Would Chris forbid her to see Garrett to teach her a lesson?

This was probably something she should have considered when she waited until the last second before telling Chris about Garrett’s visit.

“And what did you decide?” she asked, flashing him the most wide-eyed and hopeful look she could manage.

He regarded her sternly for a moment, then a grin tipped up the corner of his mouth. “It’s clear that you have feelings for the man. Of course you can see him.”

She let out an excited squeal and threw her arms around Chris, hugging him so hard that his drink nearly sloshed onto the sofa. “Thank you! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” he said with a chuckle. “However …”

Oh boy, here came the conditions. She sat back and braced herself.

“No more stunts like you pulled this morning.”

She shook her head. “Never. I promise. I swear, it won’t happen again.”

“In addition, you will not leave the premises without a minimum of two bodyguards, and I need at least two days’ advance notice before you visit any sort of public place or attend a function. No exceptions, or I will not hesitate to place you on indefinite house arrest.”

Inconvenient, but definitely doable. “No problem.”

“And please, let’s try not to give the press anything to salivate over. With Father’s health, the last thing the family needs is more gossip and rumors.”

She refrained from rolling her eyes. Now he was being silly. “Honestly, Chris, have I ever been one to create a scandal?”

“It’s not necessarily you I’m concerned about.”

“You don’t have to worry about Garrett, either. He’s a complete gentleman. So much so that when it came to kissing, I had to make the first move.”

Chris cringed. “I really didn’t need to know that. I’m counting on you to be … diplomatic.”

Diplomatic? He made it sound as though she and Garrett were forming a business partnership. Besides, she knew for a fact that Chris hadn’t been very “diplomatic” when he was first seeing Melissa. They couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other.

What he was really saying was that he expected her to live up to her reputation as the innocent and pure princess. Eventually her family was going to have to accept that she was a woman, not a child.

If only he knew what went on in her head, how curious she was about sex and eager to experiment. Most modern women didn’t make it to twenty-seven with their virginity intact. He would probably drop in a dead faint if he knew about all of the reading she had done online about sex. When it came to intimacy, boy, was she ready. It was all she’d been able to think about since she had danced with Garrett on Saturday night.

“You don’t have to worry about me or Garrett,” she assured him and left it at that, and Chris looked relieved to have the subject closed.

“I want you to know that I like Garrett,” he added.

“But …?”

“No buts. I think you and he would be a good match.”

She eyed him skeptically. “Even though he isn’t royal?”

“Liv isn’t a royal,” he reminded her.

True. Liv was an orphan from the States who didn’t even know who her parents were, but there was always that double standard. A prince could get away with marrying a commoner. A princess on the other hand was held to a higher standard. She imagined that Garrett’s money was probably his only saving grace. She would never be allowed to date a man of modest means.

“Given his background,” Chris continued, “Garrett would be the perfect choice to take over Aaron’s position now that he’s going back to school. If you marry him, that is.”

Oh, she would. The fact that he was already making plans to include Garrett in the family business was more than she could have hoped for. “I think that’s a wonderful idea!”

“However,” he added sternly, “I don’t want you to think this means you should rush into anything.”

How could she rush fate? Either it was or it wasn’t meant to be. Time was irrelevant. Besides, Chris was one to talk. He’d asked Melissa to marry him after only two weeks. Of course, at the time, he’d expected nothing more than an arranged, loveless marriage. Boy, did he get more than he’d bargained for. But destiny was like that. And there was no doubt that he and Melissa were meant for one another.

Just like Louisa and Garrett.

She pictured them a year from now, married and blissfully happy, hopefully with their first baby on the way. Or maybe even born already. She would very much like to conceive on her honeymoon. What could be a more special way to celebrate the union of their souls than to create a new life? Some women dreamed of a career, and others liked to travel. Some spent their lives donating their time to charitable causes. All Louisa had ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. Archaic as some believed it to be, it was her ultimate dream. A man to cherish her, children to depend on her. Who could ask for more?

“By the way,” Chris said. “Melissa and I are planning to go sailing Sunday.”

“Is she allowed to do that so close to her due date?”

“As long as she takes it easy and stays off her feet. We figure we should get in as much time on the water before the babies come. You’re welcome to join us. Garrett, too, if you’d like to invite him.”

Her parents were leaving for England on Sunday morning for testing on her father’s heart pump, and Anne was going with them. If Chris and Melissa were going to be gone, too, that would mean that she and Garrett could have some time alone, without her entire family watching over their shoulders. She wondered if there was any way she could get rid of Aaron and Liv, as well.

“Maybe next time,” she told Chris. “I already have plans.”

At least, she would have plans, just as soon as she called Garrett and invited him over.

Five

Garrett had just walked in the door of his town house when his cell phone rang. He looked at the display and saw that it was Louisa’s personal line. When they had exchanged numbers earlier, he hadn’t expected a call quite this soon. In fact, he’d just assumed he would be the one calling her.

It shouldn’t have surprised him that she wouldn’t let him make the next move. This so-called shy and innocent Princess seemed to have everyone snowed, because as far as he could tell, she didn’t have a shy bone in her body. As for innocence, she certainly didn’t act like an inexperienced virgin.

When he answered, she asked, “I’m not bothering you, am I?”

“Of course not.” He dropped his keys and wallet on the kitchen counter then shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the back of a chair. “I just walked in the door.”

“I wanted to tell you again what a wonderful time I had this evening.”

“I did, too.” Things were progressing even more quickly than he’d hoped.

“I was wondering what you’re doing Sunday afternoon. I thought you might like to come over.”

He chuckled. “I suppose it’s too much to expect that I might get to ask you on a date.”

“Am I being too forward?” she asked, sounding worried.

“No, not at all. I like a woman who knows what she wants.”

“I just wanted to catch you before you made other plans.”

“If I’d made other plans, I would cancel them. And in answer to your question, I would very much like to come over. If it’s all right with your family, that is.”

“Of course it is. They love you.”

That must have meant he’d passed the initiation. Not that he ever doubted he would. It was just nice to know that he’d scaled the first major obstacle.

“I thought maybe we could have a picnic,” Louisa suggested. “Out on the bluff, overlooking the ocean.”

“Just the two of us?”

“My parents and Anne will be leaving for England, and Chris and Melissa are going sailing. Liv will probably be tied up in the lab and lately Aaron has been down there assisting her. And as long as I stay on the grounds I don’t need security at my heels, so we’ll be alone.”

He didn’t miss the suggestive lilt in her tone, and wondered what she expected they might be doing, other than picnicking that is.

“Muffin will be there, too, of course,” she added.

“Muffin?”

“My dog. You would have met him today, but he was with the groomer and then his behaviorist. He’s a Shih Tzu.”

So, Muffin was one of those small yappy dogs that Garrett found overwhelmingly annoying. He preferred real dogs, like the shepherds and border collies they kept on the farm. Intelligent dogs with a brain larger than a walnut.

“He can be a bit belligerent at times,” Louisa said, “but he’s very sweet. I know you’ll love him.”

“I’m sure I will,” he lied, and reminded himself again that this relationship would require making adjustments. It was just one more issue he could address after they were married.

The front bell rang and Garrett frowned. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Who would make a social call this late?

“Was that your door?” Louisa asked.

“Yes, but I’m not expecting anyone.”

“Could it be a lady friend perhaps?” Her tone was light, but he could hear an undercurrent of concern.

“The only woman in my life is you, Your Highness,” he assured her, and could feel her smile into the phone.

The bell rang again. Whoever it was, they were bloody well impatient.

“I won’t keep you,” she said.

“What time would you like me there Sunday?”

“Let’s say 11:00 a.m. We can make a day of it.”

“Sounds perfect,” he said, even though he’d never really been the picnicking type. He would much rather take her out to eat—preferably at the finest restaurant in town—but the heightened security was going to make dating a challenge.

They said their goodbyes and by the time Garrett made it to the door, the bell rang a third time. “I’m coming,” he grumbled under his breath. He pulled the door open, repressing a groan when he saw who was standing there.

“What, you’re not happy to see your baby brother?”

Not at all, in fact, but he did his best not to look too exasperated. “Last I heard you were working a cattle ranch in Scotland.”

Ian shrugged and said, “Got bored. Besides, I have something big in the works. A brilliant plan.”

In other words, he was let go and had formulated some new get-rich-quick scheme. One that, like all his other brilliant plans, would undoubtedly crash and burn.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Ian asked with forced cheer, but the rumpled clothes, long hair and the week’s worth of beard stubble said this was anything but a friendly social call.