Virgin Princess, Tycoon’s Temptation / The Secret Child & The Cowboy CEO: Virgin Princess, Tycoon’s Temptation. Michelle Celmer
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it securely locked for the duration of his brother’s visit. Besides, Ian probably had a bottle or two stashed in his duffel. Given the choice between a meal and a bottle of cheap whiskey, the alcohol always won.
“Well, then, tea it is,” Ian conceded, as though he had a choice. “You just get in from work?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Came by earlier, but you weren’t here. I waited for you in the park across the road.”
It was a wonder he wasn’t arrested for loitering. The authorities in this neighborhood had no tolerance for riffraff. “I wasn’t working.”
“Got a lady friend then, do you? Anyone I know?”
Garrett nearly chuckled at the thought of Ian socializing with the royal family. “No one you know.”
The microwave beeped and Garrett pulled out the dish.
Knowing Garrett couldn’t cook worth a damn, Ian eyed the food suspiciously. “You made that?”
“Don’t worry, my housekeeper prepared it.”
“In that case, slide it this way,” Ian said, rubbing his work-roughened hands together in anticipation. Garrett watched as he shoveled a forkful into his mouth, eating right there at the kitchen counter, standing up.
“Delicious,” he mumbled through a mouthful of beef and potatoes. He followed it with a swallow of tea. He wolfed down the food with an embarrassing lack of regard for the most basic table manners. Their mum would have been horrified. They may have lived like paupers but his mum had always insisted they carry themselves with dignity.
“So,” Garrett asked, “why did you get fired this time?”
“Who says I was fired?” Ian asked indignantly.
“Please don’t insult my intelligence.”
He relented and answered, “The owner of the ranch caught me in the hay barn with his youngest daughter.”
“How young?”
“Seventeen.”
Garrett was about to say that a twenty-eight-year-old man had no business chasing a girl more than ten years his junior, but that was almost exactly the age difference between himself and Louisa. But that was different. Louisa was an adult—even if her family didn’t treat her like one. Not to mention that Garrett intended to marry her, while he was quite sure his brother was only using the young girl in question.
“Don’t give me that look of disapproval,” Ian countered. “It wasn’t my fault. She seduced me.”
Of course. Nothing was ever his fault. Someone else was always to blame for his irresponsibility. “Did you ever consider telling her no?”
“If you’d seen her, you wouldn’t have told her no, either.”
Unlike his brother, Garrett wasn’t a slave to his hormones. He had principles. He didn’t take advantage of women. Not sexually, anyway. Besides, he wasn’t taking advantage of Louisa. If she married him, she would never be denied a thing she desired. With the exception of a few children, that is.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked Ian.
“Like I said, I have something fantastic in the works. A sure thing. I just need a bit of capital to get it off the ground.”
He didn’t say it, but Garrett knew exactly what he was thinking and saved him the trouble of having to ask. “Don’t look at me. I’ve thrown away enough money on your so-called sure things.”
Ian shrugged. “Your loss.”
Garrett doubted that.
Ian finished his dinner, stopping just shy of licking the dish clean. “Delicious. Best meal I’ve had in weeks.”
“I assume you need a place to stay.”
He leaned back against the countertop and folded his arms over his chest. “There’s a very comfortable bench in the park I could sleep on.”
“You’re welcome to use the spare bedroom. For one night,” he stressed. “And I expect everything to be as you found it when you go.”
“I’ll even make the bed.”
“Well then, I’m off to bed,” Garrett said.
“Already? I thought we might catch up for a while.”
“I have an early breakfast meeting.”
Ian looked appalled. “You’re working on a Saturday?”
“Sometimes I work Sundays, as well.” A concept Ian, who worked as little as possible, would never grasp. “Help yourself to whatever you find in the icebox, and I have satellite television if you want to watch it. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning,” Ian parroted as Garrett walked from the room. He felt uncomfortable leaving his brother to his own devices, but short of staying awake all night, he didn’t have much choice.
Consequently, Garrett didn’t see Ian in the morning. When he rolled out of bed at 6:00 a.m., Ian had already left. With half the contents of the liquor cabinet and Garrett’s car.
The e-mail showed up in Louisa’s personal in-box late Saturday afternoon. At first when she saw the blank subject line she assumed it was junk mail, then she noticed the return address—G.B. Man—and her heart nearly stopped.
That couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to be him.
Not now, she thought to herself. Not when things were going so well. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst, and reluctantly double clicked to open it. The body of the e-mail read simply, Did you miss me, Princess?
No gruesome nursery rhymes or threats of violence this time, still a cold chill slithered up her spine. This was going to put everyone into a panic and security back on high alert. Which meant her chances of leaving the castle and going on a normal date with Garrett were slim to none. Why did the Gingerbread Man have to choose now to start harassing them again?
She leaned over for the phone to ring security, when she noticed the time stamp on the e-mail and realized it had actually been sent yesterday morning. Louisa didn’t check her in-box daily, but her brothers did. If they had gotten one, too, wouldn’t she have heard about it by now?
Was it possible that the Gingerbread Man had sent a message to her alone? And if so, was it a coincidence that it started at the same time she began seeing Garrett? Was he trying to complicate things?
She sat back in her chair, wondering what she should do. The e-mail hadn’t been threatening at all. Just a reminder that he was still there, which they all had assumed anyway. If he had planned to actually harm a member of the family, wouldn’t he have done it by now?
If she accidentally forgot to mention this to security, what difference would it really make?
She sat there with her finger hovering over the delete button, weighing her options. If it turned out her brothers and sister had gotten an e-mail, too, she could just tell them that she must have erased hers accidentally, assuming it was junk mail. She hated to lie, but this was her future on the line. Her relationship with Garrett might be destiny, but even destiny had its limits. Would Garrett want to court a woman who wasn’t even allowed to leave the house, and by dating her very possibly make himself a target?
It would be best, for now, if no one else knew about this.
Before she could change her mind, she stabbed the delete key, promising herself that if he contacted her again, threatening or not, she would let the family know. Until then, it would be her secret.
Six
It was after noon when Garrett’s meeting finally ended. He was in the company limo on his way to the club to play squash with Wes, when