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

question, my father wasn’t at all happy with me. He expected me to take over the farm when he retired. I wanted to do something more with my life.”

      “Which you certainly have,” Chris said, and maybe Garrett was imagining things, but he almost sounded impressed.

      “If there’s one thing I’ve learned,” Garrett said, “it’s that you can’t live your life to please other people.” He glanced over at Louisa, catching her eye for emphasis. “You have to follow your heart.”

      “I believe that, too,” Olivia said. She reached over and placed a hand on her husband’s arm. “Aaron is starting back to school in the fall. Premed.”

      “I’d heard that,” Garrett said. He made it his business to know everything about his stiffest competition. Aaron’s leaving the family business would create the convenient opening he required to insinuate himself inside.

      “He’s going to be a brilliant doctor,” Olivia said, beaming with pride. She was a plain woman, very young and unassuming, but pretty when she smiled … and quite the brilliant scientist from what he understood. The previous autumn, an unidentifiable blight potentially threatened all the crops on the island. The effects would have been devastating on the export trade, the main source of income for the country, and Olivia had been hired by the royal family to find an eco-friendly cure.

      “I’ve heard that your own brilliance saved the livelihood of every landowner in the country,” Garrett told her. “Myself included.”

      Olivia grinned shyly and blushed. It would seem that he had won over at least three-quarters of the females at the table. Anne seemed a lost cause at this point. Chris and Aaron, he wasn’t sure about, but it looked promising. Now it was time for a change of subject, and he’d done his research.

      “I understand you spent quite a lot of time in the States,” Garrett said to Melissa.

      “I was born on Morgan Isle but raised in New Orleans,” she told him.

      “A lovely city,” he commented.

      “You’ve been there?”

      He nodded. “Several times in fact. For business. Terrible what happened during Katrina.”

      “It was. I started a foundation to fund the rehabilitation of the city.”

      “I had no idea. I’d love to make a donation.”

      Melissa smiled. “That would be lovely, thank you.”

      “I’ll have a check sent round next week.”

      “What other places have you visited?” Louisa asked him, and they launched into a conversation about traveling abroad, and everyone’s favorite vacation spot. Garrett was pleasantly surprised to find that, with the exception of Anne, they were a friendly bunch, and not nearly as uptight as he’d expected. The tone of the conversation was not unlike those of his youth, when his family gathered for supper. In fact, by the time dessert was served, Garrett realized that he was actually enjoying himself.

      Louisa didn’t say much, but instead spent most of her time gazing up at him, seemingly mesmerized by every word that passed his lips.

      After dinner, Chris pushed back from the table and asked Garrett, “Up for a friendly game of poker? We play every Friday evening.”

      Before he could answer, Louisa said, “Garrett and I are taking a walk in the garden.” Which he took as his clue to decline their offer, when the truth was he would much rather play cards than take a leisurely stroll, but securing his position with Louisa took precedence for now.

      “Maybe some other time,” he told Chris.

      “Of course.” Chris turned to Louisa, his expression serious, and said, “Not too far, and I want you inside before sundown.”

      “I know,” Louisa replied, sounding exasperated, and Garrett didn’t blame her. He knew her family kept a tight grip on the reins, but telling a woman of twenty-seven that she couldn’t stay out past dark bordered on the absurd.

      Louisa slipped her arm through his and smiled up at him. “Ready?”

      He thanked her family for dinner, then let Louisa lead him through the castle and out onto a patio that opened up into acres of lush flower gardens. The evening was a warm one, but a cool breeze blew in from the bluff.

      She kept a firm grip on his arm as they started down the path, as though she feared the instant they were in the clear he might run for his life.

      “I’m really sorry about my family,” she said, looking apologetic. “As you probably noticed, they treat me like a child.”

      “They are quite … protective.”

      “It’s humiliating. They think I’m naive.”

      Maybe they weren’t so far off the mark, he thought wryly. She was unsophisticated enough to fall for his charms without question or doubt. Not that he would ever mistreat her, or compromise her honor. She would never suffer as his wife.

      “I’m sure they mean well,” he told her. “I imagine it would be much worse if they didn’t care at all.”

      “I guess you’re right,” she conceded. “But since the threats started they’ve been a lot worse than usual. They think everyone I meet is a spy or something.”

      “I had seen something on the news about the security being breached in your father’s hospital suite in London. I understand no one was able to identify the suspect from the surveillance footage.”

      “He calls himself the Gingerbread Man.”

      “Seriously?”

      “Strange, I know. It started last summer with e-mail. He hacked into our computer system and sent threatening messages to us from our own accounts. They were all twisted versions of nursery rhymes.”

      “Nursery rhymes?” That didn’t sound very threatening to him.

      “Mine said, ‘I love you, a bushel and a peck. A bushel and a peck, and a noose around your neck. With a noose around your neck, you will drop into a heap. You’ll drop into a heap and forever you will sleep.’” She looked up at him with a wry smile and said, “I memorized it.”

      On second thought, that was rather ominous. “What were the others?”

      “I don’t remember them word for word, but the common theme was burning alive.”

      Ouch. No wonder the family was being so cautious.

      “At first we thought it was just an elaborate prank, until he managed to slip through castle security and get on the grounds. They think he scaled the bluff.”

      That explained the seemingly excessive security the night of the ball. “Was anyone harmed?”

      “No, but he left a note. It said, ‘Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man.’ That’s how we learned his name. We haven’t heard anything from him lately, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped. Things will be quiet for a while, then just when we think that he’s given up, he’ll leave another note somewhere or send an untraceable e-mail. He sent a gift basket full of rotten fruit for New Year’s, then he sent flowers for Melissa and Chris congratulating them on the pregnancy. Weeks before the official announcement was made. He even knew that they were having triplets.”

      “Sounds like someone on the inside.”

      “We thought so, too, but everyone checked out.”

      At least her family’s protectiveness made a bit more sense now. He just hoped it didn’t interfere with his plans. It could be difficult courting a woman who wasn’t allowed to leave her home.

      “Enough about my family drama,” she said, waving the subject away like a pesky insect. “What is your family like?”

      “Simple,”