Taming the French Tycoon. Rebecca Winters

      For the second time today, she had to ask herself why it mattered when she had earthshaking events on her mind and little time to accomplish all that had to be done by midsummer.

      July

      When the phone rang at six-thirty a.m. Friday morning, Jasmine was awake, but she hadn’t gotten out of bed yet. To her shock, she’d been dreaming about the stranger on Yeronisos again. Visions of him had been filtering through her mind for the last two months and she was sick of it. Her fantasy of seeing him again was absolutely crazy!

      Thank heaven today was her twenty-sixth birthday, the day she and her papa had planned out in detail before his death. She could put aside the memory of this man who’d been haunting her dreams and deal with real problems. Jasmine glanced at the caller ID. Sure enough it was Robert Lambert, her grandfather’s attorney, calling right on cue.

      Jasmine clicked on. “Bonjour, Robert.”

      “Bon anniversaire to you, Jasmine. I know it’s early, but we don’t have a lot of time before the staff meeting at ten in the conference room.”

      “I’ll be ready.” She’d been getting ready for this day for a long, long time.

      “Excellent. Per your grandfather’s wishes, you will be interviewed in his laboratory for tonight’s six o’clock news. The arrangements have already been made. He wanted it announced over the air before the day was out to quiet anyone who wasn’t on board.”

      “I’m all prepared for it.”

      Not only had her grandfather hated publicity, he’d never let outsiders step foot inside his laboratory. For him to sanction a television interview in the place where he’d worked all his life indicated an intimacy between him and Jasmine the viewers couldn’t possibly misinterpret.

      “Meet me at nine-thirty to discuss one more matter with you before everyone else arrives at ten. Do you have any questions?”

      “No. At this point I want to thank you for all you’ve done and are doing to help me. I couldn’t do this without you. Papa knew that.”

      “We both miss your papa. Knowing where he is now, I’m sure he’s happy this day has come for many reasons.”

      “I agree. See you soon.”

      They both clicked off.

      It was really happening.

      The second she hung up, her phone rang again. She glanced at the caller ID. This time it was her parents. Recurring guilt stabbed at her because she was spending yet another birthday away from home. Thankfully it would be for the last time.

      After picking up, she cried, “Mom? Dad?”

      “It’s your dad, my darlin’ birthday girl. We miss you so much, we gathered the whole family together and decided to fly over to celebrate this weekend with you.”

      A soft gasp escaped. “You mean you’re here?”

      “Yes. All twelve of us. We just landed. Your mom’s helping Melissa with Cory, or she’d get on the phone. Your three-year-old nephew has a hard time sitting still. We’ll be at the house in an hour.”

      Jasmine could hardly take it in. They had no idea about the elaborate plans she and her papa had made. They didn’t know that today she would be attending a board meeting that was going to change history.

      Instead of phoning them after it was over as she’d intended, she would have to divulge the secret she and her grandfather had been planning the minute they arrived at the house. In truth, she was thrilled they’d come. She’d never needed their support more. “I—I can’t wait to see you,” she said in a tremulous voice.

      “You don’t know the half of it, Sparkles. See you in a little while.”

      “Oh, Dad—” Emotions of love and guilt made her throat swell before she heard the click. He’d called her that from the time she was a little girl. What made this so hard was the fact that she hadn’t always been home for important events.

      Since her grandparents had died, she’d been working secretly behind the scenes to develop a perfume to help save the company. Her papa had sworn her to secrecy, even from her parents.

      For the last few months, she’d felt estranged from them, which had never happened before. Her dad was particularly upset for her mother, who was missing Jasmine terribly and didn’t understand why she hadn’t been home for so long. When they’d hung up, Jasmine had felt his crushing disappointment and it had almost destroyed her.

      But now that it was her birthday, everything was going to change. Within a month she would set certain things right and then go home to her family and spend the rest of her life proving her love for them. Her silly idea of marrying a cowboy was a fantasy of course, but she was going home for good!

      After hanging up, she alerted the housekeeper that her family would be descending within the hour. Then she hurried to shower and wash her hair. To her shock, the stranger’s comment about her lack of concern for her family’s feelings unexpectedly flashed through her mind again, pressing on her awful guilt..

      It infuriated her that the memory of his off-base remarks lingered to torment her. She couldn’t believe that after two months she was still thinking about him when she had a board meeting to dress for. Jasmine had never attended one, but knew she needed to wear something conservative.

      Her new three-piece suit with the knit jacket, pencil skirt and shell in soft peach would project the right image. Not over-or underdressed. She’d wear her hair caught back at the nape and put on her small pearl earrings. This was the kind of outfit her grandmother would have worn to such a meeting with Jasmine’s papa.

      * * *

      Luc realized he needed a break from banking business and was ready for a relaxing weekend. But when he called his good friend Nic Valfort to go deep-sea fishing, he learned Nic was on a trip to the States with his new wife and wouldn’t be back for another three days.

      Somehow Luc needed to throw off this obsession over the woman on Yeronisos. Why in the hell couldn’t he get her out of his mind? He’d found himself fantasizing about her, which was ridiculous when he knew he’d never see her again.

      Somehow he had to think about something else. Being with Nic would have helped. He and Nic had met at college and had been friends ever since, like their grandfathers, who’d done business together in the past.

      Between the plane crash that had marred Luc’s life and the tragedy that had befallen Nic’s first wife, the men had suffered grief at different periods and could relate. Luc enjoyed being with him whenever they could break away.

      But since Nic’s second marriage, they hadn’t seen much of each other. His friend was ecstatically happy with his new American wife. After he got back from California, Luc would call him so they could get together.

      As for tonight, there would be a party with his family to celebrate one of his cousin’s birthdays. While he was getting ready to leave his suite, his assistant, Thomas, buzzed him. It had better be important because he was already late.

       “Oui?”

      “I just got a heads-up from one of our sources in Paris. Turn on your TV. Hurry!”

      “More terrorism?”

      “This news could be worse for us depending on the outcome.”

      A frown marred Luc’s Gallic features. He reached for the remote in his desk drawer and clicked on to the six o’clock news. He paid Thomas well to keep his ear to the ground.

      “Good evening, everyone. On this Friday, we’re coming to you from Chaine Huit in Paris, France, with breaking news that is already rocking the international perfuming community. Today, a stunning announcement came from Grasse, France, the perfume capital of the world, causing a negative fluctuation in the stock market.”

      Tension lines