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

“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?”