The Prince She Never Forgot

If only the man had just stopped there, but he hadn’t. It was the mention of family that had hit a nerve where her guilt lurked. Where did he get off implying that Jasmine didn’t care about them? The intensity of his attack had caught her on the raw, creating a negative reaction in her that went volatile.

In retaliation, she’d hurtled little insults back at him like darts thrown at balloons, hoping to damage his ego, but she doubted he’d felt them. He was most likely in his early thirties. Being rock-hard lean and fit, she imagined he could outswim a shark. Deep down, she knew he was the kind of man who could have any woman he wanted and didn’t need to hang around some lonely outpost waiting for an opportunity.

For the next hour, she concentrated on her task, trying to shake off the encounter. Once finished, she went back down to the dock and ate her lunch while she waited in the dinghy for the others. The speedboat had long since gone. She wondered what the man had been doing there in the first place, but why she cared was quite beyond her when she was still smarting from their confrontation.

Pretty soon, the first dinghy filled up and took off. A few minutes later, the others divers came running. She learned that one of the guys had cut his lower leg open. Someone had wrapped it in a towel, but he needed medical help. They left for the mainland, where she’d parked her rental car at the boating concession.

Jasmine looked around, but didn’t see the man with whom she’d traded insults. She was relieved he hadn’t been there to watch them come ashore with the injured teen. She could just imagine his “I told you so” smirk as the guy was lifted into the ambulance.

There was something wrong for her still to be thinking about him. Determined to put the incident behind her, she got in her car and drove the short distance to Nicosia. From the airport there she would catch her afternoon flight back to France.

Later in the day, when the plane began its descent to the Nice airport, it dawned her that the stranger had spoken with a distinct, cultured Niçois accent. A small shiver raced through her body to think he might actually live here, but the chances of bumping into him again were astronomical. How absurd to imagine such a thing happening.

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 the

m, 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.