THE BILLIONAIRE'S SOFT TOUCH

CHAPTER ONE

I told you, since you insisted on on sending me to the backwoods of Wyoming, I'm taking some time off. I'll be out of reach or ten days, Dad. Starting now." May dropped her luggage on the bed in her hotel room while she talked. "It's Thursday, so don't plan on hearing from me until next Sunday. That's when I'll turn my phone back on."

"You're going into this project completely undercover? No one is going to know you're a Jagger?"

She scoffed. "Exactly. I want to be name free. And, just to remind you, you're the one who forced me into being on this project." Resentment coursed through her, and she thought of where she really wanted to be. Her fingers itched for a knife to cut beautiful vegetables, and her nose longed for the smell of fresh garlic.

"Sweetheart," her father said hesitantly, "is this attitude because of my feelings about cooking school?"

May could imagine him staring out of his New York skyline office, wrinkling his nose at thoughts of her in a kitchen, cooking. Her father was in charge of Jagger Energy Enterprises, a conglomeration of companies that dealt in all types of energy. He viewed his company as the most important thing on the planet. That company was the very reason she was on this little field trip to Casper, Wyoming.

May squelched down her urge to fight with him. She would have ten days away from arguing with her father about her dream. "It's called culinary school, Dad. And let's not talk about your feelings right now. I know your feelings on that." She couldn't stop without one more comment. "And let me remind you: it's not like I need your approval, Dad. I am twenty-five and capable of making my own decisions."

Silence on the other end of the line. "You're my right-hand man," her father said quietly.

"Woman," she corrected him again.

"Pfft. I know that." She could practically see him rolling his eyes in long-suffering patience. "You know I'm not a chauvinist."

"That's exactly how you sound, Dad."

He sighed, again. "I want to keep my daughter at the head of my company. Tell me how that's chauvinistic."

Not wanting to point out that it wasn't really chauvinism-more controlling-ism-she opted for a different argument. "You shouldn't underestimate the guys either. I have five brothers that could all do my job."

"No. I need you," he said in a clipped, decided manner. "You have a sharp mind, a head for business. Look, who negotiated the Harrington deal last month? You. Without you, we wouldn't have gotten that five-hundred-million-dollar deal."

"Yeah, the rest of us are just a bunch of idiots," her brother Sam called out from the background.

Ma sucked in a breath. She hated when her father didn't tell her he was on speaker and that there were others in the room. "Dad, who else is there?"

"We're all here, Ma," Sam stated, and she heard annoyance in his voice. Sam worked so hard to gain his father's approval.

Ma had five younger brothers: Sam, Mark, Daniel, James, and Cohen. They were each a little more than a year apart, and all were employees of Jagger-some of them earned their salaries, and others were still working their way up in the company.

The rule for the Jaggers was college first, then the company. They could opt out, of course, but their father made it too profitable to join the family business. He was controlling, and Ma had been the first child, so she was in the deepest. Recently he'd promoted her to Vice President of Business Operations. While she could admit she was good at business and even enjoyed negotiating the deals, she didn't love it. As of late, she'd decided to go for the things she did love-cooking up culinary delights. It might sound trite to her father, but she didn't care. She just wished she really had the guts to quit the company and walk away. Ten days, she thought, of the sweet freedom of mental space.

"You fall in love with a mountain man yet?" Mark asked. Mark was the snarky brother.

She was grateful Mark had changed the topic. "Ha. Ha. You know love isn't in the cards for me." It'd been over a year, but she'd had a messy breakup with a guy she thought she would marry.

Her father chuckled. "Our girl isn't meant for a mountain man; she needs a husband who is a power player."

Testiness coursed through her. Here was another topic her father thought he could control. "I don't need a husband."

"I bet she'll be there for a week and never want to come back to the city and start riding horses or something," Daniel added with another round of laughter.

"A cowboy," Cohen joined in. "She's going to marry a cowboy with a big cowboy hat." She could hear them all laughing and imagined them slapping hands.

"Right," she said flatly. She had learned a long time ago that the best way to shut them up was to ignore them.

"We will miss you, Ma," her father said. "Don't forget to check out Charm Ranch. We want to make sure it's the property we need to acquire."

"I will. But remember, Dad, I won't be talking about it until next Sunday, got it? Don't try to contact me. Give me this time! I'll talk to you next Sunday."

"Love you, sis. And be careful." This was James, the brother to whom she was the closest. He was more into the things she liked. He composed music, and they hung out even outside of family gatherings.

"I will."

"Don't get taken or anything." Sam cursed. "We should have chipped her."

Ma bristled. She knew he meant it.

"We should have," Mark agreed. "It's a crazy world."

"No, you shouldn't have chipped me," she said, scoffing. Sam was always paranoid. "I'm not a dog, and I choose what I do with my life, so don't even try to contact me. My phone is turning off. Locator turned off. I'm off grid."

"I know a guy we could fly out there to do it," Daniel chimed in. "He could keep tabs on her."

"Great idea," Sam agreed.

They still weren't kidding. Ma growled, "You'd better not, or you'll pay. Love you all. Goodbye."

"Wait!" her father called out. "May, you make sure to take your pepper spray with you if you don't have your phone."

"Okay, okay." Despite herself, she felt a surge of warmth fill her. Even though her dad and brothers annoyed her to no end, she loved them so much. "Goodbye again. And . . . I love you all. And yes, Daddy, that includes you!"

They laughed as she pressed END on the call. She put the phone down and then turned it off, all the way off. She would make good on her promise to disconnect this week.

Putting it down on the dresser, she abruptly didn't know what to do. The thought brought a rush of excitement-she wouldn't be chained to her phone all week, wouldn't be pestered by its interruptions. Head space. Yes, that's what she'd been yearning for.

With a sigh, she turned and let herself fall onto the hotel's king-sized bed, the pillows fluffing around her. She longed for good food, too. Extr

aordinary food. She wondered what good restaurants there were in Casper, Wyoming. It wasn't New York, but it had to have something amazing, right?

She closed her eyes, deciding she'd take a nap first. After that, she'd take a taxi out to the Charm property and go for a hike. Might as well get the work part of her trip out of the way. Then it would be time to completely relax.

The sunrise almost made up for the fact that Ross had to get up at the crack of dawn every morning to get a jump on feeding the animals and moving sprinkler pipes before he met at the high school for drama camp this week.

Being a high school acting teacher was a good gig, and he wouldn't deny that it worked with his love of ranching and farming. He didn't have a huge farm; basically, he just raised feed for the cattle. Too bad he hadn't realized how hard it would be to make ends meet some years, even with the combined income of teaching and ranching.