1 Chapter 1

"You have got to be kidding me!" Riona Barnes screeched into the phone, startling her dogs. Her assistant was breaking to her the news of her being a bargaining chip that her parents were using to dig their company out of a hole.

"I wish I were," Claire replied, "I just got the low down from Terence, your brother's assistant. He was eavesdropping on the interrogation and subsequent solution hunt in the office. Seems like they are going to have to sell the company to a some mogul and you are part of the deal."

"What is this guy's name?" Ri asked as she reached for her laptop to do a search on him. There was no way her parents were going to foist her off to some old man with wrinkles and six ex-wives.

"Blake Fletcher" Claire supplied, "I hear he is quite wealthy and came in just at the right time"

"That is what I am afraid of" Ri muttered. She didn't trust things that just happened "at the right time". It was more likely they were orchestrated at the right time. She skilfully typed in the names and got hits almost immediately. She maneuvered to the images and promptly gasped out loud.

"That is what I said," Claire commented. Alright, so he wasn't old and wrinkled and it was probable that he didn't have six ex-wives, more like sixty girlfriends and mistresses in the wings; He has a good head of hair, lips that made lick yours, that were smirking smugly at the camera and eyes that look like they devoured souls. This didn't stop Ri from hating him on sight though, more so because he was gorgeous. The arrogant look in his eyes wasn't helping any.

"Just because he is easy on the eyes doesn't mean he will not make a horrible husband. It is always the pretty ones." Ri said, returning to the page with information about him. He was older than her by a few years, owned a whole load of businesses, in fact he was a billionaire with a flair. Ri sighed. These are the kinds of people her parents wanted to be around. They must be thrilled to be getting such a person in their family albeit in an unconventional way. There had to be a way to make him change his mind about marrying her.

"Babe," Claire begun, "I know you are jaded because of the loss of your fiancé," she said softly, "I know it has been so long since you dated, let alone spoke to a man about anything other than business..."

"I Have a man I speak to about all kinds of things!" Ri Protested.

"Your Secret Admirer friend doesn't count"

"But he is a real man"

"For all we know"

Ri huffed. She had been communicating with a Secret Admirer since she finished college. Her friends thought that he was just someone catfishing her but she was sure he was real. For one, a catfish only took from you. This guy had never actually taken anything from her apart from her time. He usually bought her dinner at nice restaurants even though he wouldn't be there but he would pay.

It started when one day in college she found a note taped to her dorm door and in it was a website, a username and password plus the username of the person who left it. It took her four days to work up the courage to login and send a tentative "Hi". From that day on she gained a confidant, a friend and someone to lean on. He sent birthday gifts and quirky things to her regularly. They sent them through one P.O Box which was centrally located. There were no phone numbers or addresses exchanged, as that was part of the deal and they kept the friendship simple. Sure sometimes she wished she could meet him and all that but she had long become content with the situation.

Riona got up and started pacing, being watched by her two Dobermans. Sure, her relationship with her family was not that good, this situation being a case in point. She had worked hard to get herself as far away from them as possible without being obvious about it. She had started a business without their help or input so that she was independent of their entitlement to her time and privacy. Did that stop them? No! Here they were trying to drag her back into their cycle of snide snobbery and negativity, She was not having it, that was for sure. She had to figure out a way to get out of this unscathed and still keep their company intact so that she wouldn't have to deal with their self-righteousness.

"In other news," Claire interrupted her train of thought, "You have a meeting at you secret project in an hour so I suggest you get into your disguise and go over now."

"O, Right! Should get right on that. I will talk to you later. Might even come by the offices." Ri hang up. Thank goodness for this distraction. Doing something she enjoys more than running her business may help with the madness going on around her.