Princess Ever After (Royal Wedding Series) by Rachel Hauck Read Free Book Online

sky, Reggie sat down, pressing her hand over her heart, shivering. Call her crazy, but for a split second, she could’ve sworn Gram’s gentle blue eyes were peering down at her.

FIVE

    T anner’s departure for America was derailed by a media firestorm.
    An informant had alerted every print and online paper of the newfound princess.
    The details were exaggerated and, in some places, downright wrong. But nonetheless, the stories exploded all over the media.
    The Princess Has Been Found! So Long, Brighton Rule!
    An Independent Hessenberg Cannot Stand. We’ll Fail.
    Old Laws to Kick In Once We Break from the Entail. We’ll Go Backwards 100 Years!
    The Liberty Press , the supposed newspaper of record, ran an irreverent political cartoon with a ghostlike image of old Prince Francis giving King Nathaniel II and the royal family a swift kick with a jackboot, including the king’s newly arrived fiancée, Susanna.
    So Tanner spent his departure morning putting out fires and holding an impromptu press conference. All of which delayed his mission.
    “What do we know of the new princess?”
    “Is she a loon?”
    “What if she’s undesirable? Unappealing? Unattractive?”
    “How can we trust a foreigner to lead Hessenberg?”
    The questions were bold, unrefined, from the gut. Tanner did his best to field the questions with gentle answers, but in truth, he wondered much of the same himself.
    He’d spent the evening before going over the details of the princess’s dossier. She seemed nice. Her driver’s license photo was pleasant enough. But more than that . . .
    He did not know. It seemed she worked at a motor car garage but she was college educated. How did he decipher those facts?
    While he dealt with the press, Louis collected intel from the Wettin Manor staff and suspected the media leak came from the governor’s office.
    What are you up to, Seamus?
    The man had not been happy with the king selecting Tanner to meet with the princess. But surely he’d not stoop so low as to undermine the security of the mission.
    No matter, he mustn’t dwell on it. None of yesterday’s shenanigans altered the king’s edict. “Bring back the princess.”
    Tanner had landed in Florida in the early hours of Friday morning and checked into his hotel, collecting himself, trying to adjust to America’s time zone.
    Along about evening, he decided to drive out to Miss Beswick’s garage.
    Stepping out of his hotel into what seemed like a cloud fallen to earth—how did they endure this humidity?—he motored west, according to the rental car’s GPS. The investigator’s report indicated Miss Beswick spent Friday evenings at the shop where she worked.
    Easing through downtown and weekend traffic, he passed the university, Florida State, where flags and banners waved from windows and walls bearing the likeness of a Native American.
    It was American football season, and Tanner felt the exuberance of the city in his chest. He recognized the sensation from his nearly two decades in the rugby leagues.
    His emotional memory stirred, lifting its head. He wondered . . . might he pop in on the game? Maybe Miss Beswick—
    An icy chill froze his musings. Hours on his own in America, and already he was mentally straying off course.
    Stay on task! Focus.
    This was how he failed so miserably before, how he ruined his life’s calling. Ten years later, after being given a second chance, being shown grace, he found he was no more mature than he was at twenty-two.
    Look, something shiny. And off he’d go.
    What had the last ten years been about if not disciplining his emotions and thoughts, his body to be in control?
    To be worthy .
    Tanner cut the SUV through the dark swags descending on the city. Along the curb, the streetlamps began to glow with a low burn.
    He practiced his introduction again. On the flight over, he’d written it out a dozen times and read it aloud while pacing the customized fuselage, envisioning himself repeating the words to Miss