Free Princess Ever After (Royal Wedding Series) by Rachel Hauck Page B

creaked and moaned. Yes, her sentiments exactly.
    “If you’ll just—”
    “Look, Mr. Burkhardt—Tanner—this is who I am.” She spread her arms, turning a small circle. “A Tallahassee lassie, born and bred. I love my job, don’t you see? I love my life. Save a certain Mark Harper who’s expecting too much, which I do intend to address, I want for nothing. I have my freedom, my friends and family, my faith.”
    She’d just made her case for a firm refusal. “I can’t.” She turned back for the car. “And I won’t. This is crazy. I can’t even comprehend what you are telling me. And frankly, I don’t want to comprehend it.”
    “Will you take this? Read it all carefully?” Tanner approached with the attaché case, his subtle scent cleansing the air between them. “Take this. Review the papers. You’ll see you are the true and only heir.” When she didn’t reach for the case, he took another step toward her. “Please. There’s something in there you’ll want to read.”
    “Like what?”
    “Just read . . .” He offered the case once more. “I’m staying at the Duval downtown. My card is in the side pocket with my mobile number. Call. Please. If you have any questions.”
    “Breathe, sweet pea,” Daddy called from the porch. “Take the papers. Read them. Think on it. Pray. Can’t hurt.”
    Reggie stepped around Tanner toward the porch. “Daddy, whose side are you on? Do you want me to move away? Far away?” She turned to Tanner. “How many miles to Hessenberg?”
    “Four thousand two hundred and twelve miles.”
    “Four thou—holy cow. Daddy, do you want me to move four thousand miles away?”
    “You know I don’t.” He took one step down, then two. “But I don’t want you to say no to this princess thing without considering the evidence, weighing your options.”
    “You mean like you wanted me to go to FSU for accounting because it was a nice, safe career?”
    “Was I wrong?”
    “But I hated it.” She squinted, shielding her eyes with her hand, trying to see Daddy through the backlight of the porch lamps.
    “I think you came to hate it eventually. You were restless. Still are, I imagine. But that CPA job was the highway to do what you wanted, Reg. You couldn’t have started that shop without the money you saved reconciling other folks’ accounts. Same might be the case here. You might find you like being a princess.”
    She groaned. “Like restoring cars is a highway to being a princess?”
    “Maybe.”
    Ha! “Daddy, my life is not a Disney movie.” She waved him off, turning back to the car. If she didn’t know him to be a teetotaler, she’d swear he’d been nipping at the cooking sherry.
    “You liked playing princess with Gram,” he called. Relentless, her daddy. More of a dog with a bone than Mr. Burkhardt.
    “I was six. And she made the best construction paper tiaras.”
    “Miss Beswick—”
    “Reggie. For crying out loud, call me Reggie.” She’d hit the wall. Tired, frustrated, and confused. There was nowhere to go but straight to irritated.
    “Take this.” He reached for her hand and settled the case on her palm. “You’ll want to read it, I promise.”
    “Fine.” She grabbed it to her chest, her mind firing thoughts out of rhythm with the beat of her heart. Read the documents. No! Read them. No! “I’ll read the papers, but I’m pretty sure I’ll never be getting on an airplane to Hessenberg with you.”
    “That’s my girl,” Daddy said. “Way to keep an open mind.”
    “Miss Beswick . . . Regina,” Tanner said with a slight bow, “thank you. Hessenberg thanks you.”
    She shifted her stance. “What happens if I say no?”
    “Simple,” he said, locking his hands behind his back.“Hessenberg, the nation of your gram’s birth, disappears from the face of the earth. Removed from the world’s maps. A nation with history dating back to ancient Rome will cease to be.”
    The last straw had been laid, and Reggie felt she might crumble