Free The Secret Prince by Kathryn Jensen

I’ve caused a stir,” Dan said sincerely. “I didn’t mean to.”
    Jacob gave him a brief nod of acknowledgment. “What’s done is done.” He started to turn away. “Let’s adjourn to my office. My PR officer is meeting us there, and we can discuss a statement to placate the press.”
    Dan looked down at his sweaty T-shirt and brought the bottom edge up to wipe the sweat from his face. “I’d like to change first, if that’s all right.”
    â€œCertainly,” Jacob said.
    Dan started toward the stairs leading to the upper chambers, but Jacob called after him. “I should mention that I’ve conferred with my advisors, and I can offer you a monetary settlement for publicly renouncing the throne. Since lying to the public is something you disdain, this will enable you still to claim my father as yours, but will get you off the hook since you say you don’t want anything to do with the von Austerandsand Elbia. You can sign the agreement today if you like.”
    Dan froze, mid step. He turned and looked at Elly, whose face had turned ashen, as if she knew what his reaction would be before he did. She blinked once at him, urging caution and restraint, he supposed.
    But he wasn’t in the mood for tiptoeing around issues or for doing something just because it was a convenient solution for his brother. He rounded slowly to face Jacob across the expanse of pale gray marble, his hand gripping the carved banister.
    â€œListen,” he said slowly, “I may be just a city kid who fought his way to making good in a small way. I may not live in a castle or have a title or be able to live in your grand manner, Jacob. But I am proud of who I am. Not because I have a king’s blood in me. Just because I’m me.”
    Jacob’s eyes darkened to blue-black chips of obsidian, but he said nothing.
    â€œI resent you treating me like an intruder and trying to buy me off.” Dan paused long enough to let his last words sink in and make sure Jacob was listening to the rest. “I won’t sign your document or accept a penny from you.”
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    Less than an hour later, Dan stood at a casement window, his mood still dark as he looked over the formal gardens behind the castle. Paths looped through dormant winter shrubs as dusk fell. Nearly hidden by tall evergreen hedges was a glass-walled gazebo. Still within the castle walls but barely visible from where he stood was the helicopter pad where they’d landed earlier that day.
    He pinched the bridge of his nose between thumband forefinger, trying to erase the growing tension he felt in a tight band across his forehead. He was worried about a lot of things, including the incident in Elly’s room. The memory of their embrace still erupted in little simmering pools of heat in unexpected places within his body.
    But now he thought again about Madge. She seemed to blame herself for the current complications in his life. Although they’d initially arrived in the royal city without fanfare or any sign of reporters, it had been only a very short while before the press figured out where their quarry was hiding. Since then his mother had appeared more and more nervous.
    Dan didn’t understand all this fuss over a love affair that had ended decades ago, but Elly assured him the public’s interest would be high enough to spur on greedy tabloid stringers and photo jocks. For now, though, the castle seemed a peaceful enough place. He stared down at the rose bushes, dormant for the winter, and imagined how beautiful they would be in full bloom, come the spring. And the snow-covered mountains hovering behind a purplish haze in the distance…how magnificent this land and this immense structure that surrounded him were! It was hard to believe a castle had been his father’s home, which made the place Dan’s own ancestral home. That would take some getting used to.
    â€œWhat are you