The Prince's Royal Dilemma. Brenda Harlen

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СКАЧАТЬ on this man. Along with the realization came a stab of pain that struck deep into her heart.

      “You can pick up your severance pay from the finance office on your way out,” he said.

      The anger was stronger than the hurt now, and strong enough to override the reason that had held her temper in check. “Is that supposed to make everything okay? Do you really think monetary compensation would make me want to abandon the children?”

      When he opened his mouth to speak, she shook her head. “Oh, that’s right—what I want is irrelevant.”

      A muscle in his jaw tightened, but he only said, “That will be all, Miss Brennan.”

      She made her way to the door, brokenhearted and defeated by the knowledge that there was nothing she could do now. On the other hand, she had nothing left to lose. She paused with her hand on the knob and turned back to him.

      “No, that’s not all,” she said. “You say you’re doing this because it’s best for the children, but how could you possibly know? Do you think that spending a few hours at the dinner table with them on special occasions has made you an expert on what they want or need?”

      He deliberately kept his attention focused on the papers on his desk, as if she was already gone. But Lara wouldn’t be dismissed so easily.

      “Did you know that Christian struggles with algebra and hates scalloped potatoes? Did you know that Lexi’s favorite color is orange and that she dreams of being a dancer?”

      He glanced up, his eyes hard and cold, but said nothing.

      “Did you know that Damon hasn’t slept through the night since he heard about the explosion on the yacht?”

      There, finally, just the slightest flicker of something, though she couldn’t have guessed whether it was surprise or distress or annoyance. And when he spoke, it was only to say, “Are you quite finished now?”

      She shook her head. It was too late to hope that he would reconsider—the prince regent wouldn’t let his decisions be questioned, never mind changed—but, for the sake of the children, she needed him to understand. “They need more than a watchful eye and instruction on their royal responsibilities—they need to know that they’re loved.”

      His jaw hardened. “You are dismissed, Miss Brennan.”

      The tears that she’d tried so valiantly to hold back, tears of frustration and anger and hurt, spilled onto her cheeks, but she held her head high. “And you are an arrogant, pompous ass.”

      Chapter Two

      “You really called him that?” Tanis’s grin was as wide as her eyes.

      “I really did.” Lara sniffled as she nodded.

      She’d hardly stopped crying since she’d driven through the gates of the palace, away from the children she’d grown to love as if they were her own. The children to whom she hadn’t even said goodbye.

      Prince Rowan hadn’t refused to let her see them, so she couldn’t blame him for that. No, that responsibility was entirely her own, because she’d known she would never be able to face them without falling apart and because she didn’t know how to explain to them that she was leaving—at least not without revealing Rowan’s part in causing her departure. As angry as she might be with His Highness, he was the children’s legal guardian and she had no right—nor did she want—to interfere with that. But, oh, how her heart ached.

      Lara figured that when a person was feeling battered and bruised, she should go home. Unfortunately, home was nearly a thousand miles away, so she’d asked the palace chauffeur to take her to Tan’s house instead.

      Tanis had returned to Tesoro del Mar two years after Lara had settled on the island, partly to avoid her mother’s attempts to marry her off but mostly to be closer to her best friend. An art history graduate and struggling artist, she worked full-time at a local café to pay the rent and part-time at the Port Augustine Art Gallery to buy her canvases and paints and—she kept hoping—make some professional connections. In light of her busy schedule, Lara was lucky to have caught Tan at home—and grateful.

      “I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.” Her friend brought a bottle of merlot and a couple of glasses to the table.

      Lara knew that even if she could explain her vehement outburst, her behavior was still inexcusable. “I was just so hurt and angry.”

      “And understandably so.” Tanis poured the wine. “You’ve devoted four years to that family, and he tosses you out on your butt because of a sexy photo in the paper.”

      She winced. “I don’t even want to think about that picture. I still don’t understand how it could have been taken. It was a private beach—and Lexi and Damon and Marcus were there, too.”

      “Telephoto lens,” her friend said matter-of-factly. “Then some creative zooming and cropping and instead of a picture of the royal nanny spending a day at the beach with the kids, the photographer has a front-page sex kitten.”

      “Thank you so much for your support.”

      Tan just grinned.

      Lara sipped her wine. “Do you think he can have me deported for what I said to him?”

      “He’s the prince regent—he could probably have you deported for jaywalking, but why would he bother?”

      “Good point.”

      “You know,” Tanis said, bringing a platter of assorted sweets to the table, “you should consider the possibility that His Royal Arrogance did you a favor.”

      “How’s that?” she asked miserably.

      “Because as long as you were working and living at the palace, you were never going to get over your infatuation with him.”

      Lara selected a macademia nut brownie and bit into it. “Which is the same problem you have with your work at the art gallery.”

      “Now at least you’re free to do what you want when you want,” her friend continued, ignoring the reference to her own life. “Maybe even go out on a date every once in a while.”

      “You make it sound like I was locked up in the palace tower for the past four years.”

      “You might as well have been.”

      “I’ve been on dates,” Lara said, just a little defensively.

      “Have you ever gone out with the same guy more than twice?”

      “What does that have to do with anything?”

      “No,” Tanis answered her own question. “Because you mentally compare everyone to Rowan, and what normal guy could even hope to compete with a prince?”

      She couldn’t deny it was true, even if the comparisons had mostly been subconscious, so she said nothing.

      “You’re twenty-five years old,” her friend continued. “Way too young to be thinking about marriage, in my opinion, but СКАЧАТЬ