Fallen Crown - Bellerive Royals 4 [SAMPLE]

1. Brice

Series reading order: Fake Crown (available in KU), Scarred Crown (pre-order on Amazon), Heavy Crown (pre-order on Amazon), Fallen Crown (this one - pre-order on Amazon). For maximum enjoyment and zero spoilers, read in order. Interested in more books in the series? Follow me. Add the books to a public reading list for others to discover.

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Women love me. It's some sort of chemical reaction caused by my smile, my toned, tattooed physique, or my princely status. I've never questioned a woman's innate attraction; I've accepted it as my lot in life. They love me, and I love all of them.

But judging by Maren Tucker's glare across the conference table, I still won't be counting her among my fans anytime soon.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, we're not putting together this charity adventure race team for a lark. We want to raise money, and we want to have the efforts of the team taken seriously." My title oozes false sincerity. If we were alone, she wouldn't bother to pretend. Her tongue is acidic, and I've been on the receiving end of her poison more than once. One of a thousand reasons I'd never want her tongue caressing mine. She'd ram it down my throat and laugh as I choked.

"With all due respect, Ms. Tucker, if you want publicity for this team, and if you want the producers of the streaming service to spotlight Bellerive, there is no one better to be on it than me." As I finish speaking, I scan the conference room to make eye contact with the other board members from the Alzheimer's Society who are witnessing this exchange.

"That's a valid point," Tim Eggleston says. "Being able to lobby the island's wealthy for donations, suggesting they get behind Prince Brice, especially given the family connection to the disease, would be very beneficial. We can't discount that. His high profile balances the lack of experience."

The reminder of my father's diagnosis causes me to flinch slightly. While my father's situation is well-known, I'm hopeful my older brother, Alex's, coronation as King of Bellerive and his appointment to the island's Advisory Council will move along laws to assist my father and give him greater choices about the quality of his life. I've seen what this disease does to people, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, let alone my father. A slow decline until he bares almost no resemblance to the father who raised me.

"We need a team member who will take this seriously," Maren says.

"We'll consider the offer, Prince Brice. It's generous of you to donate your time to training and fundraising for our organization and the race." Tim surveys the room and takes a deep breath. "We're in danger of going over our allocation for tonight's board meeting, so we'll re-visit this at the next one. We have about a month before training needs to commence."

Maren opens her mouth to protest, but the other members seem to be done with the conversation. She must really hate me to argue my involvement in front of her colleagues. Especially since I'm going to win. Only a fool would turn down the publicity and built-in fundraising. Not to mention the elevated profile our team would have on the documentary-style program funded by the biggest streaming service on the planet. As the director of the Bellerive's Alzheimer's Society, Tim is not an idiot. Everyone likes money and including me on the race team is a license to print it. 

The board members rise from their seats, and eight of them file out. Maren is the last one to leave her spot at the table. Outside the door, my security detail awaits. If she's got something to say to me she'd prefer no one else hears, her window is short.