Читать книгу Tall, Dark & Royal - Leanne Banks - Страница 9

Merry Christmas. You’re the new ruler of Altaria, his mother might as well have said.

The snow fell outside the window of Daniel Connelly’s Chicago high-rise condominium as he tried to make sense of his mother’s announcement. Not every man in America had a mother who was a former princess. Although she’d always been Mom to Daniel, and she’d given up her title thirty-five years ago when she’d married his father, Emma Rosemere Connelly had never lost the regal poise drilled into her by years spent as Princess of Altaria. Even now, faced with the news that her father and brother had been killed in a boating accident, she held herself together as she sat beside her husband on the brown leather couch.

“You’re going to have to repeat that, Mom,” Daniel said, sinking into his favorite chair.

His mother took his hands in hers and leaned toward him intently. Her cold fingers and the glint of pain in her blue eyes betrayed her emotions. She gave a sad smile. “I’ve told you many stories about Altaria. You’ve even visited a couple of times.”

Daniel nodded, his mind filling with vague childhood memories. “I remember Altaria as a beautiful island off the coast of Italy with a great beach,” he said. “But how in the world can I be its new ruler?”

“Altarian law stipulates that only male descendants can assume the throne. My father and brother are dead,” she said, and squeezed his hands in a moment of telltale grief. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw his father squeeze his mother’s shoulders in a gesture of support. Grant Connelly had made his fortune in textiles, but his backbone was made of steel. His mother took a quick breath.

“My brother had only one daughter, Catherine. He had no male children.”

Daniel thought about some of the gossip he’d heard about his uncle, Prince Marc, over the years. “I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but are you sure Uncle Marc didn’t have any other children? He really seemed to take that playboy-prince role to heart.”

His father made a sound between a cough and chuckle.

His mother frowned. “Daniel,” she said, her tone just a shade sharper. “Marc may have had his flaws, but he would never turn his back on his own child. You are the heir to the throne of Altaria.”

Daniel’s head reeled. In all his thirty-four years, he’d never imagined being a ruler of a small kingdom. Chicago-born and-bred, he’d always assumed he would spend his life in America. He glanced at his father, a man who had taken the family textile company and turned it into a Fortune 500 corporation. His father had always possessed a passion for the family business, an unrelenting zeal to make it grow.

Daniel had not.

He had succeeded in competitive sports in college, and he had succeeded as Vice President of Marketing at Connelly Corporation, but he’d always had the sense that something was missing, that he wanted something deeper, more. Could this possibly be it?

King? Lord help him.

He looked at his parents and shook his head. “King?”

His father nodded and leaned forward. “You’ve got what it takes to lead a country if that’s what you think you should do. It’s your choice.”

His mother squeezed his hand again. She looked at him with a mixture of pride and concern in her eyes. “Consider it carefully. My father had such dreams for Altaria. When he founded the Rosemere Institute to research cancer treatment, he not only provided a beautiful memorial to my mother, he also brought Altaria into the scientific age. Ruling will be a heavy responsibility, and once you start down this road, your life will be changed forever.”