Page 51 of A Valiant Prince

“I’ll be up at the main house,” he says.

I eye him suspiciously. “Won’t that be…suspicious?” I ask.

He chuckles. “No, I was actually going to stay with my brother, but his house is being renovated and he’s at his in-laws’ while the repairs are finished. So, staying at the main house seems perfectly normal for me. I do this a few times a year,” he notes.

“Aren’t you worried about your family?” Anna asks.

He shrugs. “All our family’s homes have very good security systems. I’m not concerned,” he says. But I see a look in his eye, and I wonder if that’s completely true.

“We should go shopping,” Anna announces. Everyone stops and stares at her.

“For food,” she elaborates.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Auggie says. “Food would be good.”

“I’m in,” Chris says.

“I could use a little fresh air,” Mia says meekly.

And with that Pete piles us in a giant SUV, even by U.S. standards, and we head down to a small coastal town. Jack has given Pete directions on where to go shopping, and we all head into a store. It only takes us thirty minutes to get all the food, and then we head back up to the house, but not before I talk them into walking down by the water for a few minutes.

Auggie spots a pub, and we all grab a pint of beer before piling into the car for the ride back to Jack’s house.

It’s when we arrive that I learn that Anna and her brothers are skilled in the culinary arts. They start making steaks, appetizers, some sort of potato side dish that looks like it’s an obscene amount of calories but worth every bite, and a dessert that makes my mouth water. Mia and I sit at the island and watch them as though they are our own private cooking show.

“Well, if this isn’t amazing, I’m going to be very disappointed,” I say as I sip another beer. It’s odd sitting here with my new friends and Anna. I feel like we are on vacation, yet I know we are not.

We eat at the dining room table. Jack joins us and regales us with stories of growing up on the property. He’s shown us a few secret passages in this house but assures us that there are many more up at the main house which we can walk up to after dinner.

“You guys do know that you’ll be cooking every night, right?” I say to Anna and her brothers as I finish my dinner.

Anna laughs. “We all actually love cooking. We just don’t get to do it very often, so you don’t have to ask twice. Tessa and Helga trained us well in the art of cooking,” she says as she sips a glass of wine.

“Anna?” Jack says as he sets his glass down. “I’m guessing I can’t keep you from perusing the web, but can I ask that you use the secured Wi-Fi at the cottage,” he says. “I just don’t want to skew the breadcrumbs we’ve left.”

She nods. “Is the cottage far?” she asks.

He shakes his head. “Nope, less than a mile walk, or a two-minute drive,” he says. “I can show you in the morning if you like.”

She nods. “Yes, please, that’d be great,” she says. After dinner and cleanup, which apparently is a novelty to the royals as they don’t have to do this at home, we head up to the manor. It’s a pleasant walk down the tree-lined drive.

I’m taken aback by the size of the manor house when the trees clear. It’s at least two or three hundred years old and made of stone. And it is immense. It strikes me as I look up at it that Jack’s upbringing probably wasn’t that different than Anna’s. Her fascination with him now makes more sense in my mind. She already knows this about him. She sees herself in him.

Jack unlocks the door, and we are greeted by a woman. Jack says a few whispered words to her, and she nods and bids us good evening before making herself scarce. He shows us around the main rooms of the manor.

“It’s a beautiful home,” Anna says as we look at the library.

“Thank you,” Jack replies. “We’re still trying to figure out what to do with the manor after we put the majority of the land in a preservation trust.”

Chris starts brainstorming immediately. I grin. He’s a businessman through and through. “You could make it a bed-and-breakfast?” he suggests. “Or, you could rent it out for parties and weddings. There’s a number of options.”

“Yes, Oliver, my brother, and I have considered those things. I suppose it’ll come to us, eventually,” he says.

As we walk toward the door, he knocks on a smaller door and opens it. It leads to an office area. There are about five men in the room, and they all jump to attention. I can tell they are former military immediately.

“These are five of the security officers on the property,” he says and introduces us to each one. “I’ll have Pete bring you by the cottage in the morning to meet the others.”

We finish our greetings to the men and start back toward the entryway of the manor. It dawns on me that I may never feel at home around such…opulence.

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