[Montacroix Royal Family Series 02] - The Prince & the Showgirl Read Online Free

idea that she even had a father, let alone such a famous one, she found herself appearing on the television show with Ariel and Raven, Sonny's other daughters. Billed as the Little Darlings, they had appeared on the show for five memorable years.
    And then, he was gone. Without warning, his heart had simply stopped when he was onstage at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, singing the second verse of his latest megahit, "Here Comes Trouble Again."
    As stricken as she had been by her father's sudden death, Sabrina had managed to find some comfort in the fact that he'd died doing what he'd always loved best.
    Hand-lettered signs of support and grief and encouragement had been held up as the limousine left the cemetery. Alone for the first time since they'd received the news, Dixie had taken the opportunity to drop her bombshell: Sonny had died owing a virtual fortune in ten years' worth of back taxes to the IRS.
    Apparently the accountant had filled out all the forms, and Dixie and Sonny had believed they always paid right on time. But according to the hateful little man from the IRS, Sonny's manager had embezzled the money for himself, using it to pay off his gambling debts. This was the man the girls had always called "Uncle Dan," the same man who'd been their father's best friend since Sonny's early days in Nashville, when he'd spent every waking hour trudging up and down Music Row, trying to push his tapes on anyone who'd listen.
    Naturally Sonny's daughters offered to help. Raven expressed disappointment that all she could get her hands on was a few thousand. A successful producer of music videos, she'd recently tied up her funds buying a studio in downtown Atlanta.
    Ariel, who lived comfortably in the flats of Beverly Hills, had offered to sell her racing-green Jaguar convertible. Like her famous father, she tended to spend more money than she saved, so, despite the generous salary she received from the television soap opera, her bank account was nothing to brag about.
    Sabrina also lacked savings. Divorced from one of Broadway's brightest and most successful playwrights, she had learned the hard way what happened when a starry-eyed prospective bride failed to read her prenuptial agreement.
    When her six-year marriage had broken up last spring, her former husband had ended up with almost everything, and Sabrina had left the marriage the same way she'd come into it—nearly broke with only the clothes on her back. But a great deal wiser.
    Although the recession had hit Broadway, along with the rest of the country, she managed to find steady work in commercials and public service announcements, with an occasional short-run so far off Broadway as to be in other states. And while it definitely wasn't Shakespeare, it paid the rent. Most of the time.
    After thanking her daughters for their generosity, Dixie had tearfully gone on to say that their proffered help wouldn't be enough. Because according to her new accountant, after she sold the thoroughbred horses that had been Sonny's pride and joy, and the farm, and all Sonny's cars and paintings, the IRS debt came to a staggering three million dollars. Plus change.
    Raven, the businesswoman in the group, had immediately advised Dixie to declare bankruptcy.
    But Dixie had just as quickly rejected that suggestion, refusing to tarnish her husband's reputation.
    But they weren't to worry, she had insisted with renewed strength. Because she had a plan.
    Silence had settled over the funeral-home limo like a shroud. Dixie finally broke it, professing that there was only one answer: the girls should record an album. And go on tour to promote it.
    As stunned as Sabrina had been by that idea—after all, it had been years since she and her sisters had sung together publicly—Sabrina had known that it was not her own livelihood Dixie had been worried about. It was Sonny's reputation. Something Dixie had guarded over the years with all the ferocity of a mother bear. And so, by the time they