DETROIT —  Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick approved a secret agreement to keep confidential the intimate text messages between him and his former chief of staff in an $8.4 million whistle-blower settlement, newspapers reported Thursday.

The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News said their lawyers' notes show that Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty signed a confidential agreement that would conceal the text messages as part of the city's settlement of the lawsuit.

Under the agreement, Michael Stefani, lawyer for two former police officers in last summer's lawsuit, would surrender all original records and copies of those records from the city's communications provider, SkyTel, the newspapers said.

Those messages show that Kilpatrick and Beatty had an intimate physical relationship in 2002-03, something they both denied under oath during the whistle-blower lawsuit.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. has ordered the release of a number of documents involving the lawsuit settlement and a deposition of Stefani by the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

The city on Thursday appealed the order to release some of the documents and the deposition to the state appeals court.

Sharon McPhail, the mayor's legal adviser, denied Thursday that there was a secret deal.

"In fact, no secret deals exist or have ever existed," she said.

The Free Press reported that its information about the documents was based on notes taken by its attorney, Herschel Fink, during Stefani's deposition. The News said its information came from its lawyer, James Stewart.

The whistle-blower lawsuit was filed by former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and former Officer Harold Nelthrope, who alleged they were fired or forced to resign for investigating claims that Kilpatrick used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

The Detroit City Council approved the $8.4 million payout to those two and a third former officer who also had sued the city.

The newspapers sued the city to determine whether there was a secret settlement. Lawyers for the papers deposed Stefani about the case last week.

A prosecutor is investigating whether Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury while testifying in the whistle-blower suit. The City Council launched a separate investigation.

Beatty announced her resignation Jan. 28. Two days later, Kilpatrick made a televised speech apologizing to family and constituents but avoiding direct mention of the allegations.

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