Page 22 of A Wise Prince

“Uh, sure,” she says, swallowing the last of the cookie. “Those cookies are amazing, Tessa!”

Tessa winks at her. “Secret’s in the spices.”

“Come on,” I say as I grab her hand and pull her out of the kitchen. “Do you have any pants?”

She looks at me like I’m crazy. “I’m American.”

“Soooo, that’s a yes?”

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, that is most definitely a yes.”

“Go change and meet me down here in fifteen minutes,” I say to her.

“OK.” She heads off upstairs and I watch her as she goes. Her ass…oh the things I could do to that ass. I shake my head and go to change.

Kathryn

I came prepared. I throw on my riding clothes and head downstairs.

“Wow, proper clothes and everything,” he says with a grin.

I shrug. “I’ve been known to ride a horse or two.”

Auggie laughs as he places his hand on the small of my back and leads me out the main doors and down a side path. I lean my head up toward the sun as we walk. The air is fresh and has the slightest hint of salt, which is likely because the sea isn’t far from here.

“It’s beautiful here,” I say quietly, meaning it.

“It is. It’s one of my favorite places in the world,” he admits. I look up at him and he smiles at me, and not a condescending, playboy prince smile, but a real one. He’s gorgeous. I can see why women throw themselves at him.

As we walk in amicable silence, my mind wanders back to something my little sister said before I left. She pulled me into her room and sat me down.

“You need to go live life. Do you know how lucky you are? You basically have a free pass to go off the radar for the next eighteen months! Go see the world. Sleep with hot European men. Live!”

I grin remembering that part about hot European men. Maybe…Auggie could be an experience for me, a story I can tell my grandkids someday. That one time I bagged a prince when I was studying in Europe. OK, not a grandkids type of story, but it would be fun to check that off a list…not that I have that on my list.

“What are you thinking about?” Auggie asks as we approach what looks like stables.

I turn up toward him. He seems very tall today. I mean, he seemed tall before, but he seems taller now. I crane my neck up and squint in the sunlight. “Just thinking about my time over here.”

“Do you like it? Europe, I mean,” he asks as we walk into the stables and he summons a young woman to bring us horses.

“I do. Very much.”

We’re interrupted when the young woman brings over two horses. Auggie pats both of them.

“This is one of my horses, Sirius. And this is Patsy,” he says as he motions to each horse. Patsy is slightly smaller and lighter in color, where Sirius is large and black with white on his nose.

“Hi, Patsy,” I say softly as I stroke her neck. She looks at me and leans against my hand.

“I think she likes you.”

The woman puts out a stool for me to use to get up on Patsy. Auggie stands by me, his hands at the ready to assist.

“You good?” he asks. I nod. And he effortlessly mounts his horse. If there ever was a swoon-worthy prince moment, I think it would be now. He looks regal on his horse, like a prince out of a fairy tale…a dark, sexy fairy tale.

I follow him out toward a trail that leads us into a forested area. Auggie points out the different trees and a few small outbuildings as we ride along. Eventually, we get to a field on the top of a hill. The views are…breathtaking.

“Wow!” I whisper as I pull up next to him, stopping Patsy so I can get a better look.

---