Page 76 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

“About what kind of present you got me.”

“Who says I got you a present?” he teased.

He’d been doing nothing but giving me gifts since he rolled into town. There was no way he hadn’t gotten me one. So I just gave him a pointed look, which made him chuckle.

“You’re right. I did get you something. But since you told me you hate surprises, I’m trying to decide whether I should tell you what it is or wait. Technically, every gift here is a surprise.”

“Not every gift. Gracie’s opened half of them.”

“True.” He pressed his lips together. “But I think I’d prefer to see your face. A present is a loophole in the no-surprises rule.”

Whit came back and said she needed to get home to put her kids in bed, so she had some of the guests bring the cake out. It was the biggest sheet cake I had ever seen, covered in teal roses. My favorite color. I hoped the twenty-four candles wouldn’t accidentally set off the sprinkler system. Everybody sang “Happy Birthday” to me, and Rafe seemed to sing it the loudest.

“Make a wish!” Sylvia told me when they were finished, as some of the kids sang about me looking like a monkey and smelling like one too. I grinned, mentally picking out the candle I’d make my wish on. I closed my eyes.

I wish I could figure out a way to work things out with Rafe.

And save the farm. And make Aunt Sylvia better.

That was three wishes, but I was the only one who knew. I opened my eyes and blew out all the candles and everybody clapped. Aunt Sylvia had Whitney start cutting up the cake, and Amanda helped to pass it out, giving me the first piece.

I reached over to the cake and plucked out the candle I’d made my wishes on. I sucked the whipped frosting off the edge. I caught Rafe looking at me, and the hooded expression in his eyes made me cough the icing back up. I had to turn away, sticking the candle in my front pocket.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“It’s a tradition. My mom and aunt did it as girls and now I do it. I keep the candle I made a wish on so that my wish can come true.”

One side of his mouth quirked up. “So somewhere you have a box full of wish candles?”

I nodded.

“Do you think your wish will come true this year?”

His gaze fixed on my mouth. I wondered if I had frosting on me. I ran my hand across my lips, making sure. “I think it might.”

Then he smiled for real. “I think it might, too.”

I opened gifts from the people who had to leave first. There were gift cards and homemade cards and lotions and candles and a pile of candy bars big enough that I could have opened my own candy store.

“Don’t eat too much of that candy,” Whitney warned on her way out the door. “The older you get, the harder it is to lose weight because by then your body and your fat have become super good friends.”

She always made me laugh.

The families with small children started to file out, and I thanked everyone for coming. Rafe and his guards took it upon themselves to load all of my presents and cards in the back of his car.

But there was no gift from him. I hadn’t opened every card, because people had generally lost interest in watching me open presents and were talking to one another. Maybe his card was in there somewhere? I didn’t get much of a chance to look, because they were too efficient at getting everything packed up.

Rafe told me we needed to go. He still needed to give me his present. I felt bad about leaving my own party, but I had to admit, I was curious. What did he want to give me that he couldn’t give me in front of everyone else?

When we got back to the farmhouse, he held up a blindfold.

“What do you think you’re going to do with that?”

“Trust me,” he said as he put it on me.

“Okay, but if this ends up someplace weird, you’re in trouble.”

He helped me out of the car, and as soon as I stumbled over some snow, he swooped me up into his arms. I put my arms around him, enjoying not only that he was strong enough to carry someone as tall as me and that it didn’t seem to faze him, but also getting to be close to him like this. I laid my head on his shoulder. As birthday gifts went, so far it was a pretty good one.

---