Page 30 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

Maybe I wasn’t meant to hear it. But I did.

And I nearly melted off the horse into an unconscious puddle of delight on the floor.

Chapter Ten

ESMERALDA

“So, if Bucky is your horse, who’s horse are you riding?” I asked Kai after several quiet minutes.

Our horses walked side by side with lazy gaits as we headed through the forest surrounding the back of Chaukham Palace.

It was beautiful. So peaceful and enchanting. The sky above was bright even though it was blanketed in a layer of pale grey clouds. A few robins danced between the short evergreens and tall, leafless trees. Fallen branches were scattered among bushes and sprinkles of winter wildflowers. And it wasn’t muddy thankfully, but it was damp from the rainfall a few nights ago.

“He’s mine too,” Kai said. “I have three horses. Bucky.” He rubbed the long silky neck of the horse he was riding. “Big Guns here, and a mare, called Dahlia.”

“You named your horse Big Guns?”

His brows puckered in a wince. “No. Fay did. I lost a bet.”

“Ah.” I chuckled.

We fell quiet again, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t focus on anything but him.

I loved that we weren’t talking but it wasn’t awkward in any way. But most of all, I loved how even with the light frown on his face, somehow, he looked so peaceful as he enjoyed our surroundings.

It was beautiful. He was so beautiful.

I was completely content just watching him, but a part of me couldn’t help wanting his attention, wanting to talk to him, wanting…

A lightbulb lit up above my head.

“Want to race?” I said.

“Hmm?”

I lifted Bucky’s reins. “Do you want to have a race?”

“Here?”

I nodded. “Here until the clearing you mentioned.”

He frowned. “You don’t know your way through.”

“You said it was just straight, didn’t you? That’s fine. I’ve ridden through a forest before.”

That didn’t seem to ease his scowl. In fact, it deepened, which made me grin.

I arched a teasing brow. “Are you just pretending to be worried because you’re scared of losing?”

“No,” he grumbled instantly.

I laughed up at the sky. “Ah, the Perfect Prince is afraid of losing.”

His jaw locked, and it wasn’t threatening, but the depth of his eyes appeared to deepen by a mile. “I don’t lose, Esmeralda.”

A warm shudder tingled down my spine at the deep, dark way he said my name and settled low in my belly. I pressed my thighs close to the saddle as if clenching up would give me any control over the faint tingling. It didn’t.

I was a good crown princess. Well-behaved and polite, and I did my best not to cause any trouble. Call it an adrenaline rush or something else, but with Kai, I didn’t want to be good or well-behaved or perfect. I wanted to goad him and challenge him and tease him.

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