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“And here I was wondering whether I would need to send in the troops.” He grinned.
“It is a little hard getting dressed for something you don’t know about,” I replied defensively, wondering how many times he’d heard me curse through the door—very ladylike.
“And yet you did so perfectly,” he said, outstretching his hand to mine. “Part of me was thinking of what I would say if you came out in a cocktail dress or something.”
That was option one, actually. “So, where we are going is not cocktail dress appropriate?” I probed, but he didn’t answer and led me down the stairs.
“You really are not good at surprises, are you?”
“Nope, terrible. They make me anxious.” I hopped—yes, hopped—like a bunny in front of him because he was obviously affecting my mental state.
He cupped my face. “I guess you’ll just have to be anxious for a little while longer.”
I made a face, and he made one back as we reached the bottom lobby. It was sunny outside for once, and parked outside the lobby was Wolfgang. He grinned as if it were his birthday.
“Wolfgang, good morning.”
“Happy birthday, ma’am. I hope you—”
“Ahem.” Gale coughed, glaring at him.
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he said quickly.
“Sure you weren’t,” Gale muttered before ushering me into the car.
I did my best not to laugh. He was putting a lot of effort into this morning, which was hilarious and sweet. I had no idea what he planned, but the fact that he was trying so hard, no matter what happened, today was already one of the most memorable birthdays I would ever have.
“Where is Iskandar?” I asked, putting on my seat belt.
Again, he gave me a look that screamed, just let me surprise you!
“I wasn’t prying. I was just asking,” I said quickly.
“Uh-huh.” He nodded.
Rolling my eyes, I looked away from him and out the window, trying to figure out where we were going by landmarks. However, the farther we went down the highway, the clearer it became that we were not going to be staying in the city. After almost an hour, the gravel switched to a dirt road, and we pulled up someplace called Hummingbird Forest. But that wasn’t the most surprising part. It was Iskandar standing there feeding carrots to two large dark-brown horses.
“Are you just going to stare, or are you going to ride with me?”
My head whipped back to Gale, but he was already out and coming around to open my door.
“So, you are using magical prince powers?” I giggled, taking his hand as I came out of the car.
“Something like that.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it before winking.
“I haven’t gone horseback riding in years,” I said gleefully as we approached the horses and Iskandar. For the first time, he looked genuinely relaxed. “My father got me a horse just like this once. I named him Maple because of a white birthmark he had on his forehead that looked like a maple leaf.” It brought back so many memories I couldn’t help but smile as I stood alongside the horse.
“Father got me a horse as well, but I named him Ass,” Gale said, placing the helmet on my head carefully.
“Ass?” I asked as I adjusted my ponytail to make sure it fit.
He grinned and nodded. “I did it solely so I could yell to the stable hand, ‘Please bring me Ass,’ Or tell my mother, ‘I’m going to ride Ass today.’”
I laughed. “Oh, why do I have feeling your father was not happy about that?”
His blue-green eyes gleamed mischievously. “That was the point.”
“So, what you are telling me is that you’ve always been a handful?” I shook my head, grabbing onto the saddle to help myself up.
