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“You’re very persuasive,” she said with a shrug. “That’s an important quality to have, Prince Kashif. There is one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“You stay away from Arella. She trusts too easily, and I don’t want her heart broken when you leave. Do you understand me?”
“She’s kind of hard to ignore,” he said wryly.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you. I’m serious about this. Arella is everything to me, and if I think for one second that she’ll be hurt, it’ll be over for us.”
He stared at her, and she feared that he wouldn’t agree. Finally, he nodded, and she bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt. On one hand, she’d managed it so that Kashif spent as little time as possible with Arella, but on the other, she’d opened herself up to him.
Again.
She couldn’t help but feel like she’d made a deal with the devil himself.
“Do you own the forest?” he asked suddenly.
The change in conversation threw her, and she blinked. “Uh, yeah. It’s part of Mistywood. When my great grandfather bought the land to build the farm, he thought the forest was too beautiful to cut down.”
“He’s right,” Kashif said as he looked around. “It’s gorgeous, and I think you can use it to your advantage.”
Kristy looked around and frowned. “If you mean dog sledding, I don’t think so. The snow is melting too fast, and the path gets really narrow up ahead. The dogs wouldn’t be able to navigate a sled through some of the openings. It would require cutting down a few trees, and not only can I not afford that, but I wouldn’t want to do it anyway.”
“I’m not talking about dog sledding. I’m talking about hiking, camping, and exploring. I’m not sure what it looks like up ahead, but you could easily offer horse rides through this part. Take families out on picnics. Allow them to reconnect to nature.”
“I don’t know,” she said hesitantly. “There’s a lot more liability involved with dragging people out into the wilderness, plus I’d have to test the horses. If they spooked easily, someone could get hurt. Campers and hikers could get lost, and I’m not equipped to handle situations like that.”
“So you’ll get equipped,” he said with a small smile. “You have a head for business. You’re already thinking ahead, and you’ll plan accordingly. Have some faith in yourself, and take a chance.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” she mumbled. “You have people who can clean up your messes and pay for your every whim. I hate to break it to you, but that’s not how things work in the real world. If one wrong thing happened, I could lose Mistywood. This is my responsibility, and it’s my home.”
Kashif touched her shoulders bringing her to a halt. Brushing her hair from her face, he cupped her chin. “But you might lose it anyway if you don’t take a chance. Wouldn’t you rather say that you tried than to look back with regret?”
She pulled away from his touch. She couldn’t help herself. The way that he was looking at her so tenderly with his dark, gorgeous eyes was almost her undoing. “I’ll think about it.” Her voice was more breathy than she would have liked to admit. “Now pay attention to the ground. I need some twigs to gather for the wreath and some holly and berries to decorate it with. If you’re getting too cold, you can head back in.”
“Me?” he scoffed. “Too cold?”
“You do live in the desert,” she said dryly, but the dramatic indignation on his face was enough to make her chuckle. She knew that even if he was freezing, he’d never admit it. He wasn’t the kind of man to show weakness.
They walked along for several more minutes without speaking. It was an odd but comfortable silence. Kristy had the strangest feeling that he wanted to say more to her, but he respected her wishes, and that in itself spoke volumes.
Whenever he wasn’t looking, she turned her head and stole a glance. He really was too perfect for words. He had thick, dark lashes that framed his beautiful sapphire-blue eyes, and his smooth, dark skin was a stark contrast to the snow that continued to cling to the branches and the ground.
No matter how attractive she found him, it still didn’t change the circumstances of their birth. His expensive designer jacket was a stark reminder of how much influence, power, and money was behind him.
Two hundred thousand dollars to toss around here and there to chase off clingy women was probably nothing to the royal family.
Finally straightening, she stretched her aching muscles and smiled, pleased, at how full her basket was. “We might be able to make two wreaths.”
“Is that water?” he asked with a frown.
She stilled and listened to the sound of the crashing water. Glancing around, she saw that they’d wandered farther than she thought. Closing her eyes, she could picture the small waterfall.
“There’s a small river that runs through here. It cascades over a small grouping of rocks and forms Mistywood Lake. How did you not know that?”
“I guess I was too busy exploring other things last time I was here,” he said with a meaningful smile. “We must be close. Let’s go check it out.”
Grasping her hand, he took off in a jog and pulled Kristy behind him. She thought he was ridiculous, but she didn’t stop him. When they finally made it through the clearing, he stopped short. Mistywood Lake was a pretty grandiose name for what was mostly a pond, and the waterfall wasn’t more than eight feet high. Still, it was beautiful, and she always loved coming here.
