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They drove to town and finished Taryn’s errands first. There wasn’t much she needed to get. Declan didn’t think there would be.
“That didn’t take long.” Declan laughed and rolled his eyes. One of the royal staff could have knocked the errands out in half an hour.
“I’m a cheap date,” she told him. “You can probably tell I really just wanted out of the palace for a spell.”
“That’s quite a coincidence,” Declan answered.
“Why is that a coincidence, babe?”
“There’s a handful of places I have been wanting to show you.”
“Hmmm. Ihavebeen wanting a tour.” Taryn said mischievously.
“I know Autumhart is as cute as a button. The kind of kingdom you read about in fairy tales. But so is Noblegrace, for whom you are now the most beautiful queen.”
When Taryn spoke, her voice was slightly breathless.
“I want you to show me everything you love about Noblegrace. I want to love it the way you love it. And for the record, I have been enchanted with just about everything I have seen of Noblegrace so far.”
Taryn was a big jokester. He often wondered if she did it to cover the feelings of insecurity she had about not being able to shift.
Whatever her reasons, she very rarely said anything that didn’t have the undertone of a joke to it.
Now, however, Declan knew she was being completely and utterly sincere with him.
If your heart gets any bigger, it’ll burst.
Declan nodded wordlessly and took Taryn on a tour of the kingdom.
Their first stop was a darling lighthouse overlooking large, white, awe-inspiring cliffs. A small shifter lived there who made jewelry. The short shifter, who was also slightly bad-tempered, gave them a tour of his jeweler’s bench. He showed Taryn, who was delightedly curious, how all his tools worked.
Then he gifted Taryn a pair of dragonfly bracelets that had actually fit perfectly.
Their second stop was a confectioner’s cottage on the outskirts of the village. There, Declan purchased Taryn a couple pounds of sea salt-infused dark chocolate. The owner gave them both a cone of ice cream while he wrapped her chocolate in paper and tied the bundle with a red ribbon.
“I could live on this ice cream,” she told him.
The salty breeze blew brisk and fresh, and Declan enjoyed the way the tiny gusts of breeze tossed Taryn’s hair. When the sun graced her face, he could see freckles, and these were clearly shy freckles.
“I could do a lot of damage to this ice cream,” Declan answered. “The name of the flavor was a bit long.”
“The flavor is called Bourbon-bacon-vanilla,” she answered him.
“Yes. This is an evil flavor. I am not going to take any back to the palace.”
“Why, because you will eat it all?” she asked with a chuckle. “You’d have to get past me first because I could eat a barrel of this.”
“No, love, because it will melt. The reason we stopped here on the outskirts of the city is because there is one more place I want you to see here. Then I am taking you to the kingdom beyond the city.”
“This is turning into quite a date night,” she told him. “Let’s turn our marriage into an endless train of date nights.”
He nodded in agreement with a big smile. The next stop turned out to be her favorite.
“This is a conservatory,” Taryn exclaimed.
“Absolutely. Not as big as what we have at the palace, but it is just as good. Although it is a little different,” he told her. “Let’s go inside and scope out what they have, what we like, and steal some of their ideas.”
“You’re doing this for me,” she said incredulously. “Botanicals are not exactly your bag, big boy. You brought us here to support me and my passions.”
