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“Do you love it?” Kiera clapped her hands together.
“I do, Princess Kiera. I absolutely do.” Macey was certain this was the spot she’d seen in her dreams when she’d been a child, stuck in a dingy apartment and hiding from her mom’s latest boyfriend on the top shelf of her closet behind musty clothes.
She walked slowly around, breathing in the fresh air, the scents of flowers and soil, the beauty of nature inside and out. As she got closer to the windows and the exterior patios, she gasped. The view of mountains, lakes, the valley, the church, the little town, it had been awe-inspiring to drive through, but seeing it from this lofty perch was insane. Kiera was quiet and let her savor the view.
“Breathtaking,” Macey murmured, every detail a feast for the eyes.
“Right?” Kiera grinned. “And now, since you’re my sister, you can’t rat me out.”
“Rat you out?”
Before Macey could figure out what she was ratting Kiera out for, the child scrambled out onto the far edge of a wide balcony, flipped herself over the ledge and disappeared with a cry of, “Whee!”
“Kiera!” Macey shrieked. Fifteen minutes into this op, and she’d let the princess drop to her death? She rushed to the edge of the balcony, not wanting to see the little girl free-falling, but hopeful she could somehow rescue her.
Kiera had her arms and legs wrapped around a brass pole and was sliding down it. The pole ran along the exterior wall to a small grass ledge far below, one of the gardens Macey had seen earlier.
One detail Macey had seen in her research now made sense. A former girlfriend of Tristan’s had said the princes called the princess ‘wild child.’
The girl released the pole ten feet before it ended and did an impressive backflip. She landed easily on the grass, then leaned her head back and gestured for Macey to come down.
Macey shook her head, her eyes wide and her stomach doing backflips. ‘Be safe?’ Had the king known about this trick? This almost-teen was crazy, and thankfully talented.
“Come on,” Kiera hollered up to her.
“Brave, bold, beautiful,” Macey muttered. A child had done this. She could do it.
She climbed up onto the ledge, teetering on her heels and trying to figure out how to wrap herself around the pole in the too-tight skirt. If she didn’t get a good grip with her arms and legs, she’d fall to her death. The child had been wearing a flowing summer dress.
“You’ll love it,” Kiera called.
Macey made the mistake of glancing down. She’d never been afraid of heights, but it wasn’t just the eight stories—the earth fell away from the castle beyond that miniscule grass spot. If she slipped, they’d never find her body. She swayed on her heels. This was not a good idea.
Hands wrapped around her waist—large, manly, beautiful hands—and she was lifted back onto the patio and spun into a very solid, very well-built chest. She gasped at the exhilarating sensation of this man holding her close. It was as thrilling as standing on that patio ledge and almost dying. Safer yet more exciting.
She glanced up into her rescuer’s face. Oh, my.
It was him. The crown prince. The man she was supposed to be engaged to.
He was even more handsome than the online photos. His eyes were the most glorious blue, bluer than the sky above or the mountain lakes below. She was lost in those eyes.
His generous mouth quirked in a smile. “We generally don’t encourage our guests to follow Kiera down one of her tubes of death.” His accent was cultured, smooth, and swoon-worthy. He was a prince all the way through.
Macey couldn’t resist smiling in return. “I was trying to be brave, bold, and beautiful.”
He chuckled at that. “I can see you are easily all three.”
Macey’s insides melted like the gooey warmth of brownies fresh out of the oven. Gage and Sutton had tried to encourage her to be brave, bold, and beautiful, but this gorgeous prince could ‘easily see’ she was all three. She’d been afraid she’d be awkward and he’d be stuffy. Amazingly, the opposite was true—she felt safe in his arms, comfortable and more attracted to and excited about a man than she’d ever been. He smelled like the most delicious combination of musk and bergamot with a hint of apples.
She decided to act exactly as a brave, bold, and beautiful woman would—a woman who’d just met the most delectable man in the world, a prince at that, and the prince she would be engaged to. Might as well greet him boldly, as if they truly were engaged.
Arching up on her heels, she slid her hands around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
Prince Tristan startled for a brief second, a very brief second, and then he wasted no time returning the kiss. He returned it with gusto. His lips produced a tingling sensation that seemed to encompass her entire body.
Her prince slid his arms around her back, pulled her flush against him, and took command of her entire world as he kissed her. He kissed her so thoroughly Macey had no clue which way was up, and she was pretty sure she was floating. She would’ve floated right over the balcony if his strength hadn’t anchored her to him.
Pretending an engagement to this man didn’t feel like a job at all. It felt like the most incredible sensation of her entire life. Was it possible to fall in love at first kiss?
