“One of the names on the list.” If we spoke to him here, we might catch him in a more relaxed state.
Biting her lip, she glanced over at Sir Walter Elliot, then back to me. A flush darkened her cheeks, but I couldn’t be sure if it was from the cold or from my proposition. Hopefully, the latter. “Okay, we’ll do it.”
Charlotte beamed and took Pastor Collin’s arm. “We’re competing, too.” She faced the other couples, which included Caroline Bingley and her bodyguard-turned-boyfriend, Jack. She playfully flipped her auburn hair over her shoulder, and he leaned in invitingly.
“All right, the first activity is cupcake decorating.” Charlotte led us over to a table where each couple stood in front of a cupcake. I looked at Sir Walker Elliot, who was in the process of tying a blindfold around his fiancée. “The decorator has to be blindfolded while the second person gives them directions. Your topic for decorating is your first date.”
Lizzy and I shared an awkward glance. We may have spent time together, but we’d never been on an actual “date.”
“Charlotte—”
Charlotte held up a hand. “If you’re in denial, then you can count the first time you met up to go somewhere together.” She lifted a challenging eyebrow at the two of us.
Lizzy flushed, which made me resolved to set her at ease, especially since it was my idea to go along with this.
“That would be the fall festival,” I said. “Remember? With the Ferris wheel.”
A small smile curved on her lips. “Yes. I was determined to make you admit you were a murderer.”
“You made a terrifyingly thorough detective, even if you were completely off base in your accusations.”
Her bewitching gaze had gotten to me that night on that giant Ferris wheel. That was when I began falling for her.
The redness in her cheeks lessened, and she straightened, grabbing the blindfold off the table. “Okay, stand still.” She rose on her tiptoes before wrapping the blindfold around my eyes. The warmth of her breath on the back of my neck caused shivers to rush over my skin. Her hands rested on my shoulders to steady herself before stepping back. “I’m the bossier of the two of us, so it will be better if you decorate and I direct you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re more bossy? Do you know who I am?”
Her laugh triggered a lightness to bounce through my chest. “Yes, I do. But I possessed three stubborn younger sisters I had to care for, while you had a single good-natured sister. So I stand by my statement.” Her fingers brushed mine as she set the frosting icing bag in my hand.
“Maybe this is for the best. I already know you don’t enjoy it when I try to tell you what to do.”
The blindfold made me think of the time Lizzy and I’d been bound together. It had been several days, and the only way to stay clean was to blindfold each other while the other showered. I shook the feelings of that moment out of my mind and tried to focus on the here and now.
I stepped forward and felt around the table for the cupcake until I found it.
“Everyone ready?” Charlotte called. Several people, including Lizzy, called out in the affirmative. “Brexton, have you got the timer set?”
“Got it. All right, you have one minute,” Brexton said. “Ready? Go!”
“Okay, make a half circle that takes up most of the cupcake,” Lizzy directed.
That was easy. I traced the length of the top of the cupcake.
“Now create lines coming out from that heading toward the bottom.”
I attempted to follow her instructions, but a small noise of disapproval told me I was already off.
“Am I messing up?”
“No, it’s great… uh, perhaps put half a finger length between each line?”
I tried that, doing my best not to get the creamy frosting on me.
She laughed softly. “Somehow it’s worse.”
As a prince, it wasn’t normal for me to set myself up to look silly in front of others. My upbringing had instilled in me the need to protect my image and avoid tarnishing my family’s reputation. But whenever I was with Lizzy, I could take myself less seriously. Nobody else here knew I was Prince Valemont, and Lizzy seemed to get along with me better when I wasn’t so lost in my sense of image. I liked myself better, too.
Here I was, about to make a fool of myself, and I didn’t care. In fact, it felt kind of freeing.
