“Now it’s our turn to thank the performers.” He removed the red sack from his shoulder and opened it. “Grab a handful of candy canes and pass them out.”
Bright-eyed, smiling children swarmed like bear cubs to honey. But no small hand reached forward. Each took their turn.
“Here you go.” She handed a candy cane to a small boy wearing glasses. “Lovely singing.”
“Thank you, miss.”
All were so polite. Many seemed to want a minute of Gill’s time. A word, here. A high five, there. Your Highness sounded with every breath.
His laughter grew, so did his smile.
Gill might be Crown Prince Guillaume of Alistonia, but he looked more like a man having fun. And a…
Father.
Kat’s mouth went dry. The temperature seemed to warm even though she could see her own breath.
She’d never imagined him that way before.
Okay, he’d been a great doggy dad yesterday and last night with Max. But with the kids hanging on his every word and him doing his best to make sure no one was ignored, she could picture him with curly-haired, smiling children of his own.
Fighting the urge to move closer to him, she handed out more candy canes, but she kept sneaking peeks at Gill. She’d asked the question already.
Who are you, and what did you do to Prince Annoying?
Only now, Kat wasn’t joking. She wanted to know the answer so she could figure out who the real Gill might be.
*
With the childreninside their classrooms, Gill stood outside in the schoolyard with Kat next to him. Snow flurries continued to fall. But her wide smile was enough to keep him warm.
As he folded the red sack into a small rectangle, his gaze kept straying back to her.
Kat’s blue eyes reminded him of the aquamarine pendant in the royal jewel collection. Exquisite.
But he wasn’t here to admire her. He’d wanted to repay her, and he was. But everything he thought he knew about her, everything he believed, seemed…wrong.
Sophie said Kat was a hardworking veterinarian who had no life outside of work. Could she not be trying to find a way to pay off her loans and get out of her contract with the rural animal clinic? Or was she exactly as he and his mother had thought? A woman willing to do anything to get what she wanted.
Africa was next on Kat’s list of grand adventures.
That wouldn’t be a cheap trip.
She could still have ulterior motives for attending Sophie’s wedding, couldn’t she?
“The candy canes went quick,” Kat said, “but I think the kids love their crown prince as much as they like candy.”
An unfamiliar lightness centered in his chest, as if buoyed with contentment. “I enjoy spending time here.”
“You come often?”
“I participate in a literacy program. I read to the classes, and they read to me.”
“Fun.”
He nodded. “My brother Jacques founded a summer reading project for libraries, and then I expanded the program into the schools.”
“Sounds like two worthwhile programs.”
