Page 22 of A Prince for Christmas

“Oh, Em,” he said. “I’m so sorry I hurt you. I didn’t mean to deceive you. I actually thought you were the one playing a joke on me at first, pretending you didn’t know. And then I grew to like that you treated me like a normal person. By then, it was too late to tell you without causing embarrassment.”

“Yeah,” I said, hiding my face in his shoulder. “It is too late for that.”

He stroked my hair and leaned down to kiss my shoulder. “I was selfish, I know that. But it was just so nice to be with someone who liked me for myself, not my titles. I was planning to tell you here, maybe take you for a hike in the mountains…”

It felt like a huge, ugly snake was unwinding from around my heart. My tears had nothing to do with his status or the fact that he’d lied. They were for the way he made me feel. “That’s not why I’m crying,” I admitted.

“Then why… What is it, my beautiful Em?” Nick looked confused, but his legs remained entwined with mine.

I had no idea what to tell him, but as another wave of emotions washed over me, my heart spoke. “It’s just that I’ve never, it’s never…”

He pulled back, looking horrified. “You mean this is your first time?”

I cut him off. “No, not that. It’s just that I’ve never done that.”

Nick collapsed back into my arms, this time rolling me toward the sofa back so his weight wouldn’t crush me. “Thank God. You had me going there for a minute.”

“I’ve never felt like that,” I said.

He looked deep into my eyes. “It’s never been like that for me, either.”

He leaned in and kissed me gently and deeply, and my fears melted. At last, he pulled back, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “And not just because we’re in a barn.”

We lay like that, pressed against each other, until the chill of the hayloft began to penetrate my body. Nick didn’t seem affected, but I began shivering, and he quickly pulled me to my feet and helped me dress. Not sure that I was warm enough, he wrapped his jacket over my shoulders.

“Should we head back to the house and the furnace?” he asked.

“You can, but I still have chores.”

“Chores?” Nick looked perplexed.

“Bessie just calved, so she’s fine, but Boots still needs to be milked. After our little scene downstairs, I doubt Dad is about to come out here and do it. And in case you think you’re off the hook, I’m still upset about you not telling me who you are.”

He hung his head. “We can talk about it more, if you like.”

“Not now, but I have questions for later, Mister. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you lied to me about who you were all that time. For now, I have to attend to Boots. You can go up to the house.”

I climbed down the ladder and headed toward the milking stand, stopping for a bit to admire the new calf and give Bessie scratches, praise, and a couple of windfall apples from a bin we kept for that purpose.

I was surprised to see that Nick was following me.

“They really are beautiful creatures,” he said. “And I’ve never seen a birth before.” We watched little Princess bumping at her mom’s full udders and suckling.

“Most people haven’t seen a calf born,” I said. “You’re kind of blessed. She bumps Mom like that to let her know it’s time to let her milk come down.”

“Makes sense,” Nick agreed, his arm around my shoulders.

Boots was a few stalls down, far enough away that she wouldn’t be frightened if something had gone wrong with the birth. She had a simple halter, and I led her to the milking stand, grabbed a big bucket, and sat on a stool beside the stand.

Despite my telling him to go to the house, Nick was right beside me. “I thought you attached some kind of machine to them to get the milk.”

“You do if you have a dozen or more and a dairy operation going, but we only have two cows, and they’re part of the family. Would you like a machine grabbing your teats and squeezing the milk out?”

He grimaced. “Point taken. So how do you do it?”

I grinned. I just couldn’t help myself. “Watch and learn.”

Some people didn’t care as much about their livestock as I did, but they didn’t know what they were missing. I started by scratching Boots behind the ears, then rubbing her sides a bit, and finally took a few minutes to push gently on her udder, mimicking the actions of a calf. Then I gently grabbed two teats and began milking gently. The pattern was hypnotic and familiar from my childhood, and I laid my head against her flank milking until the two milk bags were empty.