Page 18 of Puppy Christmas

Helen certainly didn’t. “Oh, please. Getting you to do anything you don’t want to is like trying to take one of my kids to the dentist.” She beamed at Lila. “From the way they carry on, you’d think I was dragging them to their deaths. Well, either that or the hairdresser.”

“They’re not wrong about the hairdresser,” Ford interjected. “I still remember that unfortunate episode you had with the bowl cuts.”

A laugh escaped Lila before she could prevent it. Nothing about the conversation was in any way out of the ordinary—at least, not considering who Lila was having this conversation with. It didn’t seem to matter to either Helen or Ford that they were discussing haircuts while Lila had a cockapoo held in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other—or that it was below freezing while they did it.

But at the sound of Lila’s laughter, the other woman glanced back and forth between them, her lips parted in a sudden smile. “Oh, I see,” she said with a knowing nod.

“See what?” Lila asked with a quick look over her shoulder.

When she turned back, it was to find Helen pointing first at Ford and then Lila, her smile spreading. “You should have mentioned something earlier,” she said. “I wouldn’t have barged in on you like this if I’d known.”

Known what?Lila assumed Ford was just as mystified as she was, but his expression had relaxed into a devastating grin—a grin that was pointed directly at her. She was still reeling from it when he spoke again.

“Am I that obvious?” Ford asked, shaking his head with a mock sigh. “I was hoping to keep the news quiet for a little longer, but it’s impossible now. You found me out.”

“Well, really,” Helen breathed. “I had no idea.”

“Neither did I,” Ford admitted. “But there’s no use trying to hide what’s staring us all in the face, is there? I hadn’t spent five minutes in Lila’s company before I realized my life would never be the same.”

That last bit was directed at Lila. Her shock at hearing the declaration on Ford’s tongue—how easily it tripped off, how natural it sounded—was swallowed in a squeal of delight. And not her own. Despite the fact that Lila was holding both a puppy and a mug of hot coffee, Helen showed every intention of pulling her into a wintry hug.

Acting on instinct, Lila backed away, but all that did was force her against Ford’s chest. She had no idea how she could feel the heat of him through her thick wool peacoat, but she could have sworn that the temperature of all the places where their bodies touched jumped a good twenty degrees. Although he was no longer holding her arm, his stance made it impossible for her to flee.

Helen had to settle for a smile that seemed genuine, despite the fact that she’d just been turned down for a date. “Ford, you devil. Leading us all on like that. Maddie and Danica are going to be devastated.”

“Alas, that’s always been my curse.” Ford clucked his tongue and sighed. “Leaving a trail of broken hearts wherever I go. I warned you how it was from the start.”

“Well, I’m delighted to finally meet you, Lila, and can only apologize for monopolizing so much of your time.” Helen laughed and shook her head, curls bouncing playfully around her shoulders. “I should have known something was up the moment I saw you two together. It was the royal blood that threw me off. We’d always been told you were from Canada.”

“Canada?” Lila echoed, so far out of her depth that she was finding it difficult to come up for air.

“Well, I could hardly tell you her real country of origin, could I?” Ford asked. “What with the succession in so much danger and all.” He still stood at her back, so close that his breath was a warm whisper against her neck. Lila hadn’t worn a scarf that morning, but she firmly resolved to do so tomorrow. There was something caressingly intimate about his lips so close to her skin.

Touching but not touching. Laughing but not laughing.

Helen made the motion of a zipper over her lips. “I won’t tell a soul. And bring those coffee cups back whenever, you two. I’m never in a hurry to do dishes.”

Lila didn’t dare breathe until Helen had walked to the end of the drive, darted a quick look down either side of the street, and dashed into a cozy-looking house situated diagonally to Ford’s. Lila didn’t move for a good thirty seconds after that, either, busy as she was trying to come up with something rational to say.

“It’s a lovely view of the neighborhood, but would you mind too much if we went inside now?” Ford’s voice was still far too close for her peace of mind. “I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing myt-i-t-soff out here.”

Lila’s body gave another one of those involuntary twitches. She blamed it on the fact that he’d spelled the word out, making her fear that Emily was standing mere feet away and had overheard everything. But when she whirled around, it was to find the pair of them alone in the yard and Ford’s tits very much on display.

If you could call them that, anyway. There was nothing soft or bouncing about his wall of a chest and clearly defined pec muscles.

“Yes, well. That’s not my fault,” she said. She wished she sounded more in control of herself, but it was a wonder that her voice worked at all. “I remembered to cover mine up before I left the house.”

“I noticed. That was probably wise of you, under the circumstances.” He nodded and took a sip of his coffee, but there was a lurking twinkle in his eye she didn’t quite trust. “The royal circumstances, of course. A princess should be modest and decorous in all things.”

“That woman doesn’t actually believe I’m a princess, right?”

“Probably not. Helen’s no fool.”

“Or that I’m from Canada?”

“I’d say there’s a fifty percent chance. There’s something very northern about your air.”

This last one was the most difficult to get out, but it needed to be said. “And she doesn’t really think you’re…in love with me?”

“Oh, that one was all her.” Ford hunched one shoulder in the same half-shrug from the night of the ball. Turning on his heel, he led the way up the sidewalk, pausing only to cast a sheepish glance over his shoulder. “She could tell the moment she saw us together.”

“Ford…”

“T-i-t-s,” he said and pointed at his chest. “I wasn’t kidding about them. A few more minutes out here, and I’m going to start developing hypothermia.”

Hypothermia was the least of Lila’s worries. Flushed with a combination of embarrassment, confusion, and—most of all—a pleasurable warmth that had more to do with Ford’s bare chest than she cared to admit, Lila was in much more danger of melting through the snow.

Not that she allowed any of it to show. Even with her scant knowledge of princesses, she knew that at least one of them lived in a remote ice castle up on a hill. Of all the royal personas she might adopt for her own, that seemed the most apt for a woman like her.

Especially when faced with a man likehim.