Page 25 of Once Upon a Royal Summer
Was it her imagination, or did Henry’s gaze flit briefly to her lips? She felt herself blush, all the way from her tiara to the toes of her glass slippers.
“Don’t give any hints.” Ian wagged his finger. “At the end of the parade, Rose and I will make our guesses, and you can let us know who came the closest to spotting all the eggs.”
Lacey crossed her heart with a sweep of her Cinderella hands. “You have my solemn word.”
“I see one!” Rose squealed, pointing at a white duck boat with a huge yellow beak covered in bright yellow Gerbera daisies as it made its way down the river. A glittery golden egg was tucked beneath one of its wings.
“Very good, Princess Rose,” Lacey said.
Henry leaned forward and advised his daughter in a stage whisper. “Perhaps you shouldn’t announce every egg you see, in case Ian doesn’t notice it. You could be helping him cheat.”
Ian gasped in mock outrage. “I wouldn’t dare.”
Henry arched a brow.
Ian smirked and directed his gaze back toward the boats, floating serenely below.
Lacey loved the way they seemed like an ordinary family—even Ian, who wasn’t technically related to Henry and Rose, but had clearly worked in the palace for many years. Every once in a while, she almost forgot they were royal—emphasis on almost. Every time she met Henry’s gaze, she heard Ava’s voice booming in the back of her head.
You like him.
And then Lacey would remember Henry lived in a real castle with real servants who didn’t run around wearing bunny ears like hers did. Reality check.
The castle in Bella-Moritz probably had dozens, if not hundreds, of footmen, and they no doubt wore fancy uniforms instead of bunny ears. Lacey didn’t know a thing about Henry’s kingdom, except that it looked like the sort of dreamy location where Grace Kelly would’ve driven along a rocky seaside cliff in a vintage convertible with Cary Grant in the passenger seat as a fluttery pink scarf trailed behind her in the wind. Okay, yes, maybe Lacey had watched a few too many Grace Kelly movies with her mom when she’d been bedridden during Lacey’s childhood.
And maybe, just maybe, Lacey had looked up Bella-Moritz on the internet after she’d gotten home from her power walk the night before. But that had purely been for research purposes. It only made sense to know a little bit about her guests, didn’t it?
Keep telling yourself that, commoner.
Lacey stared intently at the boats winding their way down the river.
“You look awfully introspective all of a sudden,” Henry said in his undeniably regal-sounding, princely accent.
Lacey turned to glance at him and noticed Ian and Rose had moved to stand along the railing at the edge of the beanstalk’s upper terrace. She and Henry were out of earshot, alone together at opposite ends of a bench designed to look like a giant, twisted green stem. “Oh.” She gave him a wobbly smile. “I was just thinking about my mom.”
He slid a bit nearer, lessening the wide gap between them. “Do your parents live here in Fort Lauderdale?”
If he’d been anyone but Prince Henry, Lacey would’ve found a way to deflect his question and ask about his family instead. Talking about her mom always felt a little bittersweet, even after all this time.
But knowing what she did about Henry and the loss of Rose’s mother, she couldn’t do that now.
“Um, no. My dad and my stepmom live in Dallas, where I grew up.” She swallowed. “And my mom passed away from Leukemia when I was seven.”
“I’m so sorry, Lacey. I wouldn’t have asked if I’d known.” Henry rested his hand on hers with a featherlight touch.
Goosebumps broke out over Lacey’s arm beneath her satin gloves. She didn’t dare move. “No need to apologize. It was a long time ago.”
Neither of them said anything for a minute or two, but it suddenly seemed like they were in their own little world among the cheery noise and hoopla of the boat parade. Lacey’s heart thump thump thumped in her chest.
Sharing such a personal part of herself with Henry should’ve felt surreal. He was a prince, and here she was, telling him things about herself that she normally only shared with her closest friends. Not to mention the fact that she was flagrantly violating theme park rules by breaking character.
But the more time Lacey spent with him, the harder it was to keep pretending to be someone she wasn’t. He treated her like a person, not a character. And the way he looked at her sometimes made her breath bottle up in her throat. Playing make-believe had never seemed quite so real before.
Say something.
Henry dragged his hand away from hers, until just their pinky fingers were touching.
Lacey cleared her throat. “I think that’s one of the reasons Rose and I get along so well.”
