Page 66 of A Princess for Christmas

The worst part was Leo had thought they were post-braids—he had thoughtthisparticular reminder of his inadequacy was behind him. Gabby used to want braids all the time, but she hadn’t asked at all this school year. He put it down to her getting older. Well, that or the fact that Glinda and company wore their hair down. Either way, he’d been happy for the reprieve.

When he finished counting and opened his eyes, it was to the princess’s reflection—he was standing behind Gabby and they were both facing the mirror.

“Can I help?” Marie asked with a smile.

“We’re good,” he said automatically. And to Gabby: “What about a regular French braid?” He could do those. Sort of.

“Fine,” she bit out.

“Wait a moment.” Marie stepped farther into the room. “What kind of braid are you after? What about a waterfall braid? I’m pretty good at those.” She turned her head to display what Leo could only assume was the braid in question. It snaked diagonally back on one side of her head, except it was sort of like half a braid—the pieces that were pulled through fell loose. Hence the name, he supposed—it did sort of look like a waterfall made ofhair. “A staff member did this one because I can’t do my own, but I can have a go at yours.”

Come to think of it, Marie was probably the source of Gabby’s renewed interest in braids. Though she hadn’t worn them in New York, the princess seemed to favor braids here at home.

Marie came to stand next to Leo and made eye contact with Gabby in the mirror. “You don’t have to keep the ends down like mine. We can do two braids like this.” She sketched where the braids would go. “And then gather everything up in a ponytail or bun.” She held her fist at the nape of Gabby’s neck.

“Yes!” Gabby squealed.

“All right. Stand aside, big brother.” Marie mock shoulder-checked him.

Her fingers moved with an ease Leo had never been able to achieve, try as he did to follow the instructions on the YouTube tutorials Gabby called up. Marie’s fingernails were bare. They’d lost the ugly New York polish. Soon Marie was fastening the first of the two braids.

“You’re really good at this,” Gabby marveled.

“Well, I think I had my hair braided every day of my life until I turned fifteen. I’m not that good at doing my own hair, but I picked up a few things. I used to do Imogen’s all the time when we were younger.”

“Can you do Dutch braids?”

“I can. And you know what’s fun?” She paused in her progress and used one hand to mime an imaginary braid diagonally across Gabby’s head. “You do a side Dutch braid, but then when you hit the bottom, you do the tail as a fishtail.”

“Oooh!” Gabby’s mouth had formed anO, as if such a fantastical combination of techniques had never occurred to her.

“And we have a... woman who works here, Verene, who can do much more elaborate creations than I. I’ll have her pay you a visit tomorrow.”

Servant.That’s what she’d been going to say. Not “woman who works here.” Leo stifled a snort.

He watched in silence and thought about last night. He’d wondered if he should text Marie. He’d decided to put it off until tomorrow. Well, itwastomorrow. The day after he’d made her come in the woods. So he should say something, right? What, though?I enjoyed getting you off very much, Your Royal Temptress, and look forward to being of service in the future?

“There you are.” The princess tied off Gabby’s ponytail and patted her on the shoulder.

“Thank you!” Gabby rotated her head in front of the mirror so she could see the hairstyle from all angles.

Obviously, he wasn’t going to say anything now, in front of Gabby. So Leo settled for addressing the immediate proceedings. “Thank you.” He’d spoken softly, but it drew Marie’s attention in the mirror. He was strangely touched by how easily—both from a technical perspective but also, like, emotionally—Marie had handled the situation. “I try, but braiding is not my forte.”

She shook her head as if to disagree with him, but let the matter drop as she glanced at her giant watch. “I’ve come to check in on you. I’m afraid I have meetings again this morning.”

Oh. Was this the royal blowoff? Okay, so maybe he didn’t have to say anything about yesterday. Maybe she had already moved on.

That was fine. Good. A relief.

Right?

“No worries,” Leo said. “Gabby and I are going to walk down to the village this morning, maybe go ice skating. So don’t worry about us.”

“However,” she went on, “I have only one more morning of work—tomorrow—before we all break for the holidays, so I shall be a better hostess after that. I hope we will...” She sought Leo’s eyes in the mirror. “Get to see each other this evening.”

Okay then.

She turned pink.

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