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“Have you seen Ella?”
“She said to tell you she’s on a ride in the forest, and she absolutely will not come back until you go and find her. Emphasis hers, not mine.” He straightened his suit jacket.
Phillip dropped the paper he’d been holding, staring at the man. “You’ve been standing behind that curtain for twenty minutes and waited until just now to tell me this?”
“She gave very strict instructions.”
He gaped at Drake. “She’s the future queen! And you let her wander into an unsecured forest without me or a security detail?”
Drake held up a hand to calm him. “We made her keep a panic button on her and we have two men following at a distance until you arrive.”
Annoyed but intrigued despite himself, Phillip stood. She wanted a chase, did she? It sounded like fun, but it would mean missing out on several meetings. He hoped she didn’t plan to do this after she was crowned. It made both of them look terribly irresponsible.
He gave orders for his horse to be saddled, and the job was done by the time he arrived at the stables. By then the annoyance had faded into anticipation, and he trotted out onto the trails thinking about all the things she might have planned for when he caught her. He chose to go east, toward the seashore and the spot where he’d proposed. She wasn’t at the overlook, but a saddle was.
He frowned down at it. Was this supposed to be a message of some kind? He followed the trail a little further and found a saddle blanket, and laughed out loud with realization. When he’d given her the riding boots last week, he’d told her he wanted to teach her to ride bareback but had never gotten the chance to actually do so. Now she was taking him up on his offer. He unsaddled his own horse and found her around the bend, having walked her mare to a quiet pond to drink.
She smiled up at him. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself, truant.”
“And here I always thought I was the good girl.”
He dismounted, strode toward her. “Oh, you’re always the good girl. Until you are delightfully, deliciously naughty.” He kissed her then, in a way they hadn’t kissed for far too long.
When they were done she sighed in satisfaction and smiled up at him. “Bareback lesson first, naughtiness later.”
He huffed. “You plan to keep me out here all day, don’t you, woman?”
“As much of it as possible.” She winked, then turned serious. “I know the duties of ruling are important to you. Serving Danovar is important to me too. But if we keep up this impossible pace, we’re going to burn ourselves out, and then what kind of rulers would we be in twenty years? How much good can a burned-out king do his country?”
He shifted, uncomfortable, and she nodded.
“One thing I learned from my family is that you’ve got to take care of yourself, too. It’s easy to lose yourself in the serving if you don’t, and then you’re no good to anyone, including the people you’re serving.”
“You make a good point,” he conceded.
“Of course I do. Now—bareback lesson.” She gave him a quick peck on the lips and then returned to her horse.
She kept him busy for a solid hour as he taught her how to cling to her mare with her thigh and calf muscles, how to keep her seat bareback while jumping over a log. By the time they finished they were both hot and sweaty, and when Ella proposed a dip in the ocean, he happily agreed.
They raced to the seashore, dirt clods and then sand flying beneath their horses’ hooves. They skidded to a stop and the well-trained animals waited patiently while the lovers stripped and hurried into the cool ocean, giggling like teenagers, “accidentally” brushing against each other as they waded further. By the time they got waist-deep, Phillip was already hard and longing for Ella.
He shot a look at her. “Have you kept me busy for long enough yet?”
She licked her lips. “I think I’m ready for a new kind of busy now,” she said huskily, eyeing his bare chest. He hadn’t realized how much he missed her looking at him like that.
“Come here,” he said, determined to make her look that way for as long as she’d have him. He lifted her up and she slid herself down, locking her ankles behind his back. When he pushed into her she dropped her head to his shoulder with a sigh.
“Mmm, I’ve missed this,” she murmured, biting him lightly.
“You feel so good,” he whispered, holding her hips, driving deeper. He’d missed this too. He hadn’t realized how much he needed it,
needed her. She added so much color and vibrancy to his life.
They made love in the sea, and when they were both spent they climbed back onto the seashore and draped themselves over the rocks to dry. Phillip rolled over after a while and checked the angle of the sun, then jolted upright. Damn, it was past noon already. He’d been lazing around on the beach while his morning obligations passed him by. He dressed quickly, cursing at the sand that lingered in his clothing, and Ella followed suit.
“Today was amazing,” he said as they hurried back to their horses. “And I do intend to take more breaks with you. But please understand, this kind of thing—an unscheduled day off, running away when we have things to see to—it can’t happen again, especially not after we’re married. My schedule of meetings has been lighter than usual because of my focus on the Summer House Party and our engagement, but it’s about to go into overdrive to make up for it.”
