To Dance with a Prince by Cara Colter Page A

and then on that ride, this was part of the unexpected reprieve he’d been given from the stuffy stodginess of his life. He was aware he wanted to see what she had up her sleeve today.
    So he slipped the white jacket over his shirt and did up the buttons. It was too tight across the chest, but she inspected him, and frowned. She went back to the coat check and reappeared with a white ball cap.
    â€œThere,” she said, handing it to him. “Pull it low over your eyes. Perfect. All ready to smuggle you out of the palace.” She shrugged into a white jacket of her own. It said Molly on the pocket.
    â€œWe can’t smuggle me out of the palace,” he said, but he was aware it was a token protest. Something in him was already taking wing, flying over the walls.
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œThere are security concerns. I have responsibilities and obligations you can’t even dream of. I can’t just waltz out of here without letting anyone know where I’m going and why.”
    â€œTo improve your waltz, I think you should. See?There’s that reserve again. Your Highness—no, make that Andy—have you ever broken the rules?”
    â€œI don’t have the luxury,” he told her tightly.
    She smiled at him. “Prince Kiernan of Chatam doesn’t. Andy does. Let’s go. It’s just for a little while. Maybe an hour. In some ways, you’re a prisoner of your life. Let’s break out. Just this once.”
    He stood there for a moment, frozen. Again, he had a sense of her saying what no one else said.
    And seeing what no one else saw.
    She didn’t see the prince. Not entirely. If she did, she would not have dared to touch his cheek with her lips yesterday. She saw a man first. The trappings of his status underwhelmed her. She saw straight through to the price he paid to be the prince.
    And she wanted to rescue him. There was a kind of crazy courage in that that was as irresistible as the mischief in her eyes.
    Of course he couldn’t just go. It would be the most irresponsible thing he had ever done.
    On the other hand, why not? The Isle of Chatam was easily the safest place in the world. He was supposed to be at dance class. No one would even miss him for a few hours.
    Suddenly what she was offering him seemed as impossible to resist as the mischief that made her eyes spark more green than brown.
    Freedom. Complete freedom, the one thing he had never ever known.
    â€œComing, Andy?” she said.
    He sighed. “Molly, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
    â€œTrust me,” she said.
    And Kiernan realized he was starting to. The onething he wanted to do least was trust a woman! And yet somehow she was wiggling her way past his defenses and entering that elite circle of people that he truly trusted.
    He followed her outside to the staff parking lot. She led him to the tiniest car he had ever seen, a candy-apple-red Mini.
    She got in, and he opened the passenger door and slid in beside her. His knees were in approximately the vicinity of his chin.
    â€œThey’ve gotten used to me at the service entrance,” she said. “I’ll just give them a wave and we’ll breeze on through.”
    And that’s exactly what happened.
    In moments they were chugging along a narrow country road, he holding on for dear life. Kiernan had never ridden in a vehicle that was so…insubstantial. He felt as if they were inches above the ground, and as if every stone and bump on the road was jarring his bones. He actually hit his head on the roof of the tiny vehicle.
    â€œWhere are we going?” he asked.
    â€œRemember I asked you about squishing mud up through your toes?”
    â€œYes, I do.”
    â€œThat’s where we’re going.”
    â€œI don’t want to squish mud up between my toes,” he said, though he recognized his protest, once again, as being token. The moment they had driven through that back service gate to