The Christmas Princess Read Online Free PDF

relayed a message from Hunter about meeting at April’s office, but she’s said it had to be here. She hadn’t mentioned that while her belongings could be left at the apartment building temporarily, Rufus couldn’t be.
    Sharon had chuckled and said, “Oh, this is going to be fun, watching him deal with you.”
    “He’s going to? Deal with me, I mean. I thought he was…”
    What? A princess recruiter? And now it turned out he was … a princess wrangler?
    “He’ll be in charge of the operation throughout.”
    “Oh.” The operation? That sounded a lot more official than princess wrangling.
    “Is that a problem, Ms. Gareaux?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t know him.” Yet, she already felt like she could ask this woman on the other end of the phone, “Can I trust him?”
    “With your life,” Sharon said immediately. “Not that it will come to that. The first phase might be a bit taxing. Then, if the king—”
    A king. She supposed it made sense there could be king in the picture since she was supposed to be a princes. But what king?
    “—doesn’t agree to see you, that’s that. We’ll thank you for your time and effort, and you return to your routine. If the king does agree to see you, well, best case would be a matter of having pleasant holidays in his company.”
    And not with her family.
    That thought produced a sharp pang, as she watched Hunter approach. She wouldn’t have seen them if she’d still been with Reese, she reminded herself.
    Rufus came flying toward them barking at Hunter, backing up so he was right in front of her.
    Hunter looked at the dog, but didn’t change his pace or his path.
    “Rufus. Enough.” The dog barked twice more, but with less conviction. She stood. “Sit.” The dog sat. “It’s okay, Rufus. Go play. Go on, go play.”
    The dog gave Hunter a sharp look before trotting off to rejoin two dogs he’d been happily tussling with.
    April remained standing. If she offered to shake and he took her up on it, his hand might stick to her icy fingers like a tongue to a flagpole in January. She kept her hands clasped in front of her.
    Hunter stopped at arm’s length. And waited.
    She cleared her throat. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll do it. What you asked me to do yesterday. I’ll do it.”
    “What about your fiancé?”
    “I don’t have one anymore.” His non-reaction seemed a little too perfect. She eyed him. “Why do I think you already knew that?”
    He replied with a question of his own. “You don’t want to spend Christmas with your family?”
    “I ... It’s complicated.” She rallied. “Besides, weren’t you the one who wanted me to do this?” When he didn’t respond, she went on, “I have two requirements. First, I have to be free on Thursday — Thanksgiving. As myself. The rest of the time I’ll be your—” Her voice dropped. “— princess, but that day, I’m me.”
    He showed no curiosity about her demand. “Everywhere you go, you’ll have a department escort.”
    “As long as they don’t try to stop me from ... my activities.”
    “Done.”
    “Second. Rufus lives with me wherever I am.”
    “That’s not—”
    “It’s a deal-breaker, Mr. Pierce. And he might not be perfectly house-trained. Yet. I’ll have to take him out several times a day.”
    He studied her face for one breath, a second, a third, then he turned toward the dog. “There may be places you go that don’t accept dogs.”
    “Then I don’t go there. I’m not talking about refusing to leave him alone for an afternoon or even a day, but he lives where I live.”
    “If at all feasible, and if it’s not feasible, he’ll be cared for.”
    “If it’s not feasible, he and I will leave. I want that to be clear.”
    “It is clear.”
    “Okay then,” she said. She suspected that wasn’t how a princess would agree to something momentous, but it was all she could think of.
    He sat, pulled a folded sheet from his inside suit coat pocket, spread it on the bench and