Page 104 of Christmas at the Castle
Brad elbowed Nick. “Rating’s gold. I’m telling you.”
“How will you know if the puppy is warm enough?” Addie asked.
“There’s a heating pad under the blanket in the basket, and then you let the puppy tell you how they feel. Usually, crying means too hot. Whimpering too cold. They have similar signs when they’re hungry.”
Jennings arrived with a stack of folded towels. “In case Mama needs assistance cleaning the puppies, sir.”
“Thanks.” Gill took the towels from their longtime butler and made his way into the stall. He didn’t want to be in the way, but this gave him an excuse to be near Kat. “Where do you want these?”
Kat was already smiling, but her face brightened. “You’re back.”
An energy flowed between them, once again, and drew him closer. “Jennings brought these out.”
She pointed to a corner where other towels, blankets, and supplies were stacked. “Put them over there.”
He did. “Puppies, huh?”
“Max is a daddy.”
Gill laughed. “I suppose I should have said more about the birds and bees to Max.”
Kat’s gaze kept going from him, to the mama dog, to the puppy in the basket, but he never felt like she wasn’t listening. “What did you say to him?”
“That birds are for hunting and bees sting.”
She laughed. “Well, now you have puppies for Christmas. You’re fortunate because I think a couple of people here might want one.”
He glanced over his shoulder. Jamie raised his hand. So did Sophie and Bertrand.
“We’re discussing it,” Nick said.
Addie crossed her fingers.
His fingers itched to touch Kat. “Anything I can do to help?”
“Thanks, but it’s up to Mama now. All we can do is wait.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do.” He hunkered down beside her.
There was no place Gill would rather be than with Kat.
*
After midnight, withthe smell of horse and hay in the air, Kat leaned her shoulder against Gill as they sat in the corner of the stall and watched the puppies with their mama in the whelping box. Contentment flowed through her. A sense of belonging, too, that had eluded her since she arrived. But here, in the stable and next to Gill, she felt at home.
She sneaked a peek at him staring at the dogs.
She could never think of him as only a friend.
Yes, they were friends, but he meant so much more, more than she could say. She was having trouble denying her feelings. And pretending.
That wasn’t working at all.
He might be Crown Prince Guillaume of Alistonia and the last man she’d ever pictured herself wanting to spend time with, but he was the only one she wanted to be with now. Tingles erupted with the brush of his fingers against her skin or just thinking about him. Gill was far from perfect—she wouldn’t kid herself about that—but she saw behind the mask he wore as a crown prince dutiful to his country to the sweet and kind man who loved his family and his dog.
Gill had stayed long after others went for dinner or to bed. He’d helped when two puppies arrived one after the other and Mama needed help removing the membrane and stimulating the second pup. The work was dirty, but he hadn’t complained about the mess and helped clean up. And after the last puppy arrived into the world healthy, he’d wiped the tears of joy from Kat’s eyes and kissed her. A lingering kiss that had exploded in her heart like a burst of sunshine.
Gill was everything she could imagine wanting in a partner, a lover, a husband. If only…
