Lila didn’t dare breathe until Helen had walked to the end of the drive, darted a quick look down either side of the street, and dashed into a cozy-looking house situated diagonally to Ford’s. Lila didn’t move for a good thirty seconds after that, either, busy as she was trying to come up with something rational to say.

“It’s a lovely view of the neighborhood, but would you mind too much if we went inside now?” Ford’s voice was still far too close for her peace of mind. “I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing my t-i-t-s off out here.”

Lila’s body gave another one of those involuntary twitches. She blamed it on the fact that he’d spelled the word out, making her fear that Emily was standing mere feet away and had overheard everything. But when she whirled around, it was to find the pair of them alone in the yard and Ford’s tits very much on display.

If you could call them that, anyway. There was nothing soft or bouncing about his wall of a chest and clearly defined pec muscles.

“Yes, well. That’s not my fault,” she said. She wished she sounded more in control of herself, but it was a wonder that her voice worked at all. “I remembered to cover mine up before I left the house.”

“I noticed. That was probably wise of you, under the circumstances.” He nodded and took a sip of his coffee, but there was a lurking twinkle in his eye she didn’t quite trust. “The royal circumstances, of course. A princess should be modest and decorous in all things.”

“That woman doesn’t actually believe I’m a princess, right?”

“Probably not. Helen’s no fool.”

“Or that I’m from Canada?”

“I’d say there’s a fifty percent chance. There’s something very northern about your air.”

This last one was the most difficult to get out, but it needed to be said. “And she doesn’t really think you’re…in love with me?”

“Oh, that one was all her.” Ford hunched one shoulder in the same half-shrug from the night of the ball. Turning on his heel, he led the way up the sidewalk, pausing only to cast a sheepish glance over his shoulder. “She could tell the moment she saw us together.”

“Ford…”

“T-i-t-s,” he said and pointed at his chest. “I wasn’t kidding about them. A few more minutes out here, and I’m going to start developing hypothermia.”

Hypothermia was the least of Lila’s worries. Flushed with a combination of embarrassment, confusion, and—most of all—a pleasurable warmth that had more to do with Ford’s bare chest than she cared to admit, Lila was in much more danger of melting through the snow.