“Wait. What about Tara?”

“Yeah. What about me?” Tara asked. “Can I be a princess, too? I’ll help you girls rescue the prince.”

“No, we already have too many princesses.” Gwen gave Tara a once-over. “I guess you can be the dragon that’s holding the prince hostage.”

“I like the sound of that.” Seth’s eyes twinkled with humor. “I think she’ll make an excellent lady dragon.”

“Meh,” the girl said, drawing a huff of affronted laughter from the lady dragon. Tara obviously hadn’t won over the little date crasher with her wit and charm. And she couldn’t help noticing that Gwen still held tightly onto Seth’s hand. “She’ll be okay, I guess.”

“Thanks?” Tara said as she bemusedly tagged along with the handholding couple leading the way.

Once she cut it out with the ridiculous possessiveness, her heart started puddling again. Seth was so wrong about not knowing what to do with children. He was fantastic with them, and it was so sweet of him to play the prince-in-distress for them.

“Sorry about the interruption,” he said close to her ear. He’d broken away from the circle of children and came to stand next to her. “I’m sure they’ll tire of us soon and let us return to our picnic.”

“So you don’t know what to do with children, huh?” She bumped her shoulder against his biceps, and he bumped her back.

“Gwen was sweet enough to let me join her group. I really didn’t do anything.”

Tara sighed. He was endearing her to death. “Well, here she comes to lock you up in your tower. Good luck.”

“Are you going to let the princesses rescue me?” He tucked his chin and looked at her through his lashes.

The look alone could charm the pants off anyone within a mile radius. I will fight off every single one of these adorable girls if you keep looking at me like that. “Lady Dragon will do as she pleases.”

With one last devastating smile, Seth was escorted to the tree where he would be imprisoned. Tara trailed after them again, guessing she needed to be stationed there as well to play the evil dragon. She had to admit, she was feeling the part.

He climbed the thick-trunked tree—aware that he was trying to impress Tara like a dumbass—and settled down on a sturdy branch hanging a few feet above the ground.

The rules of the game stated that the princess who defeated the lady dragon and her gremlin minions, played by the boys who refused to be the incarcerated prince, would win their happily ever after with the prince.

The game seemed like flag football with a fantasy theme at first. Then it evolved into something like freeze tag. The children wore belts with flags hanging off of them and chased each other around screaming murder. The gremlins roared and aggressively held their defensive positions, but when the ferocious princesses rained their wrath on them, they faltered.

The best thing about the game was that the battle raged a few feet away from the tree, and the prince could flirt with the lady dragon. Tara stood with her arms across her chest, leaning against the tree trunk, and watched the children with a gentle curve of her lips. She was nothing short of breathtaking.