An Unlikely Prince by Barbara Jean Hicks

Author:Barbara Jean Hicks [Hicks, Barbara Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-78598-5
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-05-04T00:00:00+00:00

14

HARRISON HOISTED THE HEAVIER OF THE TWO DAY PACKS ONTO his back. Suzie shrugged into the other. Priscilla slung a large net bag full of balls and toys over one shoulder. And then they were off to Pilchuck’s historic Homesteader Park.

Haley, and by extension Heidi, insisted on walking next to Harrison all the way. He would never, ever, forget the way it felt when Heidi looked up into his face with her wide, summer-sky blue eyes and then reached up to wrap her little fingers around one of his.

It wasn’t only his heart that turned to mush; it was his brain and every other internal organ. He was surprised he didn’t just melt in a puddle right there on the sidewalk.

She didn’t say a word, just trotted along beside him holding tightly to his finger.

Haley, on the other hand, chattered on and on. But he found to his surprise that when he paid attention she was more amusing than annoying, more interesting than exasperating. She certainly had a different take on the world. Fresh. Original. Quite delightful, really.

In fact, Harrison was finding life on the whole considerably more delightful than he had in years.

His intellectual pursuits had always delighted him. His research. His history books. The people of the past. But real, flesh-and-blood, here-and-now people?

In general, delight hadn’t been part of his experience with people, whether students or colleagues or employers.

Or Women. Pretty Women. In particular.

The thing was, real, flesh-and-blood, here-and-now people had Personal Agendas. Expectations. Demands. Expectations and demands he was never certain he could meet.

Suzie, for instance. What was Suzie’s agenda? What did Suzie expect?

To be treated with consideration and respect.

His heart jumped. Where had that come from? It was almost as if someone had whispered the words in his ear.

Consideration and respect? Could it be so simple? Harrison frowned. In his experience, nothing was that simple. Not when it came to people.

“Dr. Hunt?”

“Hmm?” Startled from his thoughts, Harrison focused on Haley, who was gazing up at him with a worried-mother look. A look no four-year-old should ever have on her face.

“Are you mad?” she asked.

“Mad? Why, no. I’m not mad.”

“Oh. You looked mad for a minute. But now you look nice again.”

“I was thinking,” Harrison said. “Perhaps sometimes when I’m thinking, I look mad when I’m really not.”

Suzie, walking ahead of him with Alastair and Donovan, turned her head just then and met his eyes. She was smiling. “Having fun back there?”

Consideration and respect, he thought. Well, maybe it was that simple. “I am, but let me check with the girls,” he called, his heart so light it threatened to float away. Suzie’s smile did that to him.

He looked down. “Are we having fun, girls?”

“Yep!” said Haley.

Heidi nodded.

“The girls agree,” Harrison called ahead to Suzie.

“Good! Make sure they stay away from the nettles along the path, would you, Harrison? I didn’t realize it was so overgrown through here.”

They’d left the sidewalk for a trail in the woods that wound alongside a bubbling brook. Ruby Creek, if Harrison wasn’t mistaken.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.