It took me a second to catch up to Maxwell's train of thought, but he pointed towards where Liam was standing with Penelope, one of the noble ladies I had met earlier. "This is my moment, then," I said, and held my head high as I strutted towards the prince.

"Pardon me," I said, interrupting Liam and Penelope's conversation. "But I believe this is our dance."

Liam smiled widely at me as he excused himself from Penelope and let me to the dance floor. The music was a very classic, waltzy sounding song.

"Thank you for extracting me from that conversation," Liam whispered to me, "It was proving very difficult to escape."

"Happy to help. But, uh," I stammered as Liam took my hand to begin the dance. "I don't...I'm not sure I know the steps."

"Just follow my lead."

I never understood that expression until that dance with Liam. I had never been led in a dance by someone who really understood what they were doing. But Liam was strong and steady, and it was easy to match his movements. "You're a wonderful dancer," I said.

"My parents would be thrilled to hear that all those years of dance lessons paid off." His smile was just as heart-melting as ever, but it was all too brief. He looked at me seriously as he said, "I'm very glad that I got a moment alone with you, Riley."

I looked behind him at the crowd of people and replied, "Relatively alone. There's only about a hundred people watching us right now."

"Unfortunately, it's about as much privacy as we might expect. Though, I do have a trick up my sleeve." He guided me quickly across the dance floor and through a set of French doors, never missing a beat in the waltz as he did. Suddenly, we were dancing on an otherwise empty balcony overlooking a hedge maze.

"Nice moves," I said appreciatively.

"I try," he said with a grin, but once again, it was quickly replaced by a straight face. "Now, I want to know how you are. I trust you are being well taken care of here?"

I nodded. "Maxwell's been very sweet so far. He flew me out here and got me settled in this morning and everything. I haven't met his brother yet."

"Ah, the Duke," Liam said with a knowing look. "He's...different from Maxwell. More serious. But, their house has an excellent reputation, mostly due to him."

I nodded again. Something about staring into Liam's almond eyes made it hard for me to find words. After a beat, Liam spoke again, "What about Cordonia? What do you think of my home so far?"

I smiled up at him. "It's beautiful. Well, from what I've seen...I'm looking forward to getting to know it during the season."

"I do hope you'll like what you see. If you were to become Queen, this would be your new home, after all."

My stomach flipped when he said that, but not in a good way. "Right..." I said slowly. "I guess loving the country is an important quality for a queen-to-be."

"Especially given Cordonia's recent history," Liam added with a frown.

I frowned too, trying to remember if I had read anything about turmoil in Cordonia. "What do you mean?" I asked at last. He explained that the current queen was his father's third wife. The first queen abandoned Cordonia (not to mention the King and Liam's older half-brother!) because she couldn't handle the pressure. And then the second queen, Liam's mother, died when he was just a kid. "Instability in the monarchy is always dangerous for a small country like ours. Weakened currency, a rise in crime, a drop in tourism...all because of the lives of the rulers."

"So that's why you care so much about finding the right queen."

"Exactly. I can't just follow my heart," he looked intensely at me as he said this, "As much as I might want to." The eye contact was too much for me, so I looked at our feet as he finished, "There's too many other people I need to think about." Seeing my discomfort, he quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to burden you with this." That stabbed me right in the heart, so I quickly looked back up at him.

"Liam, you can tell me anything. I'm here for you."

"True, but I can at least take time to sprinkle in some tales from my misspent youth." He was grinning now, and the weight of the conversation was instantly gone.

I grinned right back. "Do tell."

"One summer, when I was only eight, my father decided to throw me into the rigors of governing. He made me sit through hours of meetings for three weeks straight. Finally, I couldn't take another minute. I decided to liberate myself."

"Bad boy," I teased. He let out a short laugh.

"Drake and I stole a monster supply of chocolate from the kitchens and we hid out in the gardens." Liam nodded his head towards the hedge maze below us. "We spent the evening making up games we could play in the maze. The best was Maze Tag."

"Let me guess. You played tag...in the maze."

"Yeah, not the most cleverly named game. But it was fun. Whoever was 'it' had to run after the other person through the maze. You lost if you were 'it' by the time we reached the center." He shook his head, smiling at the memory. "We played that for hours, until we nearly collapsed from exhaustion. But we were too stubborn to go back. We used the last of our strength to climb up the tree in the center of the hedge maze and vowed to live out there. We fell asleep in that tree and only woke up when I fell off the branch and landed flat on my back, swearing up a storm."

I giggled at the image of a little Liam cursing the tree as he lay on his back.

"I hope this doesn't destroy your image of me as a proper prince."

"I am a little surprised that you know any swear words. You're always so proper."

"Maybe in front of you..." his voice was teasing, luring me in.

"Well, I want to meet the Liam who plays hooky and sleeps in trees."

His face suddenly darkened. "I miss those carefree summers," he said, "But those days are behind me." He looked back to the ballroom and we both realized that the dance had been over for a while. At some point we had just stopped dancing and started swaying, not ever letting go of one another. He dropped his hands and offered me an arm, then led me back into the ballroom. "We'll have to say good night soon," he said sadly.

I matched his frown. "Is this how it's going to be for the next few months? Stealing a couple of minutes here and there?"

"As I said, things are different here. I should spend time with the other ladies, to be fair to them." He leaned in close and whispered, "But believe me when I say that I wish this night didn't have to end."

I thought for a moment. "Well, the ball's ending but who says the night has to end, too?"

Liam grinned widely as he turned to face me. "The last time you got that gleam in your eye, we ended up on a boat to the Statue of Liberty."

"Do you regret it?"

"Never. What are you proposing?"

"Would you like to meet me at the hedge maze?"

"Yes, but I don't think my body guards would let me out there alone."

"You won't be alone, you'll be with me."

"I think they'd like that even less."

"Then why are you smiling?"

"Because we both know how much I want to."

I nodded solemnly. "Well, I understand if you can't make it. But if you think you can play hooky for a few hours, I'll be waiting at the entrance to the maze in twenty minutes." With that, I walked off, willing myself not to look back and check if he was watching me.

I found Maxwell and let him know I was going to stay for a while longer before going to my room. He must have seen the mischievous look in my eye, because he looked across the room at Liam and then gave me a knowing look, tapping the side of his nose. I quickly wandered outside and found the hedge maze entrance, pacing to keep warm, and sane, while I waited.

I was starting to get worried when I finally saw Liam walking briskly towards me. "Cutting it a little close there," I teased.

"I was trapped in a conversation about seating arrangements for tomorrow's picnic, but I managed to tear myself away for you. Shall we?" He offered his arm, but I didn't take it.

"I think we should...play-maze-tag-you're-it!" I spat out the last words as I smacked Liam's shoulder, then took off running into the maze.

"Cheater!" I heard him laughing behind me, then he started running after me.

I was running in heels, which is not an easy thing to do even on paved ground, but on the dirt path of the maze, it was amazing I was staying upright at all. Needless to say, Liam caught up to me pretty quickly, tapping my shoulder before darting ahead of me. Soon, I wasn't sure which way he went, and I almost panicked thinking I was lost. But, I remembered he said there was a tree in the middle of the maze, so I looked for that and headed in its direction. Liam was waiting for me to catch up as I turned a corner, so I was able to catch him and jump ahead just before we reached the center. I rounded the corner, but stopped short as I saw the beautiful willow tree with a rope swing, lit with softly glowing lanterns and fairy lights. As I was taking in the scene, Liam turned the same corner, and his momentum sent him barreling into me!

We both tumbled to the ground, but he managed to put an arm around me and twist us so that he landed first. We lay, chest to chest, panting and laughing, for a minute. "I win," I said at last.

"What? How do you figure that?"

"Easy. I'm on top."

He just smirked, looking up at me. He caught my eyes, and then his face turned serious. "There's something about you. It just feels right to be around you."

"Are you sure it's not just the flowers and twinkling lights?"

One of his hands reached up to cup my face. "I'm sure." His voice was suddenly low and husky. I leaned in, and his lips touched mine. Softly at first, then firm, fevered, and desperate. But before I knew it, he was pulling away. Seeing his face, I pulled myself up and offered him a hand to help him stand.

"We shouldn't," he said. "I don't know what will happen, and I..."

"It's okay," I said, smiling softly. "I understand." That was only partly a lie. I kind of understood, he was trying to be cautious and take things slow. This wasn't exactly a traditional courtship. I just had no idea what the rules were going to be.

"Thank you for this, though," he said at last. "I really needed this."

"It was my pleasure, really."

We walked hand-in-hand back to the maze entrance, then stopped. He turned to me. "I should say goodbye here," he said, kissing my cheek.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yes. It'll be very busy, but I'll make time to see you."

I nodded, then watched as he walked away. After he was out of sight, I started for my room, my head a mix of excitement and trepidation, less sure than ever about what the summer had in store for me.