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ignored and been cast aside. And I have always had hopes that my future husband would be the one to see me and truly love me.”
    He felt his heart shatter when a small tear crept down her cheek and puddled onto her knee. Was he really that dimwitted to have treated her like this?
    “I cannot have that hope now. It is simply gone.” She brushed at her cheek. “When I threw that note in the pond, it was truly the last straw. I know I will never be seen by him. He will in no way care for me or consider my opinion valuable.”
    But it still did not explain her letters to him. Did he judge her too harshly? “And what have you written him in reply?”
    “Ugh.” She inhaled and sat up more fully, crossing her legs beneath her dress, and then chuckled. “Oh, the most dreadful things, actually.”
    Nolan watched that smile for a moment. “You were jesting in your letters to him?”
    “Goodness, yes! I was mocking him.” Another surprising giggle burst out as she wiped at her tears. “Thank you! I needed the laugh.”
    He was confused. “What do you mean? How were you mocking him?”
    “With all of his boring accomplishments he would tell me about, I decided to treat him as he treated me.” She grinned. “It was quite fun to write him then, so much better than the chore it was a year ago.”
    “Just a moment.” He shook his head. “You have been teasing Prince Nolan for a year now?” Could he be hearing her correctly?
    “Yes.”
    The minx! “What would you say?”
    She chuckled and waved her hand. “Oh, anything, really. Mostly I take the letter he sends me and then write him a female imitation of the exact thing, assuming that if he truly likes to converse only of himself, that is what he would wish me to do as well.” She grinned and bit her lip. “I did have fun lamenting about the boorishness of the castle and horridly dull days at court. I became a simpering, pampered princess and hid away all of my true ideals and feelings, just allowing a very surface view of what I imagine any selfish girl would be like.”
    “Do you find me selfish, then?” he asked before it dawned on him what he had said.
    “You?” Blythe blinked. “No. Well, not overly so. Why would you say something like that?”
    Perhaps he was better off near the pond where the foxes could find him. “I, uh, was just concerned that because you see Prince Nolan as self-centered, you might believe that was the case with all princes.”
    “Oh.” She shrugged. “I would not know. I have only met a few at the different galas and events my mother has hosted, and then of course there are my brothers—who, while good men, are still my brothers and treat me as a sister. They are not a fair evaluation of how a prince would be, I should think.”
    “So I am, in essence, the first prince you have the opportunity of knowing?”
    “You are definitely the first prince I have ever been this close to, with the exception of my brothers.”
    “Well, then.” He hopped toward her. “You are in for a treat. Prince Nolan has been extremely lax in his duties toward you, but I find myself quite willing to make up for it. Since we have a month together, I will most likely drive you mad with all my questions and curiosities. I find you much more fascinating than I originally expected and am even more eager to see what will become of all this.”
    Her eyes searched his for a moment before she asked, “What did you have in mind?”
    “I would simply like to know who you are, Princess Blythe McKenna.”
    “Honestly?”
    “Of course.”
    “Do you know you are the very first person to have stated such a thing to me?”
    “Am I?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then perhaps it is a good thing I became enchanted and rescued your ball for you. Every beautiful princess deserves someone to truly see her.”

CHAPTER TEN
    IT HAD BEEN A couple of weeks since that infuriating frog had come into her life, and already Blythe began to wonder what she would ever do without him. She