Free Arianna & Finn (Royals of Valleria #3) by Marianne Knightly

sleeved and the jacket he had thrown carelessly into the back seat of the car. “I’m rarely ever cold, Princess. I seem to have a furnace burning hot inside me most days.”
     
    “I see,” she said softly.
     
    “Your chariot awaits,” he said as he opened the passenger door for her.
     
    “You’re driving?” she asked as her eyes widened. “What about security?”
     
    “I am an excellent driver, so don’t worry, and security is following behind us.” He gestured to another car some ways away. “One of your men is with us, too.”
     
    “My men?”
     
    “One of your Royal Protection agents. Alex insisted upon it, not that I minded, of course.”
     
    “Didn’t you?”
     
    He gave her a curious look. “Why would I mind? Does it make you uncomfortable to have him here?”
     
    “Don’t be silly,” she said as she sat down in the car.
     
    Finn shook his head again as he shut her door and walked around to the driver’s side. He gestured to the security staff that they were ready to leave, and they slipped into their car as well.
     
    “So where are we going?” she asked once he’d sat down.
     
    “Oh, here and there.”
     
    “Finn.”
     
    With a smile, he decided to elaborate, at least on most of their trip. Their final stop would remain a secret from her. It was, after all, one of his special places, and he never took anyone there. Not even Henry knew about his frequent visits.
     
    “Apologies, Princess. It’s just so fun to tease you.”
     
    “I don’t like being teased,” she said in a soft voice.
     
    Finn put a hand over hers. She gasped and tried to pull away, but Finn wouldn’t let her. “I would never laugh at you or make fun of you, Arianna,” he said in an even, clear voice. “I can’t resist teasing you, it seems, but I don’t mean it as an insult, and I certainly never mean to hurt your feelings. Do you believe that?”
     
    After a moment, she said, “Yes. Yes, I think I do believe it, though I’m not sure why.”
     
    Finn let the comment go. He kissed her palm before reluctantly letting go of her hand to start the car and drive off the palace grounds. “There are a lot of places you could see while you’re here, but I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
     
    He thought she mumbled, “You do that already,” but wasn’t sure.
     
    A safe topic, that’s what he needed. “I’ll show you around the capital first, then around some of the districts. Do you know much about Brazenbourg?”
     
    “Some. There’s always some research done before visiting another country, though you’ll never know as much about the place as the locals do.”
     
    Finn nodded in agreement. “Well, we’re a small country, as you know, with a total size just under one thousand square miles. A lake is centered north of the capital, and I’ll take you there last today, no matter where else we go. I’d like for you to see it.”
     
    “Then I will.”
     
    Finn smiled while he let out an internal sigh of relief; he wasn’t sure what he would have done if she had said she wasn’t interested. It would have been as good as saying she didn’t want his heart, though she likely didn’t want that anyway. His heart didn’t have much to offer anybody.
     
    “I’ll take you around the capital first, which I know is confusingly named the same as the country.”
     
    “Is there a reason for that?”
     
    “Lack of imagination, I suppose, on the part of my ancestors. Terrible, but true.” She chuckled and the sound seemed to jump across his skin. He cleared his throat.
     
    “Anyway, there are rivers that stream down from Brazenbourg Lake and cut the country into ten districts. Because we’re a constitutional monarchy, unlike Valleria which is a more traditional monarchy, each district has a mayor, who reports to Henry, or whoever is the current reigning monarch. When the constitutional monarchy was put in place, it was decided by the people that no one would hold the title of