Free Rapunzelle: an Everland Ever After Tale by Caroline Lee Page A

couldn’t spend any more time with her.
    “Come walking with me tomorrow?”
    Had he imagined her question? He’d been caught up in his own thoughts, convincing himself why he couldn’t court her. But had she just invited him out instead? So his “ Chto ?” probably sounded a little confused. “I mean, what?”
    “Will you come walking with me tomorrow afternoon? I can see Papa and Mother from here; they’re frowning. They’ll bundle me into the surrey before I even have a chance to retrieve my bonnet, I’ll bet, and I won’t have a chance to talk to you. But I want to!” She took a deep breath, and he tried not to feel the way her sides—the thin cotton and the corset beneath—pressed against his upper arms tantalizingly. “I want to ask you all about horses, and your farm back in Russia, and your search here, and… Oh, everything!” She peeked up at him, her cheeks dimpling slightly. “And I can’t do that, unless you come walking with me. Tomorrow afternoon. I’ll meet you at the inn.”
    And looking down at her, there was absolutely nothing Dmitri could say besides, “ Da . All right.”
    Her smile made any confusion worth it, and he knew he’d made the right decision. And after he’d swung her down into her mother’s arms and her father’s stern gaze, and watched them hustle her into the carriage, and clucked at the mare to return to the stable, he was glad that she’d asked. Because suddenly, he wanted to talk to her, to spend time with her. To have something to think about besides how perfectly she fit in his arms. To see other examples of how she so joyfully embraced life.
    He couldn’t wait.
     

CHAPTER FIVE

     
    “What an ordeal!”
    “It wasn’t an ordeal, Papa, it was an adventure.”
    “Still, I think you should go upstairs and rest for the next few days.”
    “What? I’m not a child. I don’t need to rest for a few days. You’re just trying to lock me away again.”
    “We worry about you, Zelle. It almost killed your father to see you in that much danger.”
    “Mother, I—“
    “And I won’t have you around that man again.”
    “Roy, Jr.? I don’t particularly want to be around him again either. He’s a braggart.”
    “I mean that Russian. I saw the way he looked at you, and he was holding you entirely too close.”
    “Dmitri? He saved me! Mother, talk some sense into—“
    “You’ll not work us against each other, young lady. I think your father’s right. Upstairs, this instant.”
    Zelle had only sighed and managed not to stomp up the stairs. And once she was in her room, she very carefully did not slam the door, no matter how much she wanted to. She was going to be eighteen soon. She was a grown woman, and her parents had no right to order her around like this.
    Oh the other hand, she did live with them. It wasn’t like she had her own home, or even—she sighed again as she pulled off her shoes and threw herself facedown across her bed—a husband and family. She didn’t want a husband and family…she just wanted a little freedom. A chance to come and go as she pleased, like Briar did.
    Buuuuuttttt… On the other hand, the reason she had no interest in getting married was that she’d never met a man she wanted to marry. Because she hadn’t been allowed to. Even at the weekly church picnics—which she could only attend if one of her parents went—Papa loomed over her, making it difficult to talk to any boys. Max DeVille wasn’t intimidated by her father, but he didn’t count; he teased and charmed and treated her like a little girl as well. For goodness’ sakes; Merrell Gruff had been her ideal, in terms of kissability!
    But then she’d met a Russian duke. Prince. Whatever . 
    And he’d kissed her…or she’d kissed him. And then she spent time talking to him, and again in his arms. And now… Goodness. Now she just didn’t know what she thought of marriage. The good Lord knew that she didn’t mind spending time with Dmitri; she’d spent