Free Princess Thief: Stealing Your Heart by Jennifer Enander

their picnic
baskets while the mothers gossiped with each other.  She couldn ’t help but
smile.
    The
first booth they arrived at did face painting; a young blond girl sat perfectly
still as an artist painted a monarch butterfly on her cheek.  Her two friends
stood nearby, one with a teddy bear, the other with a rainbow on their cheeks.
    To
her right, a clown wearing a top hat and big floppy shoes was tying balloon
animals, surrounded by children staring up at him in rapt attention.
    The
second booth she came to sold huge, colorful lollipops and cotton candy.  An
excited child tugged at his mother ’s arm and pointed.
    “Oh,
look, Guillermo,” she nodded, “a ring toss game.  I love those!”
    Guillermo
reached in his pocket and handed the carny a bill.  “One turn,
please.”
    The
carny handed an eager Juliette five smooth wooden rings.  She stood at the
front of the booth and gently tossed the rings towards the bottles.  One, two,
three, four — all of the rings bounced off and clattered to the ground.  She
held her breath and tossed the final ring.  It landed on a bottle!
    The
carny rang a bell.  “Another
winner!” he announced cheerfully.  He handed Juliette a tiny red toy car.  She
showed it to Guillermo and then laughed.
    She
turned and scanned the crowd.  A group of four girls walked by chatting, all
with helium balloons tied around their wrists.  An excited boy ran up to his
mother, begged for more money, then rushed off to buy something new. 
    Ah! 
There ’s
one.
    Juliette
walked over to a young boy of about 7 looking downtrodden, holding his mother ’s hand.  She
squatted down and smiled, “Hi there.”
    “Hello,”
the boy said back.
    “Would
you like a toy car?”
    The
boy nodded.
    “OK. 
Here you go.”  Juliette held out her hand and the boy took the car from her
outstretched palm.
    “Thank
you,” the boy’s face lit up.  “Mommy, look!”  He held the car up for his mother
to see.
    Juliette
and the boy ’s
mother exchanged pleasantries while Guillermo looked on.
    Eventually,
the couple continued their stroll down the line of brightly colored booths,
pausing here and there.  It felt so natural to be with Guillermo like this that
Juliette almost forgot about the reporters ’ cameras that were trained on them.
    Finally
reaching the end of the row, the pair stopped in front of a booth.  “I’ll challenge
you,” Juliette pointed and grinned.  The booth had five squirt guns mounted in
a row.  Opposite each squirt gun was a wooden clown’s face with his mouth wide
open and a balloon tied to the top of his head.  Whenever water was squirted
into the clown’s mouth, the balloon on top of its head would fill with air. 
The goal of the game was to shoot so much water into the clown’s mouth that the
balloon would pop.
    “You’re
on,” the prince said.
    Juliette
and Guillermo took their positions side by side and gripped the handle of their
guns.  The carny flipped the switch.  “Go!”
    The
pair squeezed the triggers and water came shooting out.  Juliette trained her
stream at the clown ’s
mouth and popped her balloon before Guillermo’s was even halfway filled.  “I
win!” she cheered triumphantly.
    Guillermo
leaned in close, cupped his hand by her ear, and whispered, “I should have
known The Robin Hood Robber would have excellent aim.”  He pulled back and
grinned.
    “Who?”
she deadpanned.  “Never heard of him.”
    “Yeah,
right!” he chuckled.
    Just
then, she felt the slightest tug.  She turned around to see a young girl with
tightly curled brown hair, no more than 6, wearing a pink dress, smiling up at
her timidly.  “Are
you the princess?”
    Juliette
smiled at her.  “Not
yet.  Did you want something, sweetie?”
    “Can
I touch your crown?”
    Juliette
squatted down to the little girl ’s level.  “It’s a tiara.  Can you say
that?”
    “Tiara,”
the little girl repeated, swinging her hips from side to side and looking