Books by KAFE

“Okay, Schmancy,” Pierce said in a near-whisper, “keep an eye out for any girls that look like they might be willing to dump someone.” 

To his credit, Schmancy refrained from rolling his eyes and merely nodded his agreement. The pair were standing in a small, unused corridor off the large ballroom on the palace floor. The crocheting contest had attracted a surprisingly large crowd, and Pierce had decided to use the opportunity to scout out some potential participants for “Operation: Break-up,” as he had taken to calling it.

In order to execute his plan in an organized fashion, he and Schmancy had created a list of eligible young women currently residing in Sherram. They had gone over the list multiple times to decide who would be the most likely to help them out.

Unfortunately, the Prince’s extensive dating history had eliminated most of the candidates as possibilities, and many of the others were engaged or already dating someone else. The Prince was trying to talk to the remaining few girls, but he was trying to be subtle about it – he didn’t want anyone discovering his plan too early.

So far this evening, he hadn’t been able to find anyone suitable. One girl, Sandra Grasswell, had stopped by for a while with her father, and Pierce thought she might have potential. But he had barely started flirting with her when her father had swooped over and said it was time for them to go home as he glared at Pierce.  Now Pierce and Schmancy were hiding behind a ficus as they attempted to find someone suitable to assist in their plan.

“Perhaps there is someone we’re missing, sire?” Schmancy said, looking at the list again.

“Like who?” Pierce asked. “That list is pretty extensive.”

“Yes, sire, but we did compile it based on the province’s school records – perhaps a few young ladies aren’t listed.”

“Why wouldn’t they be listed? I thought everyone went to the province school.”

“We do have a few families who homeschool their children, sire. The Littlemores, for example, and the Clogwursts – they both educated their children at home.”

“Do they have any daughters?” Pierce was only half-listening as looked around the room again, trying to spot a girl who wasn’t accompanied by an overprotective father. The name Littlemore had rung a bell with him, but he was too busy focusing on a potential break-up partner to give it much thought. 

“I don’t recall, sire. But I’m sure we could find out.”

Pierce considered it for a moment. “It’s probably a long shot, but it might be our only option if we don’t find someone in the next few days.”

He looked back out into the hallway, seeing if anyone new had come inside. Earlier he’d thought he’d seen a girl about his age walk into the contest room, but he didn’t see her now. Maybe she was still in there. In fact, he probably ought to do a casual walk around the contest room, anyway – a lot of people were hanging out in there to wait for the judges to decide the winner. The only problem was that by the time he got to the room, a dozen people would have seen him and either asked for an autograph or confronted him about dumping their daughter. He would have to be covert.

“I’ll be back, Schmancy.” He moved the ficus out of his way and moved down the hallway as inconspicuously as possible, taking cover behind some decorative trees lining the sides of the hallway.

It took some creative maneuvering to fit past all of the trees, and by the time he reached the middle of the hallway, he was feeling a little claustrophobic. Finally he crossed behind the last tree, right next to the entrance of the contest room, and jumped out into the cool, breezy doorway.

As he tried to smooth down his wrinkled vest, he looked up to see a beautiful blond girl in a blue dress staring at him as if he were the strangest sight she’d ever seen in her life.

Trying to regain some composure, he ran his hand through his hair and smiled his most charming smile. Her reaction was one of puzzlement, and after a moment she tentatively smiled back. He offered her his hand and cranked the smile up a few notches, then said in his smoothest voice, “Hi, there. The name’s Pierce.”