The Prince's Secret (Prince Harry Fanfic)

Part 86 - At Windsor Great Park

Samantha

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" I asked Harry.

Putting his hands on my shoulders, Harry leaned in for a kiss. "I wasn't invited," he reminded me. "Granny wants some time alone with you to get to know you better."

"I'll say something stupid," I muttered, checking my look in the mirror again. I was in full riding gear, togged out like I was headed to a horse show. My boots were even polished, thanks to Harry's valet.

"You won't say anything stupid. You'll be talking about horses, most likely," he said. "And I know you can talk about horses for a couple of hours without running out of something to say."

That was certainly true. "What if she asks me some hard questions?"

"I don't think she will," Harry said, trying to soothe me. "But even if she does, just answer them truthfully. We're not keeping any secrets from her any more, so we don't have anything to hide. Just be yourself, Sam. She's going to like you. You two have a lot in common."

Other than liking horses, and loving Harry, I couldn't see that I had much in common with the Queen, but I kept that to myself.

I arrived at the Windsor stables early, just in time to find Randa in Driz's stall, kneeling in the straw and massaging the mare's injured leg while Driz nibbled at Randa's brown curly hair. Driz whinnied when she saw me and spun around, nearly knocking Randa over.

"There you are!" Randa jumped to her feet and gave me a hug. "Feels like I haven't seen you in forever!" She stepped back to look at me, and said, "You're spiffed up. You look ready for the Royal Windsor Horse Show."

"I wish," I muttered. "I'm going riding with the Queen."

Randa's eyebrows disappeared under her curly hair. "Wow. Royal life is treating you well." Then, as if realizing that might sound catty, she added, "You look happy, Sam."

"I am happy," I said, wishing I could confide the details of my elopement, but I didn't dare make that public yet. "How are things with you?"

She shrugged. "Oh, you know. Pretty much the same. Tom's been asking after you, hoping you might stop by the pub some afternoon."

"I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance," I said, knowing that probably sounded like a lame excuse, even if it were true. "He hasn't had any more trouble with the health inspectors, has he?"

Randa shook her head. "He says the head inspector actually came and apologized to him in person. I don't know what strings you pulled, but it worked."

I didn't know, either. When the Sleeping Lion had been closed down suspiciously right after Meg had been thrown out of the pub, I'd simply asked Harry if there was anything he could do about it. And apparently he had done something.

"I will stop in soon," I promised. "Maybe I can talk Harry into joining me."

Randa smiled. "Ah, I'm not the type to be kicking back pints with a prince. That's your arena." Looking over my shoulder, she said, "And it looks like your date for this morning is here."

I turned around. Gerry, the Queen's head groom, approached and said, "Miss Walden? I'm saddling up the horses now."

Miss Walden. I wasn't really Miss Walden anymore, but I really wasn't anything else...at least, not officially.

"Sorry, I've got to go—" I began.

Randa waved me away. "Go, go. And try to have fun."

I followed Gerry outside. Two black Fell ponies, one a bit bigger than the other, stood saddled and waiting next to a bay horse.