Page 46 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

They walked away with two tater twisters each, and Hallie had to admit she was impressed.

Not that she couldn’t buy herself two tater twisters if she wanted to, but if this had been a real date, Luke would have definitely scored some points.

They found a seat in the middle of the bleachers, not too far from the earthen arena.The warm-up for the main event was just beginning, with teenage boys trying not to get bucked off fairly mild-mannered horses.

Luke seemed torn between watching the action and admiring his seasoned potato snack that spiraled around the stick like some space-age construction.

“This is delicious!”he said, “I’m going to introduce these to Sarkadia.”

“I’m glad you like them,” Hallie said, smiling.She was almost starting to enjoy the day, despite being there with Luke, or maybe because he wasn’t being difficult for once.

“How long do you think I’d last riding a wild horse like that?”Luke wondered.

“Uh...sorry to burst your bubble, but I should probably tell you the truth: these horses aren’t wild.”

“What do you mean they aren’t wild?”

“No, riding a wild horse is too dangerous,” she explained.

“This here looks dangerous enough,” Luke remarked.

They watched as another cowboy came shooting out on a madly bucking palomino.He managed to stay on for ten seconds, despite the horse’s wild gyrations.The crowd cheered, and Luke applauded in his refined manner.

“By the way, I don’t have an STD,” he said, leaning down towards Hallie.“In case you were wondering.”

“Why don’t you say that louder so everyone can hear?”

“Hey, it’s not like I said I have an STD.”

“I don’t need to know that much information about you.”

“Not even if I said I was attracted to you?”

Hallie gave him a quizzical look.“Which one of your personas is attracted to me?The nice guy who’s liked by my parents, the smooth-talking ladies’ man, or the jerk who is the real you?”

Luke spread his arms wide.“It wouldn’t be any fun if I gave it away.”

“Ha!You don’t even deny that the real you is a jerk!”

“Yeah, I don’t deny it.But maybe you’re secretly hoping that I’m not a jerk.And what if the truth is I’m nice somewhere deep down inside?”He was using a slightly sarcastic tone, and anyway Hallie didn’t buy any of it.She didn’t have a response to that nonsense.

“Ouch,” Luke said, watching as a young man fell to the ground, thrown by a spirited horse.The cowboy nearly face-planted into the dirt, using his forearms to break his fall.He quickly rolled over and got up, waving to the crowd with a shy smile.

“At least when you’re playing polo the horse isn’t trying to throw you off,” Luke commented.

Hallie stared at him, this time in surprise.“You play polo?”

“Yeah.”He shrugged carelessly, although it seemed for a second like he regretted saying that.“My family is rich.”

“Good for you.”

He took a bite of his potato snack and looked at Hallie as if he suddenly had a new idea.“Doesn’t that appeal to you?”

“Why should it?”she asked.“I don’t care how much money you have.”She figured he was fairly loaded, what with his Porsche that had newly arrived from the city, but how rich did someone have to be to keep a polo pony?It didn’t matter anyway.

“Aren’t you interested in material gain?”he prodded, “Isn’t that the reason you’re playing this scheme to begin with?”

Hallie pretended to watch the rodeo action, not really seeing it.She was bursting with embarrassment because she had to resort to such ruses just to regain her parents’ love.“It’s not about that,” she said.