Page 15 of Royally Knocked Up (Princes of Passion #1)

ENZO

“ T his is it,” Enzo said happily. “Downtown Luria.”

Hailey gazed out the tinted window of the town car that had driven them down from Vista Piccola.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “It’s so different from Vista Piccola.

So modern and urban. I mean, I knew it would be.

I flew over it when I arrive in Monteverde.

But I suppose I’ve been thinking of it this whole time as sort of…

dirty and industrial. More like New York. ”

“You’re not from New York, are you?”

“I’m from Baltimore.”

“I’ve never been there. What’s it like?”

“Dirty and industrial.” She smiled at him. “This is a prettier city. I really like it here. You’re so lucky that you get to live in such a beautiful place.”

He nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “I don’t think about that a lot. I guess I take it for granted. But you’re right — this is a beautiful place to live, even if living here does mean I have to follow a bunch of rules that feel oppressive to me.”

“I can’t wait to see the palace,” Hailey said.

She didn’t look at Enzo when she said it.

She had been avoiding his gaze rather frequently since they had arrived here, he’d noticed.

He wondered whether she was nervous about meeting his father.

It didn’t seem right — she had never seemed particularly nervous about Enzo and the royal title he held.

In fact, she had been shockingly bold about speaking up to him.

But maybe it would be different with his father.

Maybe the idea of the king carried some kind of weight in her mind that a prince just didn’t.

He wouldn’t blame her if that was the case. Enzo himself was nervous about seeing his father. He had no idea what his father’s reaction to him would be. Would things have softened now that Enzo had managed to stay out of the media for a few weeks?

He wasn’t sure. But he hoped so. It would be wonderful to return home and find that the time away had been what was needed to get him back on the same page with his father — to make it so that the two of them could finally see eye to eye.

How strange. He hadn’t realized that was even something he wanted.

And maybe meeting Hailey would help matters, he thought.

She was sure to make a good impression on his father.

Of course, he wouldn’t let his father know that the two of them had been sleeping together.

That would make him look irresponsible and would reaffirm, in his father’s mind, that Enzo was exactly the kind of person he’d always believed Enzo to be.

But to see that Enzo had a colleague who took things seriously, and that that colleague thought Enzo was worthwhile…

The car pulled to a stop and Enzo opened the door.

Hailey frowned at him. “Where are we?” she asked.

“I told you I would arrange a place for you to stay, didn’t I?”

He had expected her face to light up at that, but instead her frown deepened. “You actually didn’t tell me that.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I made my own arrangements.”

Once again, she didn’t quite meet his eyes. She was so nervous! It made him feel warm to see it. Hailey was usually so bold. It was amazing that she could be so disarmed simply by coming to Luria with him.

He knew at once that they were going to have a wonderful time here.

“Cancel your arrangements,” he told her firmly. “Trust me. You’re going to like the place I’ve set you up in.”

“I’m not sure if I can cancel or not.”

“Give me the information. If I make a call, they’ll cancel it for us.”

“No,” she said quickly. “You can’t do that.”

“Of course I can. It’s really no trouble.”

“No, Enzo, you can’t. You can’t have anyone find out that you called to cancel a hotel room that was reserved for me,” Hailey said.

“People are going to come up with all sorts of explanations for what might have happened there. They’ll speculate and gossip, and you don’t need that.

Your father would lose his mind. You’ve finally made it back here — you can’t take that risk. ”

He looked at her. “That’s a nice thing for you to think of,” he said. “It isn’t your responsibility to make sure my father isn’t thinking the worst of me — or to protect me from gossip.”

“I know it isn’t,” she said quietly. “I do care about you, though, Enzo. I do want the best for you.”

He nodded. “I know you do.”

“I’ll make the call myself,” she said. “I’m sure I can get them to cancel my arrangements.”

“Well, if you can’t, let me know,” he said. “Maybe we can figure out a way to get it canceled without me getting involved.”

She nodded. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

For a moment, he wondered if he had overstepped by making this arrangement for her — but truly, this hotel was the nicest in all of Luria, and it would be a mistake for her to miss out on it.

They made their way inside. Instantly, it was apparent that she could see what a luxurious place they were in.

Her guard had been up from the moment they’d entered the city, but now it dropped and she relaxed visibly.

She turned in a slow circle, taking in the lavish furnishings and the high ceilings.

“Well,” she said after a moment, “it isn’t as nice as La Fantasia, but I guess it will do.”

Enzo burst out laughing. “You’re too much sometimes, do you know that?”

“I am the exact right amount,” she countered. “And you are my biggest fan.”

That was probably true. He took her arm and led her over to the reception desk.

“I shouldn’t check you in,” he said. “I didn’t give my name when I made the reservation.”

“That was sensible of you.”

“I’ll wait over there,” he said, pointing to an armchair a few feet away.

Hailey nodded and released his arm, then walked over to the desk.

He watched her go. It was impossible to take his eyes off her.

It was impossible not to feel a sense of pride at the fact that she was here with him.

He wished he had the freedom to show her off to people.

He wished he could walk up to the reception desk with her on his arm and let everyone know that they were together.

Had he ever felt that way about a woman? If he had, he couldn’t remember when it might have been. He couldn’t remember a time when he had felt as if he was lucky to be with someone, instead of feeling that she was lucky to be with him.

He was jolted from his thoughts by the sound of her voice. “I know that’s what it says, but I’m telling you, it’s just — yes. That’s right. I don’t care. I don’t need it anymore. Yes.”

He frowned. What was wrong? Should he go over there and try to fix things for her?

No. She was turning away from the desk now, looking frustrated, but she had it under control, whatever it was. He didn’t need to involve himself in her business.

She walked over to him, and he rose to his feet. “You good?”

“I’m good,” she said.

“What was that? It sounded like the two of you were arguing.”

“It wasn’t really an argument. There was an issue with the reservation, that’s all. I got it straightened out.”

“An issue with the reservation?” He frowned. “Should I go speak to them?”

“You definitely shouldn’t, Enzo. I took care of it.”

“But I made that reservation. If there’s a problem, maybe I should set them straight.”

“I’m telling you, it isn’t necessary,” she said.

She held up the little folder with the room key in it.

“See? I’ve got my key, so I can go to my room and get settled in.

If you go talk to them, the only thing that will happen is that you’ll make that poor receptionist feel bad, and I think she feels bad enough. ”

Enzo frowned. He did want to do something. It felt like he should do something. Didn’t he have a responsibility to Hailey? She said she had handled this issue on her own, but it was his city, and in a very real way, she was his guest.

She put a hand on his arm. “Enzo,” she said quietly, “don’t do it. Don’t go over there.”

“Your Highness!”

He turned automatically. Hailey turned too, possibly responding to his movement —

A man was holding up a phone. Enzo recognized the pose. He had clearly just taken a picture.

He froze for a moment, unsure of what to do.

Hailey had no such reservations. She strode over to the man and plucked the phone right out of his hand.

“Hey!” he objected, grabbing for it, but she took a quick step backward.

“You’re going to delete that,” she said.

“Like hell I am.”

“Who do you work for?”

“I don’t work for anyone!”

“You’re not with a media outlet?”

“No!”

“Did you know that it’s a crime for a private citizen to sell a picture of the royal family to a media outlet without written permission?”

“No it isn’t,” the man said, but his brow was furrowed slightly, and Enzo could tell he doubted what he was saying.

“It is,” Hailey countered.

“I— I have friends who have done it,” the man said. “They never got into any trouble for it.”

“Friends, huh? Friends who are really you?”

He paled, but he didn’t say anything.

“Listen, you’re not going to get into trouble for anything that happened in the past,” she said. “You’d have to be caught doing it, and if you’ve done it before, you obviously haven’t been caught. But this time, you made a mistake.”

She held up her own phone and snapped a picture of him. He blinked.

“I’m going to keep this as insurance,” she said. “If any photos of me and the prince appear in the media, I’ll know who took them. I might not have your name, but the resources of the royal family will be brought to bear on finding out who you are, and you will be prosecuted.”

She handed him back his phone. “You can keep that picture as a souvenir,” she told him.

“Why are you so desperate to keep your appearance here with the prince a secret?” the man asked swiftly.

“We’re colleagues, and we’re working together on a business venture.”

“What is it?”

“That’s the part we’re not ready to disclose, although if you wanted to look into it, I’d start at La Fantasia.”

“The resort up in Vista Piccola?”

“That’s right. That’s where we were employed.”

“I did hear something about the prince being employed there on a temporary basis,” the man mused. “All right, I’ll look into it myself. Listen — thank you for not getting me into trouble with the royal family.” He glanced over at the prince. “I didn’t know it was illegal.”

“But you know now,” she said. “We can count on you to stay within the bounds of the law, I’m sure. No one wants to have to involve the authorities.”

The man turned and hurried away skittishly.

Enzo came up alongside Hailey. “Well,” he said, shaking his head, “that was something.”

“Do you think I took it too far?”

“I mean, you do know that none of that was true, right? It’s not illegal for people to take pictures and sell them to the media.”

“Of course it isn’t. And if you had told him it was, it would be a problem for the king. But me, I’m just some random American. I probably don’t know what I’m talking about anyway.” She grinned. “I think I scared him enough to make him sit on that picture, though.”

“You really do care about keeping me out of the press,” Enzo said.

“Sure I do,” she told him.

And yet — once more — she didn’t quite meet his eyes when she said it.

Maybe she was embarrassed at the fact that she had taken things so far.

Whatever the reason, Enzo thought, it was nice to know that someone was on his side.