Page 2 of Royally Knocked Up (Princes of Passion #1)

HAILEY

T he airplane touched down in Monteverde, and Hailey sat up and stretched. It had been a long flight from Baltimore, and she had never been able to sleep on planes. Now she was going to have to meet with her client without having gotten any rest.

It didn’t help that she still didn’t know who her client was. Apparently this job was so confidential that she couldn’t even be told the details until she had signed a non-disclosure agreement. And according to the person who had contacted her, that agreement needed to be signed face-to-face.

This is all going to be a waste of time if they tell me what the job is and I decide I don’t want to do it.

As a private investigator, Hailey was used to a degree of mystery surrounding the jobs she took.

This wasn’t the first time she had been required to meet with someone face to face before accepting a contract — far from it.

It was , however, the first time she had been asked to fly to a foreign country without the slightest idea of what she was in for, or even who she would be employed by.

She thought she might receive answers once she was off the plane, but fortune wasn’t on her side. She found herself greeted by a man who wore a dark tuxedo and — for some reason — sunglasses indoors. That’s a bit much , she thought. Secrecy was one thing, but this was ridiculous.

The man held up a digital device with H. Jones on the screen. She approached him.

“I’m Hailey Jones,” she said.

“Follow me please, Ms. Jones.”

“Do I know who you are?”

“My name is Romano. I’ve been hired by your employer to bring you to him.”

Hailey hesitated, though she didn’t want to show how off-putting this all was, so she kept her face neutral. “Very well,” she said at last. “Lead the way.”

She was led through the airport. She followed in silence until Romano took the turn that would lead away from the signs pointing toward baggage claim, toward the outdoors. “Hold on,” she objected. “I have a suitcase.”

“Your suitcase has already been collected. It was given to our people as soon as it was unloaded from the plane.”

She stared at him. “Who are you?”

He didn’t answer.

He led her to a black car with tinted windows and opened the back door.

Utterly confused now, Hailey got in. She clutched her purse.

If this had been some kind of plot, they wouldn’t have allowed her to keep her phone.

She reached into the purse and closed her hand around it, allowing its weight to reassure her.

If anything suspect happened, she would press a button and her team back in Baltimore would know exactly where she was. They would be able to track her.

The car pulled up in front of a low business complex in the heart of Luria. Hailey got out of the car, realizing as she stepped onto the pavement that Romano had been about to open the door for her. Why was she being treated like some sort of foreign dignitary when she was here to do a job?

And where was her suitcase? She hadn’t seen it be placed in the trunk of this car. That fact made her nervous in the extreme.

“This way,” Romano said.

“Where are we?”

“You’re about to be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.”

“And this is the document I couldn’t sign online.”

“They’ll want a recording of you signing it so that we can be sure you were actually the one to do the signing. You’re going to need to show identification here as well — do you have that on you?”

“I have my passport.”

“That will work.”

She was shown into the building and down a long hall. At the end of it, there was an unmarked door.

Romano opened this door and escorted her in.

The room she entered was nice enough, and Hailey realized she had anticipated something more like an interrogation room with no windows and a steel table.

This was a well-appointed office with a mahogany desk and a big picture window looking out on the Monteverdian Alps.

There was a contract on the desk, and a pen beside it.

She sat down and looked it over.

It was the most anticlimactic thing she could have imagined. This was nothing more than a standard private investigation contract, with additional clauses for secrecy extending beyond the completion of the job — in other words, she would never be able to tell anyone what had happened here.

That didn’t bother Hailey at all. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d taken on such an agreement. She signed it and pushed it across the desk toward Romano.

“All right,” he said. “Now that that’s done, I can take you to the palace.”

Hailey frowned. “The palace?”

“Your contract is with His Highness Edoardo Mancini, soon to be His Majesty, King of Monteverde.

Hailey’s heart caught in her throat.

That would be a first.

The palace was on the outskirts of Luria, and it was massive. The architecture was beautiful, all columns and spires, the kind of thing you only ever saw in Europe. Driving up to it, Hailey felt breathless. She hadn’t anticipated anything like this.

This time, she waited for Romano to open the door for her. She had no idea what the protocol was here. Was she allowed to approach the front door, or was she supposed to wait?

Romano escorted her up the steps. “His Highness is waiting for you in the throne room,” he said.

“Are you coming with me?” Suddenly, she felt intimidated at the thought of facing the king on her own.

Romano shook his head. “You must be invited to enter the throne room. I’ll wait for you out here. It’s just through those doors.”

A shiver ran down Hailey’s spine at the thought that she was about to enter a throne room and approach a king.

But Romano was right — she had been brought here. She had been wanted here.

She pulled open the door and walked inside.

The king sat in a chair at the head of the room. He was probably in his sixties, she thought, but he looked healthy and vigorous. She approached him, wondering whether she was supposed to bow.

“You are the American investigator,” the king said, narrowing his eyes as if to see her better.

“I’m Hailey Jones, sir. I mean, Your Highness.”

The king nodded. “Try to relax, Ms. Jones,” he said. “I understand you’re not familiar with royal protocol.”

“Your Highness, if I may ask — why did you bring me here from America? Surely you have private investigators here in Monteverde.”

“Yes, but I needed someone my son wouldn’t be able to identify.”

“Is your son the subject of my investigation, then?”

“The job I have for you isn’t exactly an investigation,” the king said. “I chose to employ a private investigator because I know you have the skills I need — stealth and an awareness of your surroundings. Was I right?”

“Yes.” Humility was one thing, but Hailey wasn’t one to sell herself short.

“That’s good,” the king said. “I’m going to be placing you at a ski resort that my family owns. My youngest son, Enzo, will be there as well. And your job is simple — keep an eye on him.”

“You’ve hired me to be a babysitter?”

“It’s more complicated than that,” the king said.

“There have been unflattering headlines about my family lately thanks to Enzo’s behavior.

That’s why I’m sending him to the resort.

And I need someone there to make sure he doesn’t draw any more negative attention in the weeks leading up to my coronation.

The important factor, though, is that Enzo cannot find out who you are or what you’re doing there.

If he does, he’ll be all the more determined to rebel, and I don’t think you’ll have a prayer of being able to bring him to heel.

This is important to the entire country of Monteverde, Ms. Jones. Are you up to the challenge?”

It was an unusual job — like nothing Hailey had ever done before. “I just don’t understand why this is something you would bring in a private investigator for.”

“Because I trust that you have the skill set I need. Because you know how to watch people without making them aware that you’re doing so. Am I wrong to think that?”

“No, I can do what you’re asking,” Hailey said.

“I know you can. You saw the sum you’d be paid, I assume?”

Hailey nodded. It was as much as she’d ever been paid for any three jobs in the past, which made it very difficult to shrug off the contract.

“Will you accept?” the king asked her. “I don’t mean to rush you, truly, but I do need an answer from you.

My son is already on his way to Vista Piccola, where our resort is located.

I need you to start that way at once, and if you are going to refuse me, I need to find someone else to take this on quickly. ”

Hailey nodded slowly. “I can do it,” she said. “You’ll only need me for a few weeks, correct?”

“I think two months, at the outside,” he said. “That’s when the coronation is due to occur — two months from now. Once that happens, I should be able to absorb my son’s scandalous behavior a bit more effectively. It’s only now, in these vulnerable weeks, that he poses a real problem.”

“What has he done that’s so scandalous?”

The king sighed. “I’ll give you a file of documents to read on your way to Vista Piccola,” he said. “That will give you some idea of what you’re dealing with.”

“One more thing,” Hailey said. “I was told that my suitcase had been collected, but I haven’t seen it yet.”

“Your luggage is on its way to La Fantasia right now.”

“La Fantasia is the resort?”

“Yes.”

“What if I had said no to this job?”

“You would have been put back on a plane, and your luggage would have been flown back to the States on a different aircraft.”

“In other words, you were making this as convenient as you possibly could for yourself, without really considering any inconvenience to me.”

The king raised his eyebrows. “I must say, as a member of the royal family, I’m unused to being spoken to that way.”

A wave of shame washed over Hailey. “I apologize, Your Highness,” she said quickly. “I haven’t slept — I’m not at my best. I beg your forgiveness.”

“No, that’s not necessary.” The king smiled.

“In fact, this is an unforeseen benefit. My son is surrounded by people who are afraid to argue with him or tell him no. It’s given him an inflated sense of his own importance, which I think is a large part of the problem I’m currently dealing with.

You won’t be afraid to put him in his place when it’s necessary to do so. ”

Hailey wasn’t at all sure that was true. She had forgotten herself just now. The idea of deliberately talking back to royalty did intimidate her. But apparently it was what King Edoardo wanted her to do.

“Well, I think that’s everything we need to discuss,” the king said. “You’ll have more detailed instructions to review in the car, as well as contacts to get in touch with in case there are any questions or concerns. I wish you luck, Ms. Jones.”

He sat back in his chair, and Hailey understood that she was being dismissed.

She made her way slowly to the door of the throne room, unable to believe what had just happened. She was going to play bodyguard to a prince — but she would be guarding him against himself.

If I succeed at this job, it will be a miracle .

Romano was waiting for her outside. “Have you accepted the position?”

“Yes,” she said.

He nodded, clearly unsurprised. “Let’s be on our way, then,” he said. “The car is waiting.”