Page 20 of Royally Knocked Up (Princes of Passion #1)

HAILEY

“ I ’m awfully sorry about all this, Ms. Jones,” Romano said.

They were in the car on the way back to Hailey’s hotel, and Hailey hadn’t spoken the entire time. She felt numb. It seemed as if a mistake must have been made somehow. Surely that hadn’t just happened.

She had known that Enzo would eventually have to find out the real reason for her presence here. But in her worst imaginings, it had never happened like that.

Romano cleared his throat and spoke again. “If it makes any difference,” he said quietly, “I think you were dealt with unfairly.”

She shook her head. “I got what I deserved,” she said.

“I may be overstepping,” Romano said. He hesitated. “Actually, I would be overstepping.”

“You can say whatever you want,” she told him. “I can take it.”

“It’s not something I want to say. It’s something I want to ask.” He hesitated again. “Were you genuine in your feelings for the prince?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “I tried not to be. I know I was brought here to do a job. I take that seriously. But I fell in love with him. I couldn’t help it, as much as I tried to.”

Romano nodded. “I’ve known His Highness for a long time,” he said. “I know what he’s like, and I can read him very well. I believe he was genuine in how he felt for you, too.”

“But it doesn’t matter,” Hailey said hopelessly.

“He could never feel that way now. Not now that he knows the truth. He’ll only ever see me as a liar.

He’ll want nothing to do with his child — I can’t even blame him for that.

My God, he thinks I got pregnant on purpose because I thought there was something romantic or sordid about an affair with a prince.

That was never what it was about for me. It was Enzo I fell for, not his title.”

“Of course it was,” Romano said gently.

She looked at him. He was glancing in the rearview mirror, and she was able to make eye contact with him. “You believe me?”

“Sure I believe you,” he said. “I’ve spent enough time with you to know what kind of person you are, Ms. Jones.”

“Then why doesn’t Enzo know? He’s spent far more time with me than you have.”

“Well, His Highness has never truly trusted anyone with his heart,” Romano said. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but your situation is so unique, and I don’t like to see you go away feeling as though you were betrayed.”

“I don’t have the right to feel betrayed,” Hailey said.

But he had hit on exactly what she was feeling.

It was betrayal. Even though she had lied to Enzo, even though she knew she had to answer for that, there was a big part of her that had held out hope that he’d hear her story and understand that he had been the one to change her mind.

That he would realize she’d been called here to do a job and had found herself in desperate conflict once she had gotten to know him.

He hadn’t given her the benefit of the doubt. He had rushed to assume the worst about her.

She did feel betrayed.

“What you need to understand,” Romano said, “is that His Highness has never been in love. I would have told you that he never would be. He never seemed to want that. He would spend nights with women, and then he would move on from them. He’s used to the sort of woman who’s enamored with royalty, who just wants to bed a prince.

It’s a sort of retreat to a place of safety for him to assume that’s all you were.

That way he can tell himself he didn’t lose anything that really mattered when he lost you. ”

“He didn’t have to lose me,” Hailey said quietly.

Romano didn’t answer that.

And Hailey thought, Maybe he did have to lose me .

Enzo certainly knew the politics of royalty better than she did.

Maybe there had been no hope. Maybe the position had been impossible.

And if Enzo had truly believed there was no hope and no way forward, maybe it made sense for him to retreat, emotionally, into what he knew.

Maybe it really was easier for him to believed that she had lied to him about everything.

She could empathize, she decided.

But she couldn’t stand the thought of leaving things that way. If she was never going to see him again, if there was never going to be a chance to clear the air in person, the least she could do was make sure there was a chance he would get to hear how she really felt.

“Romano?” she said as the car pulled up in front of the hotel.

“Yes?”

“Would you come upstairs with me?” she asked. “I’d like to write Enzo a letter. Would it be too much to ask for you to deliver it to him?”

Romano was quiet for a moment.

“No,” he said at last. “No, that wouldn’t be too much.”

“I don’t want to get you into trouble,” she said quickly. “If you think the king would do something in retaliation if he found out… I don’t want you to lose your job.”

“I care for His Highness too,” Romano told her.

“I think it would benefit him to hear some last words from you. He might not be ready to absorb them or believe them just yet, but to have a letter that he can look at when his emotions have calmed, when he’s ready to think about all this logically — I think that would be good for him.

I’m willing to take the risk to get it to him. ”

She sighed. “Thank you,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

“I don’t want to give you false hope,” Romano said.

“Even if I do give him this letter, it’s very unlikely you’ll hear from him again.

I think he might read it in a few months and come to realize that you never meant him any harm.

I think he might be able to look back on your time together fondly.

But for him to go against the crown and try to return you to Monteverde over the wishes of his father — that would be something else entirely. ”

“I understand,” Hailey said, her heart dropping. She hadn’t really believed that a letter would bring Enzo back to her, but to hear it confirmed that it wouldn’t still hurt.

Still, she would try. She would let him know that she hadn’t meant to hurt him. And if she could leave him with that, maybe one day he would be able to look back on her with fondness — if not love.

Whether she would be able to look back on him that way remained to be seen.

Romano parked the car and they went up to her room together. Hailey looked at her suitcase, which lay open on an armchair near the bed. “Never got around to unpacking,” she murmured. “I suppose that’s for the best.”

“There’s a ticket waiting for you at the airport,” Romano said sympathetically. “The king gave me orders to take you there this evening. But if you’d rather wait until morning, I don’t think it will be a problem.”

“What would I gain by waiting?” Hailey sighed. “But I guess I will. It just feels so… wrong to fly out of here that quickly. It feels like admitting guilt. I think I’ll feel better about it if I leave on my own terms.”

“I can understand that.”

“You won’t get into any trouble if I delay my departure?”

“I’ll just tell the king you weren’t ready to go tonight,” Romano says. “He doesn’t expect me to toss you over my shoulder and drag you to the airport. He’s a strict man, but not a cruel one. He won’t find out about the delay until after you’ve gone. He won’t like it, but he will accept it.”

Hailey nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Truly, Romano — thank you so much for your kindness. This would have been so much worse without you.”

“Write your letter,” Romano suggested. “I’ll step outside, if you’d like, so that you can be alone with your thoughts.”

Hailey nodded. “I would appreciate it.”

He gave her a sympathetic smile and moved to the door.

Hailey found a notepad and a pen next to the phone.

It made her feel worse that her final words to Enzo would be on hotel stationery — perhaps a reminder that she had stayed at the hotel that his father had booked for her instead of the one he had tried to get her himself.

She wondered whether he had put that little detail together yet.

If he hadn’t, he surely would, and it would add another layer to his feelings of betrayal.

She sat down at the table and held the pen over the paper. For a moment, she pondered what to write — and then the words began to come.

Dear Enzo,

I cannot possibly tell you how sorry I am.

I’m so sorry for the way things are ending between us. This was miles away from what I wanted, and wasn’t what I believed would happen. I had faith that we might be able to make this work. I wish we had.

I’m sorry that I lied to you. I know you might find that hard to understand and harder to forgive, and I know I have to live with that fact.

From the moment I began to fall for you, I knew I would come face-to-face with a moment in which I’d have to admit who I really was and what I had done. I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

I didn’t know how much it would hurt when the truth finally came out.

But I want you to know that if I had known, I would have done it anyway. I would have done everything just the same. I regret that I lied to you, but I couldn’t have known before I met you that you would be so much more than just another job to me.

I don’t regret falling in love with you.

I never could.

I will always love you. I know that might be hard for you to believe under the circumstances. I hope that someday you will be able to believe it. Until that day comes, I’ll keep on hoping.

Love always,

Hailey .

She folded the paper in half quickly, not wanting to give herself time to reread and second-guess her words. She didn’t want to spend any more time than was absolutely necessary thinking about what she had decided to say. It would never be perfect. She would have to settle for good enough.

She went to the door and opened it.

Romano was waiting for her. “Ready?”

She nodded and handed him the paper. “Just see that he gets it,” she said. “I know you can’t make him read it.”

“I can’t,” Romano agreed. “But you have my word that it will get to him.”

“Thank you,” Hailey said again. “Your help has meant everything to me.”

Romano smiled sadly. “I’ll be here in the morning to take you to the airport, all right?”

“You don’t have to take me. I can find my own way.”

His gaze dropped.

“Oh,” she realized. “You do have to take me.”

“I do. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be,” she said. “I’m glad. It means I’ll get to see you one last time before I go.”

She waved him off, went over to her bed, and collapsed with a sigh.

How could it be that everything had gone so wrong so fast?