Page 22 of Royally Knocked Up (Princes of Passion #1)

ENZO

E nzo met Romano in front of the house. “You’ll give me a ride home, won’t you?”

“Of course, Your Highness.” Romano gestured to the car. “May I ask how it went in there?”

“Did you bring me here last night?”

“I did,” Romano said. “Your friend Luca called me to pick you up. I suppose you don’t remember any of that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize, Your Highness.”

“No, there is,” Enzo said. “I shouldn’t have had so much to drink that I wouldn’t be able to be accountable for myself. You shouldn’t have had to deal with me in that state.”

“Well, it was no hardship at all,” Romano said. “I’m glad you got home safely, that’s all.”

“It isn’t going to happen again,” Enzo told him. “It won’t be like that in the future, Romano, I promise. Even if I do need a ride from you, I won’t be incapacitated like that.”

Romano gave him a gentle smile. “Truly, Your Highness, all you did was sleep on the way home. You didn’t cause me any trouble at all. But I must say, if you’re determined to turn over a new leaf, I support that — I think it would be to your own benefit to do so.”

Enzo nodded. “For now, I’d just like to go home,” he said. “I need to get some rest and start putting everything that’s happened behind me.”

He got into the car.

There was an envelope sitting on the seat.

He picked it up without examining it very closely and held it out. “You left something back here,” he said.

“Oh, that isn’t mine,” Romano said.

“What do you mean, it isn’t yours?”

“Have a look.”

Enzo turned it over.

His own name was written on the front of the envelope, in a feminine script that made his heart skip a beat.

He knew at once who must have written it, of course. Who else could it have been? Who could have gotten a letter to Romano?

It could only be Hailey.

“When did she give you this?” he asked quietly.

“Last night, when I dropped her off at the hotel,” Romano said. “I would have given it to you then, but…”

“But I was too out of my head to have even read it,” Enzo said moodily. He could have had this letter last night, when Hailey would still have been in the country! Would that have changed anything?

Honestly, he didn’t know. Maybe it was best that she was gone. Maybe it was best that he didn’t have the option to go and find her. He shouldn’t go after her. That would be a mistake.

He tore open the envelope and read the letter.

As he did, his eyes grew wide, and his heart began to sink.

Every word was a punch to the gut.

She couldn’t have written with this kind of sincerity if she hadn’t meant it. She couldn’t have penned these words if they hadn’t been true.

And why would she have tried? Knowing that she was being forced to leave the country, knowing that things were over between the two of them…

if she had used this letter to beg him to return to her, he might not have trusted it, but that wasn’t what she’d done.

She just wanted him to know , she insisted.

She just wanted him to understand that she’d never wanted to hurt him, and that her feelings had always been sincere.

And he believed her.

It killed him to admit it, but he believed her — and now it was too late.

He put the letter down slowly, staring forward out the windshield of the car.

“Your Highness?” Romano said gently.

“She’s gone,” Enzo said, feeling hollow. “I’m too late. If I hadn’t gone out and gotten drunk last night, maybe I could have caught her before she left — but she’s gone.”

Romano turned. “She isn’t gone.”

“What?”

“I just dropped her off at the airport about half an hour ago,” he said.

The pounding of Enzo’s heart made him nearly dizzy. “She’s still in the country?”

“I believe so. It’s unlikely she could have gotten through customs that fast, let alone onto a plane.”

“Romano — you have to take me to the airport. Right now.”

Twenty minutes later, escorted by members of airport security, Enzo found himself walking past the customs line to Gate F1, where the plane to Baltimore was waiting to board.

He rarely felt thankful for his status as a member of the royal family, but right now he couldn’t imagine having ever been more grateful for something in all his life.

A civilian would not have been able to do what he was doing right now — bypass security and walk to the gate without a ticket.

It was only the fact that he had been recognized as the prince that was allowing him to do this.

Anyone else, he knew, would have lost Hailey here.

He still had a chance.

And when he reached the gate, he saw that his determination was going to pay off.

She was sitting in one of the uncomfortable airport chairs, a magazine open in her lap.

A quick glance told him it was the same one his father had had — she was reading the article about herself.

His stomach dropped. He wanted to yank the magazine out of her hands — it had been the source of all the trouble.

No. I’m the source of all the trouble .

His father shouldn’t have sent Hailey away — but more to the point, Enzo should have stopped him. He should have intervened. He should have told Hailey right away that he wanted her to stay, that he wanted to hear her side of the story. He should have put his faith in her.

No wonder she didn’t tell me the truth about herself and what she was doing here in the first place. She didn’t trust me with it — and as it turns out, she was right not to .

Nothing had ever made him feel so ashamed — but there was still time to set it right.

He crossed the concourse and took the seat beside her. “Hailey.”

She looked up. Her eyes widened as they met his. “Enzo?”

“Can we talk?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t just let you leave.” He drew a deep breath. “Romano gave me your letter.”

Her cheeks colored. “I thought you wouldn’t read it right away. I imagined you reading it in a few weeks. When you weren’t angry with me anymore — or at least, not as angry.”

“I’m not angry with you,” he told her.

“Enzo, you don’t have to lie. I understand your anger. I would be angry too, in your shoes. And it’s all right. I just hope that someday…”

“Hailey, stop.” He took her hand and held it between both of his. “Will you listen to me? Please?”

She nodded slowly.

“I mean it,” he told her. “I’m not angry.

I don’t think I ever was. I was hurt . I thought…

well, when I found out the truth about what you’d been doing in Monteverde, I thought you couldn’t possibly ever have loved me.

I felt like a fool. I thought I had allowed myself to develop feelings for someone who was only playing games with me. ”

“I wasn’t,” she whispered. “I was never playing games. Everything I felt for you was real.”

“And I should have given you a chance to explain that,” he said. “Even in the face of this new information — even knowing that you were hired by my father — I know you, Hailey. I know when you’re telling the truth and when you’re lying.”

“But you didn’t know,” she said softly. “I’ve been lying to you from the moment we met.

Of course you would feel betrayed. I’m sorry, Enzo.

I wanted to tell you the truth, but I didn’t know what to say.

I’ve never fallen in love with someone I’ve been hired to keep an eye on before.

To be honest with you, I don’t think I’ve ever been in love before at all. Not like this.”

“Neither have I,” he told her. “And that’s why I can’t let you go.

No matter what we have to get past, no matter how complicated our beginning is — I can’t let you go, Hailey.

I want you to stay here in Monteverde. I want us to work this out, try to make a go of things.

Try to build a life together. I want us to raise our baby together. I’m not giving up on you.”

“Oh, Enzo. How can I say yes? Your father is the king, and he’s ordered me out of the country.”

“We’ll face him together,” Enzo told her. “If he insists that you have to go, I’ll go with you.”

“You can’t do that.”

“What else can I do? I can’t let you go without me.

If it’s what has to happen for us to be together then I’ll go with you, and that will be that.

But I think, if I explain it to him in those terms, my father might reevaluate his position.

After all, we’re going to have his grandchild.

That means something to him. He may be stern, but he’s not heartless. ”

“I can’t believe you’re saying all this,” Hailey whispered.

“When I wrote you that letter — Enzo, I didn’t think it would bring you back to me.

I didn’t imagine I had the power to do something like that.

I just wanted you to know that my love for you was real.

I wanted you to be able to look back on me with fondness someday. ”

“I don’t want to look back on you at all,” Enzo countered. He stroked her cheek with one hand, and she closed her eyes briefly. “I don’t want you to be a memory, Hailey. I don’t want you to be a piece of my past. I want you to be my present. My future.”

A tear slipped free of her eye and he wiped it from her cheek with his thumb.

“Just tell me if this is what you want,” he said, searching her face. “If you want it, we’ll find a way to make it happen. If you don’t want to be with me, I’ll let you go, but if you do…”

“Of course it’s what I want,” she whispered. “It’s all I’ve wanted for so long. But I didn’t believe I’d ever be able to have it.”

Warmth radiated through Enzo. He rose to his feet, pulling her up with him, and took her in his arms.

And for the first time in what felt like forever — though it had been only a few days — he kissed her.

The kiss was deep and passionate, and for a moment, Enzo forgot they were standing in the middle of an airport. All that mattered was Hailey, here in his arms.

“Your Highness!”

They broke apart.

A man was standing a few feet away with a camera in his hands. “Your Highness, is this the American woman who’s rumored to be having your baby? Would you like to comment on your relationship?”

Hailey’s cheeks went bright red. She looked up at Enzo.

Enzo faced the reporter head-on and smiled. “We’ll have an official statement in a few days,” he said. “But for now I’ll say that we couldn’t be more excited about the pregnancy, and we’re eager to figure out what our lives are going to look like as we start this journey.”

He gestured to the camera. “You might want to get that thing ready,” he said.

And then he pulled Hailey into his arm and kissed her again, aware that their image was likely to be on every news publication in the country by tomorrow morning.

Finally, his reputation was going to reflect something he could truly feel proud of.