Page 6 of Royally Knocked Up (Princes of Passion #1)

HAILEY

“ I ’m surprised you wanted to socialize with me,” Enzo said as the two of them stepped through the wide double doors at the back of the resort that led into the open air.

“Why?” Hailey asked him. “You were a little standoffish, but you weren’t that rude.”

“Not because of that,” Enzo said. “It’s just that not many people would choose to spend time with a prince. They’d be too intimidated.”

“I’m not intimidated by you.”

“I can tell.”

Hailey took a breath. She knew she had to be careful here — she couldn’t allow him to realize that she had come here knowing she would be working alongside a prince before she had even arrived here.

She took a breath. “I was surprised when Isla let me know that a member of the royal family would be here while I was,” she said. “I knew your family owned this resort, but I assumed that none of you would have much to do with the day-to-day operations.”

“We usually wouldn’t.” He didn’t explain why things were different now, and Hailey didn’t ask. She hoped he would interpret that as her simply not wanting to pry too deeply into his affairs. The truth was, he was opening up to her, and she didn’t want to spook him and cause him to withdraw.

“Well, I told myself that I was just going to have to get comfortable with the idea of working in close proximity to a member of the royal family,” Hailey explained.

It did have me feeling a little jumpy at first — I wondered if I might accidentally do something to give offense.

But then I thought — well, I’m an American.

A clever prince will realize that I have no experience with royalty, and he’ll give me the benefit of the doubt.

And I think I was right to feel that way, because in spite of the minor tension between the two of us so far, you have been pretty understanding toward me while I figure out the protocol here. And I want to thank you for that.”

Enzo nodded. “You haven’t been out of line or anything,” he assured her. “A little rude, yes, but nothing that would have caused a diplomatic incident.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Hailey said.

“What brings you all the way to Monteverde anyway? I know it’s not just that you wanted to work at a ski resort. You can’t convince me that you don’t have ski resorts in America.”

Hailey had to laugh at that. “No, you’re right, we do,” she said. “And plenty of them.”

“So why come all the way over here?”

“Culture.” Hailey had prepared this answer. “I wanted to see the world.”

“And you picked Monteverde?”

“Well, Monteverde was where I got hired,” Hailey said. “But I might have picked it anyway. It’s awfully beautiful here. The mountains — gorgeous. Like nothing we have back at home.”

“Oh, come on. I know you have mountains in the States.”

Hailey laughed. “No, you’re right, we do,” she said. “But the good mountains, the really big ones, are out west, and I’ve lived my whole life on the East Coast. We have mountains too, but they don’t compare to what you have here.”

Enzo nodded as if that made sense to him.

“And the city,” Hailey went on. “Luria, it’s called?”

“That’s right.”

“I didn’t get to see much of it. My plane landed there and I came straight here. But I did get a glimpse. The architecture seemed so beautiful. I really hope I have the chance to spend some more time there before I leave the country, so I can see a bit more of it.”

“How long are you planning on staying in Monteverde?” Enzo asked her as the two of them started down the path that led around the perimeter of the resort.

“I’m not sure,” Hailey admitted. “I don’t have a firm plan.

” She certainly couldn’t tell him she would be here for the next two months — that was a span of time that would carry significance for him.

“I thought I would see how much I enjoyed this job and decide as I go whether I want to stick around a little longer or not.”

“So you might just get on a plane and fly off any day now?”

Hailey laughed. “Well, nothing that dramatic,” she said. “I’d want to give Isla fair warning before I just bailed. But I don’t know. If another opportunity came up, or if I felt like I’d done everything I wanted to do here, I might make new plans and speak to her about leaving.”

Enzo hummed noncommittally.

“What about you?” she asked him. “How long do you plan on being here?” Even though she knew the answer, she was interested to hear how he would respond — would he be honest with her, or would he come up with a story?

“Oh, well, you know,” Enzo said. “My father likes to know that things at the resort are being handled according to his standards. That’s why he sent me down here in the first place.”

That made Hailey feel better about the fact that she wasn’t being honest with him. “So you’ll be here until you’re satisfied that your family’s standards are being met?”

“Something like that, yes.”

She nodded. “It must be hard.”

“What must?”

“Being royalty. Having to think about things like that.”

He looked at her. “I think you might be the first person who’s ever said something like that to me.”

“Really?”

“Well, people tend to think about the perks of being royal more than they do about the hardships. And I’m not saying there aren’t any perks,” he added quickly. “But even my closest friends act like the only thing they see about my life is how much fun I must be having.”

“Oh.” That actually did surprise Hailey. “Are they jealous of you?”

“Some of them are, I think.” He looked at her. “But you aren’t.”

“God, no.” Then she realized how that would have sounded. “I’m sorry. I’m really not trying to be rude.”

But to her relief, he was smiling. “You weren’t rude that time,” he said. “I don’t expect everyone I meet to be jealous of me. I think it’s odd when people are.”

“I think I would hate to be royal,” Hailey admitted. “It seems like so much pressure.”

“You wouldn’t like to be a princess? I thought all little American girls had that dream.”

“Is that supposed to be an American thing?”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen it in the movies, that’s why I thought it was.”

She laughed. “I guess I wanted to be the heroes who fought the baddies,” she said. “I wanted to be Wonder Woman, not Cinderella.”

“I like that,” he said.

“What did you daydream about when you were that age? What did you think you would be when you grew up? Or did you just always know that you were going to be the prince?”

“Well, no,” Enzo said. “It was different when I was growing up.”

“Different in what way?”

He looked at her. “Do you actually care about this?”

“Sure I do,” she said. “If we’re going to be friends, we need to get to know some things about each other, right?”

“And you meant that. You want the two of us to be friends.”

“Do you not?”

“I guess I thought that you might just be trying to bet close to a prince.”

“But you don’t think that now,” Hailey said.

“No, I have to admit, you don’t seem the type.”

“So what was so different when you were young?”

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and stared off into the distance. “I’m guessing you don’t know a lot about the history of the Monteverdian royal family.”

“Not very much, no.”

“Well, my father only recently became the king. Actually, he isn’t the king at all yet — his coronation is planned for a few months from now, so technically he’s only acting king.

When I was growing up, it was my uncle who sat on the throne, and while technically I was a part of the line of succession, I was far enough down that it wasn’t something anyone ever took seriously. ”

“So what happened?” Hailey asked.

“My uncle abdicated the throne.”

“Why?”

“My father thinks it’s because he didn’t have any children — I think that’s probably the right answer — and he wanted to have control of who would inherit.

If he had died as king, you see, the decision would have been given to Parliament.

My father might have inherited, but it might also have been my uncle’s wife.

That wouldn’t have been so bad. But then, if she had died as queen, the title would have passed out of our bloodline altogether and to her closest blood relative, and nobody wanted that. ”

“Why? Was her family problematic in some way?”

“I don’t know them, to be perfectly honest. I’m sure they were vetted.

It’s just that the Mancini family has been on the throne for hundreds of years — since Monteverde gained sovereign statehood, in fact.

Having a member of my family on the throne is a thing that means something — not just to us, but to the people of this country. ”

“I see,” Hailey said. “Your uncle stepped down so that your father could be appointed king because he has heirs.”

“That’s right. My older brother Giorgio is now the next in line to the throne, and Giorgio has children of his own, so our family line will continue.”

“And what about you?” Hailey asked.

He looked at her. “What about me?”

“What has to happen for you to inherit the throne?”

“Giorgio and his children are all ahead of me in the line of succession, so that isn’t something that’s likely to happen.”

“Oh,” Hailey said. “That’s too bad.”

“No, it isn’t,” Enzo said fervently. “A throne is the last thing I want.”

“You wouldn’t like to be king?”

“I don’t even like that my father is going to be king. It’s so much pressure. I was much happier when my uncle was in charge.” He sighed.

Hailey pondered that. It made sense, she thought — his chosen lifestyle was starting to get him into trouble now that his father was about to assume the throne.

It was something that hadn’t been a problem for him before, and that could only be due to the fact that he had had plenty of distance from the throne and the palace.

It simply hadn’t mattered what he was doing so much when his uncle had been king.

“So when you were growing up,” she said, “you had more distance from the throne. You didn’t think so much about being a member of the royal family.”

“Well, it was always a part of my life. There were always affairs of state to attend. I grew up knowing how to conduct myself in front of dignitaries. But there was also a great deal more freedom. I did have the chance to think about what I might like to do when I grew up.”

“And?”

He grinned. “You’ll laugh.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

“Well, I thought it might be fun to be a movie star.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “You did, really?”

“I loved watching movies. American ones, especially — well, I’m sure you know that all the best movies are American. It’s one thing you Yankees do better than anybody else.”

She laughed. “All my favorite movies are American,” she confessed. “But I’m sure I’m biased.”

“Well, maybe you are. But you’re also right in this instance. Anyway, I had daydreams about moving to the States and being a cowboy in a western movie, or maybe a TV series.”

She laughed. “I can’t believe it. You wanted to be a cowboy!”

“Doesn’t every little boy sort of want to be a cowboy?”

“I guess they do,” Hailey agreed. “I didn’t expect that to be true of the prince of Monteverde, that’s all.”

But maybe she had been putting too much importance on the title. He was the prince, it was true, but he was also just a person. When he was a boy, he had been just a child, and it made sense that he would have had dreams like those of every other little kid.

Hailey wasn’t sure whether understanding that about him was going to make it easier or harder for her to do her job — but it was definitely going to be a factor.