Page 51 of Royally Knocked Up
“Hear, hear,” Luca said happily, raising a shot of his own. “Maybe we can get someone to shoot pictures of us tonight. Get into some magazine and really stick it to them.”
Enzo knew that he would regret it in the morning if he were to do something like that.
But right now, the idea sounded great.
“You’re on,” he said, and grabbed another drink.
CHAPTER 20
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, Iwouldbe 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 wasEnzoI 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. Itwasbetrayal. 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.
Shedidfeel 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.
