Page 10 of Royally Knocked Up
“I was told that the staff would be checking to see whether one of the luxury suites might be available for my use.” He had beenassigned to a staff suite, which was infuriating. This was still his family’s resort. He might be here on a ridiculous assignment from his father, but he wasn’tstaff.
Isla nodded. “As far as I’m aware, those rooms are all occupied. You know better than anyone how quickly this place books.”
“Perhaps someone can be downgraded to a standard room.”
“I would need the permission of the owner to make a move like that,” Isla said.
“Well, you’re looking at him.”
She shifted uncomfortably and said nothing.
He understood. “You won’t do it without my father’s say-so.”
“He was clear that the day-to-day operations of the lodge were not to be disrupted by your presence,” Isla said. “He told me to let him know if anything like that happened.”
“I don’t see how giving me a room befitting my station is a disruption.” Enzo sighed. “You’ll let me know if anything opens up.”
“Of course,” Isla said. “In the meantime, I’m sure you’ll find the staff suite very comfortable.”
Enzo was sure it was fine. His father had always emphasized the importance of treating members of staff well. It was just the principle of the thing. How could he be relegated to staff quarters when his familyownedthis place? It was wrong.
He wandered away from Isla, down the staff hall. He’d never been in this part of the resort before today. There had been no reason to come this way. It was functional, where the rest of the resort was beautiful. Instead of the heavy oak doors that madeup the rest of the building, the door to his room here was made of gray fiberglass. He unlocked it with a key instead of a key card — for some reason, that felt significant — and went inside.
It was small. That was the first thing he had noticed when he had been shown to this room upon his arrival, but he hadn’t spent enough time here then to really register the size of it. Now he did. There was hardly room to move with all his suitcases here. He was going to have to stow them under the bed or something — but the bed was another problem. Instead of his usual massive king bed, this one was a queen size that seemed barely large enough to accommodate two people.
Not that there were going to be any instances of two people sharingthisbed. Even Enzo knew better than to conduct an affair with a guest or a member of the staff. If his father had threatened banishment for drinking at a bar, there was no telling what he would do if he found out Enzo had been philandering with his employees.
He grabbed the ice bucket. He would go get some ice, he decided, and then he would see if it was possible to order a drink to be sent to this room. No one had ever mentioned anything about his having to go straight-edge while he was here. Surely the bar would serve him.
But as he left his room and made his way down the hall, he saw the American woman walking toward him in the opposite direction.
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Your Highness.”
Even though he’d allowed Isla to call him by his first name, he kind of liked the honorific in her American accent. “Hailey.”
“Where are you headed? I’d assumed you’d be sleeping it off in your room.”
“Sleeping it off?”
“I’m not blind,” she said. “I can tell you’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk. Maybe a little tipsy.”
“Right.”
“And I’m really not thesleep it offtype.”
“Forgive me. I didn’t realize that was a type.”
“If you’re going to spend your time at parties, you have to be able to do it without it interfering with you the life you want to live,” he said. “I’m far too young to spend every day in bed until three in the afternoon recovering from the fun I had the night before. Do you do that?”
“I don’t have as much fun as you do,” she said. “So I don’t require the same recovery time.”
He grinned. “Well, that’s a pity.”
He passed her and went around the corner, trying to ignore the slight unease he felt.
She was an American, and yet it was clear that she knew him by reputation.
