Page 5 of Royally Knocked Up
The king sat in a chair at the head of the room. He was probably in his sixties, she thought, but he looked healthy and vigorous. She approached him, wondering whether she was supposed to bow.
“You are the American investigator,” the king said, narrowing his eyes as if to see her better.
“I’m Hailey Jones, sir. I mean, Your Highness.”
The king nodded. “Try to relax, Ms. Jones,” he said. “I understand you’re not familiar with royal protocol.”
“Your Highness, if I may ask — why did you bring me here from America? Surely you have private investigators here in Monteverde.”
“Yes, but I needed someone my son wouldn’t be able to identify.”
“Is your son the subject of my investigation, then?”
“The job I have for you isn’t exactly an investigation,” the king said. “I chose to employ a private investigator because I know you have the skills I need — stealth and an awareness of your surroundings. Was I right?”
“Yes.” Humility was one thing, but Hailey wasn’t one to sell herself short.
“That’s good,” the king said. “I’m going to be placing you at a ski resort that my family owns. My youngest son, Enzo, will be there as well. And your job is simple — keep an eye on him.”
“You’ve hired me to be a babysitter?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” the king said. “There have been unflattering headlines about my family lately thanks to Enzo’s behavior. That’s why I’m sending him to the resort. And I need someone there to make sure he doesn’t draw any more negative attention in the weeks leading up to my coronation. The important factor, though, is that Enzo cannot find out who you are or what you’re doing there. If he does, he’ll be all the more determined to rebel, and I don’t think you’ll have a prayer of being able to bring him to heel. This is important to the entire country of Monteverde, Ms. Jones. Are you up to the challenge?”
It was an unusual job — like nothing Hailey had ever done before. “I just don’t understand why this is something you would bring in a private investigator for.”
“Because I trust that you have the skill set I need. Because you know how to watch people without making them aware that you’re doing so. Am I wrong to think that?”
“No, I can do what you’re asking,” Hailey said.
“I know you can. You saw the sum you’d be paid, I assume?”
Hailey nodded. It was as much as she’d ever been paid for any three jobs in the past, which made it very difficult to shrug off the contract.
“Will you accept?” the king asked her. “I don’t mean to rush you, truly, but I do need an answer from you. My son is already on his way to Vista Piccola, where our resort is located. I need you to start that way at once, and if you are going to refuse me, I need to find someone else to take this on quickly.”
Hailey nodded slowly. “I can do it,” she said. “You’ll only need me for a few weeks, correct?”
“I think two months, at the outside,” he said. “That’s when the coronation is due to occur — two months from now. Once that happens, I should be able to absorb my son’s scandalous behavior a bit more effectively. It’s only now, in these vulnerable weeks, that he poses a real problem.”
“What has he done that’s so scandalous?”
The king sighed. “I’ll give you a file of documents to read on your way to Vista Piccola,” he said. “That will give you some idea of what you’re dealing with.”
“One more thing,” Hailey said. “I was told that my suitcase had been collected, but I haven’t seen it yet.”
“Your luggage is on its way to La Fantasia right now.”
“La Fantasia is the resort?”
“Yes.”
“What if I had said no to this job?”
“You would have been put back on a plane, and your luggage would have been flown back to the States on a different aircraft.”
“In other words, you were making this as convenient as you possibly could for yourself, without really considering any inconvenience to me.”
The king raised his eyebrows. “I must say, as a member of the royal family, I’m unused to being spoken to that way.”
