Chapter One
The spacious ballroom on the third floor of the Triton hotel was positively buzzing with activity as servers in black uniforms placed dining necessities on the plethora of round tables littering the room. I tapped my lower lip with a pen, the clipboard resting against the inside of my elb ow slowly filling up with check marks and scribbled notes. I was being a bit of a hard ass on the staff today, but I didn’t want to screw up my first big assignment.
I had been Willard Triton’s personal assistant for three months now and he was finally saddling me with some of the bigger projects involving the towering, New York hotel. Triton was getting older, almost into his eighties, and he knew he needed help with the clerical side of things—help that his self-entitled heir and son, Giovanni, couldn’t and wouldn’t provide. Willard was a kindly old man, but ruthless in business. He was careful to make me earn my stripes with smaller, less-important tasks over the past few months in an attempt to gauge my abilities. I had practically jumped for joy when he’d plopped this project on my desk a few weeks ago.
The Triton Metropolitan Ball. It was an annual event held late into the autumn months for the rich and well-to-do from all around the world. Triton was wealthy and influential enough that to snub such an invitation was akin to death in the public eye as a figure with any sort of pull or power. Not only was it my job to oversee the set up of the ballroom, but I was also to personally escort and provide my services to two of Mr. Triton’s most esteemed guests. I bit down softly on the tip of my pen as my eyes scanned the guest list once more, settling on a particular pair of names with a mix of giddy excitement and anxious dread at my full responsibility for the entertainment of said men. Sebastian and Frederick de Wit, members of the Dutch royal family. I was in charge of ensuring the pleasant evening of two living, breathing princes . If I wasn’t so intent on everything being arranged perfectly before the guests arrived, I probably would have offered myself more time to realize what a fantasy I had stumbled into. I’d dreamed of being a princess as a little girl, dreamed of even just one prince appearing to sweep me off my feet and away from the troubles and stresses of normal life.
“Pardon me, ma’am,” A timid voice snapped me from my pondering. “ but where should be put this?”
“That should be the missing centerpiece for table twenty-nine.” I said quickly, shaking my head and ridding myself of the silly memories and the girlish fantasies. Today was not the day to lose my head in awestruck reverence of two men, royalty or not. Today was the day to prove my worth to Mr. Triton. He had been wary about hiring me so fresh out of university, but I’d made a hard case for my merit as an employee and my ability to grow under the proper guidance. I couldn’t let him down now.
I glanced at my sterling silver watch and realized it was about time to get myself ready. I had a beautiful red gown picked out and paid for by Mr. Triton himself that would offset my dark curls stunningly and make the shade of ruby red lipstick I’ d picked out pop even more. I trusted the staff to finish up with the final tasks on their own but made sure Leo, the head staffer, knew to call my cell if anything went wrong. The ball was set to start in less than two hours and guests would begin showing up in half that time.
I hurried to the elevator and rode it up to the twenty-seventh floor where I had a room reserved. I slid the keycard quickly and latched the door behind me, slipping out of my plain black skirt and dark blue blouse. Standing there in my rather plain-looking underwear, I took a moment to scrutinize my appearance in the full-length mirror opposite the cushiony king-size bed. A slight frown touched my lips as I thought my hips probably curved outward a little too much, my stomach wasn’t quite as flat as