Five

I was proven wrong. Oh, how wrong I was! The young Prince turned out to be more handsome than I imagined he would be.

I had been cleaning the trophy room when I saw an award that caught my attention. It was of a man handing something to a small boy and was made of glass. It was just so beautiful. It had been awarded to the best charity events organiser. I couldn't help myself but carry it out from its shelf. I was going to read the name of it's owner when I was startled by a deep voice behind me.

"Careful not to drop that," it said.

I jumped and spun around ungracefully and almost lost my footing. My heart jumped in my throat as the award wobbled in my hands and almost fell out but I luckily caught it. I let out a deep breath and then looked at my intruder who was standing at the doorway. I froze immediately.

He had brown eyes and dark brown hair gelled back on his head. His nose was sharp and had a long bridge. His lips were so full and pink with a little heart shape in the middle of the upper lip. His chiselled jaw was peppered with light stubble probably from a few days of no shaving.

His eyes travelled from my face and slowly made their way down my torso all the way to my feet and back up. He bit his lower lip and I just knew, this guy was trouble.

"You scared the living day lights out of me, duffer," I said.

I did not know who he was then. I thought he was one of the male workers here but then I started second guessing myself when I took in his casual shirt and jeans. The men who worked inside the palace wore black suits with white shirts and black ribbon ties. Even the gardeners had their own uniform of a grey overalls.

"So, you think I am incompetent or that I'm stupid?" he asked, cocking his left eyebrow and crossing his arms over his seemingly hard chest. He had to be hitting the gym if you asked me.

"Both actually," I said as I replaced the award back to it's place.

I heard footsteps behind me so I turned and found him walking towards me with a smirk on his face. He came all the way up in my space but I stood my ground. I utterly refused to be intimidated by a stranger. Spices. He smelled like spices.

"I could show you exactly how competent I am," he said. His breath smelled like mint.

"Huh, very cocky. If you may please, I need to finish up my work. As you can see most everyone is busy and that entails me unfortunately. Though I would really enjoy the chitchat."

"I doubt you'll have a job after I have a word with Mrs Baxter," he said with a smug look on his face.

I froze. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"My word is as good as my father's."

Wait a minute. "Who are you?"

"Henry." And with that, he left.

Henry. I did not know any Henrys who worked here so that only meant he was a part of the royal household or he was a guest. But then I remembered mother telling me about a Prince Henry. I put two and two together. Bloody hell! Prince Henry. He's the young prince.

The king had only two sons and a daughter. Prince Alexander was the first and Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth were twins. I only knew much from my mother but I had never cared to look at their photographs on newspapers or anywhere for that matter.

Oh no! I was going to get my butt kicked out on my second day. I had to apologise! But where to find him? I now had to learn to keep my smart mouth shut. For all I knew, I could have been talking to the king himself and I wouldn't have known. I could not screw this up. If I wasn't already screwed.