CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

WHENDAXWOKE the next morning he wasn’t sure what had woken him. He only knew that he was alone in bed. And he didn’t like that.

Ironic after a lifetime of avoiding exactly that scenario.

Now he knew he wouldn’t rest easy unless Laia was by his side and in his sight.

The previous night came back to him. The moonlit walk to the beach...the glowing water...

Coming back here, making love again and again. With a desperation that—

He sat up. They had to leave today.

Dax was filled with a sense of urgency. He needed to see Laia. Now. To talk to her. To say...

Dammit.

He didn’t know what to say, but what he did know was that this couldn’t be it. He had to see her again. Keep seeing her. In spite of the reasons why he shouldn’t. Or couldn’t.

Maybe she was making breakfast. Dax pulled on a pair of sweats and went downstairs, but even before he reached the kitchen he had the uneasy sense that he was alone.

It was another glorious day in paradise. But it didn’t feel like paradise any more.

He saw a movement in his peripheral vision and a wave of relief went through him.

She hadn’t left yet. She was on the main terrace.

But as he walked out and saw her fully, his sense of urgency faded and turned to wariness.

She turned to face him, and something turned to dust inside him. This was Laia, but not the Laia he’d had in bed last night, or in the phosphorescent sea. This was the Laia he’d met in Monaco, and when he’d first arrived here.

She was wearing a smart cream linen trouser suit. Silk chemise. Hair pulled back. Discreet jewellery.

Princess Laia, Queen-in-waiting. Ready to go back out into the world.

He felt exposed. Still a little fuzzy from sleep and an overload of pleasure. Dressed only in sweats.

He folded his arms across his chest. Retreated behind a wall. ‘Going somewhere?’

For a second something flashed in her eyes, but then it was gone. ‘You knew we only had another twenty-four hours. We can’t leave together, in case we’re seen. Shamil is on his way in the boat to pick you up. You’ll be taken back to your hotel to get your things.’

She had it all worked out and organised.

Dax lifted his wrist and pretended to consult a non-existent watch. ‘By my reckoning there are at least another three hours.’

Did he sound desperate? He felt desperate. And angry. That she was so put-together and not looking as if she was aching for him. As he was for her, even though his body was still heavy from the pleasure of their lovemaking.

He couldn’t help saying, ‘So that’s it? You’ve had your secret passionate fling and now you’re ready to embark on phase two of your life?’

Her cheeks flushed but it gave him no satisfaction.

‘What else did you expect, Dax? Are you saying you want something more?’

He went very still. A sense of exposure prickled over his skin. Memories of his mother screeching and crying.

He said, ‘Are you ready for this to be over?’

Now her eyes did flash. ‘You know nothing else is possible. We can’t have an affair. I can’t have an affair.’

‘Not with someone like me.’

She shook her head. She looked drawn all of a sudden. ‘Even if I wanted to...we couldn’t.’

Dax was tempted to say, But you do want to? But those toxic memories crowded his head again. The desperation he’d seen on his mother’s face. He wasn’t desperate. This was different. Infinitely different.

Laia said, ‘I thought you would be happy to regain your freedom. Your life.’

It was ironic. He could now leave this island, but Dax knew that the last thing he’d feel was a sense of freedom. He saw over her shoulder that the security team’s boat was approaching the pontoon. He also noticed belatedly that she had her suitcases lined up by her feet.

‘You must have been up early.’

‘I couldn’t sleep.’

Yet Dax had slept. Like a baby. After a lifetime of insomnia.

‘Dax... I...’ She stalled. And then she said, ‘I hope you’re going to let people see the real you now.’

He looked at her. Eyes narrowed. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘You’re a good man, Dax, and you’ve been living a lie.’

Dios. This was even worse than he’d thought. She was trying to make him feel better. He welcomed a numbness building inside him.

‘Believe me, I’ve enjoyed raising hell.’

‘I’m sure. But isn’t it time to move on from that life?’

‘Settle down? Like you will?’

‘I have no choice. It’s my destiny. If I don’t have children my line dies with me. That’s hundreds of years of royal lineage.’

‘I’ve already told you that’s not what I’m interested in.’

‘But...won’t you be lonely? After all, Aristedes will be marrying too, having a family.’

‘Like you, he has no choice. But I do. I’ve seen enough of family life to do me for a lifetime. The world doesn’t need my genes passed down. Ari’s are enough.’

As if to mock himself, Dax recalled the vision he’d had the previous night of children on the beach shrieking with excitement over the phosphorescence.

His sense of exposure went nuclear.

He could see the security men getting out of the boat in the distance. Presumably coming to get Laia and bring her luggage down.

He forced himself to look into her green eyes. ‘Don’t pity me in my lonely bachelor life, Laia. I’ll be just fine.’

For a second she looked almost ill, but then she lifted her chin and said, ‘I don’t doubt you will, Dax.’

The security men arrived and wordlessly took Laia’s luggage. She paused a moment before following them and said, ‘Goodbye, Dax. I didn’t expect for any of this to happen...but I’m glad it did. I’m glad to have got to know you.’

Was it his imagination or was her voice husky? And had her eyes been shimmering...?

Before Dax could wonder at that, and figure out what it meant, Laia was down on the beach. One of the security guards helped her up onto the pontoon by taking her hand, and for a second Dax saw red.

His hands were curled into fists at his sides. He only relaxed them when she was on the boat and sitting down. And then it was pulling away.

He could see the other boat arriving in the distance. Just as Laia had promised.

Now that she was no longer in front of him. Dax’s gut swirled with emotions. He didn’t want to think about how it had made him feel to hear her say, ‘I hope you’re going to let people see the real you now.’ The fact that he’d revealed more to her, here on this island, than to anyone else in his life was terrifying.

She’d called him a good man. Even though he’d all but propositioned her to have an affair. A woman who would be crowned Queen in a matter of days. A woman who deserved so much more than a tawdry affair with a playboy prince.

Every residual feeling of being unworthy and guilty swarmed up from his gut, reminding him of who he was and what he couldn’t have. Her. And yet even now her voice came into his head. Telling him that he shouldn’t feel guilty. That he deserved more.

He hadn’t asked for that. He hadn’t asked for any of this. And yet he knew that if someone told him right now that he could turn back time and erase the last week and a bit he would feel sick at the thought. Not to have known her? Not to have felt her moving under him? Over him? And not just the sex... The talking. Laughing. Everything.

‘You’re a gift,’ she’d said to him.

Dax cursed out loud. A guttural curse. Damn her. He turned his back on the sight of her boat disappearing. On her. He was no gift to anyone and it was time for him to remember that. It was time to move on and get his life back on track.

Laia resolutely faced towards where she was going. Even though it killed her, she wouldn’t look back at the island to try and catch a last glimpse of Dax. She’d just heard him confirm that there was no hope. He’d spelled it out clearly. Brutally.

‘I’ve seen enough of family life to do me for a lifetime. The world doesn’t need my genes passed down. Ari’s are enough.’

All he was interested in was an affair. And he knew that wasn’t possible. Not for her. It was time for her to be strong. She’d never needed to be stronger. Not even after her father’s death. It was time to face her future and all that was ahead of her. The job of being Queen to her people.

And what about Laia the woman? asked a little voice.

She was afraid that Laia the woman had been left behind on the island and she might never find her again. From now on she was Queen first, woman second.