CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER FIVE
ACOUPLEOF hours later Laia was making breakfast. She felt on edge at the thought of trying to seduce Dax. It was almost as crazy a notion as keeping him captive on this island.
And how on earth did a virgin go about seducing one of the world’s most renowned and discerning lovers? What did he feel for her? Anything? He was so hard to read.
When he appeared at that moment, with damp hair and a freshly shaven jaw, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
‘Okay?’ he asked.
‘Fine...just...you startled me.’
He was wearing board shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, open at the top. He looked irritatingly relaxed. And gorgeous.
Her head was unhelpfully filled with images of him sprawled naked on the bed. Her cheeks grew warm.
She said quickly, ‘Thank you...for last night. The glass of water. I’m sure I could have made it to bed without being carried, but...’
It was nice.
She shut her mouth quickly, and then said, ‘I’m making breakfast omelettes, if you’d like one?’
‘I would love one, thank you. Is there anything I can do?’
‘You could make the coffee?’
Dax moved around behind her and Laia fumbled with the eggs on the pan, cursing herself silently. She managed to make two fluffy omelettes, in spite of her jitters, and carried them over to the table on two plates.
Dax had poured two coffees and brought over orange juice, bread and pastries.
Laia had only just got used to spending time with Maddi, her half-sister, in the last year. Until she’d met Maddi, she’d had quite a lonely existence, surrounded by people all the time but never in an intimate space.
That was what had made her even more determined not to marry King Aristedes. He would be as important and as busy as her. He’d been so dismissive of her all along that she could envisage a marriage where they lived parallel lives, only coming together for the necessary conjugal relations.
‘Another beautiful day for a prisoner in paradise.’ Dax lifted his glass of orange juice in a little mocking salute.
Laia said, ‘Another week at the most and you’ll have your freedom back.’
She thought of him going back out into the world and resuming his carefree existence. Being photographed with beautiful women at the opening of every glitzy event. Could she really do this and deal with that?
Yes, because then she’d be able to move on.
Wasn’t that how it worked? That was how men said it worked—once you’d had what you wanted you were sated.
Laia sat back and cradled her coffee cup in her hand. Curiosity got the better of her. ‘So what’s your story? You don’t have the same pressure as Aristedes to settle down and have heirs...but will you marry?’
He looked at her. ‘I hope that’s not a proposal, because you’re already engaged.’
Laia scowled at him. ‘You know that’s not what I meant.’
He wiped his mouth and put down his fork. ‘That’s a very personal question.’
‘Well, seeing as how you’re so determined for me to become your sister-in-law, maybe we should get better acquainted.’ He couldn’t argue against that.
His eyes narrowed, but she just smiled sweetly. His gaze dropped to her mouth and lingered. Laia’s smile faded. He looked up, blinked. Her pulse tripped and settled on a faster rhythm. Warmth filled her lower body.
Then the charged moment was gone. He sat back. ‘I have no intention of settling down. That’s my brother’s domain.’
So far exactly what she’d surmised herself.
Laia took a sip of coffee. ‘What do you have against it?’
‘Nothing. It’s just not for me. It’s not something I’ve ever envisaged.’
‘I guess I’m not surprised to hear you say that.’
‘And why would that be?’ he asked, civilly enough.
But she heard the thread of steel underneath. She felt as if she was skirting round the edges of something potentially fiery.
‘Your...er...way of life seems to back up what you say. You don’t seem inclined to sacrifice your independence any time soon. Although there are questions in the media as to why you haven’t been seen for some time...’
‘You’ve been looking me up online?’
‘It doesn’t take much for headlines about Prince Dax to appear at the top of any search feed.’
‘Not that it’s any business of—anyone’s.’
He said this with a definite edge, which made Laia wonder who had said something to him—perhaps Aristedes?
He continued, ‘I’ve been busy. With work.’
Laia tapped a nail against the side of her cup as something occurred to her. She watched his reaction as she said, ‘I’m not sure if I’m the only one who likes to hide behind a certain...persona.’
Dax went very still. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You weren’t drunk that night in Monte Carlo.’
‘I haven’t been drunk in years. I told you—it’s overrated.’
‘And yet you were there...on the scene. And I know how tedious it can be if you’re not on the same energetic level as everyone else. Which is why I could never last long.’
‘Maybe I was on drugs?’
Laia shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. You didn’t have that glazed, manic look. No, I think you were doing exactly the same thing as me. You were doing your work behind the scenes while faking a façade... Why, though?’
Dax’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t used to this much conversation in the mornings—generally because he wasn’t ever with women in the mornings. It wasn’t unpleasant...but he didn’t like being on the other end of scrutiny. Especially not Laia’s particular brand of very perspicacious scrutiny.
He shrugged. ‘Maybe, like you, I had my reasons. When people underestimate you, it gives you an edge over them.’
‘But that only lasts as long as the first time. Once people know they’ve underestimated you it won’t happen again.’
Dax arched a brow. ‘You’d be surprised.’
‘You run a business—Montero Holdings?’
He nodded. ‘It’s a software business.’
‘Is that something you were into at school? How did you cope with your dyslexia?’
Before Dax could answer, she blushed.
‘Sorry, I ask too many questions.’
The colour staining her cheeks made him want to touch her there, to see if her skin felt hot. He forced himself to focus.
‘School was...a challenge. Until they figured out what the problem was. There was an assumption that I just wasn’t that bright.’
Her green eyes were wide and filled with compassion. Dax put it down to an automatic reflex. Ari had that ability too—to be able to make people feel that he really cared.
She asked, ‘How did you cope until they realised what it was?’
Dax shook off the pricking of his conscience, mocking his cynicism for judging Laia’s compassion to be fake. Maybe he couldn’t handle real compassion.
Maybe he didn’t want to. Because that would be like allowing a chink of light into an area he liked to keep shut away. The place where he held his guilt and toxic memories of the past...where he didn’t feel he deserved compassion.
He forced that out of his head and said, ‘When I went to a conventional school for those final years they caught it almost immediately. They’re much better now at recognising the signs and accommodating students who are dyslexic. I had learnt to navigate around it. That’s how I realised I was good at computers. Not the coding so much, but an overall vision of system designs.’
Laia said nothing for a moment, and Dax realised that she often did that. She didn’t necessarily fill a gap in the conversation with chatter. He liked it.
She put her head on one side. ‘You’re global, aren’t you? Your company supplies software systems for us in Isla’Rosa.’
Dax nodded. ‘We most likely do. We’re one of the biggest software design companies in the world.’
‘And you’re on the board of that charity. There’s no way you’d be on the board if you weren’t pulling your weight.’
Dax felt a little exposed. ‘It’s a cause close to my heart.’
‘Why?’
‘I have empathy for kids whose lives are torn apart, who look around and find everything they knew is gone...everyone they knew.’
Dax thought back to the aftermath of the car crash, when his entire world had seemed to splinter into a thousand pieces. The crash had pulled back the curtain on the fallacy that they’d all been living a relatively functional existence.
Or it would have if he hadn’t decided to do something that would protect his mother and her secrets for ever from the vultures who’d been circling. A decision that had defined his existence for a long time. Still did. Guilt was a canny operator.
Laia was looking at him, waiting for him to elaborate. Ordinarily he wouldn’t feel inclined to, but now he did.
‘The car crash that killed my mother was a pretty shattering experience. It exposed a lot of the flaws in our family. On the surface it looked perfect. But it wasn’t. It was toxic. Ari was busy learning how to be King. Our father was busy parading his various mistresses in front of our mother, sending her slowly over the edge. And I... I was the only one she could turn to.’
Dax expected Laia to ask more about the crash, but she said, ‘Is that why you don’t want to marry?’
‘It’s part of it. I didn’t see anything good in my parents’ marriage. They certainly weren’t like your parents. In love.’
Laia was quiet for a moment, and then she blurted out, ‘My father had an affair.’
Dax raised a brow, glad to have the focus turned from him.
Laia continued. ‘It was a year after my mother died, I was still a baby.’
‘Who was she?’
‘She was one of the castle staff. But then she got pregnant. My father panicked and sent her into exile. He felt so guilt-ridden. Like he’d tainted my mother’s memory. I think that’s why he never married again. It was some sort of penance.’
‘What happened to the baby? Your half-sibling?’
Laia swallowed. ‘A half-sister, actually.’
‘Have you met her?’
Laia nodded. She looked guilty.
Dax narrowed his gaze on her. ‘Laia, what—?’
‘She’s in Santanger...with Aristedes. That’s Maddi—my half-sister.’
Dax’s mouth closed. Opened. Closed again. He thought of the pictures he’d seen. Eventually he said, half to himself, ‘That’s why you look so alike. You’re sisters.’ Then he asked, ‘Whose idea was it?’
‘Maddi thought of it...but I went along with it. It was both of us.’
Dax thought of his brother, finding out that Princess Laia wasn’t who he thought she was. Finding out that he had an imposter in his palace. Feeling like a fool.
Anger rose, and Dax told himself it was because of this and not because sitting here talking to Laia was like finding himself in a confessional, blithely spilling his guts after years of keeping them firmly tucked away from sight.
He said, with bite, ‘How noble of you not to blame her entirely for duping my brother, making him look like a fool.’
Laia’s hands twisted her napkin, belying what? Her guilt?
‘It seems like no one is any the wiser about who Maddi really is,’ she said, her tone a little defiant. ‘And he’s using her to make it look like all is well with the engagement, so who’s duping who?’
‘That’s not the same. All he can do is damage limitation, thanks to you.’
Laia put down her napkin. ‘If he’d listened to me back when I tried to talk to him we wouldn’t even be in this situation, but his arrogance has brought us here.’
Dax stood up abruptly. He needed to get away from those big green eyes. Her gaze was too direct.
‘I’m going for a walk.’
He needed to put some distance between them. Maybe then he could get some oxygen to his brain to assess what she’d just told him.
And what you told her...practically everything.
Laia watched Dax walk out, his tall, powerful body vibrating with tension. He was angry. And she couldn’t blame him after finding out the extent of how she and her sister had tricked King Aristedes.
If anything, Dax’s loyalty to his brother showed yet another facet to his personality, which was evolving into something Laia had no handle on any more.
She’d thought she’d had him all sized up. In a box marked Playboy Reprobate.
But—as the headlines had alluded to—was he that any more? Was he changing?
She had to admit that he had far more substance than she’d given him credit for. A self-made billionaire in his own right, apart from any royal inheritance. And he’d done all that while being dyslexic—an added challenge.
Laia cleared up the breakfast detritus. Dax had disappeared somewhere into the thick foliage of the forest. No doubt cursing her with every step. So far, her plan to seduce the man was going very well. Right now, he couldn’t stand her.
Brava, Laia.
She dumped the plates into the sink to wash later, and went up to her bedroom to take part in a scheduled online meeting with her advisors in Isla’Rosa. Perhaps she’d do better to focus on the very big stuff coming down the tracks—like being crowned Queen of Isla’Rosa—rather than fantasising about seducing a man way out of her league.
Dax was still angry, and now frustrated. He pushed leaves aside as he powered down yet another path. Thick foliage lined the track. Sweat was springing from every part of his skin in the humidity. He had no idea where he was heading, but he figured he couldn’t get too lost because the island was small.
He eventually emerged at a small sandy beach. Its serene beauty distracted him for a moment, before he remembered to stay angry. And not to think about Laia’s big green eyes. Or the expression of contrition he’d seen in them even though she’d sounded defiant.
He pulled off his sneakers and sat down on the sand under the shade of a tree.
The problem was, he was angry for his brother—of course. Ari didn’t deserve this. His whole life had been dedicated to the service of his—their—country. And supporting Dax.
After the car accident that had killed their mother, it had been as if Ari had known that Dax needed space to get away from Santanger and what had happened. The awful tragedy, his part in it, and all the toxicity that had led to it.
Ari had persuaded their father to let Dax finish school abroad. And then a year later their father had died and it had been just the two of them. By some unspoken agreement, once Dax had graduated from high school Ari had let him carve out a life away from Santanger.
Only Ari had known the full extent of all that Dax had to carry, and Dax had known his brother felt guilty. For not noticing more. For not being there. Even though he’d had his own huge burden to carry. Taking on the weight of the crown.
But that was why Ari had let Dax have his freedom. It had been a tacit form of asking forgiveness.
So Dax had gone away. For a few years he had lived a hedonistic life as the Playboy Prince. Carousing to escape his memories and the past. But it hadn’t lasted half as long as people thought it had.
He’d grown bored with it quickly—but then he’d realised that he could use it to his advantage. When people underestimated him—and that was most people, most of the time—he used it against them.
In the process he’d built up a global empire. But lately he’d had to come to terms with the fact that his reputation wasn’t doing him any favours any more.
His time playing the playboy was coming to an end, and for the first time Dax wasn’t sure which way to go. Ari had the kingdom and his upcoming marriage. Even if it wasn’t to Laia, it would be to someone. He would be creating a new life and the next generation.
Dax knew his anger wasn’t just for his brother being made a fool. It was more complicated. It was anger at himself, for wanting a woman he couldn’t have.
The way Laia had looked at him just a short while before, asking questions that cut right to the heart of who he was and his modus operandi, had not been expected...or welcome.
‘So what’s your story? Will you marry?’ she’d asked. As impertinently as...as a queen would.
It was rare for Dax to meet someone who was his equal in the way she was. In terms of social standing, as afforded to them by an accident of birth, but also in terms of experience.
They’d both grown up in their respective bubbles of royal courts. With great privilege. A mix of home schooling and other exclusive establishments with the children of presidents and the wealthiest people on the planet.
It was a world Dax was inextricably bound with and to, and yet he’d distanced himself from it in many ways. But, no matter what he did or where he went, he would always be Crown Prince Dax. The spare to the heir. The bad boy to Ari’s good boy. A reputation he’d created and cultivated but which was beginning to feel more and more restrictive.
The burden would lift slightly once Ari had heirs and they took on the Crown Prince or Crown Princess title.
‘Will you marry?’
Dax shuddered at the thought, his mind flooded with memories of his father parading his latest mistress through the palace while his mother screamed and wept in her rooms. Make-up running down her ravaged face. Breath smelling of gin. Eyes glazing over as she eventually calmed down and the medication the doctors had given her did their work in her blood system.
Dax had hated those doctors for coming in and giving her so many pills, because he’d seen the way she disappeared and became pliant. Quiet. But she’d wanted the pills. Needed them. More and more. Until she hadn’t been able to get through a day without them.
Ari had come in one day after she’d had a hysterical bout and he’d looked horrified. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
Dax had felt guilty—as if it was his fault she was in such a state. As if he should somehow stop it. He hadn’t had the appetite to tell Ari that this was how she was nearly every day. Nothing unusual. And he was the one she wanted by her side. Consoling her. Listening to her.
She’d tell him over and over again, ‘Never give away your heart, Dax, they don’t want it. They’ll take it out and crush it to pieces in front of you...in front of everyone.’
The silence was broken only by the call of birds, insects, and the waves gently breaking on the shore. It was hot and getting hotter.
Feeling claustrophobic after the onslaught of unwelcome memories, Dax stood up and started to strip off until he was naked. And then he walked into the sea, letting its relative cool wash over him and suck him under, where he could try and drown out the fact that he was stuck here with a woman who was simultaneously bringing back the past in a way that was most unwelcome while driving him insane with lust.
Not a good combination.
Laia emerged onto the beach from the treeline. She saw Dax’s clothes on the sand. No sign of the man. She shaded her eyes and looked out to sea. She still couldn’t see him.
A knot formed in her gut as she scanned the horizon, until finally she saw a speck in the distance. The knot loosened marginally as the speck got larger as he swam back to shore. Had he been trying to escape? Or just swimming...?
She went down to the shoreline, dropping her things as she did. She wore a one-piece swimsuit under a floaty kaftan that came to her thighs.
She could see Dax’s powerful arms now, scissoring rhythmically in and out of the water. Eventually he was close enough to stand. The water lapped around his chest. His messy hair was slicked back and dark. He saw her, and she noticed the tension coming into his body.
‘How did you find me?’
Laia’s gut clenched. She felt as if she was intruding. He hadn’t wanted her to find him. And why would he? She’d incarcerated him here and he’d just found out she had a half-sister who was pretending to be her.
‘You set off the alarms.’
Dax splashed water onto his face, and then said, ‘Well? Are you going to stand there all day or get in?’
Laia felt ridiculously awkward. And self-conscious. She told herself she was being ridiculous. This man had been to yacht parties where women cavorted with little else but a piece of string protecting their modesty.
She looked away and pulled off her kaftan. How on earth was she going to seduce this man if she couldn’t even bare herself in a one-piece swimsuit in front of him?
She threw the kaftan onto the ground, annoyed with herself now, and stepped into the water until it reached her waist. And then she dived under, hoping for a graceful surfacing near Dax, but she swallowed some water and emerged coughing and spluttering.
He was grinning. ‘Okay?’
Laia nodded, regaining her composure, treading water. It was like cool silk against her skin. This was her favourite place to come for a swim.
‘Look,’ she said, ‘I’m sorry for all this, but I truly believe I have no choice but to see this through now to the end.’
‘Sorry enough to let me go?’
Laia was struck by a pang. He wanted to get away from her. Apart from anything else, she hadn’t expected it to be so easy to talk to him. To tell him things.
She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, no. Not yet.’
Dax didn’t look surprised. He said, ‘I need to check in with my assistant John.’
Laia nodded. ‘I can arrange that.’
‘I’m going to get out now.’
‘Okay...’ Laia wondered why he was telling her this.
And then he said, ‘You might want to turn around.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m naked.’
Even though she was in the cool water, heat flooded Laia all the way up to her cheeks. ‘Oh, right...of course.’
She turned to face out to the horizon. She could hear Dax moving through the water back to shore. Unable to help herself, she turned her head just as he was walking out through the shallows.
His body gleamed. Strong, broad back. Narrow waist. Powerful buttocks, high and firm, those long legs.
Before she knew what was happening, he’d stopped and looked back, his body now in profile to her. It took Laia long seconds to realise that he was looking at her looking at him. Avidly.
She whirled around and ducked under the water in a bid to hide what she’d been doing. So fast that she swallowed water again and had to come up for air, gasping.
She wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn she heard an evil chuckle from the beach.
Dax was sitting on the beach, dressed again, with his shirt hanging open. Laia couldn’t put off coming out of the water any longer. She was acutely conscious of the way the material of her swimsuit clung to every inch of her body. It had felt conservative when she’d put it on, but now it felt as if it was indecently cut. Too high on her thighs. And low over her chest.
As she splashed out of the shallows she tried not to imagine that he was comparing her to every other woman he’d seen similarly dressed.
‘You didn’t have to wait,’ she told him.
‘I couldn’t risk you getting a cramp and having that on my conscience. Some of us do have a conscience, you know.’
Laia grabbed her kaftan, but at the last second didn’t pull it on. She sat down on the warm sand next to Dax.
She made a snorting sound. ‘I’m sure there are legions of women all over the world who might argue that.’
‘You’re insinuating I treat women badly? I’m wounded.’
Laia squinted at him. The sun was high. ‘With the best will in the world, some of them must have wanted...more? And been disappointed.’
‘That might well have been the case...but I have never given any lover false hope. They always knew where they stood.’
Laia had to admit she believed him. But she was curious to know how it could be with a man like this.
‘And where was that?’ she asked.
‘In something purely fun and physical for as long as we wanted each other.’
‘Which was how long?’
He looked at her. And then he seemed to consider his answer before he said, ‘Never longer than a few dates.’
Imagine capturing this man’s attention even just for a few dates...
‘What would happen if they wanted more?’
‘I would end it.’
No hesitation. Stark. Absolute.
‘You never found yourself transgressing your own boundaries?’
He shook his head emphatically. ‘Never.’
For some reason this made Laia feel slightly giddy. And then she sobered. She didn’t want to be the one to engage Dax’s emotions. She only wanted him for one thing. Well, two. Passion and sex.
And then he completely took the wind out of her sails when he said, ‘What about you?’
Laia’s insides tightened. ‘What about me, what?’
‘How do you treat your lovers?’
Laia felt sure he was making fun of her. He had to know... But he was just looking at her with a curious expression.
She shrugged as nonchalantly as she could, ‘Oh, you know... I make it clear that I’m not up for anything serious...how can I be?’
‘Because you’re engaged.’
Laia scowled at him, but was grateful for the diversion. ‘No, because very soon I’ll be crowned Queen and I have a life of duty ahead of me.’
‘You’ll have to marry and have heirs, whether it’s to Ari or someone else of royal lineage.’
‘Yes, I’m aware of that. But my husband will be my choice.’
‘Why won’t you just do this?’
There was an edge to Dax’s voice that Laia felt deep inside. His frustration was evident. It made her prickly.
She turned to face him, trying to make him understand. ‘Because if I marry Aristedes then Isla’Rosa becomes a suburb of Santanger, no matter how he might deny it. We’ve carved out our independence and identity after years of conflict—’
‘Exactly,’ interjected Dax. ‘Wouldn’t this bring peace once and for all?’
Laia shook her head. ‘Not at the cost of our independence. It’s too much. I want to lead our people out of the past and into a modern, bright future. I know that’s going to be a challenge, but I can do it. My path is side by side with Santanger, not as a part of it. Peace is possible through other routes.’
Dax just looked at her, and Laia hated it that it mattered to her that he got it. She sensed that he sympathised with where she was coming from, but his loyalty to his brother trumped his own instincts. He was loyal to his brother, not to her, and that made total sense so why did it matter?
Because you already care what he thinks of you. You want his loyalty.
That incendiary thought drove Laia to her feet, her kaftan gripped in her hand.
‘Look, Dax, you’ve abdicated your responsibilities—for whatever reason. You live your life from day to day, free to choose what you want when you want, with no one dictating to you how you’re to live your life. You just don’t get it. How can you?’
Laia went to walk away, but before she could take two steps Dax’s hand was around her arm and he was whirling her back to face him. His face was like thunder.
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
Laia gulped. But not out of pain. Dax was barely holding her arm. It was because he was suddenly so close. And he was bristling.
‘Abdicated my responsibilities?’
Laia pulled her arm free. Weakly, she said, ‘I don’t know what arrangement you have with your brother, but it’s not as if you live a life full of royal duty.’
Dax’s mouth was thin. ‘No, you don’t know anything about our arrangement, Princess. Maybe I had responsibilities that you know nothing about. Responsibilities that meant my brother got to focus on his job without being burdened by—’ He stopped abruptly.
Laia wanted to ask, Burdened bywhat? But she kept her mouth shut. She wondered if he was talking about his mother.
‘The way I live my life is none of your concern,’ he said. ‘Or anyone else’s. Except maybe my brother’s.’
Laia couldn’t look away from Dax’s eyes. They were so blue it hurt. They should have been icy, but she felt warm. And it wasn’t the sun or the humidity.
She knew she should leave this alone, but words were spilling out before she could censor them. ‘Did something happen? So Aristedes allowed you to walk away...?’
Dax’s face tightened. His voice was a growl. ‘Leave it alone, Laia, you have no idea what you’re talking about.’
But it was there in his eyes, deep inside. Incredible pain. His whole body was vibrating with tension.
Without even realising what she was doing she moved closer. She’d dropped the kaftan to the sand...hadn’t even noticed.
Dax said warningly, ‘Laia—’
She put her hand on his bare chest. Exactly as she’d wanted to the other day. Dax’s eyes flared. He put his hand over hers. But he didn’t pull her hand away.
His skin was warm. Still damp from the sea. She could feel his heart. Strong and steady. Maybe a little fast. Like hers. His hand felt huge, enveloping hers.
‘Laia, what are you doing?’
Her eyes fell to his mouth. It wasn’t thin any more. It was lush and full. She frowned, her mind not able to let go the strand of thought it had just been picking at, in spite of Dax’s warnings.
She asked, ‘What happened to make your brother give you a life of freedom?’
She looked up as something occurred to her. He must have seen it in her eyes, because before she could say another word Dax had snaked his free hand under her wet hair and around to the back of her neck.
And then his mouth was on hers, and Laia didn’t have any thoughts in her head any more. Because they were incinerated by the fire.