Page 48 of Claimed By the Crown Prince

Feeling a little exposed—literally—Dax got up and pulled aside the net. The sun was streaming in. He winced. He went into the bathroom and took a shower, and then threw on shorts and a polo shirt. Left his feet bare.

He could get used to this living outside of time feeling. Days melting into nights and back into days. And now, adding Laia in his bed to the mix...? Maybe he’d just lose himself altogether and never re-join the real world? He could understand now why people dropped out of life and went backpacking for years.

Dax heard her low voice as he passed her bedroom and stopped in his tracks, suddenly feeling a little cold. What had he expected? That she’d be downstairs making them a cosy morning-after breakfast? He’d never have encouraged that of a woman in normal circumstances.

But then this woman hadn’t conformed to anythingnormalsince he’d laid eyes on her in that club. And now, listening to her voice on the other side of the door, he realised that clearly Laia hadn’t checked out of the real world. She hadn’t lost herself.

Dax put his ear to the door but couldn’t make out what she was saying. It sounded like an online meeting. With her advisors? About her coronation? About plans to get on with her life when she went back to Europe?

Quietly, Dax tested the door, but it was locked. He went colder. Last night obviously hadn’t blurred the boundaries of what was happening here for her.

He had a very unwelcome feeling of something almost likehurt.Laia was just using him to experience what passion felt like before she moved on with her husband of choice. She’d told him as much. Dax was still a prisoner in paradise, and he’d be an idiot to forget it.

Laia terminated the online meeting. She wondered if Giorgio, her advisor, had noticed her dishevelment. She hadn’t showered yet. She’d only come into her room earlier because she’d heard her phone ringing in the locked cupboard.

It had been an unwelcome reminder of the outside world after a night and morning of passion such as she never could have imagined. When she’d seen numerous missed calls on her phone she’d gone hot and cold as the pressure of her responsibilities had come back. She’d pulled on a clean top and at the last second had closed and locked her door before joining the meeting.

Giorgio had confirmed that Maddi was still in Santanger and masquerading as Laia, apparently fooling everyone. He’d shown her a picture of them at a charity event and a headline:The look of love between King Aristedes and his future Queen!

Laia had studied the picture and had to concede that Maddi didn’t look as if she was pretending.

What was going on?

At that moment Laia had heard a sound, like the door handle being turned, but when she’d looked up she’d seen nothing.

She couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt at having shut Dax out. They had gone long past the point of locking doors, so she didn’t even know why she’d done it. Even if he contacted Aristedes now it was only days to her birthday and the coronation. He wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop her being crowned. And sleeping with Dax had as good as put a million nails in the coffin of the marriage agreement.

The real world was encroaching relentlessly, sooner than she liked.

Giorgio had just outlined the arrangements for her return to Isla’Rosa, as soon as she gave the word. But she hadn’t been able to give the word. Not yet. Even though she had no real reason to stay here any longer and a million reasons to return home—not least of which was to extricate Maddi from Santanger and figure out what was going on...

But now the meeting was finished, and in spite of Giorgio’s urging for her to come home soon, Laia was filled with sense of rebelliousness. Surely another day...another night...couldn’t hurt? Surely it wasn’t too much to ask when soon she would be handing herself over to a life of duty?

She’d have the rest of her life to think about more serious things. Like becoming Queen. And who she would marry.

When she thought of that, though, she felt cold inside. All she could see was Dax’s face above hers, intense and serious as he joined their bodies and transported her to another realm.

When she’d woken again that morning she’d been draped over Dax’s naked body. She’d managed to leave without disturbing him and she’d looked back at the last moment, seeing him in that same louche, sexy sprawl that she’d seen him in before.

For a second she’d felt breathless, wondering if it had all been a particularly lurid fantasy. But no. She was naked and aching. And she’d held her scrap of a silk dress in her hand. The dress he had removed from her body.

Laia took a shower. A part of her lamented washing the scent of Dax from her body. The scent of her becoming a woman. She left her hair damp and went into the dressing room. She spotted a white bikini—something she’d never have worn ordinarily, because it was too revealing. But now she imagined wearing it under Dax’s gaze, and she was filled with a newfound sense of daring. Or was it confidence?

She pulled on a loose thigh-high kaftan over the bikini and left her room. This time she didn’t lock the door. And she hadn’t locked away her devices.

She came down into the kitchen area but there was no sign of Dax. She spied the leftovers of a breakfast he’d obviously cooked for himself. She felt a pang of insecurity, disappointment, but then reminded herself that men like Dax didn’tdocosy mornings-after.

All was quiet. Too quiet.

She felt uneasy, imagining that he’d somehow managed to escape. Maybe he’d had enough and had just left. Vanished back into his life.

The thought was wrenching enough to make Laia pause for a second and consider if she really knew what she was doing. Dancing with the devil.

Except he wasn’t a devil. Far from it.

Dax had exploded every misconception she’d had about him. Every judgement.

He was not the man she’d thought he was. Not remotely. She had to acknowledge that she would never have even contemplated making love with him if she’d had any reservations, or if he’d shown a smidgeon of the reputation that followed him.