Page 51 of Claimed By the Crown Prince

Laia’s mouth dropped open. ‘Seven? I only speak five.’

‘Which five?’ Dax popped a grape into his mouth.

Laia ticked off her fingers. ‘French, Spanish, German, Italian and English, of course.’

‘Oh, well, if we’re counting English then I’ve got eight.’

Laia sat cross-legged on the sand. ‘Okay, come on. Let’s have them.’

Now Dax ticked off his fingers. ‘English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Mandarin, Russian and Arabic.’

Laia made a whistling sound. ‘That’s impressive.’

Dax shrugged. ‘I’m able to pick up languages very easily. I learn aurally. Make me write something down, though, and it’d be a disaster.’

‘Because of your dyslexia?’

Dax nodded.

‘Still, diplomatically you must go down a storm if you can converse with everyone.’

‘It does go well in meetings—especially when people don’t think I can understand what they’re saying.’

Laia could imagine people assuming Dax was all fluff and no substance.

She squinted at him. ‘Are you ever going to let people see the astute global businessman?’

He made a face. ‘I’m running out of people to surprise, so I might have to.’

Laia laughed.

Dax looked at her mouth.

The air crackled between them.

Laia hadn’t realised how long they’d been sitting under the trees, eating and drinking sparkling wine. She’d felt deliciously relaxed, and yet now, with Dax’s gaze on her mouth, she felt energised again.

She hadn’t taken her kaftan off, and she suddenly felt the heat of the day. ‘I might go for a quick dip to cool down.’

Dax stood up in an impressively fluid motion. He held out his hand. ‘I’ll come too. But we’ve just eaten so we should be careful.’

Another little piece of Laia’s heart tightened. This man was so considerate. How had he ever managed to persuade people he was a feckless playboy?

He stepped towards her and bent to grab the edges of her kaftan, pulling it up. ‘But first we leave this behind.’

It was up and off, over Laia’s head and on the sand behind her, before she knew what was happening, and Dax’s gaze made a slow perusal of her body in the skimpy white bikini.

This is how he got his reputation, a little voice pointed out.

Because he could look at a woman like this and turn her into a puddle of desire without even touching her. No wonder so many of his lovers had felt compelled to spill their guts about their time with him.

‘Why are you scowling?’

Laia realised Dax was looking at her face. She rearranged her features. She wasn’t about to tell him she was madly jealous.

‘No reason. Let’s go.’

He took her hand again and they walked to the water. Just before she could put a toe into the gently foaming waves Laia squealed, as the world was upended and Dax lifted her over his shoulder, striding into the sea.

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