Raul's Revenge

by Jacqueline Baird

  'You certainly have not with Ava,' Penny tossed back, suddenly reminded of her reason for facing Raul. 'How dare you tell her to arrange a wedding?'

  'Not in front of the child. Wait here,' he said curtly, and, picking James up, strolled off towards the house.

  She had never in her life met a man with such a penchant for rapping out orders, Penny thought mutin­ously. She had half a mind to follow him, but she hes­itated. She needed to talk to him, and if they were out in the open there was less chance of her ending up in his arms.

  She flopped down on a convenient lounger, and, drawing up her legs, hugged them. Resting her chin on her knees, she stared moodily out over the swimming pool.

  After James had been abducted she had sworn never to let him out of her sight. It was ironic that she had hardly spent any time with him in the past two days. But worse, she realised sadly, James was happy, and as well if not better looked after by Raul and his staff and the protection his money could offer. Penny could not hope to compete.

  Compete. The word lingered uneasily in her mind. Did she want to compete with Raul for her son's love? Par­enting should mean that the mother and father were equally concerned and caring for the child, and yet, to her shame, she had positively gloated over the past few weeks, because she'd thought she had won over Raul. There was no winner when a child was deprived of a parent.

  Years ago she had loved Raul and asked him to marry her, and because he had not leapt at the chance she hadn't told him that she was pregnant. It had been pain and pride that had prevented her telling him the truth. She had been young and idealistic about love; now she realised that there were many shades of love. She loved James desperately, she loved Amy deeply, and she loved Raul hopelessly.

  Her last thought shocked her to her soul. She jerked upright, swinging her legs to the ground. Where had it come from? And her heart answered—last night in Raul's arms, when she'd accepted that there would never be any other man for her, only Raul.

  'Penny for your thoughts, Penny?'

  She jumped as Raul straddled the lounger facing hers. 'Really, Raul, not that hoary old joke.' She grimaced. Blinking, she looked across at him. He had slipped a short-sleeved shirt over his broad shoulders, but hadn't bothered to fasten the buttons or change out of his swimming trunks. She swallowed hard and mumbled, 'Is James all right?'

  'Ava is busy feeding him and will then put him down for his nap; you have nothing to worry about. Relax and enjoy the sunshine, the freedom.'

  'What freedom?' she mocked.

  His jaw tightened and she could tell that he was curbing his anger, unusual for Raul. 'Please, Penny, can you cut out the sniping and try to listen calmly to what I have to say?' The 'please' was a surprise.

  She shrugged. 'OK.'

  'I know I brought you here under false pretences; perhaps I could have arranged things differently, but at the time I was furious. I have never been so enraged in my life.' He stared accusingly at her. 'You should have told me you were pregnant.'

  'And you could have called me after I walked out. A simple check to make sure I got home all right wouldn't have hurt.' It still rankled Penny that Raul had not once tried to get in touch with her.

  'If I had would you have told me?' Raul asked seriously.

  'I don't know.'

  'I did try to see you again.'

  Penny's head shot up in surprise, and there was no mistaking that he was telling the truth; it was there in his eyes.

  'Not straight away, I admit. We had been arguing a lot, it seemed. My pride had taken a beating and I was furious. I told myself, Let her sweat for a few weeks and then she will realise what she is missing and be my sweet, malleable Penny again.

  'I went on a trip to America, and Brazil, and when I finally returned to London a month later I called at your apartment and was met by a strange man—the new owner. I asked him where the girl who used to live there was.'

  Raul gave Penny a twisted smile. 'And that was when my arrogant assumption that I could have you any time bit the dust.'

  'Not before time,' Penny interjected cheekily; somehow she felt a lot better knowing that Raul had at least tried to see her again.

  'He told me that as far as he knew the girl had married someone called Mike from the apartment above and they were on a protracted honeymoon.'

  'No!' she exclaimed. Raul could not possibly have thought she had married someone else so quickly.

  'Yes,' he said, reading her mind.

  'But...but,' Penny spluttered, 'it was Tanya. She shared with Amy while I was away, and then married Mike.'

  'I know that. Now.' Raul said with a wry, self-mocking grin. 'But at the time I was so mad that if I had caught up with you I would have killed you.'

  His confession that he had looked for her put a whole new complexion on the disastrous end of their affair. 'I never knew,' Penny said sadly, wondering what would have happened if she had stayed in London only one week longer.

  'No matter.' Raul carelessly spread his hands. 'Re­criminations are futile. We must concentrate on the here and now. Right?' He smiled with a kind of enquiring affection that touched her.

  'Right,' she agreed, oddly subdued by Raul's revelation.

  'Good,' he said. 'Progress at last. Which brings us nicely to last night when we—'

  'Do we have to?' Penny cut in, the colour surging in her cheeks.

  His voice sharpened. 'Yes. Last night, when you were in the throes of a nightmare, it brought home to me exactly what I bad done by bringing you here against your will. I honestly had no idea you suffered that way, and I apologise. But, having said that, I do not regret the rest of the night, because I realised neither one of us has a choice.' He slanted her a heavy-lidded look. 'We both know I only have to kiss you to have you, but it works both ways. I only have to see your luscious little body and mine clenches in need—embarrassingly so sometimes.'

  Penny gasped, astonished at his blunt confession.

  'Don't look so surprised,' he drawled, looking oddly speculative. 'Surely you knew? You must feel what you do to me.' And, reaching across, he caught her hands in his; turning them palms up, he pressed a kiss in the centre of each hand.

  A shiver, part desire and part pain, slid through her body. 'It's just sex,' she said, but knew she was lying. She loved Raul.

  'Sex, lust, love—whatever name you give it, the com­pulsion is there between us all the time. Marriage is the logical solution for you and me and James. I have already spoken to the authorities; we can be married in three days.'

  Sitting in the sun with her hands held in Raul's, Penny was tempted. It would be so easy to give in to Raul's demand. He did not love her, but she certainly loved him; she could not fool herself otherwise. Never mind that he was arrogant, overbearing and usually right. She still loved him. They could have more children... it was a possibility. Then out of the blue a practical problem struck her.

  'Wait a minute. You told me I couldn't leave Spain because I'm technically an illegal alien. I have no passport. So how on earth could you arrange a wedding?'

  His sensuous mouth tilted at the corners in a wicked smile. 'I lied. On my second visit to your apartment, while you were making coffee, I purloined your passport from the dressing-table drawer in your bedroom. James is on it, of course, so I didn't need the help of any high government official either.'

  Penny's mouth fell open and she shook her head. 'You're incredible; you made me think...'

  'An added threat to make sure you did not run away. Actually, I was surprised you believed me,' he said, stroking the palm of her hand with his thumb. 'I would never deliberately break the law. I thought you knew me better than that.'

  A tingling sensation in her hand was having a disas­trous effect on her brain and her ability to think clearly, but she struggled on. 'But you put James on your passport.'

  'I don't consider that illegal.' His voice hardened. 'He is my son.' His dark eyes narrowed broodingly on her lovely face. 'You are procrastinating, Penny. What is it to
be, yes or no?'

  Life would be so easy married to Raul. 'But I have a career, a business,' she blurted out, frightened at where her thoughts were leading her.

  'Ah, yes. Sense and Sensibility. I had my people look into the trading performance of the chemist. Admit it, Penny, it does not warrant two full-time pharmacists. You can easily be a silent partner and let Amy run it. In fact you would be doing her a favour.'

  Why did it not surprise her that he had checked out the business? It rankled but it was typical; Raul meticulous to the nth degree. Nothing got past him. But she could not resist getting a dig in.

  'As it happens, you're right. Amy and Nick plan to get married in a few months. But because of the Spanish fishermen demanding from the European Community the right to fish in English and Irish waters poor Nick's fishing boat hardly makes him a living any more.'

  Raul threw back his black head and burst out laughing. 'Come on, Penny!' he finally said, grinning in genuine delight. 'You can blame me for a lot of things, but hardly for the European Community's fishing policy.'

  'Yes, well...' Perhaps she was scraping the barrel for an excuse to deny what her head and her heart knew was really the only solution. Her lips twitched, then a chuckle escaped. She looked into his dark eyes, saw the amusement and laughed with him. 'Perhaps I did go a bit too far.'

  Raul stood up and hauled her with him. A flash of pleasure caught her unawares as his naked thighs brushed hers, and she stopped laughing and looked up at him.

  'Will you go that little bit further and agree to marry me?' he asked quietly. His strong hands moved and framed her face, and made her look at him. 'Be reasonable, for James's sake.'

  'I don't know,' she said slowly. 'You did kidnap the pair of us. Hardly the action of a reasonable man.'

  'I was frightened,' Raul said soberly.

  'You, frightened?' she exclaimed; the concept was unbelievable. Privately Penny thought that in a past life Raul could have been a swashbuckling pirate, like Errol Flynn in the old black and white movies she had a secret penchant for watching.

  'I am human, Penny; I do have the same hopes and fears as other men. The day I heard your name on the television—Penelope Gold—and realised that you were not married and the next second that I had a son, I was shocked rigid. Then a moment later to discover the child had been stolen was the most terrifying experience of my life. When I met you and James I was furious at your deceit, and frustrated at my inability to do any thing to protect you both, but I did not dare upset you.

  'I never thought,' Penny murmured, and she should have done. When they had first been lovers he had insisted on taking her virtually everywhere with him. He was a possessive and protective male. Even when he had sent her back from Dubai it had been for her own protection. He'd considered that she would be safer in Spain.

  But what did he mean, he hadn't dared upset her? It sure as hell had upset her to find herself kidnapped, she thought with a flash of resentment. And as soon as the question entered her head she was asking the question.: 'What do you mean, upset me?'

  'You were in shock and wearing yourself out, still working and trying to pretend everything was normal while never letting the boy out of your sight. I could not allow it to continue. I spoke to your doctor and he agreed with me—you needed to rest, a chance to recuperate from a devastatingly emotional experience. But if I had sug­gested you come to Spain for a holiday you would have laughed in my face. Therefore I took the decision for you.'

  Penny frowned, pulling away for a moment. Had she been living on the edge for the past few weeks? she asked herself, and the answer was yes, the frequent nightmares proved it. 'You're so convinced you have the answer to everything,' she said in a soft, pain-filled voice. 'You frighten me sometimes.'

  He looked down at her and grimaced. 'I don't mean to. And if I had not given the wrong answer years ago none of this would have happened. But it is not too late.' And before she could guess his intention his dark head lowered and he pressed his mouth against her parted lips. 'James deserves two parents, and we are good together,' he whispered into her mouth, and then proceeded to show her.

  By the time Raul allowed her to breathe again she was in no state to deny him anything. 'Have you made up your mind, Penny?'

  'Yes,' she said softly. 'All right.' His dark eyes gleamed with golden shards of triumph and a latent passion. 'You won't regret it, I promise, and I will not be too demanding a husband; in fact the marriage need not be for life, simply until James is of age. Then you can resume your career—anything you like.'

  If he thought that he was reassuring her he was wrong. 'That's very reasonable of you,' she said flatly, pushing out of his arms. His words hurt, leaving her in no doubt. It was James that he wanted, and she was simply to­lerated as his mother and a compatible sexual partner. But she had committed herself now. God help her!

  CHAPTER TEN

  'But it is ridiculous, Raul.' It was four o'clock in the afternoon on the eve of their wedding. James was playing quite happily in a plastic sandpit that had appeared the day before at Raul's instructions, and Penny, wearing a brief green bikini—a relic from the past—had been sitting on a nearby lounger, supervising her son. Now she was standing, hands on hips, glaring up at her soon-to-be husband.

  Raul, wearing hip-hugging jeans and a short-sleeved white shirt with a buttoned-down collar left open to reveal the beginnings of black chest hair, looked danger­ously sexy and very sure of himself. 'It's tradition, Penny.' He grinned down at her. 'You know that.'

  She felt herself shiver, intensely aware of him though he wasn't even touching her. 'But there is no point in your stopping at a hotel for the night. We have been sharing the same bed for the past couple of nights; we I already have a child, for heaven's sake!'

  Not for a moment dared she admit even to herself that she was frightened—frightened of being on her own, with time to think. As long as Raul was around she had swanned along in a kind of mental daze.

  He had reintroduced her to Daisy, her horse, as well as providing the tiniest Shetland pony that Penny had ever seen for James. They had spent the long, lazy days with James and the passionate nights locked in each other’s arms. When she'd had any doubts about the forthcoming marriage Raul, with unerring accuracy, had seemed to sense her feelings and, before she had been able to voice them, had either physically or mentally reassured her.

  Yesterday he had arranged for the owner of an ex­clusive boutique in Granada to visit the hacienda with a choice of designer clothes. Then Raul had done the traditional thing and disappeared while Penny had chosen a fabulous heavy wild silk dress for the wedding. Now he was adamant that he was spending the wedding eve at a hotel in Granada.

  Given the circumstances, she should be flattered that he was leaving her alone, she conceded grudgingly. He obviously trusted her enough not to renege on her promise to marry him and disappear. But she still could not resist saying huskily, 'Must you?'

  'It's bad luck, Penny, and we need all the luck we can get.' His mouth twisted into a mockery of a smile. 'You of all people must recognise that.'

  The edge of bitterness in his tone stopped her short. He obviously had still not forgiven or forgotten that she had kept his son from her.

  'Papa, Papa. Castle.' James's voice split the tense silence between the two adults.

  They both looked to where James was sitting in the sand and smiled. The little boy had sand in his hair and all over his body, but he was beaming triumphantly, having finally succeeded in heaping up a mound of sand almost as high as his chest.

  'He makes it all worthwhile,' Raul said quietly, and, glancing down at Penny, planted a brief kiss on the top of her head. 'See you tomorrow at the church. Carlos will drive you. Be good.'

  He strolled over to James, lifted the little boy up, con­gratulated him on his great castle, kissed him, then lowered him back in the sandpit. 'You too, little one,' he murmured, and, turning, he walked across to where his car waited, a suitcase already in the boot.

&
nbsp; Penny watched him drive away with a dull ache in her heart. She knew that he did not love her, but knowing that he had looked for her over two years ago had given her hope; and now, to be reminded that they were mar­rying for the child was a blow to her self-confidence.

  She knew that she could satisfy Raul on a purely physical level, and her secret hope was that in time he would learn to love her. But sometimes she could not help wondering if she was fooling herself...

  An hour later she knew she was...

  Busily drying James with a large, fluffy towel after their last dip in the pool for the day, and singing 'Four and Twenty Blackbirds' at the same time, Penny didn't hear the sleek sports car pull up in front of the house. It was only when James shouted, 'Lady. Lady, Mamma,' that; Penny realised they were not alone.

  She knew it could not be Ava, as Ava and Carlos had left earlier for some last-minute shopping. Setting James down on his feet, she pulled a sweatshirt over his head and turned with interest to greet the unexpected visitor.

  Small, black-haired, and wearing a figure-hugging yellow skirt with matching short jacket, black eyes glinting maliciously—there was no mistaking the woman. Penny's heart pounded erratically, colour surging in her face. She winced at her own stupidity. 'Dulcie.' She said the name under her breath. How could she have forgotten?

  'Buenos dias, Penny. So this is the child that has caused all the uproar and scandal. I simply had to see for myself,' Dulcie drawled in her native Spanish.

  Penny responded in kind. 'Buenos dias. And what scandal is that?' she asked flatly, her eyes clashing with Dulcie's dark, venomous gaze, then dropping to the other woman's hand. Her heart froze in her chest. Dulcie wore the huge diamond engagement ring that Penny had first seen in the magazine photograph on the fatal day when James had been abducted.

  'Why, the fact that Raul Da Silva, one of the most influential and revered men in the area, would ignore his obligations and dishonour his family name by low­ering himself to marry someone like you simply because of a child that may or may not be his.'