The Vasquez Baby

Raul shot her a meaningful look. ‘Considering the effect that marriage can have on a couple’s sex life, you should be relieved about that.’

‘You think you’re such a genius in bed, don’t you?’

‘No.’ He hooked the towel round his waist and gave her a slow, dangerous smile. ‘You are the one who makes me think I am a genius in bed. You melt, you sob.’ He shrugged. ‘You like what I do to you, cariño.’

Knowing that it was true, her cheeks coloured. ‘I promised myself I wasn’t going to let you hurt me again, Raul.’

He frowned. ‘I made sure you were protected.’

‘I didn’t mean that,’ she muttered and his eyes narrowed.

‘So what then? I was too rough?’

‘No!’ She was silent for a moment, impossibly aware of his searching gaze. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Sí, it matters. If it brings that look into your eyes after we have made love, then it matters.’ With an impatient sigh, he took her face in his hands and stroked his thumbs over her cheeks. ‘All right, if you want to talk, we will talk. Go on. I’m listening.’

‘That isn’t enough! You have to do some of the talking, too. This chemistry between us is amazing, we make love and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.’ It was difficult for her to be so painfully honest because she was making herself vulnerable and he was so completely invulnerable. ‘When we’re together like this I feel so close to you but when it’s over I realise that I’m not close at all. It’s just physical. I don’t know you at all. We don’t talk. Even tonight we didn’t talk because the moment I raised a problem, you just turned to sex. I really do feel more like your mistress than your wife.’

‘A woman thinks she wants a man to be honest with her but what she is really saying is that she wants that man to tell her what she wants to hear.’ His tone was cool. ‘I’m not like that. I don’t lie.’

‘All right, fine, don’t lie. But I need you to think about my feelings!’

He released her and stepped away. ‘This business with Pedro is concluded. You won’t have to see Sofia again.’

‘It isn’t just about Sofia. She’s just a symptom of what’s wrong with our relationship—the fact that we don’t talk. When we have a problem, I want us to talk about it. I don’t just want you to throw me on the bed and have sex with me! I want to know you, Raul. And if the truth about how you feel is painful to hear, so be it. At least it’s the truth. I want to know you and I want you to know me.’

His dark eyes were shuttered and she almost felt his emotional retreat.

‘That is why women have female friends, so that they can chew over issues that are entirely irrelevant to men.’ Raul released her and stepped away, his handsome face cold. ‘I just gave you a whole lot of messages, all of them positive. If you choose not to read them, then it’s up to you.’ He strode back into the bedroom leaving her staring after him in exasperation.

Exhausted after her sexual marathon with Raul, Faith slept late and woke to find Raul gone.

Deciding that she needed a distraction, she dressed quickly and walked over to the stables.

As usual they were a hive of activity and Eduardo greeted her with his usual warmth. ‘It is good to see you back. Raul is on the polo field, working off his energy with some of the guests.’

Faith spent a few minutes with her favourite horses and then walked towards the nearest polo field where a game was being played.

People came from all over the world to play polo on Raul’s estancia but only rarely were they afforded the privilege of playing with the boss himself—but today, it seemed, was one of those prized occasions.

Raul thundered down the field with such an astonishing burst of acceleration that the watching crowd of guests and grooms gave a collective gasp. He rode his pony alongside his opponent’s mount, moving him away from the ball so that he could take possession.

‘And that’s how it’s done,’ murmured one of the grooms who was watching. ‘Just glorious.’

The ponies were drenched in sweat and above them the sun blazed in a perfectly blue sky.

Where did he find the stamina? Faith wondered, watching Raul demonstrate a move to one of the guests and then drive his horse down the field after the ball. He’d had virtually no sleep and yet he was as energetic as ever.

The temperature rocketed and dust flew from the ground as the ponies stampeded over the grass.

Faith watched him, thinking about the parallel Sofia had drawn between Raul and a stallion.

Even the most difficult stallion could be tamed.

But she hadn’t tamed Raul, had she?

She’d trapped him. Not intentionally, but if she’d known how he’d felt she never would have gone ahead with th