‘But I never expected.... I mean, f-for goodness’ sake, Raul,’ Polly stammered in severe shock. ‘We can’t just—’
‘Can’t we? Are you about to change your mind? Are you now prepared to consider allowing me to take my child back home with me?’ Raul shot at her.
‘No!’ she gasped.
‘Are you willing to try living in Venezuela on any other terms?’
‘No, but—’
‘Then don’t waste my time with empty protests. You have, after all, just got exactly what you wanted,’ Raul informed her icily.
‘Not if you feel like this about it,’ Polly protested unevenly. ‘And it isn’t what I precisely wanted—’
‘Isn’t it? Are you now telling me that you don’t want me?’
Polly flushed to the roots of her hair, still very sensitive on that subject. ‘I... I—’
‘If I were you, I wouldn’t argue on that point,’ Raul warned, a current of threatening steel in his rich, accented drawl. ‘In the space of one minute, I could make you eat your words!’
Already in shock, as she was, that level of blunt assurance reduced Polly to writhing discomfiture, but she still said, ‘When I mentioned marriage, I didn’t mean it as a serious possibility—’
‘No, you laid it out as the ultimate price, the ultimate sacrifice.’ Raul’s hard sensual mouth twisted. ‘And I’ll get used to the idea. It will be a marriage of convenience, nothing more. I won’t allow my child to grow up
without me. I also hope I’m not so prejudiced that I can’t concede that having both a mother and a father may well be better for the child.’
In a daze of conflicting feelings, Polly muttered, ‘But what about...us?’
‘That baby is the only thing that should matter to either of us. Why should he or she pay the price for this fiasco?’
That was a telling point for Polly. She bowed her head, guilty conscience now in full sway. Only she still couldn’t prevent herself from muttering, ‘I expected to many someone who loved me—’
‘I didn’t expect to marry at all,’ Raul traded, without an ounce of sympathy.
‘I’ll have to think this over—’
‘No, you won’t. You’ll give me your answer now. I’m not in the mood for prima donna tactics!’
Polly experienced a powerful urge to tell him to get lost. And then she thought about being married to Raul, and other, infinitely stronger emotions swamped her. Over time they could work at building up a reasonable relationship, she told herself. They would have the baby to share. Surely their child would help to bring them together? And, all false pride laid aside, Polly was suddenly agonisingly conscious that she would do just about anything to at least have that chance with Raul. If she didn’t make that leap of faith now, there would be no second opportunity.
‘I’ll marry you,’ she murmured tautly.
‘Muy bien.’ Raul consulted his watch with disturbing cool. ‘I’m afraid I can’t stay. I have a dinner engagement’
‘Raul....?’
He turned back from the door.
Polly swallowed hard. ‘You can live with this option?’ she prompted anxiously.
His sudden blazing smile took her completely by surprise, and yet inexplicably left her feeling more chilled than reassured. ‘Of course.... I only hope you’re equally adaptable.’
Two days later, Polly, clad in a simple white cotton dress, waited in her room for Raul to arrive.
Rod Bevan had told her that he had suggested the courtyard garden for the wedding ceremony, but Raul had apparently wanted a more private setting. Something quick that wouldn’t interfere with his busy schedule too much or attract the attention of others, Polly had gathered rather sourly. It was hard to believe that this was her wedding day. No flowers, no guests, nothing that might be construed as an attempt to celebrate the event. Had she been out of her mind to agree to marry Raul?
She had tossed and turned half the night, worrying about that. Absently she rubbed at the nagging ache in the small of her back. It had begun annoying her- around dawn, presumably because she’d been lying in an awkward position. She felt like a water melon, huge and ungainly. She felt sorry for herself. She felt tearful. She felt that she might well be on the brink of making the biggest mistake of her life.
But Raul himself had put it in a nutshell for her. They were putting the baby first, and this way their baby would have two parents. That was very important to Polly, and she had with constant piety reminded herself of that crucial fact. There was just one cloud on the horizon...a cloud that got bigger and blacker every time her conscience stole an uneasy glance at it.