Contract Baby

Hearing the sound of feet on the metal steps outside, seeing Irena’s face blossom into surprising warmth as she moved out of view to greet Raul, Polly was annoyed to recognise her own powerful sense of anticipation—and, mortifyingly, her childish stab of envy that the brunette should get to see him first. Swallowing hard on that lowering awareness, she studied the carpet, fighting to contain her own dangerously volatile emotions.

‘Sorry, I’m late...’ Raul drawled with infuriating cool, crossing the cabin to peruse his slumbering son and comment, in a tone of satisfaction and pride, ‘Luis is always so peaceful.’

‘You’ve never seen him any other way. Actually, your son kept me up half the night!’ Polly complained thinly, before she could think better of it.

Disorientatingly, Raul laughed as he sank lithely down opposite her, forcing her to look at him for the first time. And his sheer stunning impact simply slaughtered her carefully prepared outer shield of tranquillity. Last night he had finally ripped away her defences and made her betray herself in his arms. Now she discovered there could be no pretense of indifference or detachment, not when her nails were already digging painfully into her palms, her skin dampening, her breathing quickening, her eyes unable to rest any place but on him.

Those bronzed features, already as familiar to her as her own yet still possessed of the most intense charismatic appeal. The lean, arrogant nose, the spectacular dark, deep-set eyes, the wide, hard mouth, the aggressive jawline. Drop-dead gorgeous, and yet every angle of that darkly handsome face was stamped with immense strength and character.

‘At the hato...the ranch, the whole household will revolve round our son,’ Raul promised with quiet amusement. ‘He will be spoiled by so many willing helpers that your nights should be undisturbed from now on.’

Polly could see no reflection of her own highwire tension in him. He talked briefly, lightly about their destination. The isolated ranch where his ancestors bad lived for generations was on the cattle plains he called the llanos. It would be very hot, possibly quite wet as the rainy season wasn’t quite over yet, Raul warned in the sort of bracing, healthy, dismissive tone she suspected the hardy might use to refer to a hellhole they loved and honoured as home, regardless of its deficiencies.

Soon after the jet had taken off, Raul released his belt and leant forward to unsnap Polly’s. Rising, he curved strong hands over her taut shoulders to urge her up into the circle of his arms.

‘What are you—?’

‘Lesson one on being a proper wife,’ Raul murmured with amused dark eyes as he scanned her bewildered face. ‘Even when you’re really mad at me, you should always look glad to see me when we’ve been apart.’

That close to that lithe, lean body, Polly trembled. ‘You are so changeable,’ she condemned shakily. ‘You were furious with me last night—’

‘I’m just not used to a negative response in the bedroom,’ Raul countered with velvet-soft satire. ‘And when I’ve been forced to ride roughshod over my every reservation to become a legally wedded husband, that negative response

took some swallowing.’

‘But I tried to explain how I felt—’

‘Not with an explanation I can take seriously, Polly,’ Raul interrupted with conviction. ‘You want me. I want you. You have a wedding ring to satisfy your principles. Sex is only a physical hunger, an appetite...not something important enough to become a divisive issue between us.’

Polly blinked, striving to think that through and shrinking from the feelings she experienced in response. Not important ? An appetite, something to be casually, even carelessly satisfied as and when the need took him? Such terminology ensured that there was little danger of her overestimating the extent of her own attractions, she conceded in fierce pain.

A firm hand caught her chin, tipping up her face, making her meet the passionate gold of his intent gaze. ‘If you expect too much from me, I am certain to disappoint you. Don’t do that to us. Be satisfied with what we have,’ Raul warned almost roughly.

Polly flung her head back. ‘And what do we have?’

In answer, he attacked on her weakest flank. He lifted her up into his powerful arms, his sensual mouth took hers and she was lost, filled with the mindless pleasure of simply being there. All she was capable of at that moment was feeling—feeling what he could make her feel. The wild, sweet excitement as seductive as a drug, the shivering sensitivity of her own body crushed into the wonderfully masculine strength of his, heady sensation born at every point where they touched.

He released her lips and she discovered she was sprawled across his lap like a wanton, without any memory of how she had got there. Struggling to catch her breath, she stared into the stunning eyes level with her own. Long brown fingers framed her flushed cheekbones and eased her back from him.

‘At least we have a starting point, gatita. It will be enough,’ Raul swore with silken satisfaction. ‘Now I think you should get some rest.’

‘Rest?’ she repeated unevenly.

‘You look exhausted, and this is a very long flight.’

‘Luis...?’ she mumbled.

‘I can manage him for a few hours,’ Raul asserted with cool confidence.

Polly scrambled clumsily upright again, face burning under the onslaught of a wave of hot colour. Her legs were so wobbly she wasn’t sure she could walk, and she felt dizzy, disorientated.

Raul watched her retreat to the sleeping compartment every step of the way, a slightly amused smile beginning to curve his expressive mouth. Polly shut the door and sagged, furious with him, furious with herself. First he treated her like a toy to be played with, then he dismissed her like a child after a goodnight kiss! It made her feel controlled and horribly vulnerable, because she literally didn’t know at any given time what Raul was planning to do next. Just because he was experienced... and she wasn’t!

Oh, dear heaven, no, she reflected, not wanting to even think about how and where he had gained all that cool sexual assurance. She curled up in a tight ball on the builtin bed. Until Raul had said it, she hadn’t realised just how very tired she was. Hopefully she would be better equipped to deal with him when she felt a little more buoyant.

Polly woke up slowly, eyes opening blankly on her surroundings until she finally registered that she was still on the Zaforteza jet. Glancing at her watch, she groaned in disbelief. She had just enjoyed the equivalent of a full night’s sleep for the first time since Luis had been born...Luis! Pushing her wildly tumbled hair off her brow, Polly rolled off the bed and opened the door back into the main cabin.

A cosy and unexpected little scene met her startled eyes. Chattering in soft, intimate Spanish, Irena was leaning over Raul while he cradled Luis. She was as close to Raul as a lover. Her big brown eyes swept Polly’s sleep-flushed face and crumpled clothing in a hostile look at the interruption.