Raul's Revenge

He loomed over her, oozing a menacing animal sexu­ality that threatened more than words could ever do. Penny arched back, terrified of what he might do to her. 'Please, I want to see James.'

'Later,' he said with savage softness. 'I swore when you walked out on me that I would get even some day.' He jerked her hands up her back, forcing her hard against his tough body. She looked into his eyes and trembled at the implacable intent she saw there. 'And when I discovered the full extent of your betrayal I was doubly determined to make you suffer.'

With one hand he held both of hers, and with the other he roughly gripped her chin. 'I have waited a long time for this.'

'You won't get away with it,' she croaked. The hard heat of his body, his dark eyes full of hate, burning into hers, horrified her. He had fooled her completely, not just with James but by pretending that he was no longer sexually interested in her. It was in his eyes, the hard thrust of his masculine arousal against her stomach. But, worse, she had fooled herself. A pulse leapt in her throat, fire spread through her veins. She gasped for breath.

‘I already have,' he grated mockingly, his mouth des­cending on her parted lips with a cruel passion that seemed to demand her total surrender, his tongue delving into the moist heat, forcing a response she was helpless to control.

'Oh, no,' she groaned when he allowed her to breathe, terrified by the fierce tide of pleasure flowing through her body.

'Yes, yes, yes,' Raul ground out, his hand slipping between them, down the front of her dress, to curve around the swell of her breast. A hopeless moan escaped from her parched throat and Raul stared cynically down at her flushed face. 'You're desperate for a man, Penny,' he said callously, his long fingers stroking over the already rigid tip of her breast—stroking, playing with the hard nub as he watched her with dark, mocking eyes. 'Your Nick is obviously not keeping you satisfied.'

'Nick...?' she moaned, not knowing what he was talking about.

A blinding flash of fury glittered in his eyes and roughly he grasped her breast before pushing her away from him. 'You dare to moan his name, you bitch?'

Shocked out of her emotional stupor, Penny licked her dry lips. 'I was...' But something so primitive, so sinister in Raul's eyes made her throat close, and she could not speak.

'You have the nerve to allow a man to stay overnight in the same house as my son. I could kill you for that.' He swore violently in Spanish before adding, 'Dios! You disgust me; you're little better than a whore.'

His comment hung in the air. Penny tensed, lifting hurt, angry eyes to his, about to explain who Nick was. But she caught a flash of bitter black hatred in his eyes before he wiped all trace of expression from his hard face. She stopped. She did not owe Raul an explanation. She did not owe him anything. Instead, anger surfacing, she shot back, ‘Then why, as I disgust you, did you drug me and bring me here?'

'Lucky for you, James insisted on visiting his sleeping mamma every couple of hours. Otherwise, believe me, I would have thrown you overboard in the Bay of Biscay without a second thought.' And, spinning on his heel, he walked out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Penny looked around the room and then back to the door, not quite believing what had happened. She crossed to the bathroom and, entering, slipped off her dress and briefs.

What was that favourite saying of her local hair­dresser? 'It's a treat to be alive.' How true, she thought with a wry chuckle, her irrepressible sense of humour coming to her rescue. According to Raul, she could have been fish bait by now!

She stepped into the double shower stall, still laughing. But very quickly her laughter turned to hysteria. Tears flooded her eyes and rained down her cheeks. Her head ached, her heart ached, and as she stood under the warm shower spray, her tears mingling with the water, she had never felt so hopelessly lost in her life.

At least when James had been missing she'd had hope and the support of other people to sustain her. Now she was trapped in Raul's house, miles from anywhere, with no friends. She had no illusions as to the loyalty of his servants, Ava and Carlos. In this part of the world the feudal system still lingered. There was no way they would help her against the master. It wasn't in their nature, and Penny had a sneaky suspicion that Ava would con­sider her action in withholding her son from Raul as pretty despicable in any case.

She turned the tap on harder. As steam filled the stall she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, allowing the water to wash away her tears. Crying was not going to help her now. If only she did not feel so weak. But then being drugged would do that to one every time, she thought wretchedly.

She did not hear the shower door open, and when two strong male hands clasped her slender waist she almost jumped out of her skin. Her eyes flew open and she was looking at the broad, naked chest of a man. She did not need to see his face. She would have known the touch of those hands in her sleep, she realised bitterly.

'I thought you might need some help washing your back.' Raul's deep, mocking voice echoed in the en­closed area.

'Get out!' she cried, lifting her hands to sweep her wet hair from her face, the better to see what the hell he thought he was doing!

His head bent and his mouth fastened on her parted lips with unerring accuracy as his hands slid over her bottom and pressed her close against him.

For a moment she was stunned by the flood of emotion, the memories his kiss evoked. Her mouth wel­comed him as a lover, her nipples throbbing against his hard chest, and then she realised what she was inviting and, with a sudden twist, was out of his arms, her back to him, her heart pounding erratically. 'Get out,' she spluttered, swallowing half the shower spray.

'You don't mean that, Penny.' Raul's arm closed around her slender waist, hauling her back hard against him even as his free hand snaked up to cup her breast, kneading it gently, his long fingers sliding teasingly over the hard peak in a caress that made her shudder in in­stant reaction.

She was immediately made aware of his hard, naked body at her back, the stirring of masculine arousal against her buttocks. 'I do,' she got out shakily. The water pounding down on her overheated body, com­bined with the feeling of being completely surrounded by Raul, was making her head spin.

She grasped the arm around her waist, trying to prise herself free, but as she did so, with his other hand, he rolled her aching nipple between his index finger and thumb, sending shafts of fierce, achingly familiar pleasure from her breast to her loins, while his dark head bent and his mouth nuzzled her neck, his teeth biting lightly into the tender flesh.

'You do what, Penny?' he asked, biting her ear-lobe then licking inside with his tongue. 'Ache for me, burn for me?' he whispered in an oddly gentle voice.

She sensed a subtle change in him from his earlier, raging hatred, but it made no difference; this was one fight she dared not let him win. 'No. No,' she denied desperately, her fingers digging into the flesh of the arm at her waist, but he held her manacled to his hard length in a band of steel.

'Little liar. You love it, you know you do; and turning your back on me physically or mentally won't help. You tried that once before and it almost ended in tragedy,' he cynically reminded her, all the time his teeth grazing her neck even as his long fingers glided from one aching breast to the other, plucking, playing with the rigid tips with devastating expertise. 'But never mind, my sweet, luscious Penny,' he continued in a husky whisper. 'I won't let it happen again. I'll take care of you, protect you.'