Raul's Revenge

'Are you all right?' he asked flatly.

The demand broke through her passion-dazed mind. She lifted her head; her blue eyes met Raul's guarded glance—not a glint of humour between them.

She fought to contain her erratic breathing, to be as cool as Raul. 'If you call being assaulted all right, then, yes, I am fine,' she finally answered sarcastically, and tried to move.

In one lithe movement Raul stood up, taking her with him and planting her firmly on her own two feet in front of him. The fact that they were both naked did not seem to faze him one bit, but suddenly Penny was overcome with embarrassment. She tried to step out of the cubicle, but Raul's hand on her arm stopped her.

‘There was no assault, Penny. So don't bother trying to lay the guilt trip on me, because it will not wash. You wanted me. You begged me, and don't you forget it.'

He was angry; she could see it in the dark glitter in his gold-flecked eyes, in the tension in his huge body. 'And who made me beg?' she shot back, slowly re­gaining some control of her shocked senses. Pulling her arm free with a toss of her proud if somewhat be­draggled head, she forced her trembling legs to move and slipped out of the shower. He was right, but there was no way she was going to admit it.

She grabbed a large bath towel off the rail and wrapped it around her shivering body; suddenly she was cold, both inside and

out. She needed to get away, get some space to think. But before she could leave the bathroom Raul was once again at her side.

She blinked and glanced warily at him through lowered lashes. At least he'd had the decency to wrap a towel around his hips; though, in all honesty, she had to admit that he looked great in anything or nothing! The breadth of his bronzed shoulders, the hair on his chest, exag­gerating the perfect muscle structure, his narrow waist and slim hips were an enticement to any red-blooded female. God! She was doing it again—getting carried away on the physical. Would she never learn?

'Have I grown a pair of horns and a tail?' Raul drawled sardonically, fully aware of her veiled scrutiny.

'You were always a devil, if that's what you mean,' Penny blurted out recklessly, hating his mockery almost as much as she hated him. 'You had no right to invade my privacy in the shower and you know it.'

'It wasn't only your privacy I invaded, and very nice it was too,' he chuckled.

The swine was laughing at her; he actually thought that her complete surrender to his sexual persuasion was amusing. 'I wouldn't know; being under the influence of drugs probably has that effect on one,' she said sca­thingly, and, pushing past him, fled to the bedroom.

But Raul was only a step behind her. 'Drugs had nothing to do with it,' he snarled, catching her around the waist and swinging her around to face him. 'Why can't you be honest and admit that whatever has hap­pened between us in the past, however much you hate me, I only have to touch you and you want me almost as much as I want you. Or is honesty from a woman too much to hope for?' he demanded angrily.

'Oh, I see, and it's honest to kidnap someone, steal their child and then seduce them?'

Raul ran a hand through his hair, an expression of disgust twisting his rugged features. 'For God's sake, Penny! We have just made love; it had to happen; the chemistry—call it what you will—is there between us all the time. You know it. I simply decided we should get it over with and then get down to the real business of arranging our son's future.'

'My son. And if you don't mind I would like to get dressed and go and see him.'

'It will not work, Penny; you can try as hard as you like, but James is our son and in my home—where he is going to stay.'

Bristling with anger, Penny stared up into his hard face. 'Two weeks holiday, you said, and then we are out of here.'

'I lied; you are not leaving, and, God willing, in nine months' time James might have a brother or sister.'

Penny's mouth fell open with shock.

'You'll catch flies like that,' Raul drawled mockingly, his dark eyes lit with amusement.

'You swine, you did that deliberately.'

'Well, last time it only took the one night in Dubai; I have no reason to suppose this time will be any different.'

Poleaxed did not begin to describe Penny's feelings. It had never once occurred to her that she might get pregnant again, and she squashed the flicker of pleasure the thought of another child gave her. She would not give Raul the satisfaction.

'A shakedown in the shower is hardly likely to end up in pregnancy,' she said flippantly.

'A shakedown...' Raul shook his dark head in dis­belief. 'Dios! You have changed. The young girl I once knew would never have spoken that way.'

'The naive, besotted fool you once knew no longer exists,' Penny snapped back, glad to have jolted him for a change.

'Did I read you all wrong in the past, Penny? Were you really besotted?' His dark eyes caught and held hers, and just for a second she was tempted to tell him the truth.

But she saw the expectant gleam in his eye, and she was damned if he was going to win again. Instead she straightened her shoulders and strolled across the room, opening drawers willy-nilly until miraculously she found some underwear.