Raul's Revenge

'Hello, Amy. How are you managing on your own? Penny was worried about you. Yes... yes. Here she is.' But before handing Penny the receiver he bent and whis­pered, 'I'll be listening, and upsetting your friend will not do either of you any good.'

Penny gripped the receiver, tears hazing her eyes at the sound of Amy's voice.

'What the hell is going on, Penny? I couldn't believe the telegram. I went to the police and they said it was all above board; Raul left them his phone number if they needed to get in touch.'

This was her big chance, Penny realised. All she had to do was tell Amy the truth—she had been abducted by the father of her child. Amy would move heaven and earth to help her. Penny would probably make the news. Yet again! A bitter battle over James would ensue. She imagined the scenario, the headlines in the newspaper: Son Abducted One Month. Mother and Son the Following Month. She would be a laughing stock at best, and, at worst, viewed as a totally incompetent mother.

She stood with the receiver jammed to her ear. She opened her mouth but her throat closed up. She lifted pained eyes to Raul's face. There was no softening in his hawk-like regard, and she knew in that second that she could not do it. She was beaten...

'Penny? Penny, are you still there?'

She swallowed hard. 'Yes, yes, I'm still here, Amy. I'm sorry if you were worried. But I'm fine; James is fine.' Once she had told the first he it got easier. Forcing a lightness to her tone that she did not feel, Penny con­tinued, 'I decided at the last minute James and I needed a holiday after the abduction and everything... and R-Raul—' she stumbled over his name '—kindly offered us accommodation at his hacienda—'

'Kind? Raul? Are you sure?' Amy cut in suspiciously.

'Perfectly. I thought we would stay a couple of weeks. That is, if you can manage on your own.'

A dry chuckle echoed down the wire. 'You're kidding, of course! Since the new health centre opened Sense and Sensibility barely needs one pharmacist, let alone two.'

With relief Penny let Amy ramble on about the business or lack of it, and when she finally put the tele­phone down Penny knew that her friend was convinced that she was all right.

'Very sensible,' Raul said quietly.

Any remark Penny felt like making was halted as the housekeeper bustled into the room carrying a soup tureen.

CHAPTER NINE

Dinner had been a tense affair. Neither one of them had done justice to Ava's supposedly celebratory meal. Penny had been too busy arguing for her freedom in increasing desperation while Raul, with cold inflexi­bility, had refused to be moved from his original statement. She could go or stay, but James stayed...

Penny had felt her nerves winding up like a corkscrew every time she glanced across the table and met Raul's dark, implacable gaze. She was exhausted. And all she wanted to do was bury her head in the sand like an os­trich and pretend it was all a bad dream.

She had refused Raul's suggestion to take coffee in the salon, preferring the hard-backed dining chair and the width of the table between them, but as she drained her cup and replaced it on the table she could stand the tension, the stalemate

no longer.

'Where exactly am I supposed to sleep?' she ground out between tightly clenched teeth as her blue eyes clashed with Raul's yet again. ‘There is no bed in James's room.'

'With me, of course.'

He smiled, and she could see that he was deadly serious. Her stomach clenched in fear—and another emotion she dared not recognise. She knew just how persistent Raul could be. An attractive, virile male with wealth and power plus a single-minded, ruthless deter­mination to get his own way was a combination almost impossible to beat, and, being brutally honest, she was no longer sure that she wanted to beat Raul... 'No,' she finally responded shakily, but she had delayed too long.

Raul had moved and was beside her, one hand on the back of her chair and the other on the table, hovering over her like some great black avenging angel. ‘The nursery is for James...' he said with chilling softness. 'Alone...' And, straightening to his full height, he care­lessly flicked a finger under her chin, adding, 'End of subject.'

He dismissed her as he would a child, just as he had done years ago, Penny thought, her anger rising again. 'Not so fast,' she cried, and, leaping to her feet, she caught the sleeve of his jacket as he made to leave. His black head turned and she stared up at him, tears of anger and frustration stinging her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. 'James needs me; he's still a baby,' she protested violently.

'He may need you, but he is too old to share a bedroom with his mother,' Raul declared, his eyes narrowing to skim assessingly over her slender body, the blue of the simple shift she wore reflecting in her wide, defiant eyes. 'I, on the other hand, rather like the idea.'

Penny shivered, alarm and, more shaming, an electric awareness running through her as she stared at him in silence for a second. Her heart leapt as Raul moved closer, his hand threading under her hair to clasp the back of her neck. 'You... you can't make me,' she said, fear making her stammer.

'I could, but I hope I won't need to, Penny,' he said and smiled—a cruel twist of his firm lips. 'Because you are going to sleep in my bed even if I have to carry you there myself. This is not negotiable.' And he lowered his head. Then his mouth stole her breath away.

Expecting a savage assault, she was overwhelmed by the sweet tenderness of his kiss. He held her with one hand at her nape and sipped at her lips like a man drinking the nectar of the gods. His very tenderness de­feated her, her fingers curling involuntarily into the soft fabric of his sleeve.

He raised his head to look at her flushed, bewildered face and murmured, 'On the other hand...' Lifting a finger, he outlined the swollen bow of her top lip. ‘This is negotiable, Penny,' he murmured with a sensual smile. 'But I give you my word I will not touch you unless you want me to. The bed is more than big enough for both of us.'

'I don't trust you,' she said, still shaken by his kiss but not taking her eyes off him.

'You can put a pillow down the middle if you want to.'