Raul's Revenge
'I don't know.'
'I did try to see you again.'
Penny's head shot up in surprise, and there was no mistaking that he was telling the truth; it was there in his eyes.
'Not straight away, I admit. We had been arguing a lot, it seemed. My pride had taken a beating and I was furious. I told myself, Let her sweat for a few weeks and then she will realise what she is missing and be my sweet, malleable Penny again.
'I went on a trip to America, and Brazil, and when I finally returned to London a month later I called at your apartment and was met by a strange man—the new owner. I asked him where the girl who used to live there was.'
Raul gave Penny a twisted smile. 'And that was when my arrogant assumption that I could have you any time bit the dust.'
'Not before time,' Penny interjected cheekily; somehow she felt a lot better knowing that Raul had at least tried to see her again.
'He told me that as far as he knew the girl had married someone called Mike from the apartment above and they were on a protracted honeymoon.'
'No!' she exclaimed. Raul could not possibly have thought she had married someone else so quickly.
'Yes,' he said, reading her mind.
'But...but,' Penny spluttered, 'it was Tanya. She shared with Amy while I was away, and then married Mike.'
'I know that. Now.' Raul said with a wry, self-mocking grin. 'But at the time I was so mad that if I had caught up with you I would have killed you.'
His confession that he had looked for her put a whole new complexion on the disastrous end of their affair. 'I never knew,' Penny said sadly, wondering what would have happened if she had stayed in London only one week longer.
'No matter.' Raul carelessly spread his hands. 'Recriminations are futile. We must concentrate on the here and now. Right?' He smiled with a kind of enquiring affection that touched her.
'Right,' she agreed, oddly subdued by Raul's revelation.
'Good,' he said. 'Progress at last. Which brings us nicely to last night when we—'
'Do we have to?' Penny cut in, the colour surging in her cheeks.
His voice sharpened. 'Yes. Last night, when you were in the throes of a nightmare, it brought home to me exactly what I bad done by bringing you here against your will. I honestly had no idea you suffered that way, and I apologise. But, having said that, I do not regret the rest of the night, because I realised neither one of us has a choice.' He slanted her a heavy-lidded look. 'We both know I only have to kiss you to have you, but it works both ways. I only have to see your luscious little body and mine clenches in need—embarrassingly so sometimes.'
Penny gasped, astonished at his blunt confession.
'Don't look so surprised,' he drawled, looking oddly speculative. 'Surely you knew? You must feel what you do to me.' And, reaching across, he caught her hands in his; turning them palms up, he pressed a kiss in the centre of each hand.
A shiver, part desire and part pain, slid through her body. 'It's just sex,' she said, but knew she was lying. She loved Raul.
'Sex, lust, love—whatever name you give it, the compulsion is there between us all the time. Marriage is the logical solution for you and me and James. I have already spoken to the authorities; we can be married in three days.'
Sitting in the sun with her hands held in Raul's, Penny was tempted. It would be so easy to give in to Raul's demand. He did not love her, but she certainly loved him; she could not fool herself otherwise. Never mind that he was arrogant, overbearing and usually right. She still loved him. They could have more children... it was a possibility. Then out of the blue a practical problem struck her.
'Wait a minute. You told me I couldn't leave Spain because I'm technically an illegal alien. I have no passport. So how on earth could you arrange a wedding?'
His sensuous mouth tilted at the corners in a wicked smile. 'I lied. On my second visit to your apartment, while you were making coffee, I purloined your passport from the dressing-table drawer in your bedroom. James is on it, of course, so I didn't need the help of any high government official either.'
Penny's mouth fell open and she shook her head. 'You're incredible; you made me think...'
'An added threat to make sure you did not run away. Actually, I was surprised you believed me,' he said, stroking the palm of her hand with his thumb. 'I would never deliberately break the law. I thought you knew me better than that.'
A tingling sensation in her hand was having a disastrous effect on her brain and her ability to think clearly, but she struggled on. 'But you put James on your passport.'
'I don't consider that illegal.' His voice hardened. 'He is my son.' His dark eyes narrowed broodingly on her lovely face. 'You are procrastinating, Penny. What is it to
be, yes or no?'