Emerald Ecstasy (33 page)

Then a servant appeared and refilled Elena's cup with the chocolate which Elena laughed and said was her only real enjoyment. Without warning, Elena dropped her cup after she had taken a few sips, and clutched her chest. “My heart!” she had moaned. She fell to the floor. Daniel had barely risen from his chair to help her when he saw she was dead. Carmen screamed and couldn't seem to stop. It was only when a doctor arrived and had given her a sleeping draught that she settled into a somnambulistic state, but didn't sleep.

As soon as Elena's body had been removed from the
sala
, and Carmen had rested, he brought the girl to her father's house, to inform Raoul about his wife.

Raoul sank into a chair when Daniel finished. He appeared pale and drawn. “She didn't suffer long.”

“No. She died instantly. The doctor said her heart gave out.”

“
Bueno
. I never wanted her to suffer.” He looked at Daniel who never took his eyes from Lianne. She stood with arms folded across her breasts in the doorway. “Have you completed Carmen's portrait?”

Daniel thought that was an odd question to ask given the circumstances. “It shall be finished shortly.”

Raoul stood up and squared his shoulders. He was only an inch shorter than Daniel. “Then I advise you to have it finished by the end of the week and return to Louisiana. There is nothing for you here. Lianne carries my child, and soon I shall marry her. There isn't hope for you, Daniel.”

Daniel grinned crookedly, arrogance surrounding him. He rose to his full height, totally disarming Lianne with a smile he quickly flashed in her direction. “There's always hope, de Lovis, as long as I'm alive.”

Daniel turned on his heels and left the house without further word to either of them.

Raoul sniffed the air. “Arrogant son of a bitch! If you live much longer!” His vicious black-eyed gaze settled on Lianne, and he grabbed her arm. “You're mine. You'll never belong to Daniel Flanders, so get that look of hope off your face. Now go and tend to that wailing, stupid girl I call my daughter.”

Raoul was heartless, but she didn't argue with him. She went to the room where Carmen sat on the bed, not caring for Josephine's ministrations. “I don't want a wet facecloth. I want my mother!” she cried and slapped Josephine who tried to wipe her tears away.

Lianne dismissed Josephine with a slight wave of her hand. She moved closer to the bed, but Carmen lifted her face from the kerchief in her hands and saw her. With a quick movement, she tumbled from the bed and stood in the corner.

“Stay away from me, you vile woman!
Puta
!” she spat.

Hearing the word from Carmen's mouth caused Lianne to blink, but she pretended not to be upset by the girl's hatred and distrust of her.

“I'd like to help you, Carmen.”

Carmen shook her head so hard the tiny smooth chignon loosened. “I want my mother!”

“She's gone to heaven. I think she'd want you to think of her love for you, and she did love you very much. She'll never return, but her love will see you through this tragedy.”

Carmen laughed hysterically. “
Sí
! And what will happen to me without her to protect me … from him?”

“Your father?”

“Who else? The filthy bastard will have me married to Diego Gonzales when my mother wished a match with Fernando Valenciana.”

“Perhaps I will speak to your father. Do you love this Fernando?” Lianne asked and inched closer to her.

With suspicious eyes, Carmen shook her head. “No, but at least Fernando is not devious like Diego or cruel. Diego was my father's protégé at one time. He used to look after the de Lovis interests until he married a wealthy woman who died under mysterious circumstances. Exactly like my mother.”

Fresh tears assailed Carmen, and Lianne tried to comfort her, but she stayed in the corner and shrugged off Lianne's hand. “
Puta!
” she cried again.

Lianne knew she was defeated. She left Carmen and found Raoul in the
sala
. He lounged lazily in a chair and smoked a cheroot.

“Aren't there plans to be made for Elena's burial?” she asked.

He looked at Lianne, unconcern on his face. He smiled at how lovely she was with her long hair pulled atop her head with a peach ribbon and dressed in a morning gown of the same color. Desire swelled in him, but he decided not to touch her until they married. He feared the loss of the child, and he realized she might think it strange if he made love to her an hour after hearing of his wife's untimely death. Better to leave her alone for the moment. But soon she'd be his wife and he would own her, body and soul. Then Daniel Flanders would cease to be a threat.

“All shall be attended to, Lianne. The bitch was my wife and you're worried about her. She knew I wanted to divorce her and refused me. It was God's will that she died. You were meant to be my wife and bear my children. Our son shall not be a bastard. He'll inherit my wealth, my name.”

Lianne looked curiously at him. “What about Carmen? She is your heiress.”

“Hmmph! A small replica of Elena. She'll make do with the dowry I give her on her wedding day.”

“She's worried you'll marry her to Diego Gonzales when Elena intended for her to marry someone else.”

He took another puff of the cheroot. “Carmen should be worried. She will marry Diego.”

“You should honor Elena's wishes in this, Raoul.”

A raised eyebrow told her she had gone too far. “Don't tell me what I should do, or not do, about that worthless daughter Elena bore me. My women do as I want.”

“Your women!” she spat. “You're nothing but a vile, filthy rapist!”

He stood up. His face grew white, and when he threw the cheroot to the flagstone floor and grabbed her arm until it hurt, she knew she should never have opened her mouth.

“Consider yourself lucky that you carry my son. Tell me why you say such a thing to me.”

She didn't know how to reply, could barely speak.

“I don't know…”

“Who told you this lie?”

“No one.” She suddenly felt very weak and cowered like a lamb, not sure what he would do to her. He said he wouldn't beat her, but she had an idea that Raoul could torment a person, especially a woman, without physical violence.

One of the servants saved her then when he announced the arrival of Father Lopez, Elena's confessor.

Raoul told her to leave them, and she gladly did. She fled to her room like a frightened mouse and found herself minutes later crying for Elena and herself.

“Daniel, Daniel,” she moaned the name into the bedspread. “I want to go home.”

No sooner had Elena been buried than Raoul informed Lianne to prepare for their wedding. Carmen, who sat at the far end of the dining table, away from her father and Lianne, looked up from her evening meal of beans, tortillas and hot chocolate.

“Have you no respect for the memory of my mother?” she burst out, without thinking. “How dare you marry your whore when my mother is barely one week dead!”

Lianne felt a cold, sinking feeling in her stomach at Carmen's unthinking words. Her own eyes flew to Raoul whose mouth stiffened into a straight line. She didn't know if she could protect Carmen from Raoul's wrath, however, Raoul surprised her and apparently Carmen, also, when he grinned.

“Your dear mother would have wished for all of us to continue living. As I recall her greatest desire was for you to marry.” He paused. “Your own wedding shall be arranged shortly, because I don't wish to deny my only daughter her happiness.”

Carmen's expression changed from one of anger to hope. “My mother would have been pleased to see me marry Fernando Valenciana.”

Raoul's brow rose inquisitively. “Haven't you heard the news? Fernando has left Mexico City to marry an heiress in Colombia. I hope you didn't have your heart set on such a match, Carmen.”

Carmen's face paled. “No,” she mouthed and glanced toward Lianne who looked just as shocked.

“Don't be dismayed,” Raoul said, gesturing grandly with his cheroot. “A suitable husband has already been found. Tonight Diego Gonzalas shall pay his respects to you. I've spoken to him about your dowry, and the man is eager to marry you. Consider yourself lucky that Diego wants you at all. He has grown quite wealthy since the days he worked for me and is considered quite a catch. In fact I believe he has broken Dona Isabelle Hidalgo's heart.” He smiled at Carmen's shocked face.

Lianne could see that Carmen wanted to deny her father, but she suddenly asked to be excused and Raoul nodded.

“You see,” he spoke to Lianne after Carmen's departure, “one only has to know how to handle Elena's offspring. The girl is gutless, as was her mother, and will do whatever I wish.”

How cocksure he appeared! Lianne had the insane desire to rake her nails across his face, to scar it further.

“You somehow arranged for the Valenciana boy to marry elsewhere.”

Raoul shrugged in his familiar way. “Señor Valenciana is in debt to me and needed no great inducement to look elsewhere for a bride for his son. I hear the Colombian heiress is quite pretty. The boy should thank me.”

“How noble of you, Raoul.”

He laughed at her disapproving look and squeezed her hand. “You'll marry me, Lianne, just as Carmen will wed Diego. Both of you belong to me until I decide otherwise.” He stood up and went into his library while Lianne fumed, still sitting at the table.

She hated Raoul! To think of marrying him was unbearable, but no other alternative was open to her. She must marry him because of the baby. If only there wasn't a child.

She started in her seat to remember what had happened to Felix's sister. Perhaps she could find a woman who would help her and not botch the job. But shame overcame her and she put her hands over her face. It was wrong to think such a thing. She could never rid herself of a child. Despite the fact that Raoul was the father, a part of her anticipated motherhood again. Finally she'd have someone to love, a baby to take the place of her little Désirée.

But she sighed. There was no one to take Daniel's place in her heart. She loved him fiercely and many times had to quell the impulse to see him once more, to remind herself that she must protect him from Raoul. She had no doubt that if she saw him again, Raoul would discover it and punish Daniel in a way she didn't care to dwell upon.

Shaking her head to drive the horrible thoughts away, she stood up. She picked up her lace shawl and went down the step which led into the courtyard. The purple sky of evening descended, and she wandered aimlessly toward the cast iron fountain in the courtyard's center. Sitting on the bench beside it, she trailed her hand in the cool water and noted the reflection of the rising moon in its depths. Then the moon was gone and she saw Daniel's face.

“Daniel!” Her look of pure pleasure told him that she loved him. Without thinking she threw herself into his arms and felt the steel of his chest beneath her breasts, and the warmth of his lips on hers. But Lianne drew quickly away and glanced toward the house.

“You shouldn't be here,” she cautioned and purposely pulled him away from the center of the courtyard to an area close to the street, bordered by high hedges and flowering bougainvillea which matched the crimson of her lips and permeated the air with their sweet scent.

“Are you so frightened of Raoul?” Daniel asked and pulled her toward him once more.

She didn't want to answer him, but her silence told him what he already knew. “Don't take unnecessary risks on my account, Daniel. We can't be together. I'm going to marry Raoul in a few days.”

“Do you love him?”

“I love only you. I'll always love you.”

He smiled down at her and marveled at the way her eyes glowed a golden green in the deepening moonlight. His mouth gently caressed her cheek and sent shivers through her.

“Then leave the bastard. I'll take your child and raise it as mine. I'll fight for you, Lianne! I won't let you go.”

For a moment she thought he intended to bound inside and confront Raoul, so she clutched at him. “Don't do anything foolish. Not for me.”

A soft wind blew a few strands of dark hair about his forehead. Love filled her for this slightly disheveled man who smelled of oils and whose shirt front was streaked with spots of color. Whatever happened in the future, she had this memory of him to cherish.

“I'd do anything to free you from him, but if you won't free yourself, I can't. Do you want to be free of him, Lianne?”

His uncertainty chilled her. Couldn't he tell she did? But she must convince him she didn't want to leave, to save him from a love which had been doomed the moment Raoul de Lovis set eyes upon her in Madrid.

“I've told you already why I won't run away with you. The baby, the money, the clothes…”

He stopped her short, grinding out his words. “I don't believe you.”