Valaquez Bride (13 page)

"If I have to pay a man to marry me, then I'll just stay
single, thank you," she replied pertly, then pretended to be very hurt.
"Besides, I didn't know I was such a disaster that I'd have to buy
myself a husband."

Her uncle laughed. "Judging by the way Pablo chases after
you, you have nothing to worry about. I'm sure he'd be willing to buy
you, if Raul would be willing to give him the money."

"Hah! Well, then don't expect Pablo to be making any cash
offers," Juliet announced rather resentfully. "Raul wouldn't give him a
peso to buy
me
."

Will eyed her speculatively. "You sound as if you think
Raul doesn't like you? Why should you think that? I always thought he
acted very fond of you."

"Maybe he was a little fond of me. Last year.
But—oh, it doesn't matter," Juliet evaded, forcing a cheery
smile to her lips. "I've just thought of the perfect way to help Benny
save a little money. We could let him stay at the house in Granada
while we're staying here. That way, he won't have to pay for a hotel
room. Would you mind if he stayed there?"

"I think it's a fine idea," Will agreed happily,
forgetting about Raul as Juliet had hoped he would. "In fact, Benny
would be doing me a favor by staying there. Even in Granada, there are
burglaries so it would be less likely to happen to us, if Benny stays
at the house."

"Terrific. If I tell Benny that, he'll be more likely to
accept the offer."

"Fine," Will said with a satisfied smile. "Well, now
that's settled, how about playing some poker?"

Juliet grimaced comically. "You wouldn't be willing to
play Crazy Eights instead, would you?"

"No. Poker. We won't bet since you're not a very
proficient player yet."

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one," Juliet
quipped, watching warily as her uncle took a deck of cards from the
side pocket of his wheelchair, shuffled them, then dealt them five
cards apiece.

"Now, this is called five-card draw," he informed her.
"Remember?"

"That much I remember," she answered wryly. "After that,
I'm lost." Picking up her cards, she wrinkled her nose disgustedly. She
had nothing except three hearts so she discarded a spade and a club and
when Uncle Will dealt her two more cards, they weren't hearts so she
still had nothing, not even a measly pair.

Will won that hand with a pair of threes and during the
next half hour, Juliet won only twice, once with a pair of tens and
once almost by default because she held the high card when neither of
them had hands worth anything. At last, however, she was lucky. Holding
a pair of aces and a pair of queens, she thought she would undoubtedly
win.

Will, however, laid down three nines. "Sorry, honey," he
said sympathetically. "But three of a kind beats two pairs."

"Are you sure?" she muttered, staring at the cards on the
wrought iron table. "That doesn't seem fair."

Will chuckled indulgently, shuffled the cards and dealt
again. This time, Juliet broke the cardinal rule of poker. Discarding
one of the four spades she held, she hoped to be dealt a seven to fill
out a possible straight. She didn't get the seven and when she laid
down her cards in disgust, Will glanced up at her suspiciously. "You
didn't discard a spade before, did you?" he asked hopefully and when
she nodded, he groaned. "Oh, honey, why did you do that? One more spade
and you would have had a flush and a flush always beats a straight."

"It does? But I thought a straight beat a flush. Oh, I'm
all confused."

Will shook his head admonishingly, adding, "And never,
never draw to an inside straight."

"A what?" she exclaimed bewilderedly. "Oh, this is
ridiculous. I don't even know what an inside straight is." As Will
started to patiently explain, she shook her head and threw up her hands
in defeat. "It's useless, Uncle Will, today at least. Maybe we could
practice again tomorrow. Right now, couldn't we play something I
understand, like Go Fish?"

"Go Fish?" he exclaimed softly, obviously not
enthusiastic. But at last he nodded. "Oh, all right but just
one…" His words halted and he smiled as Señora Valaquez
stepped out into the courtyard and walked across the flagstone toward
them, smoothing the skirt of her mauve linen dress.

"
Buenas tardes
, Señor McKay, señorita," she said with a polite yet stiff little smile. "I wanted to
come ask how you are feeling this afternoon. But I see you must be
better, since you are playing cards. You are playing poker perhaps?
That is a game my husband Fredrico and I sometimes played." She pursed
her lips into a moue. "I must confess I was never very good at it."

"That makes two of us," Juliet announced wryly, then
impulsively added, "Would you like to join us, señora. We're about to
play a game much simpler than poker, called Go Fish."

"Go Fish?" the señora queried, frowning slightly. "
Que
es
Go Fish? Is it a difficult game to learn, señor?"

"Hardly," Will answered, chuckling. "The only objective is
to make pairs. Please sit down and join us and I'll explain."

To Juliet's amazement, Alicia Valaquez did join them and
after a brief explanation of the simplistic rules, the game began. But
they weren't allowed to finish. Will's nurse, an enormous woman with a
perpetual scowl strode purposefully into the courtyard and made a
bee-line for his wheelchair.

"Is time for siesta, señor," she commanded rather than
informed, pulling his chair away from the table the moment he laid down
his cards. "Doctor say you need much rest."

Will shot Juliet an apologetic glance. "Sorry to stop the
game just when you were winning, honey."

Juliet gestured dismissively. "Ah well, I think I'll
survive without winning this one game. Besides, Nurse Lopez is right.
You should rest."

Will had no chance to do more than lift his hand in a wave
as he was hurriedly whisked away by his stout protectress. With his
departure, there was a sudden silence at the wrought iron table. As
Juliet scooped all the cards into a neat stack, she sensed Señora
Valaquez was watching her and glanced up with a hesitant smile.

"You are fond of your uncle, are you not, señorita?"
Alicia Valaquez asked abruptly, though her tone was somewhat less
unfriendly than usual. "You seem to have a very warm regard for him."

"I love Uncle Will," Juliet said simply. "He's been very
good to me."

"Then why did you leave his house last year?" the señora
asked bluntly. "Surely you knew he would be very upset?"

"Now, I realize I shouldn't have left," Juliet admitted,
rising to her feet as Señora Valaquez did. "Our problem was really just
a misunderstanding which we should have discussed but we didn't. And I
went away because I didn't want to upset him by arguing with him."

"And this argument would have been about Pablo, si?" the
older woman questioned, her tone hardening. "You did not wish to marry
my grandson and your uncle wanted you to?"

"So I thought but he thought I was in love with Pablo and
I—well, I just wasn't," Juliet told her gently, not wanting
to insult her. "I guess that was just a misunderstanding between Pablo
and me."

Señora Valaquez didn't look pleased. "The men of my
country have volatile emotions, señorita," she said tersely. "It is not
wise for any young woman to trifle with the affections of a passionate
man."

"Oh, but I didn't. I…"

"But your excuse is that you are so young, I suppose,"
Alicia Valaquez interrupted, then conceded begrudgingly, "At least you
are fond of your uncle. That is commendable."

As Raul's grandmother turned and glided away, Juliet
smiled ruefully. Since that was as close as she would probably ever
come to getting a compliment from Señora Valaquez, she supposed she
should cherish it, even if it had been given reluctantly. With a sigh,
she picked up the deck of cards and walked into the house, wondering
how to occupy herself now that her uncle was napping. This morning she
had gone for her daily swim and it simply seemed too hot to go for a
walk so she decided she didn't have much choice except to go to her
room and read. As she wandered along the main hall, gazing down at the
lovely muted gold and white tile flooring, she wasn't watching where
she was going and suddenly ran directly into Raul as he stepped out of
his office. The collision caused her to drop the deck of cards and as
they scattered on the floor at their feet, Raul grasped her upper arms
to steady her.

"I'm sorry," she murmured rather breathlessly, gazing up
at him. Even after being at Casa Valaquez for over two weeks, she still
felt quite ill at ease in his presence. And being held close enough to
him to feel the heat emanating from his body now made her doubly aware
of his vital male magnetism and her own unconquerable susceptibility to
it. Easing free of his grasp, she knelt down to begin gathering the
scattered cards, chewing her lower lips as he came down on his heels
beside her to help. When they had retrieved every card, Raul stood
again, drawing her up with him but still he said nothing, though his
dark gaze drifted lazily from her small sandaled feet upward to the
flaming auburn hair that framed her appealingly small, upturned face.

"Well, uh, I—I was just going to my room," she
announced squeakily, disconcerted as usual by his appraisal. "Thanks
for helping me pick up the cards and I'm sorry I bumped into you. I
guess I wasn't looking where I was going."

As she started to turn away, Raul caught one small hand in
his. "Is something wrong, Juliet?" his voice low and melodious. "You
look a little forlorn."

"I… No, nothing's wrong."

"You're sure? Your friend Holly isn't worse, is she?"

"Holly? Oh no, she's feeling better now, though she hates
being stuck in that hospital bed," Juliet said rather weakly, surprised
that he even remembered Holly's name. Then she shrugged. "But I guess
she's just feeling restless, like I am. We're both accustomed to being
busy."

"Busy?" Raul questioned, raising one dark eyebrow. "How
busy can you be while you're riding around in a van?"

Juliet gazed down at his thumb brushing slowly back and
forth across the smooth sensitive skin on the back of her hand, wishing
she wouldn't be so unnerved by such meaningless caresses. Without
looking back up at him, she lifted her slight shoulders in another
shrug. "We weren't hoboes, Raul. Actually, we didn't spend all that
much time on the road. I made bookings in towns as close together as
possible. Holly and Benny spent most of their time rehearsing while I
kept up with our income and expenses and got as many bookings in
advance as I could."

"I see," he said flatly, giving no indication of whether
or not this new information impressed him. But there was an almost wry
note in his voice with his next question. "Why did Benny and Holly
rehearse? A great deal of rock music sounds very impromptu."

"Benny and Holly aren't into rock music," Juliet said
rather wearily, then gave him the same explanation she had given her
uncle. She glanced up at him almost belligerently when she had finished.

He only smiled. "Sort of modern-day troubadours, eh? Are
they good?"

"They're very good," she said loyally and truthfully.
"Benny has a rich baritone voice and Holly's a superb soprano. You
wouldn't believe how they can harmonize."

"I'd like to hear them some time," Raul said, the creases
in his lean cheeks deepening when he noted her expression of surprise.
But then his smile faded and he lifted her hand, idly playing with the
tips of her fingers. "Now why don't you tell me why you're feeling so
restless here. When you're not with Will, you could swim or go riding,
or even take the Esprit and drive in to Granada."

"Oh, I know, but all those things are such leisurely ways
to spend every day. I guess I just don't feel very useful except when
I'm keeping Uncle Will company." She paused as an idea formulated in
her mind and before she could lose her nerve, she blurted it out. "But
you're busy, Raul. Maybe I could help you. With all those galleries,
you must have a lot of paperwork. You wouldn't have any filing or
typing I could do, would you?"

Raul's eyes narrowed enigmatically as he shook his head.
"Señorita Domecq handles all that for me. Remember?"

Unhappily, Juliet did. Señorita Domecq was his middle-aged
secretary who always dressed in gray, never talked and moved
wraithlike, sort of like a ghost through the house, but Raul had once
mentioned that she was a supremely efficient employee. Giving him a
disappointed smile, she nodded. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to
think of some other way to occupy myself, won't I?"

For a long moment, he didn't answer but his dark gaze held
hers and finally he squeezed her hand slightly then released it. "If
you're really serious about helping me, there is something you could
do. Do you have any plans for tonight?" When she shook her head, he
inclined his. "Good. Then you will go to a party with me."

"A party?" Juliet exclaimed softly, absolutely
flabbergasted he would consider taking her out for a social evening.
She stared at him, her disbelief unhidden. "I don't understand how I'd
be helping you with your work by going to a party."

"Because I'm only going for business reasons," Raul
explained. "A local patron of the arts is honoring a young painter
who's making quite an impression on most of the European critics. I'd
like to talk to him about placing his work in our galleries."

"Oh. I see. But why would you want to take me? Why not
Jimena Ruiz? I'm sure she'd be of more help to you than I would. And
besides—I'm really not much of a partying person."

"All the better. You'll be perfect then because I'm
getting weary of these parties and tonight I only want to talk to Luis
Diego, then leave. If I ask Jimena to go with me, I'll never get away.
She never tires of going to parties."