Valaquez Bride (17 page)

"You bet I will," Benny said seriously as he placed the
check in his well-worn wallet. Looking back up, he smiled gratefully.
"You're a good kid, Juliet. I don't know how to thank you."

"Then don't try." Pressing her hand against his shoulder,
she headed him toward the door. "Just go see Holly and I'll finish your
unpacking. But wait! We forgot something." Scrounging through her
purse, she found the key to the house and handed it to him. "I won't be
here when you get back."

Benny nodded, leaned down to clumsily brush a kiss across
her cheek, then walked quickly from the room.

After hearing the van's noisy departure, Juliet finished
hanging the last of Benny's shirts in the closet. As she started back
across the room to get the empty suitcases to store them, she heard the
front door close, then heavy footsteps ascending the stairs. She halted
mid-stride for only a second, then went on, deciding Benny must have
forgotten something. As she snapped shut the clasps on one suitcase,
however, she realized she hadn't heard the van return and that decrepit
old engine had a recognizable knock. Since she hadn't heard it, she
suddenly knew it probably wasn't Benny who was in the house. With that
realization, her heart began hammering in her ears and she spun around
to face the doorway just as Raul stepped through it, his considerable
height and the breadth of his shoulders seemingly diminishing the size
of the room.

"Oh, thank God, it's you," Juliet breathed, pressing her
fist against the ache in her chest where her heart palpitated
violently. "I thought you were an intruder when I realized I hadn't
heard the van return. Benny's van, I mean. He just left."

"I know," Raul answered, his deep voice gruff. "I waited
until he left before coming in." When Juliet only frowned
questioningly, he gave her an
unpleasant smile and moved with the menacing ease of a big cat toward
her, stopping within touching distance. But he didn't touch her.
Instead, he allowed his gaze to flick over her, then added caustically,
"Will's recuperation and your friend's stay in the hospital coincided
perfectly, didn't they? Now, you and Benny have a nice place for a
rendezvous and you don't have to worry about his wife possibly
interfering."

Juliet took a sharp breath, ignoring the ache in her chest
his words caused. "If you're going to start in on me again, I'm
leaving," she announced stiffly. "I'm tired of your ridiculous
accusations and this time, I'm not even going to try to defend myself."

As she snatched up her purse from the bed and tried to
sweep past Raul, his arm shot out, caught her around the waist, and
pulled her relentlessly against him. He easily subdued her futile
struggle to free herself. "Can you defend yourself?" he asked, the
coolness in his green eyes belying his soft tone. "Or are you just
unwilling to make up a lie?"

"I don't tell lies!" she protested, then sighed. "Yes, I
could defend myself but I see no point in trying. You wouldn't believe
me anyway. You never do."

"Why don't you try me again," he said with an infuriating
smile. "Maybe this time, you'll convince me."

Provoked by his mocking tone, Juliet pushed her small
hands against his chest but only succeeded in inciting him to use more
force. One lean hand tangled in the fiery cascading strands of her hair
while his arm tightened, bringing her so much closer against him that
her slight body was actually arched toward him. "Be still," he
commanded huskily, clasping the back of her head in his large hand. "If
you do have some explanation for you and Benny being in this house
together, I want to hear it. And I want to hear it now. So begin."

For a moment, Juliet pressed her lips together firmly,
determined not to explain anything to him but something unrelenting in
his stern expression changed her mind. No longer able to meet his harsh
gaze, she bent her head, fixing her own bewildered gaze on the buttons
of his light blue shirt. "I… Benny's going to stay here,"
she began, her voice so soft Raul had to bend down closer to hear.
"It'll save him the cost of a hotel room and Uncle Will won't have to
worry about the house standing empty, inviting burglars."

"Will knows about Benny staying here?" Raul questioned,
his voice rather uneven, somehow making his slight accent even more
appealing. "You're saying Will agreed to this arrangement?" When Juliet
nodded, his hold on her became infinitely gentler and his fingers
threaded through her hair so evocatively that she compulsively lifted
her face to him. A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"I seem to have misjudged you again," he said softly. "I don't know
what it is about you that makes me jump to conclusions."

Juliet swallowed with difficulty, nearly mesmerized by the
sudden warmth in his eyes. Then she shook her head, trying to dispel
the dangerous weakness that threatened to sap the strength from her
limbs. "I—I guess you just don't like me very much
so—so you don't trust me. But that really isn't very fair."

"No, it isn't," he agreed incredibly, his intent gaze
narrowing as he slowly lowered his dark head. "But it isn't because I
don't like you that I don't trust you. As I've said before, I think I
like you too much. But I can't trust you, Juliet, because you're so
young you still play games with men. You played games with Benny and
with Pablo and now, you're trying to play a game with me. But, Juliet,
I'm not a man to play games with."

Though she wanted to defend herself, his warm caressing
breath against her cheek sent a shiver of awareness feathering along
her spine and banished all coherent thought. Her eyes widened, softened
with vulnerability, then were captured and held by a sudden warming
gleam in his that defied analysis. His wide shoulders blocked the light
from the window and suddenly that beloved dark face and those eyes
became all that was real in the world. As she drew in a startled
breath, her softly curved lips parted slightly and his brushed slowly
across her cheek to touch them, lightly at first, then with a swift
graduation of intensity that swept her up in a tide of irresistible
passion. His lips hardened, possessed hers with undeniable hunger and
without gentleness and she found delight in a sheer physical strength
so superior to hers. Dizzying pleasure claimed her as his hand roamed
freely, exploring the tantalizing curves of her slight body and with
the pressure of his taut muscular thighs grazing hers and the hot
upsurging evidence of his desire, she intuitively moved against him,
eliciting his soft groan.

His mouth lifted, hovered just above hers and his eyes
were alight with passion as he muttered roughly, "
Atormentadora
,
this time you will give me what you make me want so badly. Won't you,
mi
amada
? Say yes."

"
Raul
," she breathed, fear shafting
through her. But it was such a pleasurable fear that she could only
seek his lips again without giving him an answer, at least in words.

Obviously interpreting her silence as acquiescence, Raul
murmured her name triumphantly and winding her hair around his hand,
tilted her head back and trailed blazing kisses along her jaw, down the
slender length of her smooth neck. Curiously unsteady fingers
unfastened the fabric buttons of her white sleeveless blouse and he
held her slightly away from him as he slipped the soft garment from her
shoulders, down her shapely arms, and off completely.

She heard his sharply indrawn breath as he allowed the
blouse to slip between his fingers and fall to the floor. She closed
her eyes, unable to withstand the searing heat of his gaze as he
observed the rapid rise and fall of breasts barely concealed by a wisp
of a white lace bra but she could offer no resistance as he unbuttoned
her skirt, then lowered the zipper and it joined the blouse on the
floor. Strong hands spanned her waist, his fingers probing her spine.
And suddenly, even the wispy lace bra was removed and she was standing
before him in only a satiny white half-slip. Her eyes flickered open
again and she trembled as his dark gaze seemed to be devouring her.

"God, Juliet, such exquisite skin," he whispered, drawing
her closer as he lowered his head, his lips seeking the scented hollow
at the base of her throat, then moving slowly downward as his lean
hands came around to cup the cushioned fullness of her breasts.

Knowing what he was about to do and more afraid of him
than she had ever been, Juliet uttered a soft cry and pressed herself
against him, unmindful of the buttons of his shirt digging into her
flesh.

He buried his face in her tousled hair, his hand stroking
from her shoulder downward over one breast as he murmured close to her
ear, "Juliet,
mi pequeña
, why are you so shy with
me? You needn't be. I promise I'm going to be very gentle."

The protest she would have made found no voice as he
swiftly swept her up in his arms and carried her across the room to the
bed. After tossing back the white quilted coverlet, he put her down
gently, his gaze trailing over the length of her body with hot
intensity. He removed the leather sandals from her feet and as he
stepped out of his own shoes, his fingers feathered up one shapely
slender leg to her thigh, just above her knee.

As she trembled, her wide eyes held by his, his jaw
tightened. He shed his blazer, then his light blue shirt. In the shaft
of sunlight, his smooth skin gleamed like bronze and his broad
shoulders and hair-roughened chest were shaped by muscular contours.
Juliet lay immobile, looking up at him, appalled by her need to touch
him. Yet, when he began to undo the buckle of his belt, she moved her
head back and forth on the pillow.

"No!" she gasped weakly, only able to breathe again when
his fingers stilled and an amazingly tender expression softened his
features.

"All right,
mi pequeña
," he
whispered, coming down onto the bed beside her. "I don't want to rush
you."

Yet, she sensed the leashed urgency in him as her hands
came up involuntarily to press against his chest, as if she meant to
fight him. And the gesture was futile. He allowed no resistance.
Though he was gentle, he caught both her wrists and pinned her arms
back above her head in one large hand as the other sought the warm firm
flesh of one breast. Her eyes closed and she moaned softly as his
fingers took possession, stroking, encircling and brushing over the
roseate peak until it was ruched and surging tautly with his questing
touch.

"Yes, you do want me," he said softly. "Almost as much as
I want you."

Any denial she might have uttered was silenced as he
kissed her again, his lips teasing the soft fullness of hers, his
strong teeth nibbling tenderly as the weight of his lean body pressed
her into the soft mattress. He released her wrists then but she was
beyond attempting to resist him. As he turned over onto his side,
taking her with him, his hands on her hips arching her warmth against
the throbbing hardness of his body, she became all boneless
acquiescence. Her hand drifted up to lay against his cheek, her
trembling fingers tracing the contours of his ear and the strong
tendons of his neck.

With a muffled exclamation, he pressed her shoulder back
and lowered his head. His mouth closed around the dark peak of one
breast, burning the sensitized skin and as flames of need consumed her,
she entwined her fingers in the thick dark hair on his nape.

His lips came up to take hers again, the tip of his tongue
entering the opening flower of her mouth and suddenly she no longer
wondered if she loved him. She knew she did. The nearly overwhelming
physical and emotional need she felt to surrender completely to him
made her certain she would never love any man the way she loved him.
His every touch scorched her skin and her own hands moved feverishly
over his broad back. Their legs entangled but as his thigh encountered
the barrier of her twisted half-slip, he effortlessly removed the
offending garment. And it wasn't until his fingers slid beneath the
waistband of her panties that the self-protective instinct at last
overwhelmed the womanly desires he had awakened.

Juliet tensed, tugging at his hand even as conflicting
emotions tore through her. "Raul, please, I can't," she murmured
tremulously. "I'm sorry but please…"

"God, Juliet, you're driving me crazy," he muttered
roughly but he turned onto his side. Propped on one elbow, he brushed
her tousled hair back from her face, his narrowed eyes enigmatically
dark and searching. "You weren't playing a game this time. You wanted
me to make love to you but you couldn't go through with it. Are you
that afraid of me, Juliet?"

Chewing her lower lip, feeling a great need to cry, she
could only nod.

"But why?" he asked softly. "Why should you be afraid of
me?"

Since she couldn't tell him she was in love with him and
knew he didn't love her, she offered no answer at all and felt a very
real sense of loss as he levered himself up away from her to stand
beside the bed.

"You won't always be afraid of me," he promised huskily,
rebuttoning his shirt as his gaze drifted up over her bare breasts to
linger on her parted lips. After stepping back into his shoes, he
caught up his blazer and tossed it across one shoulder, then strode
toward the door. He stopped, turned back to look at her and smiled
gently. "We could have something wonderful together, Juliet, and we
will. You know as well as I do that's inevitable."

With that, he was gone and with him all the warmth she had
previously felt. Shivering, she reached for the quilted coverlet and
pulled it up over her head as she nuzzled her cheek against the pillow.
He was right. Some deep intuition told her he would become her lover
eventually. It
was
inevitable and she knew it.
Yet, she also knew that an intimate relationship with him without his
love would never be enough. And she was very much afraid she would
forever yearn for what she could never have.