Valaquez Bride (25 page)

With a welcoming smile for Juliet and Raul, he went to
Pilar immediately, brushing a lingering kiss across her lips and
patting her rounded abdomen affectionately before sitting down with her
and draping his arm across her shoulders.

Juliet watched this display of affection with a stab of
envy then berated herself mentally for feeling jealous of Pilar simply
because her husband so obviously loved her. Refusing to spend the
entire weekend silently bemoaning the fact that Raul didn't love her
that way, she managed to smile sincerely as he introduced her to Manuel.

His black Spanish eyes conveyed frank approval as he
looked her over from head to toe and he gave his wife an unabashed grin
when she playfully prodded his ribs with her elbow. "Come now,
querida
,
don't be upset," he teased, "You can't blame me for staring at Juliet.
Now that I have seen her, I know why Raul has decided marriage is
preferable to the wild swinging life of a bachelor."

"And you are an authority on the wild swinging life,
aren't you?" Pilar retorted, wrinkling her nose at him, then smiling at
Juliet. "Believe it or not but Manuel was a notorious womanizer before
he married me. And, even now, he has an eye for beautiful ladies."

"As
long as I only look and never touch, you have nothing to complain
about," her husband countered, patting her abdomen again with a wicked
grin. "Besides, you certainly can't accuse me of not paying enough
attention to you. It must be obvious to the whole world that I find you
too irresistible, so you shouldn't resent the fact that I think Juliet
is very attractive."

"I resent the fact that she's all curvy and slender while
I look like a blimp," Pilar replied, grimacing comically. "So if you
must stare at her admiringly, do so when I'm not present, if you
please."

"
Madre de Dios
," Manuel sighed
theatrically, raising his eyes heavenward. "Deliver me from pregnant
women."

"Enough of this nonsense," his wife proclaimed, nudging
him in the ribs again. "Raul and Juliet might take our bickering
seriously and decide they shouldn't get married after all and I
wouldn't want to be responsible for them calling off the wedding. Dona
Alicia would probably never speak to me again." With a toss of one
hand, she smiled at Juliet. "Pay no attention to us, please. We're
really happily married."

As Juliet nodded, amusement at their light-hearted banter
glimmering in her eyes, Raul took her hand and idly began to play with
her fingertips. If the very natural gesture was meant to convince the
Olveras that he and Juliet were the typical, much in love, engaged
couple, it did the trick.

Giving them the approving smile of a true romantic, Pilar
snuggled closer to Manuel and laid one hand on his thigh. "Now, forgive
me for being a busybody but I must ask this question, Raul," she began.
"Why is it that we have never met Juliet before now? Have you just met
her yourself? Is this one of those wild tempestuous romances that all
women dream about?"

Raul laughed softly, looking down at Juliet. "I think she
could safely call our relationship tempestuous, don't you,
mi pequeña
."

"Even that might be an understatement," Juliet retorted,
attempting humor as a defense against the effect his softly spoken
endearment had had on her senses. With a great amount of effort, she
managed to refrain from trembling slightly with each stroking brush of
his fingers against the sensitive tips of her own. Yet, as he suddenly
lowered his head and lightly kissed her, she couldn't prevent her lips
from parting slightly beneath the firm warm pressure of his. When he
drew away again and his dark mysterious gaze held hers, she was beyond
wondering if he was acting this way only for the Olveras' benefit.

Drawing their attention by an exaggerated cough, Manuel
eyed Juliet speculatively. "McKay, McKay," he murmured thoughtfully,
then snapped his fingers. "Of course, I thought I recalled your name,
Juliet, but…" he frowned. "Didn't I hear it in connection
with Pablo? You're not the same young woman he was engaged to last
year?"

"Pablo was never engaged to Juliet, except in his own
mind," Raul answered for her. "You both know how persistent my younger
brother can be when he decides he must have something or someone. He
was so absolutely certain he could convince Juliet to marry him that he
began to tell everyone she was going to. It didn't quite work out the
way he planned as you can see."

"And how does he feel about the way it did work out?"
Pilar asked, a tiny frown knitting her
brow.
"If he was so determined to marry you, Juliet, doesn't he resent the
fact that you're going to marry his brother instead?"

"He wasn't exactly overjoyed to hear the news," Juliet
admitted, a flicker of concerned regret darkening her delicate
features. "But Pablo really never loved me and I'm sure he realizes
that now."

"Besides, Margarita Alvarez is doing all she can to
comfort him these days," Raul added wryly. "And Pablo seems quite
content to let her ease his hurt pride."

"Ah, Margarita," Pilar murmured, smiling as she nodded.
"She's a lovely girl."

"She certainly is. Pablo could have done much worse in
choosing someone to comfort him. I must admit I've been watching
Margarita blossom into womanhood with great interest," Manuel said
provocatively, then laughed down at his wife as she poked him in the
ribs again.

Before they could begin another teasing spat, however,
Fredrico careened into the living room from the patio at such a
breakneck speed that his red and silver tricycle toppled over and he
set up a loud indignant howl of protest. As Juliet instinctively
followed Pilar who went to comfort him, Raul and Manuel took the
opportunity to get the luggage from Raul's car and take it up to the
bedrooms.

The remainder of the day passed pleasantly. By the time
evening came and Fredrico was settled in his bed for the night, the two
couples shared a quiet dinner, then sat out on the patio beneath the
stars to talk until past midnight. When Manuel noticed Pilar
surreptitiously massaging the small of her back, he exhibited a natural
concern for her weariness and suggested they all go to bed.

Up in a spacious, rattan-furnished bedroom a half hour
later, Juliet finished a relaxing bath in the sunken marble tub in the
adjoining bathroom. Slipping a pale green batiste nightgown over her
head, she padded across the plush apricot carpeting to the bed, only to
find that the covers had already been turned back, presumably by
Pilar's housekeeper, Juanita. Though the day had been long and Juliet
hadn't slept during the traditional siesta, she discovered she wasn't
really all that sleepy now either. After brushing her thick russet hair
briskly before the dressing table mirror, she bypassed the bed and
wandered out on the balcony.

A warm salt scented breeze caressed her bare arms and legs
and stirred the closed bougainvillaea blossoms on the vines that
entwined the wrought iron railing. Hugging her arms against her
breasts, she gazed out over the sweeping front lawn at the distant
glimmer of the sea beyond. The light of a three-quarter lemon-colored
moon sparkled on the surface of the water and Juliet could almost
imagine she heard the waves crashing against the craggy shore. Though
it was a beautifully peaceful night, she couldn't really feel at peace.
Despite the pleasant day she had spent with Raul and the Olveras,
uncertainty still nagged at her persistently. Perhaps it was the very
fact that Manuel and Pilar had such a wonderful marriage that made her
feel uneasy and still, much to her dismay, somewhat envious. At that
moment, she would have given anything, anything at all, to have known
that her marriage to Raul might someday be half as good.

Gazing pensively at the dreaming sea, she breathed a sigh
that became a soft startled gasp as large hands suddenly slipped around
her
waist.
It was only as she was drawn back against Raul's lean familiar body
that she realized that all the upper bedrooms of the house opened onto
this long balcony. The stab of fear his unexpected touch had caused
abated and she relaxed back against him, enveloped in the warmth that
emanated from his lithe body.

"Can't you sleep, Juliet?" he whispered, his breath
stirring tendrils of her hair. "Is something bothering you?"

"N-not really," she whispered back, unwilling to tell him
that at that moment she was only aware of the overwhelming need evoked
in her merely by his nearness. "I—just didn't feel sleepy yet
so I came out for a breath of air."

"Hmm, and you're sure nothing's wrong?" he persisted
gently, enfolding her in his strong arms and pulling her even closer to
him. "I hope you're not still fretting about what Jimena said the other
day. Surely you see now that my friends are happy to accept you as my
fiancée? Manuel and Pilar have, haven't they?"

"They've made me feel very welcome here and I like them
both a lot," Juliet admitted. "But…" she twisted around
slightly and tilted her head back to look up at him, a slightly knowing
smile curving her soft lips. "You really didn't have to ask them to
speak English all the time just for my benefit."

Raul shook his head in denial and heaved a soft
exasperated sigh. "I didn't ask them to speak English. No doubt they
are doing it to make you feel more comfortable but, Juliet, it's no
hardship for them. Manuel went to school in England for several years
and after he married Pilar, they lived in London for nearly three more.
So English comes almost as naturally to them as Spanish. But even if it
didn't, why should you object if they spoke it only to make you feel at
ease? What could possibly be wrong in that?"

"Nothing would be wrong. In fact, it would be very kind of
them. But I just don't want anyone making allowances for me because I'm
not Spanish. If you were engaged to a Spanish girl…"

"But I'm not. I'm engaged to you and you are an American,"
Raul interrupted sternly. "My friends understand that you don't speak
Spanish fluently yet and if they don't mind making allowances for that,
why should you mind if they do? I don't understand why you are letting
something so unimportant upset you, Juliet."

"Because I'm an outsider!" she blurted out, her voice
catching revealingly. "Can't you see that, Raul? I don't fit in with
your friends. Oh, I'm sure they'll be very nice to me and try to make
me feel comfortable but I'm still not one of them."

"Nor do I want you to be." Turning her around to face him,
Raul cupped her face in both his hands. "Juliet, friends are important,
I can't deny that. But I don't let mine rule my life for me. After
we're married, if some of them want to treat you as an outsider simply
because you're American, then that's their loss, not yours or mine, and
I don't intend to worry about them. And I don't want you to either. You
will fit in with my true friends, simply because I choose to marry you."

"You didn't really choose to though, did you, Raul?" she
whispered tremulously. "If your grandmother hadn't…"

"Be quiet," he commanded softly, halting her words with a
kiss as gentle as a breeze. "Abuela isn't forcing me to marry you. She
couldn't if I didn't want you."

"You want me physically," Juliet muttered bleakly. "But
Raul, that isn't…"

"I want you, Juliet, and you want me," he reiterated
huskily, passion blazing in his eyes. He clasped the back of her head
in one lean hand, tangling his long fingers in her hair, holding her
fast. His mouth descended to play teasingly, evocatively with her lips
and between tantalizing kisses, he whispered, "You do want me too,
don't you, Juliet?"

As the tip of his tongue touched first one corner of her
mouth, then the other, she trembled and whispered back breathlessly,
"Yes, oh, yes, Raul, I do want you. You know that but…"

"Hush, Juliet, or I'll take you to my room and keep you
there all night with me," he threatened, his voice deep and
convincingly uneven as his hands explored the enticing curves of her
body, conveying a dangerous urgency. "You must know that's what I want
to do.
Dios
, I need you! And if making love to
you is the only way I can stop you from arguing, then…"

He didn't finish his warning in words nor did he need to.
As he widened his stance and hauled her firmly against him, she was
made overwhelmingly aware of his obvious desire to possess her.
Apprehension was suddenly overcome with delight as his hardening lips
tugged her mouth open. She pressed against him entwining her arms
around his neck as his hands burned her skin through the thin fabric of
her gown. Slipping her fingers beneath the open collar of his shirt,
she traced the strong contours of his neck and shoulders, delighting in
the feel of his skin, tautly smooth over his collarbone. Then, somehow,
his shirt was unbuttoned and her hands were brushing over his
hair-roughened chest, exploring his warm strength, her fingertips
stroking over the flat hardness of his stomach.

Her tentative yet evocative touch sent a shudder over him.
With a soft groan, he tightened his arms around her slenderness,
lifting her up against him until the tips of her toes barely brushed
the cool tiles. Her cushioned breasts yielded to the muscular firmness
of his chest and as he pushed aside the cord straps of her gown, his
lips brushed downward from her shoulder to seek the satiny outcurving
of heated flesh. As his breath caressed the scented hollow between her
breasts, Juliet moaned softly. Her head fell back against his forearm
around her shoulders as he pressed burning, searching kisses over her
creamy throat and the fragile line of her jaw. Then his mouth covered
hers again, possessively hard and seeming to demand complete surrender.

And she was eager to surrender. The aching emptiness
within her intensified with the electric touch of his hands and the
taking power of his mouth. Yet as her lithe young body became
bonelessly acquiescent, molding with warm fluidity against his, he
abruptly dragged her arms from around his neck and put her from him.
The glittering passion in his eyes impaled the dreamy softness of her
own and his breathing was uneven as he shook his head. "Not yet,
querida
,"
he murmured huskily, stilling her hands as they brushed over his bare
chest. "I want you but we'll be married in less than a week and I think
you would really rather wait until then." Smiling then, he put one arm
around her waist, guiding her back into her bedroom. "Come along. I'll
prove to you what self-discipline I have. I'll tuck you into bed, then
go to my own room."