Valaquez Bride (26 page)

As he proceeded to pull the covers farther down, then
lifted her gently into his arms to lay her on the bed, Juliet couldn't
drag her bemused gaze away from him. When he covered her with the
sheet, she put her hands over his and pressed them down on her
shoulders. "Raul, I want…"

Leaning down, he silenced her with a slow rousing kiss but
as her parted lips clung eagerly to his, he straightened again to give
her a lazy smile. "Temptress," he whispered, his heavy lidded eyes
traveling over the length of her body outlined against the thin sheet.
"You don't make it at all easy for me to show you how disciplined I can
be." When she started to speak again, he shook his head. "Good night,
querida
."

Then he was gone and it was several minutes after she had
heard his footfalls recede on the balcony tiles that she realized he
had once again thwarted her weak argument against marrying him.

Late the next morning,. Juliet and Pilar sat on the
shaded, flower scented veranda, watching Raul and Manuel play kickball
with Fredrico on the lawn. Seeing once again how gentle and
affectionate Raul was with the child, Juliet gazed at him longingly,
then breathed a soft involuntary sigh.

Turning to stare at her, Pilar sat up straighter. "Are you
not happy, Juliet?" she asked softly. "Forgive me for mentioning it but
I have noticed a sadness in your eyes sometimes. It has worried me."

After taking a small sip of iced lime juice, Juliet smiled faintly and shook her head. "I don't want
you to think you have anything to worry about. I'm fine, really."

"But also a little sad?"

"Maybe."

"But why, Juliet?" Pilar exclaimed softly, gesturing with
a slender hand toward Raul. "You are about to marry a fine man. So why
should you feel sad about anything?"

"Maybe if he wasn't such a fine man, I wouldn't be sad,"
Juliet replied cryptically, smiling weakly at Pilar's confused
expression. "What I mean is: if Raul wasn't so wonderful, then it
wouldn't matter to me that he doesn't love me."

"You don't think he loves you? I don't understand. If he
doesn't love you, then why are you getting married next week?"

On impulse, Juliet told her the truth. When she had
finished, she shrugged resignedly. "So Raul's marrying me simply
because his grandmother overreacted to what she saw in my bedroom that
morning. Not a very good reason to get married, is it?"

"It's better than the reason Manuel and I had," Pilar
stated flatly. "At least you and Raul know there's an intense physical
attraction between you. Manuel and I didn't know each other well enough
to know that. Our marriage was something of a family arrangement."

"An arranged marriage?" Juliet exclaimed, her eyes
widening in disbelief. "You must be joking! The two of you seem so
happy together! I know you must love each other."

"We do—now," Pilar said, smiling reminiscently.
"But at first we were practically strangers and believe me, I was a
very nervous bride."

"Then
why did you marry him? I just can't see you consenting to an arranged
marriage."

Pilar's black eyes sparkled merrily. "Well, if I hadn't
liked him just a little, I would have refused, of course. You see, our
families had business ties. So when my father asked me simply to meet
Manuel and get to know him, I agreed. To make a long story short, I was
intrigued with Manuel from the beginning but we had no chance to get
acquainted because my great aunt Theresa appointed herself my
duenna
and never left us alone together for a minute. I guess we really got
married on pure instinct since Manual wasn't even allowed to kiss me
good night until
after
we were officially
betrothed. And one kiss a day from a man doesn't tell you much about
him."

Juliet was still shaking her head disbelievingly. "I never
would have imagined your marriage was arranged."

"Well, it was," Pilar declared, touching Juliet's arm
supportively. "So now you know why your marriage to Raul has a better
chance of succeeding than mine did."

"Maybe, but I'm not so sure of that," Juliet murmured
doubtingly. "I mean, both you and Manuel are Spanish. Maybe you and he
can relate to each other in a way Raul and I never can since I'm
American."

"I don't believe that will make any difference," Pilar
argued gently. "You and Raul seem made for each other to me. So just be
patient. Love will come." As Juliet glanced away, chewing pensively on
her lower lip, Pilar gave a sudden knowing smile. "So, it's as I
suspected— you love him already."

Seeing no point in lying, Juliet nodded. "Un-fortunately,
the feeling isn't mutual. Raul isn't in love with me,"

"That doesn't mean he never will be. Be patient, Juliet,
and show him you love him," Pilar advised softly. "He's fond of you, I
can see that. Give him time and I know he'll begin to love you."

"I'm sure you really believe that," Juliet murmured, a
smile trembling on her lips. "Now, if only I could make myself believe
it too…"

Later that Sunday afternoon, Pilar hugged Juliet briefly
as they said good-bye beside Raul's car. "I am sorry we won't be able
to attend the wedding but my doctor doesn't want me traveling far in
these last weeks."

Nodding understandingly, Juliet lifted Fredrico up into
her arms to give him a farewell kiss. His warm little body snuggled
close to her, wrapping his arms around her neck, reluctant to give up
his new friend until at last Manuel persuaded him to release her.

After both she and Raul expressed their thanks for the
peaceful weekend, they got into his BMW but before they could say a
last goodbye and drive away, Pilar stepped closer to Juliet's opened
window, grinning as she looked in, "I have only one bit of marital
advice to give you," she quipped, laying one hand on her burgeoning
abdomen. "Never, ever be eight months pregnant in the summer, Juliet,
unless you want to feel the way I do right now—like a hot air
balloon."

"I'll try to remember that," Juliet answered, laughing and
waving back over her shoulder as Raul slowly drove away from the
gracious hacienda-style house. He didn't speak until he had turned onto
the coastal highway a few
minutes
later. Then, resting his right arm across the back of Juliet's seat, he
brushed his fingertips along her shoulder, giving her a slow lazy smile
when she looked at him. "Pilar's advice reminded me that we've never
really discussed having children. So, would you like to have children
some day, Juliet?"

Nodding, she swallowed with difficulty, the mere thought
of having his child making her breath catch. "Yes, I think I'd like to
have children. W—would you?"

"Of course," he said, his voice appealingly low. "I like
children."

She was unable to meet his darkening gaze as he glanced
from the road to her again. "I know you like them but—maybe
you're forgetting that we might have a baby with red hair and light
skin."

"So? We also might have a baby with dark hair and dark
skin. Will it bother you if our children look like me?"

"No! Of course not but…"

"Then why should it bother me if they look like you? After
all, they will be your children too," he said, smiling endearingly so
she could only nod in agreement, unable to argue that irrefutable fact.

Six days later, on the eve of their wedding, Juliet
hesitated outside Raul's bedroom door. Coming to see him was an act of
desperation, a last resort, one that she wished wholeheartedly she
could avoid. Yet, she had little choice. All her efforts to convince
Dona Alicia that tomorrow's forced wedding was unnecessary had met with
the argument that, even if Juliet was still an innocent, Jimena Ruiz
was a notorious gossip. She would tell everyone what she had witnessed
and Juliet's reputation would be ruined and Raul's honor besmirched if
they didn't marry now. And Juliet found it was pointless to even think
of talking to Uncle Will; in his ignorance of the real reason for the
wedding, he was ecstatic. Under any other circumstances, Juliet would
have been ecstatic too; she loved Raul and she ached to be his wife,
but not like this. Feeling he had been forced to marry her for the sake
of propriety and the family honor, he would resent her, perhaps even
hate her. He would be miserable and she would be devastated. So
something had to be done tonight. She had to convince him to refuse to
marry her tomorrow; it was the only sensible answer. She was terrified
that if he only married her because he felt it was the gentlemanly
thing to do, both their lives would be ruined. As if she couldn't see
her own life crumbling to dust before her very eyes already…

Drawing a deep tremulous breath, she gathered all her
courage and made herself knock lightly on the dark carved door to
Raul's room. There was no immediate response, but knowing he was home
tonight and must be in there, she knocked again. A few seconds later,
the door was pulled open and surprise flickered in Raul's eyes when he
found her standing on the threshold, clenching her hands together in
front of her.

"Juliet," he said sleepily, rubbing his hand across his
brown hair-roughened chest. "It's late."

"I know. I'm sorry but I had to wake you," she murmured
the apology, trying to ignore the fact that he was clad only in navy
pajama pants that hung low on his lean hips. It wasn't that easy to
ignore his appearance however, and though she had worn a thick robe to
come see him, she involuntarily tugged it more snugly around her. Then
her hand fluttered out in an uncertain gesture. "We have to talk, Raul.
Could—could I come in?"

Although he seemed reluctant to let her, he finally nodded
and indicated she should precede him inside. Never having been inside
the master suite before, she glanced curiously around the sitting room,
impressed by the warm comfortable atmosphere. Her gaze lingered on the
royal blue winged armchair and the round table beside it on which sat a
lamp and several books, one of which was open. It was fairly obvious
that Raul spent some of his leisure time here and before she could
allow herself to wonder what his bedroom was like, she turned to him,
chewing her lower lip nervously. He was watching her intently and when
he made no suggestion that she should sit down, she took one hesitant
step toward him.

"Raul, we have to call this off," she declared rather
imploringly. "I've been wanting to talk to you for days but
you—you've always stopped me. Still, I know you can't be
happy about this situation so that's why I came. This is all so crazy.
We can't get married simply because your grandmother found
us—in bed together and jumped to the wrong conclusion. You
have to tell her you simply won't marry me."

As he lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, then exhaled the
smoke, his eyes never left her and there was a somewhat brooding
expression in them. "The plans are all made, Juliet," he said, his
voice low and melodious. "We can't call them off now. Your uncle and my
grandmother are very excited about the wedding tomorrow and it will
take place, exactly on schedule."

"But you don't want to marry me. I know you don't," she
murmured, uncertain whether she was relieved or disappointed that he
hadn't jumped at the chance of escape she had offered. Thoroughly
confused by her own ambiguous feelings, she bent her head and sighed.
"And I don't want to get married this way. What chance will we have to
be happy? Raul, we have to tell them we can't go through with it."

"Oh, I think not," he answered calmly. "Accept it, Juliet.
We are getting married tomorrow." As if bored by the entire
conversation, he walked to her, cupped her elbow in one hand, and
guided her toward the door. Then when she suddenly found herself in the
hall, he added, "I suggest you go to bed and try to get some sleep.
Tomorrow will be a busy day and you'll need to be well-rested. Good
night."

"But Raul, we…" As he closed the door firmly on
her attempted protest, she could hardly believe it. He was taking this
so calmly, without even trying to resist a loveless marriage that would
cost him his freedom. Was he that much an Old World Spaniard? Were the
old traditions so inbred in him that a strong sense of propriety
overshadowed his own personal desires?

Feeling quite numb by now and cold, Juliet shivered as she
made her way back to her own room. Too tired to really think
coherently, she took Raul's advice and went to bed but sleep was a long
time coming.

The wedding was held in a tiny white chapel in the small
village near the
casa
and the actual ceremony was
so brief that she felt she hardly had time to catch her breath before
it was over and she and Raul were married. Since only relatives and
close friends had been invited, she found it fairly simple to smile and
get by with letting the entire event pass over her as if it were a
dream. The wedding supper that followed at the
grande sala
at the
casa
was a different matter altogether.

She felt like such a fraud. There seemed to be hoards of
people to be received, all of whom naturally assumed she and Raul were
the typical bride and groom and their compliments and congratulations
couldn't be ignored. The first few expressed felicitations made her
feel like a terrible fake but, beside her in the receiving line in his
black Oxford coat, matching trousers and white waistcoat over a white
shirt, Raul seemed so at ease that she began to relax somewhat herself.
At least she looked like the typical bride, she tried to remind
herself. The slight blush in her cheeks was attractively highlighted by
the long yet simply elegant ivory silk gown she wore and by the
heirloom lace
mantilla
that framed her small
face, which had been worn by Valaquez brides for several succeeding
generations.

At last the repast began and after the traditional toasts
to the bride and groom, Juliet tried to show some interest in the
various courses of the delicious supper but everything seemed to have
the taste and texture of sawdust in her dry mouth. Everyone else was
having such a joyous time but, while she accepted the marriage as an
accomplished fact, now she had come to the breathtaking realization
that this was her wedding night. A very different sort of nervousness
mushroomed and she found herself often staring at Raul, worrying about
how gentle a lover he would be, considering the fact that he believed
her to be sexually experienced. Such thoughts played havoc with her
emotions so she was eternally grateful for Holly and Benny's arrival
after the supper was over because seeing them temporarily took her mind
off the hours to come.