Valaquez Bride (8 page)

"Where will you stay while Holly's in the hospital?"

"Probably that little hotel where I stayed last year. It
ain't what you'd call grand but it is cheap," Benny said wryly,
sounding more like himself. Then his expression sobered again. "I
shouldn't have loaded all my problems onto your shoulders when you have
enough troubles of your own. How's your uncle?"

"About the same. His doctor says it may take him a while
to recover completely."

"So you're stuck here, huh? And how are things going with
the macho Raul? Is he giving you a hard time?"

Juliet sighed. "I really don't know what to make of him,"
she said softly. "That night I arrived back, he was so hostile he
finally goaded me into telling him what I thought of him for trying to
arrange a marriage between Pablo and me. But I'm sure he still really
thinks I led Pablo on, then dumped him. What bothers me now is that
Raul is being very nice to me, so nice that I'm getting very edgy. He
has to have some devious motive for being that nice." She smiled wryly.
"But even now, with this Mr. Friendly act he's putting on, he keeps
telling me in no uncertain terms that I'm not to see you. He doesn't
quite believe you're married and he thinks you and I are much more to
each other than traveling companions."

Benny's eyebrows lifted. "He's got everything wrong,
hasn't he?" He smiled mischievously. "Boy, if he only knew how willing
I was last year to be more than your friend and how uninterested you
were. It really broke my heart when I realized you only thought of me
as your buddy."

"Your heart sure mended fast enough after you met Holly,"
Juliet countered with a grin. "You never gave me another romantic
thought."

Benny smiled sheepishly. "I guess the two of us were
destined to be just friends. But I'm a little confused about Raul. Why
should it matter to him what we are to each other? He's not still
trying to arrange something between you and Pablo, is he?"

Juliet lifted her face to look up at the cool blue sky,
and shook her head. "Oh, I don't know what he has in mind. Maybe he
just wants to boss me around for a while. After all, I probably
insulted the entire Valaquez family by refusing to marry Pablo, then
running off with you."

"And you're going to go on letting him believe that?
You're not going to try to convince him I am married to Holly?"

"Why should I?" Juliet countered rather resentfully. "He
doesn't want to believe anything I say. And if I did convince him, he'd
probably try to rush me down the aisle with Pablo and I certainly
wouldn't appreciate that."

"But he can't force you to marry anybody so why do you
care if he tries? Unless it bothers you that he's not romantically
interested in you himself?"

Blushing slightly under Benny's too perceptive gaze,
Juliet muttered evasively, "I don't want to talk about Raul anymore.
Tell me, is Holly allowed visitors? Could I go see her?"

"Sure and she wants to see you; she told me to tell you to
come as soon as you could." Suddenly, Benny hopped up from the bench.
"Well, I'd better go. I want to stop by the hospital before I go see if
I can beg my old job back at the coffee house."

"Try not to worry too much," Juliet said softly, standing
also. "I'm sure both Holly and the baby will be all right and if you
need money, just call me. Okay?"

Benny nodded, then surprisingly grasped her shoulders and
gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. "You know you're a great kid," he
muttered, then rushed away before she could respond.

As Juliet watched him walk beneath an archway into the
shadows then disappear through the door to the King's Salon, she shook
her head sadly. He and Holly didn't deserve trouble like this and, in
actuality, she did feel rather guilty that the accident had happened on
their way to see her. when they had called her yesterday, she should
have made a concerted effort to sound more cheerful. Then they wouldn't
have felt the need to come to Granada to rescue her and this entire
mess would never have occurred. But it had and she released her breath
in a long shuddering sigh of regret.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow," a deep sarcastic voice
spoke from behind her. When she spun around, eyes wide with surprise
and dismay, Raul shook his head. "I must say, Juliet, your Benny
doesn't look like the Romeo type. He looks more like a reject from the
hippie generation."

Juliet closed her eyes, trying to control the tumultuous
beating of her heart. A tightening constriction in her throat prevented
her from speaking but, really, there wasn't much she could say anyway.
Raul was right. Benny had looked disreputable today, his jeans and
faded shirt wrinkled, as if he had slept in them, and his hair, which
was overdue for a trim anyhow, had stood up on end because he had
repeatedly raked his fingers through it. And he had also been rather
blearly-eyed due to the cold he was catching. This had been the worst
possible time for Raul to see him but she had no intention of
apologizing for her friend's appearance. If Raul wanted to think she
had poor taste in companions, then let him.

"Are you going to stand there with your eyes closed all
day?" Raul prompted at last, his tone grim. "Or are you going to face
me and admit you lied last night. Your Benny is no more married than I
am."

Juliet came alive, her head jerking up, her eyes opening,
fury flaring in them. "He most certainly is married. And I'm plenty
tired of you calling me a liar! Benny has a wife and I'm not going to
tell you that again."

"If he's married, then why this secret rendezvous with
you?" Raul asked caustically though his lean features remained
infuriatingly serene. "Or is that a foolish question? Does he have both
a wife and a mistress, namely you?"

Since Juliet refused to dignify such an insane allegation
by answering it, she instead muttered resentfully, "What are you doing
here anyway? How did you find me? Did Rosita overhear me on the phone
and call you?"

"Believe it or not, I didn't come here to deliberately
disrupt your rendezvous with your lover,"

Raul said bitingly, tossing his suit coat back over one
shoulder then thrusting his other hand into his right trouser pocket as
his dark gaze raked mercilessly over her. "I just happened to stumble
over the emotional parting scene. I've been with the director of the
museum here. I have a client who has in his possession a clay urn that
belongs in the Alhambra. He wants to sell; the museum wants to buy and
I'm negotiating the terms."

"Oh, I see," she muttered, glancing away. Unreasonably,
she was disappointed he hadn't come here specifically to drag her away
from Benny but that was a foolish reaction and she berated herself for
it. After all, she knew very well he didn't care enough about her to
inconvenience himself. Wishing she didn't care about him either, she
half turned away but was unable to suppress a soft sigh. "Well, I
didn't realize the gallery was in the business of selling artifacts
too. Things must have changed. Uncle Will only handled paintings and
sculptures. I suppose this new business is your idea?"

"Yes. Now, enough of this trite nonsense," Raul murmured
close to her ear. Taking her hand in his, he swung her around to face
him again, his jaw clenched. "If you recall, I promised retribution if
you saw Benny. You chose to ignore my warning so now…"

His words trailed off suggestively and his message was
quite clear. Though Juliet quaked inside, she drew herself up to her
full height, which unfortunately didn't seem considerable compared to
his. Nevertheless, she squared her jaw and shoulders simultaneously and
forced herself to look directly up at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Raul,"
she said more tauntingly than she meant to. "You're not going to do
anything to me in a public place like this and I know it." She gestured
toward a group being led through the courtyard by a tour guide. "See.
With all these people around, you don't dare…"

"I will dare, Juliet," he growled menacingly, taking a
step closer to her. "I don't appreciate being lied to. So if you know
what's good for you, you'll just admit Benny isn't married. It's
obvious he isn't. I certainly didn't see a pregnant woman with him."

Enough was enough; it was too much actually and Raul's
mocking words only succeeded in reminding Juliet that Holly was in the
hospital and that the life of her unborn baby might very well be in
danger. Tears sprang to her eyes and before she could blink them away,
Raul saw them.

"What the…"

"Oh, will you just shut up?" she muttered bleakly, turning
away from him. "Whether you believe me or not doesn't much matter to me
right now. I'm much more worried about Holly. For your information,
she's Benny's wife and he met me here to tell me they'd had an
accident. She's in the hospital right now and she might have her baby
two months early. She's my friend and I'm worried about her so I don't
feel like being abused by you. So would you just go away and leave me
alone. Please."

Raul stepped around in front of her and perhaps it was the
trembling of her lips that convinced him. "Damn," he muttered
violently, reaching out to brush her hair back from her cheeks. "All
right, I believe you. Even you wouldn't make up such an elaborate lie.
What I don't understand is why you're still with Benny. And I certainly don't understand how you can be friends
with the girl he dumped you for. Isn't it a little awkward to travel
with an ex-lover and his wife?"

Juliet's shoulders sagged and her grim laugh was more a
soft moan. "You idiot, Benny is a friend. That's…"

"You American girls have such a casual regard for intimate
relationships," Raul scoffed, shaking his head. "Friends can change to
lovers then back again to friends the next day, without anybody ever
feeling deeply involved."

Realizing it was useless to try to convince him that Benny
had never been her lover, Juliet moved away from him, then sighed when
he followed. She was too utterly weary of arguing with him to even
resist when amazingly gentle fingertips brushed away the crystalline
teardrop that fell from the thick fringe of long, dark brown lashes
onto her cheek.

"Come with me; we'll walk in the garden," he insisted
softly, cupping her elbow in one large hand to guide her toward a door
beyond a keyhole archway. "There are too many people in here."

Though Juliet considered protesting, one glance at his
finely carved features changed her mind. There was a determination in
his eyes that squelched any opposition.

Glaring sunlight struck them and the heat of the day
enveloped them as they entered a terraced inner garden bordered by
cypress and myrtle trees. Though Juliet began to drag her feet
balkingly as she was directed past a splashing fountain with waters
cascading coolly into a rippling pool, Raul only smiled down at her and
pulled her closer to his side. His muscular arm encircled her waist as
he took her up the mosaic tiled terraces into the dark, private copse
of bordering cypress trees. In the shaded seclusion, Raul tossed the
suit coat he carried onto the ground, dropped down to his knees on it,
and pulled her down to him. He produced a freshly laundered white
monogrammed handkerchief. "I really hope your friend Holly will be all
right. And the baby too," he murmured gently, then proceeded to dry
Juliet's cheeks with the soft square of fine cloth. As she pensively
chewed her lower lip, he pressed the handkerchief into her left hand,
then with an incomprehensible whisper, caught her chin between his
thumb and forefinger, tugging slightly, tenderly coaxing her lips to
part as she took a quick breath.

Suddenly, everything was different. The swaying branches
whispered above them and, with the occasional singing of the birds and
the tinkling music of the cascading fountain, provided the only sounds
in the abrupt intense silence that surrounded them. Juliet's senses
awakened to a new, keener awareness. The red of the roses and the white
of the delicate jasmine in the garden became, in an instant, much more
vibrant. Their fragrance mingled with the slightly piney scent of
rosemary and perfumed the air. Her heart seemed to stop beating as she
saw the warming gleam of desire that flamed in the dark green depths of
Raul's eyes. It was as if nothing else existed except this garden
paradise and them but her common sense wouldn't let her become totally
lulled into submission by the exotic surroundings. As Raul's hands
suddenly spanned her waist, drawing her to him so that she was half
reclining across hard thighs and he lowered his head, she was prepared
to fight him tooth and nail if he tried to kiss her. But it didn't
quite work out that way. Once again, his mouth moved over hers with
such gentle teasing persuasion that common sense had no chance to
prevail. Her soft lips clung to his, parting as his teeth nibbled and
tugged slightly on the full lower curve and the kiss became a powerful
sensual force she had no strength to resist.

It was insane but his mere touch seemed to have some
hypnotizing effect on her. She relaxed against him involuntarily, her
heart leaping as he gathered her closer, his powerful arms enfolding
her in warmth. Her trembling hands pressed against his chest but he was
undaunted by such ineffectual resistance. One caressing hand moved
along the incurving contour of her waist, his fingertips stroking into
the tantalizing arch of the small of her back, his thumb brushing the
cushioned slope of her breast.

A shiver danced over her skin. Her fingers clutching his
shirtfront spread open over his chest, warmed by the compelling heat of
his flesh, felt even through the fabric. Her senses spiraled as she
inhaled the mingling scents of lime and tobacco. And as she intuitively
moved nearer, his mouth took complete possession of hers. Startled yet
aroused by the touch of his tongue tasting hers, she was swept upward
in the tumultuous dawning of desire. Last year, she had often
daydreamed of Raul kissing her but even her wildest erotic imaginings
hadn't prepared her for this. His kiss was a deliberate seduction, an
intimate searching possession that made her ache to be much closer to
him. Now, only this moment mattered; everything else, even his
tyrannical unfair behavior toward her, ceased to exist. Beyond rational
thought, she surrendered to emotions far stronger than any will to
resist. Her small trembling hands fluttered hesitantly upward to
encircle the strong bronzed column of his neck, her thumbs grazing over
the contouring tendons.