Amy's strident use of her full name gave Penny pause. Was she still in shock? She didn't know. And she didn't want to think about it. Remembering the twenty-four hours without James hurt too much. It was enough to know that she would never let her baby out of her sight again if she could possibly help it.
She drained her mug and stood up. She could use an early night, ready for the big day tomorrow.
'You're overreacting, Amy,' she said, giving her pal a reassuring hug. 'I'm off to bed, and don't worry about me; I'm fine. Tomorrow we are only going to the beach for the day. Raul is hardly likely to steal James from under my nose, now, is he?' She laughed as she left the room.
'There, my little dumpling, you're all ready.' Penny grinned and put James down on the floor. He was so sweet, dressed in a white towelling T-shirt with Mickey Mouse on the front and navy blue shorts.
'Out, Mamma.' And on chubby little legs he barrelled to the bedroom door.
Penny sighed happily and, with a last look in the mirror, picked up the holdall from the bed and followed her son down the hall. In the living room Nick was lounging on the sofa in his dressing gown. He had spent the night with Amy and looked like one very satisfied male, until James climbed on his stomach and began jumping up and down. Screams and laughter almost drowned out the persistent ring of the doorbell.
Unfastening the safety gate at the top of the stairs, and with a shouted order to Nick to hang onto James, Penny ran swiftly down and opened the door.
'Good morning, Penny.'
'Raul,' she said breathlessly. It was nothing personal, she told herself firmly. A woman would have to be dead from the neck down not to appreciate such a fine specimen of the male sex.
Gone was the businessman, the control freak, and in his place appeared a rakish, slightly disreputable character dressed in denim cut-offs, which revealed an amazing length of muscular, tanned legs, a sleeveless black T-shirt, which outlined the musculature of his broad chest, and with thick, curling hair falling over his forehead and begging for a woman's hand to brush it back.
Her eyes clung to his, and for an instant she thought that she saw a flash of savage hunger in his brilliant gaze. She took a nervous step back, then, remembering her manners, said, 'Come in.'
'You're ready on time, I see,' Raul drawled, his eyes scanning the length of her body with a very masculine interest he did not attempt to hide. 'And very nice too; slightly more voluptuous than I remember.'
'Thank you,' she said, colour surging in her cheeks. It was an old summer dress but one of her favourites— a simple scoop-necked white cotton crepe, buttoned down the front and falling almost to her feet. Then, turning to the stairs, she added, 'I think,' not sure if she liked his 'voluptuous' comment. And for a second she wondered if he was actually trying to flirt with her.
Dismissing the thought as unlikely, she walked into the living room. Nick was rolling around the sofa with James. Penny grinned and said blithely, 'Raul, this is Nick, an almost permanent lodger.'
'Lucky man,' she heard Raul murmur, but did not see the fierce hostility in his gaze as she slipped across the room, picked up a laughing James and hugged him to her chest.
‘Thank God for that!' Nick exclaimed in mock relief. ‘The little terror almost permanently impaired my masculinity.'
Penny chuckled. 'I sincerely doubt that, Nick.' And, still smiling, she added for the baby's benefit, 'Come on, darling; we're off to the beach,' and spun around.
'Allow me.' Raul was in front of her, reaching for the child, and when he put his large hands around James she flinched away because the backs of his hands seemed to linger against her breasts in a deliberate caress.
Shocked by the rush of feeling Raul's touch evoked, she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. The last thing she needed was a return to the besotted girl she had once been around him. A rather subdued Penny picked up the holdall with all the baby paraphernalia inside and followed Raul downstairs and out onto the pavement.
It was a beautiful, sunny early September day, and Penny's good humour and common sense returned when she saw Raul's sleek Jaguar parked next to Sense and Sensibility's rather beaten-up old estate car. They really had nothing in common except James. 'We'll have to take my car,' she said with a grin, 'because the baby seat is-’
'That will not be necessary. I have a baby seat in my car.' Raul looked down at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. 'And everything else James might need.'
A trickle of sensation slithered down her spine. She didn't know why but some warning instinct in her subconscious was clamouring to be heard. Penny shook her head. She had been listening to Amy's dire warnings for far too long. 'You certainly think of everything,' she finally responded.
'Yes.'
She watched in astonishment as, without any help from her, James was safely fastened into a baby carrier suspended across the front passenger seat of the elegant car. The holdall was taken from her unresisting hand, and somehow she found herself in the back seat. A wry, self-mocking smile tilted her wide mouth. So much for her idea that Raul was trying to flirt with her. She felt like a spare wheel!
Raul manoeuvred the big car out into the mainstream of traffic with easy grace, and they glided along a country lane with Raul talking softly all the time to James.
After about fifteen minutes of being ignored Penny spoke rather loudly to the back of Raul's head. ‘I thought we could go to St Austell. There's quite a nice beach there.'
He cast a quick glance over his shoulder and, turning back to the road, said, 'Not to worry, Penny, I have it all planned. We are going to Fowey, and there I have hired a motor cruiser, so we can cruise along the coast and, hopefully, find a quiet beach for our picnic.'
She wanted to object, but, looking up, she met the lancing glitter of his gaze in the driving mirror and her heart leapt as her mind went blank.
Suddenly she was aware of the faint, familiar, teasing scent of his aftershave—very male, very arousing in the dose confines of the car. Penny gritted her teeth. What was happening to her today? She looked at the man and got an adrenalin surge that made her thoughts go haywire. It had to stop...
She shrugged her shoulders and concentrated all her attention on the passing scenery. It sounded a perfectly reasonable plan in any case, she thought as she justified her spineless acceptance of Raul's itinerary.
Five hours later, she was glad she had accepted it. Clad in a plain black Lycra swimsuit, she lay stretched out on an air-bed on the deck of the cabin cruiser. And what a cabin cruiser! she thought drowsily, her eyes closed. It was a good forty feet long and luxuriously appointed. James was down below in one of the four cabins, having his afternoon nap, and Penny had just finished a wonderful lunch.
It had been a perfect day. Raul had found a private beach and anchored; they had spent hours playing with James in the sea and sand, only returning to the boat for a late lunch.
She smiled at her earlier misgivings. Raul certainly was not trying to flirt with her—quite the reverse; he had treated her much the same as James. No sexual innuendos, no telling glances. It was her own over-active libido that was the problem, not Raul's, she thought ruefully.
'Would you like some more wine, Penny?' a deep voice drawled in her ear, and Penny's eyes flew open.
'No, no, I think I've had enough.' She tried to pull herself up into a sitting position but didn't seem to have the strength.
'Feeling sleepy?'
A near-naked Raul kneeling over her should have intimidated her, but, looking up at him through half-closed eyes, all she could think of was how gorgeous he looked—all bronzed muscle and sinew, brief black trunks cupping his masculinity. A vivid image of another time, another place—the swimming pool at the hacienda filled her mind. Their naked bodies entwined. She closed her eyes against the pain of regret for the past, for what they had once shared.
She never saw the golden shards of savage triumph in his dark eyes. She never felt his strong arms close around her and carry her down below. She wa
s asleep!
She heard the voices. It wasn't English. Spanish, maybe. She tried to open her eyes but a stabbing pain in her head put an end to the attempt; instead she groaned and rolled over. A niggling knowledge that she should be doing something hovered on the edge of her mind, but she was too tired to care and, sighing, she sank back into the arms of sleep.
The muted voices, the gentle rocking of the boat had ceased, but she was conscious of movement. Her lids felt heavy but she forced her eyes open and found herself in the very real arms of Raul. She tried to speak, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth—a mouth that was as dry as sandpaper.
There was a sinking sensation in her stomach, and for a moment she thought that she was going to be sick. Then she felt the soft mattress at her back, and she lay like a rag doll, staring up at the impassive face of the man bending over her. 'Raul.' She swallowed hard. Too much wine! Raul had carried her down to the cabin to sleep it off, she thought muzzily.
'Don't try to talk.'
'James—where...?'
'He is fine—in bed, fast sleep.'
Penny finally got her eyes to focus properly on his, and an inexplicable fear washed over her. 'Fine' he had said, but the glinting black eyes held a hard edge of cruelty that made her doubt if he was telling the truth. She looked down, and it was then she noticed that he had changed from his swimming trunks into a dark suit and white shirt. He was wearing a tie! On a boat!
She glanced quickly around the cabin. Only it wasn't the cabin. With a slowly dawning horror she recognised the room—the white walls, the crucifix on the wall above at massive antique dressing table, the huge four-poster bed. It could not be... Her aching head screamed. But it was. Raul's bedroom in the hacienda. She must be dreaming. She closed her eyes for a second and slowly opened them again. Nothing had changed...
Raul stood over her, a glass of water in his hand. 'Here, drink this; you will feel better,' he commanded and, sliding an arm under her shoulders, he hauled her up the bed and held the glass to her lips.
Penny was too weak to resist and drank greedily of the proffered water. When the glass was empty Raul withdrew his arm and straightened up. Penny flopped back against the pillows, her mind spinning like a windmill. She had thought that losing James for a day was the worst thing that could possibly happen to her, but waking up in Raul's bedroom in his home in Spain must run a close second.
It was a nightmare; it had to be. In a minute she would wake up, she told herself firmly, and, taking a few long, deep breaths, she dragged herself upright in the bed.
It was no nightmare. Raul stood a couple of feet away, watching her with hard eyes.
'Feeling better?' he prompted coldly.
Her head felt like lead and her heart like stone, but her uppermost emotion was an icy, fear-filled anger. But she dared not let him see that. She made herself move, sliding her legs over the side of the bed. She had to think, and think fast. She didn't know how Raul had done it. How had he got her here? Her dress bunched up around her thighs and she pulled it down over her knees, her brain spinning on oiled wheels. Wait a minute—she remembered wearing her swimsuit and lying on the airbed on the deck of the cruiser, Raul kneeling over her, offering her more wine and asking her if she was sleepy...
'You bastard!' she exclaimed as it hit her. The swine must have drugged her and stripped her naked before slipping her briefs and dress back on.
'No. But you dared to make my son a bastard,' Raul drawled, his dark eyes flicking over her with contempt. 'And I will never forgive you for that.'
Fury raged inside her as she stared at him, her face running through the whole gamut of emotions from fear to seething hatred. She struggled to her feet and swayed slightly, but sheer rage made her move; she wanted to hit him, claw his mocking eyes out. But she stopped a foot away from him. She clenched her hands at her sides in impotent fury. James! Raul had her son. She did not dare attack him.
'Why? How?' she asked through clenched teeth.
Raul gave her a chilling smile. 'I told you I wanted my son.' He shrugged. 'I have my son.'
She stared at him with growing terror. He made it sound so simple, a fact. 'You can't possibly hope to get away with it,' she said urgently. ‘The penalty for kidnapping is a long jail sentence and I will delight in giving evidence against you.'
'I think not,' Raul sneered.
'You think you are so bloody omnipotent,' Penny swore in panic. 'But James and I have friends. Already Amy will be searching for us.' Raul took a step towards her, his large hands curving around her shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh, burning her like a brand. Her pulse beat a frightening, erratic rhythm. 'Let—' Let me go, she had been going to say, but didn't get the chance.
'No, she won't,' Raul cut her off, his black eyes narrowed venomously on her pale face, 'because, my dear Penny, you sent Amy a telegram, informing her that the trauma of losing James had finally caught up with you and you were going on holiday for two weeks.'
'Amy will never believe that/ she said, appalled at his duplicity.
Raul shrugged. 'She does not have to, but the police will.' He gave her a chilling smile laced with mockery. ‘I informed the local constabulary that I was taking you on holiday to get away from the publicity et cetera. It was common knowledge in the community that I had been visiting you and James quite amicably for the past few weeks; what could be more natural?'
The full horror of her situation was finally getting through to Penny. Machiavelli had had nothing on Raul. Even to her, the victim of his diabolical plot, his explanation seemed believable. 'But what about passports, Customs? You can't just smuggle two people into a country.' She shook her head in stunned disbelief. This could not be happening to her.
Raul's mouth twisted. 'But I have,' he drawled with cynical amusement. 'You were my wife, who had overindulged in wine, and I unfortunately could not find your passport. As for James... It was quite simple; I obtained a copy of his birth certificate as soon as I knew of his existence, and discovered you had deliberately left the father's name blank.' His voice became a savage snarl. 'An oversight, Penny?' His black eyes accused her. 'But with the help of a high government official James has been registered as my son on my passport.'
'You planned this right from the first,' Penny whispered in horror, finally recognising the enormity of his deceit. Raul had let her think that she had won, that she was in control. But all the time he had been plotting to abduct the pair of them.
'Naturally.'
An icy hand gripped her heart at the one curt word. Was there no end to her stupidity? How quickly she had forgotten that during their affair Raul had always been the dominant one, in complete control. Oh, he had said that they were partners, but he'd never actually meant it. The few times she had tried to assert herself she had never really succeeded. Two years apart had taught her nothing where Raul was concerned. Amy had been right all along. He was not to be trusted...
'You're mad, Raul; stark, staring bonkers,' she said flatly, determined to stand up to him this time. If she was to have any chance of getting away with her son she could not afford to lose her temper. 'You do realise that tomorrow or the next day or even—God forbid!—two weeks from now I will walk out of here with my child?' She had to make him see reason, but the bitter hostility in his eyes was not very reassuring.
'You, maybe—James, never,' he drawled crushingly. 'My lawyer agreed that you would probably win a custody battle in England, but now you are in Spain. My country. You are an illegal immigrant with no passport. You might consider me mad but to everyone here I am a pillar of the community. Need I say more?'
She shuddered, his words chilling her to the bone. She had a horrible conviction that he might be right.
'You're cold, Penny,' Raul drawled silkily, his strong hands rubbing her shoulders while his dark eyes mocked her. He knew perfectly well that it was not the air temperature making her shudder. 'Why don't you have a shower and change into something fresh? This is a very n
ice dress, but you have been wearing it for almost two days.'
Penny dropped her head to hide the fury she knew be would see in her eyes. 'What day is it?' she managed to ask, when what she really wanted to do was murder him on the spot.
'Monday evening.' His hands slowly slipped down her arms and closed around her wrists, then he stepped back, holding her arms out wide. His mocking gaze traced slowly over her face and then lowered to linger on the creamy mounds of her breasts revealed by the low neck of the crumpled summer dress. ‘The clothes you left behind are in the wardrobe. You should be able to find something that still fits you.'
Penny stiffened; to be told that she was fatter was just about the last straw. Her blue eyes shooting fire, she looked at him and caught a disturbing flash of something very like sensual anticipation in his glittering glance. She bit her hp and swallowed the angry retort. She was not strong enough to fight with Raul, not yet... Instead she looked past him and said, 'First I want to see James.'
'I've told you, he is fine. Ava and I put him to bed an hour ago.' Raul still had possession of her wrists and he moved them around her back. Linking his fingers with hers, he eased her closer. 'You are the one who needs looking after,' he purred, his breath hot on her ice-cold face.
He loomed over her, oozing a menacing animal sexuality that threatened more than words could ever do. Penny arched back, terrified of what he might do to her. 'Please, I want to see James.'
'Later,' he said with savage softness. 'I swore when you walked out on me that I would get even some day.' He jerked her hands up her back, forcing her hard against his tough body. She looked into his eyes and trembled at the implacable intent she saw there. 'And when I discovered the full extent of your betrayal I was doubly determined to make you suffer.'
With one hand he held both of hers, and with the other he roughly gripped her chin. 'I have waited a long time for this.'
Raul's Revenge Page 10
