by Donna Vitek
Feigning a great interest in the coffee she unnecessarily stirred, she shifted uncomfortably in her chair, wishing she had waited just a while longer to come downstairs. If she had, perhaps Raul would have already left for the gallery. But she hadn't waited and, now, sensing she was being watched, she dragged her gaze up from the coffee still swirling in her cup.
A guarded look came over Raul's magnetic green eyes, although he smiled slightly, etching attractive creases into his lean cheeks beside his mouth. "What is on your agenda today?" he asked, his deep voice pleasantly modulated, conveying none of the animosity it had conveyed with every word last night. "Do you have any special plans?"
For a long moment Juliet could only stare at him, overwhelmingly aware of how good he looked. The crisp white shirt he wore with the gray vested suit accentuated his bronzed skin and thick dark hair, hair she had often wished she could run her fingers through. A sudden desire to reach out and touch it now surged through her but she suppressed that unreasonable longing and managed to shake her head. "No special plans, except to visit Uncle Will, of course." She lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. "Other than that, I'm not sure what I'll do. Maybe I'll be industrious and go through my closet. I need to pick out what I want to give to charity and what I'll want to take with me when I leave Granada."
"You'll have plenty of opportunity to do that later since you won't be leaving for quite some time," Raul declared flatly, rising lithely to his feet to walk to the sideboard again. He didn't elaborate on his imperious statement; he didn't need to and a couple of minutes later, he came back to the table again, placing a small plate containing two hot rolls and curls of butter on the table before Juliet. Then, he sat down again with his own plate of shirred eggs and thin strips of aromatic bacon.
Juliet stared at the rolls, a somewhat per-verse rebelliousness rising in her. "I'm not hungry."
"Eat anyway," he commanded blithely. "You're thinner than you were last year."
As his frankly appraising gaze passed over her, Juliet tensed. "Despite spending most of your life in England, you're still very Spanish, aren't you? Now you've even adopted the Spanish penchant for plump women."
Raul laughed softly at her indignant tone. "Few men of any nationality want to hold women shaped like broom handles in their arms."
"I have considerably more shape than a broom handle," Juliet muttered defensively, then blushed as she belatedly recognized the intimation in his statement. "Besides, I don't see that my shape is any of your concern anyhow. You won't be holding me in your arms."
"You think not? We'll see," he answered, his tone evocatively soft. "But we'll settle that difference of opinion some other time. For now, just eat."
Although Juliet felt like refusing flatly to take one bite, the aroma of Rosita's freshly baked rolls was tempting. She stared at the plate before her but at last, the demand for nourishment made by her healthy young body overcame her stubbornness. Buttering a roll, she glanced at Raul out of the corner of her eye then willed herself to ignore the slight triumphant smile that tugged at the corners of his strong yet sensuously shaped mouth. By the time she had nibbled her way through one roll, Raul had finished his meal. He leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette without asking her permission, probably remembering that she had never minded his occasional smoking last year. Knowing he was watching her, feeling almost adolescently self-conscious because of it, Juliet folded her fine linen napkin, then clasped her hands together in her lap. The silence in the room was more than a little disconcerting and she wished he would say something, anything, to ease her tension.
Finally, he did speak. "You'll be needing a car while you're here and I remember how you disliked driving Will's old Bentley. So I'll have the Lotus Esprit driven into town for you to use."
"That's not necessary, thank you," she responded stiffly, wanting no favors from him. "I don't mind driving the Bentley all that much."
"The Bentley is too unwieldy; you'll be much more at ease driving the Esprit so I'll call out to Casa Valaquez today and have it brought here," Raul repeated firmly. "It's useless to argue, Juliet. I've decided."
Juliet sniffed. His attempts to seem friendly weren't very convincing after the insults he had heaped on her last night and she wondered exactly what he was up to. If he thought offering her the use of his car would lull her into believing he suddenly wanted to be chummy, then he had better think again. She wasn't quite that gullible, even if he did possess a certain charm that was very nearly irresistible. Besides, he couldn't tell her it was useless to argue. She'd argue if she wanted to and her eyes issued a challenge as they met his.
"You're issuing your royal decrees again and I told you last night that I won't tolerate being bossed around," she declared recklessly. "So I won't borrow your car and that's final. I might bang it up and I don't want that responsibility. At least with Uncle Will's heavy old Bentley, I could probably drive into a brick wall and never even put a dent in it."
Raul's hand came out but even as Juliet flinched and drew away, his fingertips feathered coaxingly across her high cheekbones then up to trace her slightly arched brows. "You'll enjoy driving the Esprit, Juliet," he said softly yet insistently. "And since I rarely drive it myself, it sits in the garage. So you'd be doing me a favor by using it. It isn't good for any car to sit too long without being driven."
She was being conned and knew it but his coaxing tone and caressing fingers were far more persuasive than last night's threats had been, so much more persuasive that she found herself wanting to give in to him. Besides, she rationalized, she did hate driving the Bentley but driving the Esprit might be an exhilarating adventure. Since she was committed to staying in Granada anyway, she might as well derive some pleasure from the situation. "Oh, all right," she finally relented. She pulled back slightly, escaping the fingers that were causing her heart to beat too rapidly, then felt a ridiculous sense of loss when Raul's hand dropped away. Dismayed by her own ambivalent feelings, she looked at Raul cautiously, confusion warring with defensiveness in her amber eyes as they met his. She glanced away again quickly. "I'll borrow the car but remember this was all your idea and don't get mad at me if I happen to have an accident in it."
Raul leaned forward in his chair, his expression suddenly very serious. "You think I would care about the car if you had an accident, Juliet?" he muttered, jade green eyes searching her delicate features. "What kind of unfeeling monster do you think I am? Don't you know I'd be concerned about you, not the damn car, if you had an accident."
Foolishly, she laughed at him and was immediately made to regret her response. Her eyes dilated and widened as her wrist was quickly enclosed in a vise-like grip. Her warming cheeks were fanned by his breath as he half rose from his chair and his dark angular face came down close in front of hers. She gulped. "All right, I'm sorry I laughed," she blurted out compulsively. "It was rude."
"And unjustified," he added softly, releasing her wrist and sitting back in his chair again, his dark narrowed eyes drifting over her. He shook his head, then massaged the back of his neck with one lean hand. "Juliet, you're such a foolish child."
She thrust back her chair and stood. "I don't have to listen to your insulting, condescending remarks," she proclaimed heatedly, entrancing rose color blooming in her cheeks. She tossed her head indignantly as he suddenly grinned. "You—you are the most…" She never finished her scathing opinion because at that moment, Rosita bustled into the dining room, carrying a blue and white enameled vase filled with fragile ivory rosebuds. As Raul also rose to his feet, the housekeeper eyed both him and the girl hopefully. Then she very nearly giggled as he took one of the roses from the vase, broke off part of the long stern, and catching Juliet's hand to hold her there, tucked the bud into her shimmering auburn hair. His hand dropped down to cup her cheek, his fingers stroking caressingly.
"Hmm, just as I thought," he murmured, undaunted by Juliet's outraged scowl. "Even the petals of a rose aren't as soft as your skin." And he silenced her att
empted retort by pressing a finger against her lips, then a faint warning glinted in his green eyes. "But remember, I'm still not sure I should believe what you said last night. If you were telling the truth, then I've judged you too harshly. But if you were lying, I will find out about it and you'll suffer the consequences, I promise you. So if you're wise, you still won't see this Benny while you're here. Is that clear?"
"Contrary to what you believe, you're not a feudal lord and I'm not your obedient serf," she retorted furiously, low enough so Rosita couldn't hear. Resentment burned in her eyes. "Besides, Benny happens to be in Jaen—with Holly, his wife. But even if he were in Granada, I'd see him if I wanted to. So you might as well stop trying to order me around because I'll do whatever I damn well please."
Raul laughed softly and gently tapped the end of her small straight nose. "You'll reconsider, I'm sure," he declared confidently. Then the teasing gleam in his eyes altered to something much more subtly disturbing as his hand curved into the insweep of her waist. "I have to go to the gallery now but I can close it early this afternoon and drive you to the clinic to see Will, if you don't remember the way."
"I remember, thank you. And I wouldn't expect you to close the gallery and take me, even if I didn't."
His dark eyebrows raised as he smiled indulgently. "Such independence," he drawled. "Well, after you visit Will, if you want to, you may come down to the gallery and see the changes we've made."
"How magnanimous of you to invite me but I don't think I'll have the time to come." She forced herself to shrug casually. "Remember? I plan to go through my closet today."
"Ah yes, well, I certainly wouldn't want to encourage you to neglect such an important duty," he countered wryly. Then, incredibly, as his hand on her waist tightened with slight pressure, he tilted her face up with one finger beneath her small chin. His dark head lowered. He brushed a feather-light kiss across her forehead, then smiled mysteriously as she drew back, blushing hotly and unable to conceal her surprise. Dark green eyes, unreadable and piercing, held hers for a breathtaking moment before he slowly slipped his hand from around her waist and tugged a silken strand of her hair. He smiled. "Until this evening, mi pequeña."
My little one. He had never called her that before, nor any other endearment for that matter and as Juliet watched him leave the dining room, she took a deep tremulous breath. A man that attractive had no right to utter such endearments so carelessly and especially not in such a deep caressing tone. Shaking her head in bewilderment, she looked away from the door, only to find Rosita giving her a smug grin.
"You are afortunada, niña," the housekeeper declared gleefully. "Señor Valaquez is not so angry at you. He is the forgiving man."
He's a maddeningly unfathomable man, Juliet started to argue but didn't. Instead of challenging Rosita's idolizing evaluation of Raul, she walked slowly out of the dining room and up the stairs. A slight frown knitted her brow as she thoughtfully tapped her finger against her lips. Did Raul have some nefarious ulterior motive for this unexpectedly friendly treatment of her? Remembering how ruthless he had been last night, she feared he must have. And she dreaded the day when she discovered exactly what that motive was.
Chapter Four
Benny called Juliet the next afternoon. As she was coming into the house after visiting her uncle, the phone rang. Since Rosita was nowhere in sight, she hurried to the table in the center of the hall and lifted the receiver warily, hoping the caller wouldn't bombard her with a long monologue of rapid-fire Spanish. She had learned the language when she first came to live with her uncle. But Juliet had never been a proficient linguist. Luckily the voice that responded to her cautious hola was distinctly American and blessedly familiar.
"Benny, how are you?" she asked enthusiastically, slipping her feet from her leather sandals and luxuriating in the coolness of the wood floor beneath her bare soles. "I guess you and Holly are drawing crowds into the coffee house to hear you."
"I have to see you," Benny replied, his voice oddly strained. "Can I come to the house now?"
"Now? But how can you? Aren't you calling from Jaen?"
"We're in Granada. Look, I'll explain everything when I see you. Can I come or not? I'm no more than five minutes away."
Though she detected the urgent note in his voice and was concerned, she knew it would be foolhardy to invite him to the house. Rosita could be such a blabbermouth sometimes and if Benny came, she would more than likely tell Raul about the visit. Glancing around the hall as if she expected to see the housekeeper lurking in a corner, eavesdropping, Juliet lowered her voice to answer at last, "I can't see you here but let's meet somewhere. How about the Court of the Lions at the Alhambra? Say in twenty minutes?"
"Fine. Don't be late," Benny answered brusquely, then hung up without even saying good-bye.
More than a little worried by his strange behavior, Juliet wasted no time leaving the house again and within fifteen minutes was driving up the narrow steeply graded road to the Alhambra. Its sturdy clay walls and thirteen square towers gleamed golden in the sun against the backdrop of snow-tipped Sierra Nevada mountains. Disdaining the new parking area, Juliet parked Raul's black Esprit by the thicket of trees that edged the road. Getting out of the car, she rushed to buy a ticket to the castle. The sun blazed down relentlessly on her bare head as she passed through a courtyard, showed her ticket to the gatekeeper, then entered through a door into a cool quiet gallery. It was like taking a step back in time and almost too bedazzling. Graceful slender columns supported filigreed arches. Wainscoting of geometrically arranged red, green and white tiles lined the lower walls while the upper walls and domed ceilings were decorated with plasterwork moldings of floral motifs, painted gold or red or blue.
Although Juliet had visited Alhambra before, the delicate beauty of the Moorish architecture enchanted her as much now as it always had. She would have liked to linger in the cool gallery; there was so much to see but this wasn't the time to explore. The Court of the Lions was some distance away and Benny might already be waiting for her. As she went on, past a long row of arched windows through which sunlight streamed, her cork-heeled sandals made only faint noise on the marble floor. The only other sound came from the splashing fountains in the inner courtyards and from the gentle movement of the cypress trees as a breeze occasionally drifted through them. Glancing at her wrist-watch, Juliet quickened her pace. Two more minutes and she would be late and judging by Benny's urgent tone, he really needed to see her. Apprehension uncurled in her stomach so she hardly noticed the next sun-drenched courtyard she passed through. She did catch a glimpse of one of her favorite chambers with its domed ceiling of carved wood inlaid with ivory and silver. Finally, after wandering through several rooms of one of the royal residential apartments, she stepped out into the Court of the Lions.
She hesitated, glancing around the veranda-enclosed courtyard. Fragile, fluted columns cast long shadows in the bright sun. Four white marble walkways led to the sculptured fountain supported by stylized lions, which spouted streams of water from their small round mouths. A single column of water sprang up in the fountain's center, creating rainbow-hued droplets that splashed back into the stone basin.
Benny was nowhere to be seen. Juliet walked to the fountain but as she dipped her fingers into the sparkling water, he appeared, looking quite haggard, his boyish face drawn, his skin ashen. "What's wrong?" she exclaimed, laying her hand on his arm. "What is it? Where's Holly?"
Benny raked his fingers through already rumpled reddish hair and gave a sigh that was half a groan. "She's in the hospital."
"Oh, no! But what's wrong? She hasn't— hasn't had the baby prematurely?"
"No, but she could," Benny replied thickly, then pointed in the direction of a stone bench beside an ornamental yew tree. "Let's go sit over there. Okay? I'm exhausted."
After they had settled themselves on the bench and Benny had stared morosely at his feet for several minutes without speaking again, Juliet could stand the silence no lo
nger. "Tell me exactly what's wrong, please. Why might Holly have the baby two months early?"
"We had an accident in the van," Benny began dully. "Yesterday, after we talked to you on the phone and you sounded so lonely, we decided to start early this morning for Granada. We planned to take you away from here if you wanted to leave." He paused a moment, clenching his hand into a fist on his thigh. "I didn't sleep much last night, getting a cold, I guess, so Holly insisted on driving. Softhearted little fool swerved to avoid hitting a scruffy old stray cat. We hit a signpost instead and she was thrown against the steering wheel. Bruised her up pretty bad but she's all right."
Juliet's face had gone pale. "And the baby?"
"Heartbeat's still strong but for a while there were signs that Holly might go into labor so the doctor wants her to stay in the hospital, in bed, for the rest of her pregnancy. Naturally, she's plenty upset."
Juliet, however, was relieved and she patted Benny's arm consolingly. "But the baby should be fine if Holly stays in bed, right? I know it's rotten luck but it could have been so much worse. Try to remember that."
"We're both trying to," he replied tiredly. "But mostly I'm worried about her because she's so worried about how much it'll cost to stay in the hospital so long. I told her I'll get two jobs so we'll pay the bills somehow."
Juliet dismissed his words with a wave of her hand. "You won't need two jobs and you won't have to worry about the medical bills. My parents left me some money and I've never spent any of it. Uncle Will's held it in trust for me but now that I'm twenty-one, I can do whatever I want with it. So you tell Holly she doesn't have to worry about paying her hospital bill. I'll take care of that."
