by Donna Vitek
"Oh, you know how stubborn Benny can be. I think he needs to prove to himself that he can take care of his family without anybody's help. That's why he's exhausting himself by singing at the coffee house every night, then going back there early the next morning to help clean up so he can make a little extra money. But he's never going to make enough to keep up with the bills I'm running up here." Holly's voice quavered then lowered to a frightened husky whisper, "You wouldn't believe how much it's costing to be in here, Juliet, and they're already asking us to begin paying. Neither my family or Benny's can afford to help us much and I—I just don't know what we're going to do."
As Holly started crying softly, Juliet jumped up by the bed to pat her friend's hand comfortingly. "Please don't get yourself all upset," she murmured, her own voice hoarse. "Worrying isn't going to help the baby and besides, you have nothing to worry about. I told Benny I'd be glad to use some of the money my parents left me to help you two pay the hospital bill."
"Benny never mentioned that to me," Holly said, drying her cheeks with the tissue Juliet handed her. "But I guess he didn't because he'd be too proud to take your money."
"Well, that's just too bad; he'll take it anyway," Juliet declared emphatically. "Now, how much do you need?"
"But…"
"How much?"
Holly hesitated only a moment. "The bill here's already over two thousand dollars. And that's too much money for you to…"
"You let me worry about what's too much and what isn't." Half-turning, she picked up her purse from the chair. Turning back, she squeezed Holly's hand and smiled reassuringly. "I'm going to the bank right now and draw out the money. Then after I give it to Benny, I'm going to insist he move into our house. So I want you to stop fretting and get some rest. Everything is going to be just fine, you'll see."
Holly smiled wanly. "I don't know if Benny will let you do this, Juliet. He's one of the most stubborn people I've ever known."
"Well, he's about to find out I can be as stubborn as he is," Juliet announced confidently and, after straightening Holly's bedcovers, she smiled a good-bye and left.
At the Granada branch of an American bank twenty minutes later, the manager himself handled Juliet's transaction. Since she had never made a withdrawal from her account before, he seemed a bit curious about why she had suddenly decided to use the money. But, obviously, her answers to his questions satisfied him because he didn't delay in giving her the amount she requested.
After leaving the bank, Juliet went to Benny's small hotel and found him in the diminutive lobby. He looked tired, too tired even to push back the shock of hair that grazed his forehead but he managed to smile when Juliet joined him at the registration desk where he was handing the clerk the key to his room.
"Where are you going?" Juliet asked. "Are you in a real hurry?"
"Well, sort of. I was going to the hospital to see Holly. Why?"
Juliet made a great show of twisting the straps of her purse nervously. "Well, I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes up in your room. I have to ask a favor of you."
Obviously convinced by her tone that she was serious, Benny nodded, retrieved his door key, then allowed her to precede him up the stairs to the second floor. Though his room was tiny and cramped, the plain furniture was sturdy and everything was spotlessly clean. He only had to remove a paperback book from the only chair so Juliet could sit on it, while he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Well, go ahead, Juliet, ask your favor," he prompted. "You know I'll do anything I can for you."
"Oh, I was hoping you'd say that. But actually this is a favor for Uncle Will. He's just worrying himself sick about his house being burglarized while we're staying at the casa. You know, burglars can't resist an unoccupied house, so I told him I'd ask you to stay there and sort of keep an eye on things for us. Do you think you could?" She smiled hopefully at him. "Please. I hate for Uncle Will to be constantly fretting about burglars and actually, you could benefit from the arrangement too. You'd be closer to the hospital and, besides, you could save the money it costs to rent this room. What do you say? Will you do it?"
For a long moment, Benny only stared at her, saying nothing. Then he rose to his feet and paced back and forth beside the bed. "You're not just making up this whole story, are you, to help me out by saving me room rent?"
"What a suspicious mind you have," Juliet retorted. "I assure you I'm not making up anything. Uncle Will is worried about burglars and, quite frankly, I'm disappointed in you for not believing me. I thought you trusted me more than that."
"Oh, I do trust you, Juliet, you know that," Benny insisted, ruffling his reddish hair by running his fingers through it. Shaking his head at her, he smiled. "But I also know what a tenderhearted little thing you are. You'd make up any kind of story to get me to accept your help."
"Hmmph, well, I'm not making up this story and even though Uncle Will was very relieved when I told him I was sure you'd move in and keep an eye on the house, if you don't want to help us, then…"
"I didn't say no, did I?" Benny exclaimed, glancing around the cramped room with a grimace. "To tell the truth, I'm getting claustrophobia in here. It wouldn't be so bad to have a house to myself and if I'd really be doing you a favor in the process…"
"Oh, you would, you would," Juliet assured him eagerly as she stood. "So you'll do it then?"
"Well, sure. Why not?" Benny acquiesced, then smiled at her with a certain amount of relief. "When would you want me to move in?"
"Today. Right now, in fact," Juliet said, tossing her purse on the chair. Unwilling to give him time to change his mind, she glanced around the room. "Where's your luggage? I'll help you pack and we can move you out of here and into the house before you go visit Holly. Okay? She'll be pleased to hear you're doing me a favor and saving money, don't you think?"
Faced with such logic, Benny couldn't disagree and, fifteen minutes after he took two suitcases from the tiny closet, all his belongings were packed. He checked out of the hotel, then followed in the van as Juliet drove the Esprit to her uncle's house.
"Wow, this sure beats my room in the hotel," he commented as she opened the door to the upstairs guest room. Setting down the suitcases on the thick lemon yellow carpet, he wandered over to the window that overlooked the courtyard. "View's better too. There, when I looked out my window, all I saw was a sagging stucco wall."
"And here you can use the kitchen," Juliet reminded him, hoisting one of the suitcases up on the chest at the foot of the bed. "You can buy groceries and that'll be cheaper than having to eat out."
Benny nodded agreeably then frowned as she opened his suitcase. "Hey, you don't have to help me unpack. I can do that after I get back from the hospital."
"Oh, I don't mind helping," Juliet said, not adding that she wanted him settled in before she brought up the subject of money. And indeed, they had put away most of the contents in the second suitcase before she picked up her purse and removed a long slip of paper, which she handed to him.
He only glanced at it, then shaking his head emphatically, tried to thrust it back into her hand. When she refused to take it, he uttered an oath. "This is a four thousand dollar check. And if you're trying to give it to me, I can't accept."
"But you promised to let me help you financially. Are you breaking that promise now?"
"I said you could help—not that you could hand me a fortune." He tried again to hand her the check. "Come on, Juliet; this is too much. I can't take all this money from you."
"You need it, don't you?" she countered as gently as possible. Laying her hand on his arm, she smiled understandingly. "Look, I know you'd rather handle everything yourself but this is one of those times when that just isn't possible. You can't work around the clock trying to keep up with your bills. You'll only succeed in making yourself ill and what good will that do Holly? She's already very worried about you."
"God, don't you think I know that?" he mumbled, pressing his palm against his forehead. "And I know I'm to bla
me for this whole crazy mess."
"How can you possibly say that?" Juliet objected. "How could you be to blame for what was purely an accident?"
"An accident that wouldn't have happened if I'd had good sense months ago. Don't you see? I should have taken Holly home to the States a long time ago. I could've gotten some kind of regular job there; we could've had a permanent home. Instead, I've dragged her all over Europe in that rickety van. And that's no way for a pregnant woman to live."
"Benny, you're being too hard on yourself," Juliet said comfortingly. "You sound as if you dragged Holly around against her will but you know better. She wanted to stay in Europe so if you're going to blame yourself for everything, then you'll have to blame her too."
"Maybe we are both to blame," he muttered guiltily. "Both of us should have been adult enough to know that we couldn't continue our vagabond existence after the baby was born. I only wish I'd realized that fact months ago. This child is mine, my responsibility. And, somehow, after he's born, I'm going to have to give him a secure life and that probably means going back to the States. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of call for people with master's degrees in music, so God only knows what kind of job I'll be able to find."
"Let's not worry about that right now," Juliet advised. "At the moment, the main concern is that Holly get proper care until the baby's born. And that means she has to pay her hospital bill so she can stay there. Don't you agree that's really all that matters right now?"
"Well, yes—but four thousand dollars! Damn it," he muttered, waving the check. "I can't take this much from you. It's not necessary. Holly's bill isn't even that high."
"Yet," Juliet reminded him. "But it will be, so keep what's left when you pay the bill today, then pay them more next week. If you pay them regularly, they'll stop hassling you. And don't forget that I'll give you more, whenever you need it."
"You can't give us all your money, Juliet!"
"Don't be so difficult," she pleaded. "For gosh sake, you and Holly are my best friends. If I can't use my money to help you, then what good is it?"
"Oh, hell, you have an answer for everything," he groaned but finally nodded. "All right, I'll take the money."
She breathed a sigh of relief, then grinned at him. "I'm glad and not only because I want to help. But that happens to be a cashier's check and I know you wouldn't have wanted me to keep carrying it around. I mean, someone might have tried to rob a poor little defenseless girl like me."
"Defenseless, my foot," Benny retorted, laughing reluctantly. "You're as sly as a fox. You would have made me take the check by pretending to be afraid to carry it with you. You certainly know how to play all the angles, don't you?"
"I try my best," she countered.
Benny's expression abruptly sobered again. "But this is just a loan. You remember that. I intend to pay back every penny."
"Whatever you want," she agreed, giving him a cheeky smile. "I'll even charge you interest, if you insist. And you probably will."
"You bet I will," Benny said seriously as he placed the check in his well-worn wallet. Looking back up, he smiled gratefully. "You're a good kid, Juliet. I don't know how to thank you."
"Then don't try." Pressing her hand against his shoulder, she headed him toward the door. "Just go see Holly and I'll finish your unpacking. But wait! We forgot something." Scrounging through her purse, she found the key to the house and handed it to him. "I won't be here when you get back."
Benny nodded, leaned down to clumsily brush a kiss across her cheek, then walked quickly from the room.
After hearing the van's noisy departure, Juliet finished hanging the last of Benny's shirts in the closet. As she started back across the room to get the empty suitcases to store them, she heard the front door close, then heavy footsteps ascending the stairs. She halted mid-stride for only a second, then went on, deciding Benny must have forgotten something. As she snapped shut the clasps on one suitcase, however, she realized she hadn't heard the van return and that decrepit old engine had a recognizable knock. Since she hadn't heard it, she suddenly knew it probably wasn't Benny who was in the house. With that realization, her heart began hammering in her ears and she spun around to face the doorway just as Raul stepped through it, his considerable height and the breadth of his shoulders seemingly diminishing the size of the room.
"Oh, thank God, it's you," Juliet breathed, pressing her fist against the ache in her chest where her heart palpitated violently. "I thought you were an intruder when I realized I hadn't heard the van return. Benny's van, I mean. He just left."
"I know," Raul answered, his deep voice gruff. "I waited until he left before coming in." When Juliet only frowned questioningly, he gave her an unpleasant smile and moved with the menacing ease of a big cat toward her, stopping within touching distance. But he didn't touch her. Instead, he allowed his gaze to flick over her, then added caustically, "Will's recuperation and your friend's stay in the hospital coincided perfectly, didn't they? Now, you and Benny have a nice place for a rendezvous and you don't have to worry about his wife possibly interfering."
Juliet took a sharp breath, ignoring the ache in her chest his words caused. "If you're going to start in on me again, I'm leaving," she announced stiffly. "I'm tired of your ridiculous accusations and this time, I'm not even going to try to defend myself."
As she snatched up her purse from the bed and tried to sweep past Raul, his arm shot out, caught her around the waist, and pulled her relentlessly against him. He easily subdued her futile struggle to free herself. "Can you defend yourself?" he asked, the coolness in his green eyes belying his soft tone. "Or are you just unwilling to make up a lie?"
"I don't tell lies!" she protested, then sighed. "Yes, I could defend myself but I see no point in trying. You wouldn't believe me anyway. You never do."
"Why don't you try me again," he said with an infuriating smile. "Maybe this time, you'll convince me."
Provoked by his mocking tone, Juliet pushed her small hands against his chest but only succeeded in inciting him to use more force. One lean hand tangled in the fiery cascading strands of her hair while his arm tightened, bringing her so much closer against him that her slight body was actually arched toward him. "Be still," he commanded huskily, clasping the back of her head in his large hand. "If you do have some explanation for you and Benny being in this house together, I want to hear it. And I want to hear it now. So begin."
For a moment, Juliet pressed her lips together firmly, determined not to explain anything to him but something unrelenting in his stern expression changed her mind. No longer able to meet his harsh gaze, she bent her head, fixing her own bewildered gaze on the buttons of his light blue shirt. "I… Benny's going to stay here," she began, her voice so soft Raul had to bend down closer to hear. "It'll save him the cost of a hotel room and Uncle Will won't have to worry about the house standing empty, inviting burglars."
"Will knows about Benny staying here?" Raul questioned, his voice rather uneven, somehow making his slight accent even more appealing. "You're saying Will agreed to this arrangement?" When Juliet nodded, his hold on her became infinitely gentler and his fingers threaded through her hair so evocatively that she compulsively lifted her face to him. A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I seem to have misjudged you again," he said softly. "I don't know what it is about you that makes me jump to conclusions."
Juliet swallowed with difficulty, nearly mesmerized by the sudden warmth in his eyes. Then she shook her head, trying to dispel the dangerous weakness that threatened to sap the strength from her limbs. "I—I guess you just don't like me very much so—so you don't trust me. But that really isn't very fair."
"No, it isn't," he agreed incredibly, his intent gaze narrowing as he slowly lowered his dark head. "But it isn't because I don't like you that I don't trust you. As I've said before, I think I like you too much. But I can't trust you, Juliet, because you're so young you still play games with men. You played games with Benny and with Pab
lo and now, you're trying to play a game with me. But, Juliet, I'm not a man to play games with."
Though she wanted to defend herself, his warm caressing breath against her cheek sent a shiver of awareness feathering along her spine and banished all coherent thought. Her eyes widened, softened with vulnerability, then were captured and held by a sudden warming gleam in his that defied analysis. His wide shoulders blocked the light from the window and suddenly that beloved dark face and those eyes became all that was real in the world. As she drew in a startled breath, her softly curved lips parted slightly and his brushed slowly across her cheek to touch them, lightly at first, then with a swift graduation of intensity that swept her up in a tide of irresistible passion. His lips hardened, possessed hers with undeniable hunger and without gentleness and she found delight in a sheer physical strength so superior to hers. Dizzying pleasure claimed her as his hand roamed freely, exploring the tantalizing curves of her slight body and with the pressure of his taut muscular thighs grazing hers and the hot upsurging evidence of his desire, she intuitively moved against him, eliciting his soft groan.
His mouth lifted, hovered just above hers and his eyes were alight with passion as he muttered roughly, "Atormentadora, this time you will give me what you make me want so badly. Won't you, mi amada? Say yes."
"Raul," she breathed, fear shafting through her. But it was such a pleasurable fear that she could only seek his lips again without giving him an answer, at least in words.
Obviously interpreting her silence as acquiescence, Raul murmured her name triumphantly and winding her hair around his hand, tilted her head back and trailed blazing kisses along her jaw, down the slender length of her smooth neck. Curiously unsteady fingers unfastened the fabric buttons of her white sleeveless blouse and he held her slightly away from him as he slipped the soft garment from her shoulders, down her shapely arms, and off completely.
She heard his sharply indrawn breath as he allowed the blouse to slip between his fingers and fall to the floor. She closed her eyes, unable to withstand the searing heat of his gaze as he observed the rapid rise and fall of breasts barely concealed by a wisp of a white lace bra but she could offer no resistance as he unbuttoned her skirt, then lowered the zipper and it joined the blouse on the floor. Strong hands spanned her waist, his fingers probing her spine. And suddenly, even the wispy lace bra was removed and she was standing before him in only a satiny white half-slip. Her eyes flickered open again and she trembled as his dark gaze seemed to be devouring her.
