“I’m going downstairs to change the baby,” she said in a hushed tone, breaking the munificent silence filling the bedroom.
“And I’m going for a walk,” David offered as an excuse to escape Serena. He had to get away from her or else embarrass the both of them in front of her friend.
Serena nodded, unable to force a word from her constricted throat. How could he? she raged inwardly. How could he look at her like that in front of a stranger? Only a blind person would miss the silent interchange that had passed between them. What was it about David Cole that made it possible for him to seduce her without saying a word?
She moved to the bed, picked up the baby’s bag, and followed Evelyn out of the room, leaving David staring at her back. Just before she reached the top of the staircase, she glanced over her shoulder and found him standing in the hallway, staring.
David had begun what he’d promised to do: wait for her.
Chapter 22
Serena met Evelyn in the sitting area where she sat breastfeeding her baby. The two women stared at each other, smiling,
“Are you going to tell me about him, or do I have to pry?”
Serena shrugged a bare shoulder. “There’s nothing to tell. He’s a business associate of my father. He’s staying with us because he had an accident.”
“No, Amiga, it’s not the accident I want to know about. I know what I see.”
“And that is?” Serena asked, refusing to make it easy for her friend.
“The fire between you two is…caliente!”
“There’s no fire, Evelyn.”
“The man burns for you. Didn’t you feel the heat?”
“Nope.”
“Mentirosa! Don’t you dare lie to me, Girlfriend,” Evelyn continued, switching to English.
Serena struggled not to laugh, but couldn’t keep the chuckles from escaping when she saw the indignation on Evelyn’s face.
“You’re right,” she admitted softly. “The heat between us is incredible.”
She disclosed all that had happened from the moment David Cole lay under her parents’ roof, omitting the part where they’d made love. She also told Evelyn of Luz Maria’s prediction.
“It’s weird, Evelyn. I didn’t even want to like him, but meanwhile I find myself believing that I love him.”
“What’s not to like or even love? The man’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“It’s not his looks,” she argued softly. “That’s too superficial.”
“Whatever it is, don’t fight it, Amiga.”
They talked for another hour, catching up on what had transpired in their lives since their last meeting; she kissed her friend and tiny namesake, promising she would return the visit before Evelyn returned to San José with her daughter.
Raul Vega emerged from the sanctuary of his study at the same time Serena headed for the stairs, lines of tension ringing his mouth and crisscrossing his forehead.
“Chica.”
Stopping, she glanced down at Raul. “Yes, Poppa.”
“Let David know that he’s expected to take his meal with us at eight.”
Noting the strain of his drawn features, she offered a comforting smile. “Sí, Poppa.” Raul nodded, then turned and reentered his study.
She continued up the staircase, knowing the only time she would see her stepfather would be during dinner. Whenever he was troubled by something he retreated to his study, leaving it only to share the evening meal with his family. She and Gabe had learned early never to enter the room without knocking, or venturing in even when Raul was not in attendance.
She’d tried over and over during her adult years to analyze her relationship with her stepfather, failing to understand his passions. He loved her mother, his children, and his country, but that love was sometimes all-encompassing and suffocating. There were no in-betweens for Raul Cordero-Vega—it was all or nothing. He loved hard and hated even harder.
She was aware of the enmity between the two men in her life, knowing she would have to choose. But she was also confident that Raul would forgive her, because he had become her father and she his daughter.
She walked into David’s room and found it empty. Making her way to the adjoining bathroom, she peered in. It was apparent that he hadn’t returned from his walk. The pad she had given him lay on the seat of the armchair, and she moved over to pick it up. Half the pages in the bound pad were filled with pencilled musical notes. He’d composed solos for piano, guitar, sax, and flugelhorn. Along the margins he’d indicated the key and tempo, and a few bore titles: Book of Secrets. Exotic Pleasures.
Staring at his latest work-in-progress, she smiled. This composition featured a guitar and cello. A most unusual pairing, but then she had to admit that David was unusual. Instinctively she knew that beneath his tailored clothing and regal bearing was a tempered wildness he’d learned to control with maturity. The pierced ear and tattoo were overt evidence of his atypical behavior for a man born to his station. He’d admitted rebelling against his father’s insistence that he join the family business on graduation from college when he pursued a career as a musician. And it was also apparent that he’d substituted Raul Cordero-Vega for his father whenever they met to discuss his family’s holdings in Costa Rica. The battle lines were drawn, and neither wanted to concede.
“What do you think of it?”
Serena felt the heat flare in her face at the sound of the deep, musical voice. Turning slowly, she smiled at David. He stood in the doorway, leaning on the cane.
“I’d love to hear it,” she replied, her voice lowering seductively.
He limped into the bedroom, stopping less than a foot from her. “I decided not to play what I’ve written until I finish.”
Her gold-brown gaze moved slowly over his face, coming to rest on his mouth. “When do you think you’ll finish?”
He returned her enraptured gaze, his lids lowering over his large black eyes. “When I stop hearing the music in my head.”
The fire Evelyn had referred to was back—hotter than before. It scorched her face, throat, chest, and lower—to the secret, pulsing area between her thighs. The heat and the throbbing intensified until she doubted whether she could stand unaided.
“Stop that, David,” she whispered.
He took a step closer, then another. “Stop what, mi alma?”
Her lids fluttered close. “Don’t look at me like that.”
A half-smile curved his mouth. “Like what?”
Serena’s chest rose and fell heavily under her tank top, bringing David’s burning gaze to her heaving breasts. “Like I’m—” Her words trailed off. She couldn’t say it. She wasn’t quite that uninhibited.
His smile widened as he shifted a sweeping, silky black eyebrow. “Like you’re something I’d like to eat,” he crooned quietly.
Her shuttered eyelids flew open and she stared at him with an expression that mirrored her shock. He’d read her mind. She nodded, numbly, unable to form the words to verify her thoughts.
Reaching out with his free hand, he took the pad from her limp fingers. “Tonight you’ll find out just how much I want you.”
The heat increased in her face, making it impossible for her to continue to look at him as she turned her back. Was she that open? Were all of her emotions on the surface for him to see? How was it everyone read her so well? Luz Maria, David, and Evelyn.
“I came to tell you that my father expects you to eat dinner with us.”
The mention of Raul Vega broke the sensual spell. David’s smile faded quickly, a frown taking its place. “At what time has he ordered that I sit at his table?”
Serena spun around, her own passion replaced by annoyance. “Stop it, David. Why must you attack him like this?”
“Because I don’t like him, that’s why.”
“That’s not a reason to be deliberately ungracious.”
David wanted to shout at her that he wasn’t the one who was ungracious. That it was her father who had him assaulted, threa
tened his life, that before he killed him he would begin a systematic mutilation until he died in agony.
“What do you want from me, Serena? Do you want me to genuflect and kiss his ring? He’s set himself up as a despot. He wants absolute control of everyone and everything. I’ve taken insults from him that I would’ve never taken from another man, all in the name of maintaining a professional business decorum with an official of a foreign country. But all of that is going to end because there won’t be any negotiations for the sale of the banana plantation.”
A sudden chill shook her body. “What are you going to do?” Her voice was a breathless whisper.
He leaned down until his face was inches from hers. “I’m walking away from it. The employees of ColeDiz International Ltd. can take what they want, or leave the bananas to rot where they lay.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “No one can touch the plantation unless the government decides to nationalize the property. And that can take months.”
His expression was impassive, and that frightened her more than if he’d affected a frown. “I really don’t give a damn, because Vega will be left with nothing, and I don’t believe the Costa Rican government will want to throw its money away on a worthless piece of property. Your Poppa wants to play dirty. What he’ll get is someone who’s been taught to play dirty by one of the best.”
“Who?”
He straightened, recognizing the glimmer of fear in her wide-eyed gaze. “My father.”
“If that’s the case, then why don’t you let our fathers fight this battle?”
David gritted his teeth, welcoming the pain radiating from his temple to his chin. “They are, Serena.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t ask me. Ask your Poppa,” he drawled in a nasty, sarcastic tone.
Serena brushed past him as she walked quickly to the door. “You can believe I will.”
David flung the pad across the room, wishing he could bellow out his frustration. He was trapped, a prisoner in the home of a man whose daughter he coveted. He couldn’t tell her about the betrayal and deadly revenge taking center stage, where a word from her stepfather would shatter their love and the hope of a future together.
His only hope was that his father could survive long enough to secure his freedom. A freedom that would give him back his son as well as claim to another daughter-in-law.
Serena sat opposite David at the dining room table, holding her breath. She’d approached her father after her hostile confrontation with David, but Raul refused to see her. She’d pounded on the locked door until her fist ached, but he hadn’t opened the door.
Waiting until Luz Maria brought out all of the dishes, she glared at Raul’s expressionless face. “Will you talk to me now, Poppa?”
Raul spread a snowy white napkin over his lap and glared at her. “You know the rules, Chica. We do not discuss business at the table.”
“If you don’t talk to me now, when will you? You owe me that much. Remember, I’m your daughter, not a business associate.”
He inclined his gray head. “That is true. You are my daughter.” He smiled, softening the hard lines in his face and making her aware of why her mother had married him. Raul Cordero-Vega was still an extremely attractive man at sixty-two.
“But I refuse to discuss business at my dinner table,” he continued.
“Your table, your house,” she ranted, refusing to back down. “When is it ever our table, our house?”
Raul’s fingers tightened around the handle of his knife and fork. “Enough, Chica.” The two words were spoken quietly, but there was no mistaking the repressed rage in the man staring down at the contents on his plate. His head lifted as his eyes widened.
Something within Serena exploded as she stood up. “No! It is not enough!”
Raul didn’t move. “Sit down.” When she did not comply, he put down his silverware. The deafening silence swelled as the two men at the table stared at the petite woman who stood facing her stepfather, trembling with defiance.
“Why is it always what you want, Poppa?”
“Serena!” Her name exploded from the back of his throat.
David placed both hands on the table and rose to his feet. Rage he did not know he was capable of surfaced, making breathing difficult. “Don’t ever raise your voice to her again.” His warning, though spoken softly, denoted a threat.
Raul’s head jerked around as he glared disbelievingly at the man who challenged him over and over. “You forget your place, Señor Cole. This is between me and my daughter.”
“And you forget yours, Señor Vega. In case you haven’t noticed, your daughter is an adult. It’s time you saw her as one.”
“And it is apparent that you’ve forgotten who you are and where you are, Señor Cole.”
“I know exactly who I am. It is you who has forgotten. It is only because I do respect your home and your daughter that I don’t say what I’d like to say.”
Raul stood up and threw his napkin down to the table. “I will not take your insults. Not at my own table. Serena, tell Luz Maria to serve me in my study.” Pushing back his chair, he stalked out of the dining room, leaving them staring at his back.
Serena’s hands were shaking as she covered her face and sank slowly down to her chair. “When will it end?” she whispered, her voice breaking with raw emotion.
David made his way slowly around the table. He resisted the urge to hold her and comfort her. “He’s angry and frustrated.” He wanted to rationalize her father’s pain, but knew Vega’s pain had not started with his son’s arrest. It’d begun years before, with his obsession to save his country from foreigners.
Her hands came down and she stared up at David, her golden eyes awash with unshed tears. “There are times when I feel that he hates me, David. Why, I don’t know.”
“He doesn’t hate you, mi amor. He’s angry with himself. And it’s up to Raul Cordero-Vega to solve his own problems and come to terms with himself.”
“You’re wrong. He’s always loved my mother and brother. It seems as if he picks and chooses his time to offer me what he’s always given them. We can’t spend more than three days together before we’re at each other’s throats. I don’t know what’s going to happen with my brother, but I swear that when I leave Costa Rica this time only death will bring me back.”
She pulled away when David reached out for her and stood up. “Excuse me. I have to tell Luz Maria to bring my father’s dinner to his study.”
David wanted to tell Serena that she did not have to say anything to Luz Maria, that if Raul wanted his dinner served in his study he could tell the cook himself. But the words were lodged in his throat. He’d come to Serena’s defense without considering the consequences. It was apparent that she had quarreled with her stepfather many times in the past. She did not need him to fight her battles.
But something would not permit him to sit silent while Raul shouted at her. At that moment he’d wanted to reach across the table and strangle the man, choking off his words and his life’s breath. And it was in that instant that he knew he would’ve willingly given up his life for Serena. He loved her that much.
He waited for her to return from the kitchen. It was only after she reclaimed her chair that he sat down. Both of them ate in complete silence, lost in their private thoughts.
David drank three glasses of a premium red wine while Serena toyed with the stem of her wineglass before she drank one. The wine helped relax him. He soon forgot Vega’s virulent exchange with Serena, and he looked forward to taking her into his arms to calm and soothe her fears. He wanted her to know that she didn’t have to solicit her stepfather’s love, because he loved her. His love was all she would ever need from a man—any man.
Chapter 23
Serena retreated to her bedroom after eating dinner, stripped off her clothes, and spent the next hour soaking in the bathtub. The scented candles, perfumed bath oil, and the softly playing, all-music radio station worke
d their magic as she willed her mind and body to relax.
She forgot the confrontation at the dinner table, the fact that she could not confide in her mother, and even the knowledge that Gabe was locked away in a Florida prison.
She forgot all of the madness affecting her family as the realization that she had fallen in love transported her to a place where she languished in the comforting arms of serenity.
Picking up a bath sponge, she trickled water over her shoulders and down her breasts, her flesh shimmering from the scented oil. It was only when she stood up to step out of the tub that she saw him.
David stood in the shadows of the candle-lit bathroom, watching her. Her breath caught in her chest before it started up again in an erratic rhythm that left her feeling lightheaded.
“How long have you been here?”
Pushing off the wall, David closed the space between them. “Long enough to see everything I like.” His hands circled her waist and he effortlessly lifted her from the bathtub. Holding her water-slick body aloft, her feet dangling in the air, he pressed his mouth to hers. He molded her flesh to his, fusing their naked bodies and making them one.
Serena gloried in the feel of the crisp hair on his chest grazing her sensitive nipples. She curved her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, her tongue easing slowly, deliberately, into his mouth.
David gasped at the heated invasion of her tongue, opening his mouth wider until she branded him with her soul-searching kiss. He felt her trembling, the quickening of her respiration, and knew her passions were soaring as quickly as his own. He carried her into her own darkened bedroom and placed her on the bed, his body following.
After dinner he’d returned to his bedroom to shave and shower, then come to her, as promised. He’d turned off her bedside lamp and drawn the drapes before he walked silently into her bathroom. He’d stood in a corner, watching her as she lay in the bathtub, eyes closed, listening to the soft music coming from a radio, while ignoring the slight twinge of pain in his right foot. He saw the peace that settled into the features of the woman he’d fallen in love with. She had found solace in a tub filled with scented water, while he needed the scented softness of her body before he found his own peace.
Heaven Sent Page 19
