Emerald Ecstasy (34 page)

“You must!” She pulled away from him. “Accept that as my answer, Daniel. Please.”

“Raoul is only a man, flesh and blood, and can die like any other man.”

She didn't care for the black look on his face, or for the way he fingered the rapier at his side. “Don't think such a thing. Raoul has people who will avenge his death. No, don't consider it. Please leave me, Daniel. Return to Green Meadows and our daughter.”

“Not without you. I'll never believe you want his money and wish to spend your life as his prisoner, because that is what you are, Lianne.”

“Believe it! What must I do to convince you?”

“Lianne!” Raoul's voice boomed from the
sala
.

“I have to go inside. Daniel, go home. Forget me, please. It's the best thing for both our sakes.” She moved away but he stilled her and held her lips against his in a kiss which left her drugged and tottering for balance. Then he released her and she practically flew across the courtyard to meet Raoul in the
sala
where Diego Gonzalez sat, sipping mezcal.

Upon seeing her, Diego stood up and gallantly bowed. His small dark eyes raked her from head to toe, then rested on the valley of her breasts where the shawl had fallen open. Lianne knew immediately she didn't like him and pulled the shawl around her. She remembered seeing him with Isabelle Hidalgo at Elena's party and pitied Carmen if this man was to be her husband. Though elegant clothes covered his small, wiry frame he reminded her of a small monkey.

She hid her distaste when he kissed her hand and hoped she wouldn't have to stay in the
sala
much longer. She really wanted to go to her room and think about Daniel.

But Raoul summoned Carmen and within seconds the girl stood before her father and her future husband, tears welling in her eyes. She was dressed in a very pretty yellow gown, forgoing the black which Raoul insisted she put away. However, the color did nothing for Carmen but make her look sallow and slightly plump.

If Diego noticed this, he pretended not to. He also took her hand, kissing it quickly. “I haven't seen you for some time,” Diego said in politeness.

Carmen could barely speak. “A long time,” she muttered at Raoul's glance of impatience.

He sat on the chair beside Raoul's while the women sat on the couch. A servant offered tea, but neither of them touched it. Raoul and Diego drank their mezcal. Then Raoul turned his attention to his daughter.

“Diego has consented to marry you, Carmen. The arrangements are being made for late summer.”

“Couldn't we please postpone the marriage until the fall? You know how the heat affects me.”

“Hmmph! Just like your mother. Always an excuse. No, the wedding is set for late summer.”

“I should like to mourn for my mother. I've had no time to mourn.”

Carmen's balkiness surprised Lianne, as it did Raoul. “Consider yourself fortunate that I don't send for the priest and have you married tonight!”

At the prospect of marrying Diego that night, Carmen grew quiet, almost sullen.

“I'm certain Señorita Lianne can help you plan the wedding, Carmen,” he said but didn't once look at anyone other than Lianne.

Raoul jumped in. “Lianne has other matters to concern her, like giving me a healthy son.”

For the next half hour, Lianne and Carmen sat through a boring recitation of how Diego had made his fortune with Raoul's help. Finally when she thought she could stand no more, Raoul decided the hour grew late and that his women needed their rest. This attitude of treating her like a child rankled Lianne, but she gratefully left the
sala
for her bedroom with Carmen following.

“I hate him!” the girl hissed when they were in the hallway, and Lianne wasn't certain which man she meant.

Carmen swished into her room and locked the door, leaving Lianne alone.

Once Lianne was in bed, a huge sob spilled forth and she cried for the hopeless future she had made.

But, in the
sala
, Raoul felt far from hopeless. Everything seemed to be going his way for once. Within days he'd marry Lianne, and then Carmen would marry Diego. At least one last thorn would be out of his hair. Elena was no longer a worry to him. He poured more mezcal and contemplated Diego. Yes, he was a suitable husband for Carmen. He'd keep her in line. Then he could devote all his time to Lianne and their son.

“You appear very happy,” Diego noted to Raoul.

“
Sí
, I am. No one and nothing stands in my way. I must thank you for doing an excellent job where Elena was concerned. I trust you were circumspect.”

“Of course. Elena's servant did as I asked. A trustworthy type.” He grinned at his facetious comment. Of all the spies in Elena's household, Pedro was the least suspect. “No one will ever know I paid him to poison her chocolate.”

“Too bad Daniel Flanders couldn't have suffered an early demise, also.”

Diego stroked his long chin. “Ah, the painter. I have good reason to dislike him. Isabelle is enamored of him, but he doesn't pay her any attention. It seems he has eyes for only one woman.”

Raoul lifted an eyebrow. “And whom might that be?”

“Why, your beautiful mistress, of course. Didn't you know that the woman you share your bed with, the woman who carries your child was in the man's arms earlier this evening? I saw them from the street, behind the hedges in the courtyard, just before I entered the house. Raoul, believe me when I tell you, my friend, you do have something to worry you.”

Raoul's eye glittered dangerously. He tightened his grip around the cup of mezcal. Damn the scheming bitch! He had thought he could trust her and had even given her the freedom to come and go as she chose. He must discover the truth about Lianne and Daniel. If she was meeting the man, she'd rue the day she cuckolded Raoul de Lovis.

He turned to Diego, already having composed himself. “Diego, I would like you to keep a watchful eye on Lianne for me.”

“Of course,” Diego answered too cheerfully, knowing Raoul meant for him to spy on her. That would give him great pleasure.

“Don't enjoy yourself too much, my friend,” Raoul said in a warning tone. “Never approach her. Just tell me where she goes and who she meets. Understand?”

“
Sí
. I do. After all, you can trust me, Raoul. Didn't I help you with the shoemaker's daughter?”

Raoul's face paled. “Never mention the incident to me again! Now leave, but I expect a full report from you within the week.”

Diego bowed and left.

Raoul quietly went to the bedroom and watched the sleeping face of the woman who obsessed him. He noticed tears stained her cheeks, and a fury seized him to think she cried for Daniel Flanders, that she had willingly been in the man's arms … and all the while he had been in the
sala
. What a cunning little tart she was! But he vowed vengeance on Lianne and Daniel if he discovered her to be unfaithful.

A smile spread across his face as he remembered the red vial he had hidden in his study. He wouldn't have to physically harm Daniel or Lianne. In fact Lianne would derive great pleasure from the contents of the vial, as he would also. The only one who'd be harmed would be Daniel Flanders. And this brought a huge laugh from between his lips.

The next afternoon Carmen ordered the carriage sent around and told Felix she wished to ride to the arcade.

“Without a chaperone, señorita?” he asked.

“You insolent thing!” she practically screeched. “How dare you speak to me! My father's whore may allow you such liberties but never I.”

“Señorita Lianne isn't a whore.”

Carmen blinked in astonishment that a servant and a
lepero
, a person who had slept in the streets and done God knows what, would take up for Lianne. Well, what could a decent person expect? She wasn't like her sainted mother who looked the other way at the antics of Raoul de Lovis where other women were concerned. She still thought Lianne was a whore, but something in this boy's rock-hard expression defied her to say anything else. Instead she flounced into the carriage.

A hard rain had saturated the earth the previous night, and after Carmen had made her purchases at the arcade and they were headed for home, the carriage suddenly jolted and she fell to one side.

She peered out. “Whatever is the matter?” she called.

“We're stuck,” Felix said and jumped down from his position. “You better get out while I try to get us out of the mud.”

“Must I?” Carmen asked and eyed the oozing mud which caked around his boots.

“I'd advise it, señorita.”

“But I'll get my gown dirty.”

Felix eyed the somber black gown Carmen had worn to spite her father and to mourn her mother. He didn't see what difference it made whether the gown became muddy or not. It was dark enough that a person would barely notice a little mud and ugly enough that its appearance might be improved.

He looked around and spotted a group of shade trees on higher ground. “If you will allow me, I'll carry you and you may wait there while I push the carriage.”

Carmen looked to where he pointed then back to him in disbelief. “You wouldn't carry me!”

“
Sí
, but if you'd rather walk I don't mind.”

What was she to do? No man had ever touched her except for the gentlemanly peck on the hand. How could she allow a
lepero
to touch her? But anything was preferable to waiting in the hot carriage with the hot sun beating down upon it, or being jostled while he tried to wrest the carriage from the muck. Luckily the siesta hour was upon them and no one was around. All the shutters on nearby houses were closed tight. Felix would have had to take this road which was in desperate need of repair!

“All right,” she demurred and held out her arms to fasten around his neck.

Felix picked her up, and Carmen was a bit surprised that he seemed to have no trouble carrying her. Felix was thin, but he was very strong and this was the impression which stayed with her after he had set her down beneath the shade trees.

She watched in fascination while he moved the horses forward, then inched the wheel upward. The muscles swelled on his upper arms and sweat fell from his forehead, but never in her entire life had Carmen been so aware of another human being's anatomy.

When he finished, he looked up and caught her watching him. He flashed her a dazzling smile and came to join her in the shade.

“Your carriage awaits, señorita,” he said. Carmen realized he was panting.

“Please sit and rest a few minutes,” she said and surprised herself that she should care if a
lepero
, and her father's servant, was in need of a respite.

“Gracias.”
Felix threw himself on the ground by her feet. “Would you like to sit, señorita?”

“Me? Sit on the ground?”

“No one is around to notice, señorita.”

Felix was right, and she was tired of standing, so she plopped alongside him.

“It's very hot today,” Carmen said, growing uncomfortable when Felix remained silent. “The heat makes me quite ill.”

“You're very frail, señorita Carmen.”

“Do you think so? My mother always told me that. Father never believed her. I've always been a disappointment to him.”

“Really? How?” Felix's voice suddenly sounded hard.

“Because I wasn't the son he wanted. He hopes Lianne gives him a boy to carry on the great name of de Lovis, while I shall marry Diego Gonzalez.”

“Oh,
sí
. I've seen him when he visits your father. He is the one who looks like the little monkey.”

Felix said this with a lilt in his voice, but Carmen noticed his eyes were ice cold. She had thought the same thing herself but never admitted it out loud.

She found herself laughing. “A monkey.
Sí
, just like a monkey.” Then the smile left her lips and she sighed. “I must marry a monkey.”

Felix turned to her, a challenging look in his eyes. “Why? Because your father wishes it?”

“Of course. I must obey my father.”

“Even if your life will be miserable and you may be mistreated by this Diego? He will hurt you, Carmen.”

She had felt everything Felix said, but hearing the words from another person's mouth was too much for her. She hated to face the truth and wanted to pretend the wedding would never happen. Her dark eyes snapped, and she transferred all her frustrations to Felix.

“You're too familiar!
Lepero!
That's all you are and ever will be. Now carry me back to the carriage. I wish to go home.”

Carmen looked and sounded so much like Raoul then that he roughly hauled her from her feet and with a few striding steps, he reached the carriage and unceremoniously dumped her inside. She nearly landed on the floor except she balanced herself and sank into the cushion.