Valaquez Bride (7 page)

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 attempted 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.

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 longer. "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."

"Oh, no you won't," Benny retorted emphatically. "No way.
That's your money and…"

"And you and Holly are my friends and I want so much to
help. Please let me." As Benny argued and Juliet realized how stubborn
he was going to be, she decided a little emotional blackmail would be
justified in these circumstances. She allowed her lower lip to tremble
and tears to fill her eyes. "You've got to let me help. I feel
responsible for the accident since you were on your way here to see me
when it happened. If you don't let me help pay the medical expenses,
I'll feel so guilty. I'll never forgive myself."

Benny's hesitation was his undoing. After a few more
minutes of her fervent pleading he acquiesced. "It's crazy for you to
feel guilty about the accident, but if you do, then I guess I have to
let you
help
with the bills. But you'll just
help. All right? I'll want to pay as much I can. Remember the coffee
house where you and I met last year. I can get a job singing there
again, I'm almost sure. The pay's not terrific but beggars can't be
choosers."