‘Where are we going?’ she finally asked.
‘Wait and see,’ Raul advised lazily.
He brought the car to a halt and sprang out. As she followed, all she could see was a dense line of trees. Raul pulled a hamper out of the back seat. They walked under the trees, and then she caught her breath. In a gently sloping hidden valley below them, a waterfall tumbled down over ancient weathered rocks into a reed-edged lagoon.
‘Once a tributary of the Orinoco river ran through here...this is all that remains.’ Raul set the hamper down on the lush grass in the shade of the coconut palms.
Polly was enchanted. ‘It’s so peaceful.’
‘My mother brought me here as a child. This place was special to her,’ Raul confided. ‘I suspect I might have been conceived here.’
‘Don’t you have any family left alive?’ Polly asked as she sat down.
Raul swung round to look at her, his fabulous bone structure tensing, dark eyes sombre in the sunlight. ‘My grandfather, Fidelio.’ Raul shrugged. ‘He disowned my mother. He’s a very proud old man, and still refuses to acknowledge our relationship, but I told him about Luis last week.’
‘I’m sorry I’ve been so prickly and awkward,’ Polly said abruptly.
Raul gave her a slanting smile as he sank down beside her. ‘I’ve been awkward too. This...you and I...it’s all new to me.’
That rueful smile touched something deep inside her. Rising up on her knees, Polly took her courage in both hands. Planting her palms against his chest, she pushed him flat.
Startled, Raul gazed up at her, and then a wolfish grin slashed his face. ‘And I was going to be a gentleman, gatita. I was planning to wait until you’d eaten! But, since we are both of one mind...’ Raul murmured, taking pity on her as she hovered above him, uncertain of what to do next, and reaching up to slowly draw her down to him.
He sent his hands skimming down to her slim hips and eased her into the cradle of his long, muscular thighs with an erotic suggestiveness that was as bold as it was unashamed. Melded to every virile line of his powerful body, Polly turned boneless. He undid the zip on her dress and tipped it down off her shoulders.
Her firm breasts rose and fell inside the delicate cups of her lace bra. He unclipped the bra and curved appreciative hands over the pale, pouting curves that tumbled out. She gave a muffled gasp as he tugged at her straining nipples and arched her back, excitement seizing her in its hold.
Raul flipped her over gently onto her back. Vaulting upright, he proceeded to remove his clothes with a lack of cool that only excited her more She lifted her hips, tugged down the dress, sat up to shyly dispose of her remaining garments—but all the time she was covertly watching him. As that superb bronze body emerged she was enthralled, mouth bone-dry, pulses accelerating.
A delicious little quiver of anticipation made her ache. Ju
st looking at him, seeing the potent evidence of his desire for her, stole her breath away. He was so aroused she could feel herself melting into a liquid pool of submission. And when he returned to her she was already on fire, the swollen pink buds of her breasts begging for his attention, a sensation of damp heat throbbing almost painfully between her thighs.
His stunning eyes read the message in hers. He came down to her and kissed her breathless with a force of hunger that overwhelmed her own. ‘I feel wild...’ he groaned with a ragged laugh. ‘One more night watching you across the dining table and I would’ve pulled you under it!’
‘It didn’t show.’
‘Infierno...I get as hard as a rock just being in the same room with you,’ Raul growled rawly. ‘I don’t think I have ever been so frustrated in my life! I was tempted to take you into the stables earlier and..’ As her dark blue eyes widened in open shock at that series of blunt revelations, he compressed his lips, a dark rise of blood emphasising his cheekbones. ‘I just want you so much I can’t think of anything else right now.’
Polly was dazed by that almost apologetic conclusion. She had never once dreamt that Raul might come to desire her to such an extent. Colliding with devouring golden eyes, she shivered. He meshed a not quite steady hand into her hair.
‘That’s all right,’ she mumbled, mesmerised by his intensity but even weaker now with wanton longing. ‘I want you too.’
Heat flooded her as he kneed her legs apart. He had said he felt wild, and what he did to her was wild. Nothing could have prepared her for the storm of powerful need he released. He took her hard and fast, and then so slowly and so agonisingly sweetly that she was plunged into a mindless glory of acute pleasure, afterwards savouring every precious moment of satiated contentment in his arms, certain that they had turned a corner to forge deeper bonds.
She slept for a while then. She wakened, feeling ridiculously shy, to focus on Raul, where he lay fully dressed again in a careless sprawl, an unusually peaceful aspect to his stillness. Assuming he was asleep, she sat up. His lashes were as lush as black silk fans, his sensual mouth relaxed in repose, dark stubble already outlining his stubborn jawline. She could not resist running a loving finger down gently over one proud cheekbone.
He opened his eyes and she froze, like a thief caught in the act.
Whipping up a hand, he closed his fingers round her wrist and planted a kiss to the damp centre of her palm, ‘You make me feel good,’ he confided softly.
And the rush of love that surged through her in response left her dizzy.
Raul sat up, still retaining a light hold on her hand, and dealt her a wry look. ‘How do you feel about having another baby in about nine months?’
‘I...I b-beg your pardon?’
‘I didn’t take any precautions...’ Raul raised two expressive hands, clearly primed for a furious outburst. ‘I just didn’t think...I was very excited.’