The Spaniard's Love-Child (16 page)

His dark eyes sparkled wickedly. ‘I thought I had died and gone to heaven. You were my every fantasy made real.' His voice dropped to a throaty whisper. ‘You are my every fantasy.' He gave a frustrated groan and put her from him. ‘Oh, God, if only you were not in this place!'

‘Well, I don't actually have to be. The doctor did say I could go home any time I like. You're not the only one who got a clean bill of health,' she told him.

It took Raul several seconds to absorb what she had said. ‘Then we don't have to be here?' he queried cautiously.

Nell shook her head. ‘Nope.'

‘Dios!'
he exclaimed. ‘Then why the hell didn't you say so before, woman?' he growled.

‘What's the hurry and what about my tea?' she protested
as he grabbed her hand and her coat, which was hanging on a hook on the door.

‘It's cold and the hurry is I am inhibited by this place.'

‘And my clothes…Raul!' she protested laughingly.

‘I'll buy you clothes,' he promised, sweeping her up into his arms.

‘You think you can buy me?' she teased as he swept purposefully down the hospital corridor oblivious to the stares and comments they were attracting.

‘I thought I could buy anything until I met you,' he corrected. ‘But I have discovered that you cannot put a price on the important things in life and you, my love, are the most important thing in my life and always will be.'

Nell's eyes filled with emotional tears.

‘You are crying?'

‘I'm so h…happy,' she hiccuped.

‘Women,'
Raul said indulgently as he carried away his prize.

O
N THEIR
first anniversary Nell presented Raul with a portrait in oils she had done of him. Rather shyly she awaited his response; when he just continued to stare at it she couldn't resist prompting him.

‘I think I caught your expression…?' she suggested. Then, when he still failed to respond, she gave a snort of exasperation. ‘Well, do you like it?'

Raul lifted his head slowly. There was a dazed expression in his eyes.

‘That is how you see me?' he asked wonderingly.

She nodded.

He swallowed. ‘
Querida
, you have an amazing talent. I will treasure this for ever.'

Nell blushed with pleasure. ‘I think it helps to be in love with your subject matter.'

‘I feel my own present will seem shamefully inadequate after this. I was going to get you that necklace you were drooling over when we were in Madrid last month, but I thought of something else. It is not here.'

‘This is very mysterious,' she complained, watching him get little Javier into the cute little blue all-in-one bunny suit with the fur-lined hood. ‘Won't you give me a hint?'

Raul shook his head and gave an infuriatingly enigmatic smile as he handed her the baby, who looked up at her with eyes very like his father. He was such a miracle that even after three months she still got choked up sometimes just looking at him. She knew that Raul shared her wonder; he was determined to be a hands-on dad and had cut back
significantly on his workload since Javier had been born, to spend more time with his new family.

Sometimes she couldn't believe how lucky she was. The past year had been the happiest of her life.

‘I think your daddy is very mean, don't you, Javier?' she complained to their son sleeping in the back of the car as Raul drove through the city. She received a gentle baby snore in reply.

‘There's no good nagging or fluttering your eyelashes at me—I'm not telling you where we're going,' Raul told her sternly.

About ten minutes later, when they had reached an area she was not familiar with, Raul brought the car to a halt in front of a building site. ‘Right, put this on.'

Nell stared at the bright yellow hard hat he had handed her. She looked quizzically up at her handsome husband. ‘You've bought me a hard hat for our anniversary?'

‘Just put it on, Nell,' he said, fitting one similar to the one he'd handed her over his own dark glossy hair.

‘On him it looks sexy, on me…' Her complaint became a delighted laugh as she slid out of the car and saw Raul standing there with Javier in his arms; the baby had a miniature hard hat covering his fine silky baby curls. ‘Oh, he looks so cute!' she exclaimed.

Raul adopted a hurt expression. ‘And me, don't I look cute?'

‘You're impossible,' she claimed.

He gave a wicked and wildly sexy grin that never failed to make her heart beat faster and stood to one side to let her pass him. ‘Be careful, it's pretty uneven.'

After they'd walked fifty yards or so it still looked like a building site to Nell. There were hunky men in hard hats and checked jeans, scaffolding and dumper trucks—yep, a building site.

‘You've bought me a building site?'

‘Not exactly. In there,' he said, jerking his head in the direction of a site office that had been dropped dead centre in a sea of mud.

Inside provided no further clue to why they were there until Raul unrolled a set of architect's plans on the top of a desk.

‘The start date was delayed by some planning problems but they tell me they should be finished by the end of summer.'

Nell sat down at the desk and scanned the detailed drawings in front of her.

‘I consulted the people from the charity all the way along the line,' Raul said, watching her face. ‘And they suggested the adjoining residential facility for respite care.'

‘My God, Raul, you've rebuilt the centre!' she gasped, not quite believing what she was seeing.

‘Well, not exactly, I thought we'd leave out the wet rot, dry rot and peeling paintwork…'

‘You must have been planning this for ages,' she accused.

‘A while,' he admitted casually.

‘And it must have cost you a small fortune,' she added worriedly.

‘It may have escaped your notice, but I am a very rich man.'

‘Even so…' Nell felt the hot moisture well in her eyes as she pushed the chair noisily back and got to her feet. She raised her summer-blue tear-drenched eyes to his face and Raul caught his breath.

‘You did this for me?'

‘I would do anything for you,' he said simply. ‘I just thought you might like this…but it's made you cry. I should have bought the necklace. Well, actually…' He
hitched the contented baby onto his hip and dug into his trouser pocket with his free hand. ‘I got it anyway.' He held out a red velvet box inscribed with the name of a high-class jeweller.

Her hand was shaking when she took it from him and extracted the lovely diamond necklace from within. She held the dazzling bauble to the light. ‘It's beautiful.'

‘No,' he corrected firmly. ‘You are beautiful and you made me the happiest man alive when you married me. When Javier was born I felt as if all the pieces of my life fell into place.'

‘That's exactly how I felt too!' she admitted in wonder as she laid her head against her husband's broad chest. She closed her eyes and breathed in the familiar, but exciting—
always exciting
—scent of him. ‘Are you going to give me the tour?' she asked when she straightened up.

‘Another time. Right now I feel the urge to see you wearing that necklace.'

‘I'll need to buy something to wear that will do it justice.'

‘I know the perfect thing.'

‘My black dress? The one with…' She stopped; Raul was shaking his head.

‘Not the black dress, no dress.' His smoky gaze slid down her slender body before returning to her face. ‘I want to see the necklace against your smooth skin; nothing else will do it justice.'

An erotic thrill sliced through her body. ‘You mean you want to see me…?' She drew a deep breath. ‘I think we should go home
immediately
, Raul.'

‘You are reading my mind,
querida
.'

‘Which is why I'm blushing. You are a very bad man,' she reproached.

The sound of Raul's rich, throaty laugh made her shiver. ‘You inspire me to new heights of
badness
,' he admitted.

Nell gave a sultry smile. As goals went this one sounded like something realistic for her to aim towards—to continue to inspire her incredible husband for the rest of their lives together!