The Spaniard's Love-Child by Kim Lawrence Page B

and not breathless, though she didn’t know why she bothered to keep up the pretence. It was far too much like locking the stable door after the proverbial horse had bolted. Raul was far too experienced not to pick up on what she was feeling; besides, she had responded to his kiss with all the subtlety of a sex-starved bimbo!
    Raul studied her flushed cheeks with interest. ‘Does me finding you attractive make you nervous?’
    And wouldn’t you like that? she thought grimly. Actually, him finding her attractive was something she didn’t— couldn’t —deal with. Her adolescence had not involved being a victim to her hormones in a problematic way and she was not enjoying the experience now it had caught up with her. Caught up with a vengeance!
    â€˜I won’t even dignify that with an answer,’ she returned loftily. Then almost immediately contradicted herself by adding, ‘Actually, it makes me nauseous.’
    Raul, obviously not a man with a self-esteem problem, laughed.
    â€˜Well, if I ever had any doubts about taking you up on your so kind offer— I don’t now !’ she declared coldly. ‘Sleep in the same bed as you?’ She winced to hear her voice rise to an unattractive, scathing squeak.
    One dark brow lifted to a satirical angle. ‘Bed?’
    â€˜What?’ she snapped, with an impatient frown.
    â€˜Bed. You said “sleep in the same bed as you.”’
    Nell went hot, cold and then hot again. ‘I did not!’ Did I? ‘I said under the same roof.’
    â€˜Freudian slip?’ he suggested. ‘Or wishful thinking?’
    Her face flamed. ‘You really do think a lot of yourself, don’t you?’ she choked.
    â€˜You don’t find confidence an attractive trait in a man? Most women do.’
    â€˜That’s what they say to your face.’
    Her hissing retort made him grin. It was perverse that when she actually tried to make him mad he acted as if it were some big joke, and yet when she said something perfectly innocent he acted as if he wanted to throttle her.
    Definitely perverse!
    â€˜You mean they are willing to overlook my character defects because of my wealth?’ A hard edge crept into his languid tone as his deep-set eyes swept over her heated face. ‘Was it Javier’s name that drew you to him?’
    The interrogative note that had entered his voice made her frown.
    â€˜Did you move on when you discovered he had the name, but not the money?’ he persisted.
    â€˜It would hardly have taken me two years to discover he had no money, and, as for leaving him, I didn’t. He chucked me out.’ She had been reluctant to leave the security and set up alone, but Javier had been firm. It had been time she’d moved on; being with him had been stopping her forming new relationships; she’d needed to spread her wings, he had said.
    Nell had stopped resisting when she had realised that this had applied equally to himself. Her presence might have made it difficult for Javier to form new relationships and perhaps he’d been feeling ready to do so.
    For a moment Raul looked totally disconcerted by her response. ‘I don’t believe it!’
    â€˜That’s sweet of you, but not everyone finds me as irresistible as you. Even the most warm and appealing of us have our faults, though you probably don’t hang around long enough to find out about your girlfriends’ irritating habits,’ she added drily. ‘Do you ever see them without their make-up?’
    â€˜Are you trying to tell me my brother seduced a girl young enough to be his…?’ Raul broke off, closed his eyes and inhaled. His struggle for control was written visibly on his taut, strong-boned features. ‘My brother would not seduce a teenager and then discard her when the novelty had worn off.’
    The penny finally dropped.
    A look of comprehension spread across Nell’s face. Raul