Free The Spaniard's Love-Child by Kim Lawrence

a while.’
    â€˜I do not recall likening you to a bad smell.’
    â€˜You didn’t have to.’ She gave an indifferent smile to underline that his opinion was of the utmost indifference to her. ‘It’s obvious what you think of me and I don’t…’
    â€˜I like the way you…’ The muscles in his sexily hollowcheeks clenched as he swallowed. ‘I have changed my mind. I think you should remain a part of Katerina and Antonio’s life. They need you.’
    His volte-face made her suspect the worst. ‘Has something happened?’
    â€˜Katerina did not come home last night, but that is not the reason for my change of heart.’ He watched her; an expression of alarm spread across Nell’s face.
    â€˜Is she all right?’
    â€˜Do not be alarmed. She is unharmed—for the moment,’ he added darkly.
    Nell gave a relieved sigh and eased her bottom onto the edge of one of the tables. ‘Driving you crazy, is she? It doesn’t sound like Kate, the staying-out-all-night thing. Are you sure there were no crossed wires?’
    â€˜Positive.’
    â€˜Maybe she forgot the time. Didn’t you ring to find out what was happening?’ she puzzled.
    â€˜We didn’t know where she was,’ he admitted bluntly. ‘I allowed her the freedom you suggested and this is the result of the new tolerant regime.’
    â€˜Tolerant, not stupid !’ Nell exclaimed. ‘You can’t just chuck the rule book out with the bath water,’ she explained earnestly, mixing her clichés.
    â€˜This may come as a shock to you, Miss Rose, but people are not in the habit of telling me I am stupid.’
    â€˜Believe me,’ she breathed, ‘it shows.’
    There was a silence and then to her total amazement he threw back his head and laughed. It was a warm, uninhibited and incredibly attractive sound.
    His laughter died away but he continued to watch her with a quizzical expression. ‘I’m curious—do you think I would become a nicer, kinder, cuddlier, more politically correct person if I was insulted occasionally?’
    The day anyone mentioned cuddly and Raul Carreras in the same breath was the day hungry wolves became old ladies’ favourite lap-dogs.
    â€˜And deprive all your boot-lickers of job satisfaction?’ She gave a disingenuous smile. ‘I wouldn’t be so cruel, but don’t worry if you need your ego pricking—children are good at that.’
    â€˜So are you.’ He didn’t smile, but neither did he look annoyed. He looked…? Nell couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knew the intensity he was radiating made her feel uneasy.
    She shrugged. ‘It’s one of my only talents,’ she explained, trying to introduce a note of lightness.
    â€˜What about your…was it painting or sculpture?’ he queried.
    â€˜I painted.’
    He was quick to pick up on her use of tense. ‘But you don’t now?’
    â€˜Oh, I’m not good enough to make a living out of it. Javier made me see that.’
    A frown forming on his lean features, Raul scanned her face with disapproval. ‘And he was the expert?’
    â€˜Well, yes, he was.’
    â€˜You seem very untroubled about your loss of a dream,’ he observed.
    â€˜What do you know about my dreams?’ she charged, angered by his disapproving tone.
    â€˜I know I feature in them upon occasion.’
    The sly observation made Nell catch her breath.
    With an air of languid interest Raul watched the hot, guilty colour flood her pale face. ‘The morning after the night I spent on your sofa?’
    Nell gave a fractured sigh of relief. ‘I thought you’d…’ She stopped. Well, she could hardly tell him that he’dplayed a major role in all her dreams since and to her shame she wasn’t always asleep! ‘That was strictly a one-off.’ Nell could hear the bluster in her own