Valaquez Bride Read online




  Valaquez Bride

  By

  Donna Vitek

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  "Raul, Please, I Can't."

  Juliet murmured tremulously, tugging at his hand even as conflicting emotions tore through her.

  "Juliet, you're driving me crazy," he muttered roughly as he brushed her tousled hair back from her face, his narrowed eyes dark and searching. "You wanted me to make love to you but you couldn't go through with it. Are you afraid of me ?"

  Chewing her lower lip, feeling a great need to cry, she could only nod.

  "You won't always be afraid of me," he promised huskily. "We could have something wonderful together, and we will. You know as well as I do that it's inevitable."

  DONNA VITEK is a prolific Silhouette Romance author, and Valaquez Bride is her first Special Edition. The mother of two, Ms. Vitek lives with her husband, Richard, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

  Dear Reader,

  Silhouette Special Editions are an exciting new line of contemporary romances from Silhouette Books. Special Editions are written specifically for our readers who want a story with greater romantic detail.

  Special Editions have all the elements you've enjoyed in Silhouette Romances and more. These stories concentrate on romance in a longer, more realistic and sophisticated way, and they feature greater sensual detail.

  I hope you enjoy this book and all the wonderful romances from Silhouette. We welcome any suggestions or comments and invite you to write to us at the address below.

  Elaine Shelley

  Silhouette Books

  PO Box 703

  Dunton Green

  Sevenoaks

  Kent

  TN13 2YE

  Copyright © 1982 by Donna Vitek

  Map by Tony Ferrara

  First printing 1982

  ISBN 0 340 28582 6

  Chapter One

  The tortuously winding road led down Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains. Below, nestled in a valley fringed with forests of austere pines and chestnut trees, the city of Granada shimmered in the golden light of a setting sun. On a high plateau of solid rock stood the Alhambra, ancient Moorish castle, which sparkled like a topaz gems tone, encircled by emerald cypresses and pines.

  As the ramshackle and rusting orange Volkswagen van followed the twisting road, Juliet McKay gazed pensively out the window. Twirling a silken strand of sunstreaked auburn hair around and around her finger, she breathed a silent sigh. Despite the beauty of the scene below, she wasn't looking forward to returning to Granada.

  "I still can't believe it," Benny Talmadge interrupted her reverie though keeping his eyes on the winding road. "After we finish our two nights in Jaen, we're actually booked for a whole week in Seville. And in the same coffee house! The smartest move I ever made was to make friends with you last year, Juliet. You're a regular miracle worker. That's the only explanation for it. I'll never understand how you persuaded the manager to book us for the entire week."

  "Trade secret," Juliet quipped, smiling fondly at him. "If I told you my methods, you might not think you needed me anymore."

  "Fat chance," Benny answered with a grin. "As a business manager, I'm a dismal failure."

  Juliet dismissed his words with an exaggerated sweep of her hand. "But you are an artist," she said teasingly. "You don't have to be practical, just talented."

  Frowning as her accompanying smile seemed unusually forced, Benny turned his troubled gaze back to the road again. "You can still back out, you know," he announced abruptly. "It isn't too late. Just say the word and we'll drive right through Granada without stopping and head straight for Jaen."

  "No." Shaking her head, she tossed her small determined chin up slightly. "No, we'll stop. I've come this far now so I may as well go all the way."

  "Why?" Benny snorted, brushing back the reddish brown shock of hair that habitually grazed his forehead. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

  "Sure, I'm sure. I at least owe Uncle Will a visit."

  "You don't owe him a damn thing," Benny growled. "After the way he tried to manipulate you, I'm surprised you'd even consider speaking to him again. He was so anxious to become part of Spain's aristocracy that he was trying to coerce you into marrying Pablo Valaquez. I hope you haven't forgotten that."

  As Juliet shrugged, Holly, Benny's wife, who sat between the other two, turned on him with an exasperated sigh. "Of course she hasn't forgotten that, you big nitwit," she chided. "So try not to be so tactless."

  "I'm not being tactless, just truthful," Benny defended himself impatiently, color rising in his cheeks. "I just don't see how she can…"

  "And I don't see how I can just ignore what I read in the newspaper this morning in Malaga," Juliet interrupted firmly. "For heaven's sake, Uncle Will's been in a car accident. I have to go see him. After all, he didn't desert me nine years ago when I needed him. After my parents were killed in that plane crash, he took me in without a moment's hesitation and it couldn't have been easy for him. Fifty-six year old bachelors just aren't accustomed to dealing with twelve year old girls. But he was very good to me; he cared about me and provided security when I was feeling very much alone in a suddenly crazy world. You seem to be forgetting he didn't have to do any of that for me. He could have let me become a ward of the state but he didn't."

  "I know but still, he had no right to try to force you into marrying that spoiled little rich boy, Pablo Valaquez, now did he?" Benny argued vehemently. "Answer me that. Did he? Of course he didn't and you know it. That's why you left Granada eleven months ago, isn't it? So you wouldn't have to argue with him?"

  "Yes, but…" Shrugging again, Juliet turned to gaze out the window once more, her expression musing. "I'll never understand it, I guess. Uncle Will always seemed like the last person in the world who would believe in arranged marriages. He's always been such a romantic. After all, he sold a prosperous art gallery in California and risked immigrating to Granada to open one, simply because he was so infatuated with Spain's old world atmosphere. That certainly makes him a romantic, don't you think?"

  "I think it makes him as bad a business manager as I am," Benny retorted bluntly. "Obviously, things weren't going too well in the gallery here if he had to sell half-interest in it to the high and mighty Raul Valaquez, who's already so influential he can make any artist famous just by showing his work. He needed another art gallery in Spain like he needed another hole in his head. He owns one in just about every town, doesn't he? I'm surprised he didn't already own one in Granada before he bought your uncle's."

  "Oh, but he did," Juliet announced. "Now he owns two there."

  Benny jerked his head around to stare at her, his eyes glittering with suspicion. "Why does he want two galleries in the same town? It doesn't make sense unless—unless your marrying that immature little brother of his was part of the deal. Maybe he agreed to save your uncle's gallery if you'd marry Pablo."

  "Now that's just ridiculous!" Juliet countered, laughing softly as she shook her head. "You make Pablo sound like some kind of booby prize who has to be foisted off on some unsuspecting female. Maybe I didn't want to marry him but I assure you there are young señoritas all over Spain who'd love to wear his ring on their fingers. He's rich, handsome and boyishly charming most of the time. So, I don't think it's likely that Raul was desperate to find a bride for his little brother."

  "But he didn't object to the arranged marriage," Benny ar
gued. "Did he?"

  As Juliet's smile faded, Holly eyed her perceptively, then interceded again. "Don't let Benny upset you. You know what a vivid imagination he has. Raul made no deal with your uncle, I'm sure of it and you are too. Aren't you?"

  "Yes. Of course I'm sure," Juliet murmured, her delicate facial features losing some of their usual animation. She spread her hands in a resigned gesture. "But Benny's right about one thing. Raul didn't object to the idea of my marrying Pablo. In fact, Pablo said Raul thought it was an excellent idea. So I just hope I don't see him while I'm in Granada. I don't think he'll give me a very warm reception. And let me tell you, he can be a very intimidating man, when he wants to be."

  "So? Why should that bother you?" Benny scoffed, then frowned again and threw her a speculative suspicious glance. "Or was I right last year when I thought maybe you were a lot more interested in Raul than his little brother? Is that the real reason you don't want to see him while you're here?"

  Wishing Benny would keep his embarrassing theories to himself, Juliet felt a blush rise warmly in her cheeks. She turned hastily to look out the window again, refusing to answer, then half smiling in gratitude when Holly came to the rescue.

  "Really, Benny, you have the biggest mouth," his wife said bluntly. "Don't be such a busybody."

  With those fighting words, the marital spat of the day commenced. While the couple engaged in their exaggerated bickering, Juliet tuned them out, chiding herself mentally for still thinking about Raul after all these months. Yet, he had fascinated her since the first time they met and as time had passed, he had seemed to become genuinely fond of her. They had spent many companionable hours together, simply talking about anything and everything, but while her feelings for him had swiftly taken a romantic turn, he had treated her with tender indulgence, as if he saw her as a very young child. Except that one time . . . She and her uncle, Raul and Pablo had gone out to dinner one evening and when Raul had graciously asked her to dance, she had been delighted. It had been intoxicating to be held by him for the first time, in his firm, oddly protective, embrace. Her heart had beat with fluttering irregularity as he had enfolded her in strong arms and the soft contours of her slight body had yielded to the hard lean line of his. His warmth emanated outward, enveloping her in a distinctly masculine lime scent and she had detected a hint of latent power in him, that had both excited and frightened her. When the dance ended, she tilted her head back automatically to smile up at him and some indefinable emotion in his mesmerizing green eyes captured her bemused gaze. For a breathtaking moment, as he lowered his dark head slightly, she felt sure he was going to kiss her but he hadn't, and thereafter, he had never again given any indication that he thought of her as anything other than a rather amusing child. Yet, she had still felt betrayed somehow when she had learned Raul agreed that Pablo should marry her. "Simpleton," she called herself now. A sophisticate like Raul could never have been romantically interested in an ingénue like her anyway. Still, even that realization didn't prevent her heart from beating erratically as she thought about him and started morosely out her window. At last, she managed to convince herself that she was only in the throes of a rather schoolgirlish infatuation and if she had good sense, she would forget about him. For an unworldly girl like her, a man like Raul was as unattainable as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

  She turned to her friends again and an amused smile danced in her amber eyes when she found Holly brushing a lingering kiss against Benny's cheek. Obviously their quarrel was ending as abruptly as it had begun, as did all their daily spats. Often Juliet suspected they only engaged in these half-hearted arguments simply to have the opportunity to make up again. In actuality they were wild about each other and for that, Juliet was grateful. Though she had fled Granada eleven months ago with Benny, she hadn't been able to return the romantic feelings he had felt for her. So, it had been a relief when, two weeks later, they had made Holly's acquaintance in Madrid and Benny had truly fallen in love with the tiny raven-haired girl. They had married a week later and were now less than two months away from becoming parents, a fact that Benny proudly proclaimed to anyone willing to listen.

  Even now, he was smiling mystically as he pressed his hand against Holly's burgeoning abdomen. "Wow, that kid's got some powerful kick," he announced in awed tones as he snatched his hand away. He smiled at his wife. "Did you feel that one, honey?"

  "If I didn't feel it, I'd like to know who did," Holly retorted, stroking Benny's cheek and laughing merrily as he realized how foolish his question had been.

  Juliet laughed with them but during the next fifteen minutes her heartbeat became increasingly erratic until she began to feel slightly nauseated with its irregular thudding. When the van traveled through increasingly lush countryside, silver-threaded with irrigation channels, she paid little attention to the fertile hillsides beribboned by neat green vineyards. When the road led into the suburbs of Granada, however, with their inevitable blocks of new apartments, she sat up straight in her seat, her spine stiffening. Granada proper rose on the edge of the fertile Vega plain, the snowy peaks of a Sierra Nevada range providing a magnificent backdrop for the city's pristine beauty. Narrow slate-gray streets were flanked by white stucco houses with tiled roofs that gleamed like burnished copper in the golden sunset. Flower bedecked balconies with intricately shaped wrought iron railings set in heavy balustrades added a decorative touch to the simplistic lines of gleaming white structures.

  Benny knew the exact route to Will McKay's house. Before Juliet could fully compose herself, he stopped the van before a narrow white house with slated shutters on the windows. Three stories high, it was located on a cypress lined street with some of the most prestigious older homes of Granada.

  Swallowing with difficulty, Juliet stared at the gleaming mahogany front door. It fleetingly crossed her mind that she could tell Benny to start up the van again and take her far away from here but she dismissed that thought with a resolute tightening of her lips. She refused to be such a coward. She could stand to spend a couple of nights in this house and pay a few visits to Uncle Will in the hospital. She would simply refuse to allow him to renew their argument about Pablo.

  "Well, here we are," Holly prompted unnecessarily, giving Juliet a compassionate smile. "Are you sure you don't want us to go in with you?"

  Though Juliet shook her head, she chewed her lower lip and continued staring at the house. "No. Thanks anyway but I know you two want to reach Jaen as soon as possible tonight. And I think you should. You especially, Holly, need a good night's rest before you open in the coffee house tomorrow evening. We don't want you getting too tired."

  The expectant mother grinned. "I'm going to miss having you to fuss over me for the next couple of days," she said wryly. "Between you and Benny, you make me feel like a precious pampered princess. Besides, Benny and I will probably go broke without you to manage our finances for us. So don't stay here too long or we might end up begging on street corners."

  "Yeah, don't you dare decide to stay here or we'll be destitute within a week," Benny agreed gruffly. Then to mask his rather over-protective affection for Juliet he winked at his wife and added teasingly, "Of course it's a good thing she can handle money. She certainly couldn't make it as a singer. Talk about awful! This girl couldn't carry a tune in a bucket."

  "That's not true, Benny," Holly protested earnestly. "I've heard Juliet singing in the bathtub. She has a nice voice."

  "Sounds like a scalded cat," he persisted mischievously. "The first time I heard her sing, I was in another room. I went running to her. Thought she must have hurt herself somehow and was in terrible pain."

  Juliet wrinkled her nose at him but her slight smile didn't quite reach her luminous amber eyes. Though she knew Benny was merely trying to take her mind off her problems, she was too apprehensive to be cheered. Foremost in her mind was her uncle's condition. The item she had read in the paper hadn't given the details of his injuries; it had only said he had been admitted t
o the hospital for treatment. All she could do was pray his injuries weren't extensive, yet, even if he were well enough to talk to her when she saw him, she had no idea what they could have to say to each other now.

  That was something she would fret about when the time came, she decided, and with a resolute squaring of her shoulders, she gathered up her purse, then gave Holly's hand a quick squeeze. "Well, this is it, I guess. You two drive carefully to Jaen and I'll see you there day after tomorrow."

  Holly frowned. "You're sure you don't want us to come back and get you? I hate for you to have to ride the bus."

  "It isn't far so I don't mind. Besides, you don't need to be riding around any more than you have to, in your condition." After brushing a kiss across Holly's cheek, Juliet gave Benny a slight nod. "Would you open the back of the van for me so I can get my suitcase?"

  "I still don't see why you think you have to stay here long," he renewed his argument. "After trying to arrange a marriage for you with someone you didn't love, he shouldn't expect you to come here for a grand reunion." His expression was adamant but a warning glare from his wife silenced him and with a resigned shrug, he got out of the van.

  Juliet joined him on the street, smiling her thanks when he opened the van's back doors and removed her leather-trimmed canvas suitcase. Suddenly, she felt as if she were preparing to walk into a battleground. She didn't want to upset her uncle, especially now that he was injured but if he started hassling her again about marrying Pablo, she would have to protest vehemently. An arranged marriage would never be acceptable to her. She wanted love and if she never found it, then she would simply live her life single. Eyeing the house warily, she sighed and as she did, Benny reached out and drew her clumsily into his arms, patting her back. After stretching up on tiptoe to give him a light kiss on the cheek, she pulled away, her expression resigned. "Well, I might as well go in," she murmured softly. "Hadn't I?"