The Spaniard's Love-Child by Kim Lawrence Read Free Book Online Page A

watch on his wrist and his brows rose when he saw the hour. ‘What time shall I pick up the children?’
    Despite the cold formality of his question, Nell felt irrationally protective as he dragged his hair back from his face with his hand—the gesture was so incredibly weary.
    Feeling protective of Raul Carreras? Well, I can’t blame that on my frustrated maternal instincts, she thought as her greedy glance made a surreptitious survey of his lean, powerfully developed body. It was probably the air of vigour that was an intrinsic part of him that had made her miss the tell-tale signs of exhaustion in his face earlier.
    Faint shadows beneath his deep-set eyes, a pallor underlying the natural healthy glow of his dark-toned skin and lines of tension bracketing his mouth all suggested it had been some time since he’d seen his bed— his own, anyway .
    Don’t go there, Nell, she silently warned herself.
    Well, even if his debauched lifestyle was responsible for his fatigue it didn’t alter the fact it would be foolish to let him needlessly drive across the city.
    â€˜By the time you get home it will almost be time for you to come back,’ she observed.
    He looked at her sharply. A furrow appeared between his dark brows. ‘Are you suggesting I don’t go?’ he asked softly.
    His tone made her flush; she swallowed. ‘I’m saying that if you would prefer to use my sofa you’re welcome.’
    He looked around her small, cramped sitting room. ‘And where will you sleep?’
    â€˜Not with you.’
    â€˜I always think it’s wiser to wait until you’re asked.’
    Under his mocking stare the pinkness of her face deepened to a bright crimson, which she knew clashed with her hair. ‘I’m trying to be nice to you, despite the fact you’ve been perfectly horrid to me since the moment you arrived,’ she choked. ‘And all you can do is make fun of me. The fact is you look terrible.’ In a beautiful and darkly devastating sort of way. ‘You’ll probably drive into a lamp post and kill yourself. I don’t want to feel responsible for that.’
    He regarded her as though she were a strange species he had never come across before.
    â€˜If I thought I was unsafe I would not drive.’
    Nell gave a bitter laugh. ‘The majority of men who drink and drive actually think that alcohol improves their skills.’
    The muscles along his jaw tightened. ‘You accuse me! Por Dios. I do not drink and drive!’ Raul breathed, pinning her with an outraged stare.
    â€˜I wasn’t suggesting you did. The point I was trying to make is what you think you’re capable of and what you actually are capable of may not be the same thing.’
    Raul did not look mollified by her hasty explanation. ‘These men who drink alcohol and get behind the wheel also probably think a few pints also improves their performance in bed,’ he observed scornfully. ‘I find it offensive to be compared with such men.’
    â€˜I think,’ she replied drily, ‘that you’ve established that. I was simply suggesting you might be more tired than you think and just offering you a bed for what is left of the night,’ she said, wishing she’d not bothered. ‘I’m not suggesting you don’t know your limits in bed or out!’ She closed her eyes. Oh, God, did I really say that?
    â€˜There are occasions when I surprise even myself.’
    Oh, yes, I really did say it!
    She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, all her efforts concentrated on not letting her mind go back to the place where it was imagining what Raul was capable of in bed.
    â€˜Look,’ she snapped, meeting his eyes defiantly. ‘Do you want to stay or not?’
    â€˜Stay.’
    Her stomach lurched somewhere below her knees. Well, you asked him, she told herself unsympathetically. ‘Right.’ She slowly counted to ten.