A little reciprocity didn't hurt.
She turned towards him and spoke in a low, quiet voice. 'Remember I told you he barely acknowledged my existence at first?'
He nodded.
'Over time, as I got older, that began to change. I noticed from the way he looked at me. I thought I was imagining it. Then I overheard the housekeeper saying something to my father's driver.'
'What did she say?'
'That my father didn't really believe I was his daughter. I couldn't be because I looked nothing like him-he has ash-blond hair and blue eyes. I inherited my mother's colouring. Between fourteen and fifteen, I shot up in height and grew breasts. I tried not to link that and the fact that he'd started entertaining more and more at his house instead of at his private club.'
Rafael's hand tightened into a fist out of her sight and he fought to maintain a regular breathing pattern as she continued.
'He encouraged me to stay up at the weekend, help him host his parties. When I refused, he got angry, but he didn't take his anger out on me. The housekeeper's son, who was the general handyman, got fired when my father saw me talking to him, then the gardener went, then his driver of fifteen years. I got the hint and decided to do as I was told. By the time I turned sixteen, he was entertaining a few nights during the week and most weekends, and the outfits he wanted me to wear to those parties got...skimpier.'
Rafael's sucked-in breath made her glance up, her eyes wary. Swiftly he kissed her and nudged her nose with his to continue. But the white-hot rage inside him blazed higher.
'I knew I had to do something. I asked for the housekeeper's help, even though I knew I was putting her livelihood in jeopardy. Luckily, she was willing to help. We forged my father's signature and got a DNA test done. When the results came I showed them to him. He was angry, of course, but he couldn't refute the evidence any longer.'
'And did things get better?'
She shrugged but Rafael knew the gesture was anything but uncaring. 'For a time, he reverted to his old, cold indifference. I was hoping he'd take his partying out of the house but they continued...'
Her lids descended and he saw her lips tremble. Spearing his fingers in her hair, he tilted her face until she was forced to look at him. Haunting memory lurked in the green depths. 'Raven, what happened?'
'His...his male friends began to take notice of me.'
'Que diablos!' He could no longer stem the tide of anger. Right that moment, he wanted nothing more than to track down her bastard of a father and drive his fist into the man's face. 'They didn't take it further than just noticing, did they?'
The longer she stayed silent, the harder his breathing got.
Ignoring the pain throbbing in his groin and hip, he hauled himself against the headboard and dragged her up. Tilting her jaw, he forced her to look into his eyes. 'Did they?'
Her lower lip trembled. 'One of them did. One day after a party, I thought everyone had left. He...he came into my room and tried to force himself on me. I'd started training at the gym so I knew a few moves. I managed to struggle free and kicked him where it hurt most.'
He passed his thumb over her lips until they stopped trembling. 'Bueno. Good girl.'
'I ran out of my room. My father was waiting in the hallway. I thought he was coming to help me because he'd heard me scream. But he wasn't...'
Rafael's blood ran cold. 'What was he doing?'
'He knew exactly why his friend had come to my room. In fact, I don't think his friend could've found my room without help.' She shuddered and goose bumps raced over her arms. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her.
'Did you report it to the authorities?' he asked.
She shook her head. 'I'd reported him a few times in the past and been ignored. I knew once again it would be his word against mine. I bought a baseball bat and slept with it under my pillow instead and I moved out on my eighteenth birthday.'
'Where is he now?' He entertained thoughts of tracking down the bastard, wielding his own baseball bat.
'I hadn't spoken to him until I called him last year to help my mother but, the last I heard, he'd lost all his money in some Ponzi scheme and is living with his mistress somewhere in Scotland.'
Rafael filed that piece of information away. When she gave another shudder, he kissed her again, a little deeper this time. He made sure when she shuddered again minutes later it was with a different reaction, one that set his blood singing again.
On impulse, he got out of bed and tugged her upright.
'What are you doing?' she asked.
He went into his dressing room and came out with a dark blue T-shirt. 'Put that on.'
'Why? Where are we going?'
'You'll find out in a minute.' He pulled on his shorts and grabbed her hand.
Five minutes later, she pulled at his grip. 'No, I'm not going on there.' She dug her feet into the sand when he would've tumbled her onto the wide beach bed.
'Of course you are. You've been dying to try it since we got here.' He set down the vintage champagne and flutes he'd grabbed from the kitchen.
'Rafael, it's the middle of the night,' she protested, although her glance slid to the white-canopied bed that gleamed under the moon and starlit night.
'Where's your sense of adventure?'
'Back upstairs, where it doesn't run the risk of being eaten by sharks.'
He let go of her hand and started uncorking the champagne. 'Unless sharks have developed a way of walking on sand, you'll have to come up with a better excuse.'
'I'm not wearing any knickers. I don't want to catch cold.'
His grin was utterly shameless. 'That's a very good reason.' He popped the cork, poured out a glass of golden liquid and handed it to her. Setting the bottle down, he shucked off his shorts and got onto the bed. Casting her a hot glance, he patted the space beside him. 'I'll be your body blanket. If I fail completely in my task you'll be free to return to the safety of my bed.'
He saw her battle for a response. But his insistent patting finally won through. The mixture of hunger, innocence and vulnerability on her face touched a part of him he'd long thought dead. When she set her glass down and slid into his arms, Rafael swore to make her forget everything about her bastard of a father. If only for a few hours.
Why taking on that task meant so much to him, he refused to consider.
He made love to her with a slow, leisurely tempo even though everything inside him clamoured for quick, fiery satisfaction.
When she came apart in his arms, he let himself be swept away into his own release. Sleep wasn't far behind and, gathering her close, he kissed her temple and pulled the cashmere blanket over them.
CHAPTER TEN
THE INTRUSION OF light behind her eyelids came with firm, warm lips brushing her jaw.
'Wake up, querida...'
'Hmm, no...don't want to...'
A soft deep laugh. 'Come on, wake up or you'll miss the sunrise.'
'Sun...no...' She wanted to stay just as she was, suspended between dream and reality, entranced by the sultry air on her face and hard, firm...aroused male curved around her.
'Open your eyes. I promise you, it's spectacular.'
She opened her eyes, simply because she couldn't resist him, and found herself gazing into deep blue eyes. Eyes she'd looked into many times. But still her heart caught as if it'd been tugged by a powerful string.
'Buenos días,' Rafael murmured. 'Look.' He nodded beyond the canopy to the east. She followed his gaze and froze at the sheer beauty of the gathering sunrise. Orange, yellow and blue where the light faded, it was nature at its most spectacular and she lay there, enfolded in Rafael's arms, silent and in complete awe as the sun spread its stunning rays across the sky.
'Wow,' she whispered.
'Indeed. Does that win me Brownie points?' he whispered hotly into her ear.
Turning from the sight, she looked again into mesmerising eyes. And once again she felt her heart stutter in awe.
'It depends what you intend to use the points for.'
'To get you to come yachting with me today. My yacht is moored at the Marina. We can take her out for the day.'
More alone time with Rafael. Too much...too much...
She should've heeded the screeching voice of caution. But Raven had a feeling she was already too far gone. 'I'd love to. On one condition.'
He mock frowned. 'Condition...my second least favourite word.'
'What's your least favourite?'
'No.'
She laughed. 'That figures. Well, I need to exercise. Then you need to have your session. Then we'll go yachting.'
With a quick, hard kiss, he released her and sat back. 'You can do your exercise right here on the beach.'
She felt heat rise. 'While you watch?'
'I'm a harmless audience. Besides, I want to see if this Krav Maga is worth all the hype.'
She bit her lip and hesitated.
'What?' he demanded.
'I...I'm not wearing any knickers, remember?'
His laugh was shameless and filled with predatory anticipation. 'Kinky Krav Maga...sounds even better.' He lounged back against the plump pillows, folded golden muscled arms and waited.
It was the hottest, most erotic exercise routine Raven had ever performed.