The Purest of Diamonds(53)

                ‘Shall we say goodbye to my grandmother?’ Raffa suggested in a neutral tone.

                ‘Yes,’ she agreed in the same careful manner.

                * * *

                ‘Seat belt,’ Raffa reminded her as they slid into the car.

                Before she could reach for it, he had leaned across to help and his considerable weight pressed against her breasts. The catch clicked into place and still they remained motionless. Glancing into Raffa’s eyes, she saw the heat in them and felt an answering tug.

                Settling back into the driver’s seat, he reached for his sunglasses and switched on the engine, by which time the aching need inside her had grown to a pulsing urge to mate. Would she ever find an answer to her obsession with this man?

                Her life had changed completely since meeting Raffa. She had changed completely, Leila realised as he gunned the engine and released the brake. She glanced at Raffa’s harsh profile, and then on to assess his impossibly powerful frame like a trainer at the stockyard picking out the king of the herd, a magnificent wild stallion to mount, to tame, to ride.

                If that was all that lay behind the attraction, perhaps she could forget her principles for one day, slake her lust and go home, but there was so much more to Raffa Leon. She was compelled to stay so she could enjoy more of his passion, his humour and his whip-sharp mind, and uncover all those secrets his grandmother had hinted at.

                She had never been a quitter, Leila reflected as Raffa floored the accelerator and G-force thumped her in the back.

                * * *

                He drove the car to its limits. There was something hot about a woman carrying his child that made Leila irresistible. He had to have her right away. She was sending him all the same messages and he was drowning in pheromones. He could never have anticipated the way Leila’s pregnancy would make him feel—protective, yes, possessive too, but in a good way, a way that made him want to stake his claim over and over, so he could hear her cries of pleasure.

                ‘What are you smiling at?’ she asked him.

                ‘Am I?’ he retorted innocently. He was remembering the way she’d stood up to him—challenged him. He couldn’t remember anyone doing that. Leila was right about his grandmother tiptoeing around him, but it wasn’t just his grandmother who did that. When it came to his past, no one trespassed. But Leila had, and, though she had jolted him out of the status quo, it only made him think more of her. There was nothing weak about Leila beneath that peacemaking manner, and he liked that.

                The visit with his grandmother had been a success. He had hoped they would like each other. He just hadn’t realised how much. With his abuelita as an ally Leila had no reason not to stay on the island to have her baby. He had already appointed her doctors, and the support staff was on standby. Leila might have amused him by standing up to him, but control over this birth was all his.

                ‘Why are we stopping?’ she said as he pulled off the road.

                ‘We’re stopping because some things can’t wait.’

                ‘Like what?’ she said, her voice shaking with excitement as she feigned innocence and gazed around.

                ‘Like the view is spectacular?’ He raised a brow. The view was spectacular, but they both knew that wasn’t the reason he’d stopped the car.

                ‘You can’t,’ she protested when he removed his seat belt. ‘Raffa—what if someone drives past?’