Had she really sought his approval? The notion of such neediness disturbed her.
Only once in the whole proceedings had his face softened. With the boy.
‘Why did we go over to that man in the crowd?’ She hadn’t even been aware of the question forming in her head.
Raul turned and a sizzle shot through her as their gazes collided.
Luisa slumped back against her seat, heart pounding as fire roared through her veins. How did he do that? Was it the same for all the women he bedded?
The idea was pure torture.
‘I wanted to make sure there was no trouble.’
‘Trouble?’ Luisa scrabbled for coherent thought.
‘He was complaining loudly about his son being uncontrollable. And about what a nuisance the dog was.’
‘You’re kidding!’ Luisa straightened. ‘Peter was a darling, but so serious, not uncontrollable. If anything he seemed too old for his years.’ She hadn’t understood everything he’d said but his gravity had struck her.
Raul shrugged but the movement seemed cramped. ‘Living with a judgemental parent will do that.’
It was on the tip of Luisa’s tongue to question Raul’s assessment, till she read a bleakness in his eyes that made her back off.
‘What did you say to his father?’ Raul had looked every inch the monarch, full of gracious condescension.
Again that shrug. A little easier this time. ‘I congratulated him on his fine son.’
‘Good on you!’
Startled green eyes met hers and for a moment Luisa lost the thread of the conversation.
‘And I invited both boy and dog to visit the castle, to renew the acquaintance.’
Luisa tried but couldn’t read Raul’s expression. Yet instinct told her why he’d done it. ‘You wanted to make sure he didn’t get rid of the pup?’
For an instant longer Raul held her gaze before turning back to the window and raising his hand in acknowledgement of the people thronging the road.
‘A boy should be allowed a dog for companionship. Don’t you think?’
His tone indicated the matter was of no importance. Yet she remembered Peter’s trembling fear and the nervous way he’d eyed his father. Raul had gone out of his way to speak to them when he hadn’t made time to glad-hand anyone else in the crowd, preferring to wave from a distance.
Luisa sensed the matter was anything but unimportant to Raul. The scenario had struck a chord with him.
Frowning, she realised she knew almost nothing about the man she’d married.
CHAPTER TEN
RAUL’S mother had died in childbirth, his father had been impatient with children and Raul didn’t have siblings. That was all Luisa knew, apart from the fact that he distanced himself behind a formidable reserve.
What did that say about him?
‘Did you have a dog when you were a boy?’
Raul shot her a surprised look as they drove through the castle gates.
‘No,’ he said finally, his expression unreadable. ‘Dogs and antique heirlooms aren’t a good mix.’
Luisa surveyed the enormous courtyard and thought of the labyrinth of terraces, walled gardens and moats around the castle. ‘There’s room enough outside.’
If she had a child she’d let him or her have a pet or three and find a way to protect the antiques.
Shock grabbed her throat as she realised she was imagining a sturdy little boy running across the courtyard with black hair and eyes as green as emeralds. Eyes like—
‘Are you ready, Luisa?’ She looked up to find Raul already standing beside the limousine, offering his hand. No way to avoid touching him without being pointedly rude. Yet, even braced for it, the shock that sparked from his touch and ran up her arm stunned her.
Raul gave no sign of anything untoward, which left her wondering again if it were she alone overreacting to last night’s intimacy. Sternly she told herself it was natural she’d respond to the touch of her first ever lover. But when he tucked her arm through his and led her through the cavernous entrance, it was all she could do to repress the shivers of excitement running through her body. Being this close set desire humming through her.
‘Who did you play with?’ She sought distraction.
One dark brow winged up towards Raul’s hairline, giving him a faintly dangerous air.
‘I had little time for play. Princes may be born but they need to be moulded for the role too.’
Luisa stared, horrified. But his cool tone signalled an end to the subject and he picked up his pace, leading her swiftly towards the lift.
‘But when you were little you must have played.’
He shrugged, the movement brushing his arm against her. She breathed in the subtle scent of warm male skin.
‘I don’t recall. I had tutors and lessons from the age of four. Playtime wasn’t scheduled, though later sports were included in the curriculum.’
‘That sounds … regimented.’ She smothered her outrage and distress. Surely they could have allowed him some time to be a child! It reinforced her resolve not to risk having a baby. No child of hers would be treated so.
Raul punched the button for the lift. ‘My days were busy.’
Busy, not happy. The ancient castle was perfect for hide and seek and the fantasy games young children revelled in. Had he ever played them? Her heart went out to the little boy he’d been, so lonely, she suspected now.
Did that loneliness explain his aloof attitude? His formidable self-possession?
‘Did you see much of your father?’ She recalled him saying his father had been impatient with children. How had that impacted? She had no idea how royal households worked but she guessed no man became as ferociously self-sufficient as Raul without reason.
Her husband shot a warning look that shivered her skin. Luisa looked straight back.
The lift rose smoothly, so smoothly she knew it hadn’t caused the dropping sensation in her stomach that came with the word husband.
‘My father was busy. He had a country to run.’
Luisa bit down hard rather than blurt out her sympathy. The doors slid open but Luisa didn’t move.
‘Do you mean he didn’t have time for you?’
She could almost see the shutters come down over Raul’s face, blanking out all expression. The suddenness of it chilled her. Yet, far from blanking her out, it made her want to wrap her arms around him. The image of Peter, the little boy in the market square, so quaintly formal, tugged at her heart. Had Raul been like that as a child?
Her own glorious childhood, filled with laughter and love, happy days on the river or riding the tractor with her dad, running riot with a couple of dogs and even a pet lizard were halcyon by comparison.
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘Why don’t you want to tell me? I’m your wife.’ She didn’t even stumble over the word. ‘It’s right I know you better.’ Yet it was like pulling teeth, trying to get him to open up even a little.
Raul stood still, his face taut and unreadable. Then she caught a flicker in his eyes that made her thighs quiver and her stomach tighten.
‘Just what I had in mind.’ His voice lowered to a deep resonance that caressed her skin. ‘Getting to know each other better.’ Raul tugged her into the carpeted hallway and she realised they stood in front of his suite.
The glint in his eyes was unmistakable. Desire, raw and hungry. Something feral and dangerous sent delicious excitement skimming through her.
Her eyes widened. No mistaking what he meant.
Sex.