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When he left the study, Raven walked to the back of the house. A faint light shone beneath Yadira’s door, and thinking he had already delayed speaking with her too long, he knocked lightly. She opened the door, then leaned back against it in a provocative pose. She was wearing a simple white cotton nightgown and her hair, freed of its confining chignon, fell past her waist like a stream of liquid ebony.
She smiled knowingly. “I did not expect you to come to me so soon.”
That she had had the audacity to imagine he would ever seek her favors disgusted Raven completely. “We’ve never been lovers, and we never will be either. All I wanted was to ask you to be careful of what you say about Alex around Eden. She was very fond of him, and deeply saddened by his death. She’s expecting our first child in the spring, and I don’t want her to suffer the slightest distress about anything, not Alex, or problems with the house, or staff. I want you to take care of everything as you always have so she’ll not have any unnecessary worry.”
Yadira’s eyes were as dark as Raven’s and she had no difficulty reading the emotion displayed in his glance. “I did not think you would ever fall in love.”
Raven drew in a deep breath rather than respond to what he regarded as an uncalled-for remark. “All I want is your promise that you’ll make our home tranquil for Eden.”
“That will present no problem if she does not interfere.”
“She has not the slightest interest in interfering with your work, Yadira. Don’t create problems where none exist.”
Yadira nodded slightly, then again regarded Raven with a seductive smile. “I can make your life very pleasant too,” she offered in a husky whisper. “If not tonight, then in a few months when your wife’s waist grows thick with your child.”
Raven did not know which was worse, Julian’s distasteful assumptions or Yadira’s blatant attempt to seduce him. Now there was an unlikely pair, he thought slyly. “I’ll have no need of you tonight, or ever, but Julian might be feeling lonely. I think he’s still in the study.” He turned away then, hoping she would consider the straitlaced doctor an exciting challenge.
Thinking Raven’s suggestion absurd, Yadira closed her door, but by the time she heard his footsteps ascending the stairs, she had reconsidered. Julian Ryan’s looks were too rugged to be called handsome, but she had never thought him unappealing. She had had no interest in him while Alex was alive, but now everything had changed. She took care to close her door quietly, and after leaving a lighted candle beneath Alex’s portrait, she made her way to the study.
Julian was seated in Alex’s chair, and had to turn to see her. He looked startled then rose clumsily to his feet. “Has one of the servants fallen ill?” he asked nervously. In all the years he had been coming to Alex’s home, the attractive housekeeper had always been so prim in her manner that he was flabbergasted by how different she looked in her nightgown with her hair loose.
Yadira moved across the room, and came so close Julian was prompted to take a step back. “Raven suggested you might need some company tonight. Surely you must need a woman as badly as other men do.”
Again Julian was so badly shocked it took him several seconds to find his voice and then he stuttered badly. “Miss, Miss Morales, really, you, you ought to be in your room.”
Yadira outlined her lips slowly with the tip of her tongue, then slipped her hands inside his jacket and laid her palms on his chest. His heart was already beating wildly and she considered that a compliment. “You do like women, don’t you, doctor?”
“Well, of course, I do, but, but
Yadira moved her hands down his body in a sensuous massage but her eyes never left his. She did not stop when she reached his belt, but merely unbuckled it and unbuttoned his trousers. The man looked terrified but he was already hard, and she responded with a throaty laugh as she began to caress him more boldly. “You’ve not been with a woman for a long, long time, have you? Have you forgotten how good it feels?”
She took Julian’s anguished moan for assurance her assumption was correct and abruptly stepped back. “If you want more, you’ll have to come to my room.” When she turned and left the study without a backward glance, Julian had to grab the waistband of his trousers to keep them from falling down around his ankles. Then he followed her with the eagerness of a homeless puppy.
The next morning, Julian asked to see Eden again before he and his sister left for home. Raven did not object, but she was still sleeping so soundly the doctor did not attempt to wake her.
They went into the hallway outside Eden’s door, and Julian took the precaution of making certain none of the servants were nearby before he spoke. The memory of how Yadira had insisted he remain stark naked when she had walked him back to his room shortly before dawn still made him feel as though he were being watched. She had stopped him just outside his sister’s door, where he had nearly gone mad trying to remain silent as she had told him goodbye in a manner he would never forget. The woman had done things to him he had not dared ask the prostitutes in Kingston to do and had given him the most remarkable night of his entire life.
To have to concentrate on his medical duties after such an erotic interlude was nearly impossible. He had not forgotten her comment that Raven had sent her to him, but there was nothing in the young man’s expression that led him to believe she had been telling the truth. Besides, it was far more flattering to think she had sought him out on her own.
“Have Eden remain in bed today, and tomorrow as well if she still seems a bit shaken when she wakes,” Julian instructed in the most professional manner he could affect while so preoccupied. “I imagine she must want this baby rather badly, and that ought to inspire her to
keep a better control of her emotions than she did last night.”
“It was the Suttons’ heart problems that worried me, not my wife’s nerves.” Still feeling the sting of the doctor’s insulting innuendos, Raven found it difficult even to look at Julian, let alone converse with him. He just wanted him gone.
“Let’s pray the babe takes after his mother’s side of the family rather than his father’s. Other than that, there’s nothing anyone can do until the child is born. If he’s healthy, he’ll need no special care, and if he’s not, there will be precious little that anyone can do for him.”
“What marvelous advice. Don’t forget to send me a bill for your services.” Without waiting for a reply, Raven turned toward his wife’s door, but Julian reached out to stop him.
Realizing Raven was not going to apologize, Julian hurriedly did. “Wait, I said some very harsh things to you last night, and I want you to know I’m sorry I wasn’t more sympathetic. I’d like very much to continue to treat your wife. Rebecca has very few friends, and I know she’d not come here to visit Eden without me.”
Although surprised by Julian’s apology, Raven remembered his devotion to Alex and accepted it graciously. “All right, I’ll still consider you Eden’s physician then.”
“Good.” Julian sighed in relief. “I’ll stop by to see her as often as I can.”
“You’ve always been welcome here,” Raven reminded him before bidding him goodbye.
Julian took out his handkerchief and mopped his brow before joining Rebecca downstairs. He still thought Raven had extremely suspicious motives for marrying, but if he failed to attend Eden, he would have no excuse to see Yadira again. Fascinated by the exotic seductress, he planned to pay all his calls in the late afternoon so he would be invited to spend the night. Thrilled with the hope of again sampling the housekeeper’s affections, Julian vowed to return within a week.
