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'Papa, Papa. Castle.' James's voice split the tense silence between the two adults.
They both looked to where James was sitting in the sand and smiled. The little boy had sand in his hair and all over his body, but he was beaming triumphantly, having finally succeeded in heaping up a mound of sand almost as high as his chest.
'He makes it all worthwhile,' Raul said quietly, and, glancing down at Penny, planted a brief kiss on the top of her head. 'See you tomorrow at the church. Carlos will drive you. Be good.'
He strolled over to James, lifted the little boy up, congratulated him on his great castle, kissed him, then lowered him back in the sandpit. 'You too, little one,' he murmured, and, turning, he walked across to where his car waited, a suitcase already in the boot.
&
nbsp; Penny watched him drive away with a dull ache in her heart. She knew that he did not love her, but knowing that he had looked for her over two years ago had given her hope; and now, to be reminded that they were marrying for the child was a blow to her self-confidence.
She knew that she could satisfy Raul on a purely physical level, and her secret hope was that in time he would learn to love her. But sometimes she could not help wondering if she was fooling herself...
An hour later she knew she was...
Busily drying James with a large, fluffy towel after their last dip in the pool for the day, and singing 'Four and Twenty Blackbirds' at the same time, Penny didn't hear the sleek sports car pull up in front of the house. It was only when James shouted, 'Lady. Lady, Mamma,' that; Penny realised they were not alone.
She knew it could not be Ava, as Ava and Carlos had left earlier for some last-minute shopping. Setting James down on his feet, she pulled a sweatshirt over his head and turned with interest to greet the unexpected visitor.
Small, black-haired, and wearing a figure-hugging yellow skirt with matching short jacket, black eyes glinting maliciously—there was no mistaking the woman. Penny's heart pounded erratically, colour surging in her face. She winced at her own stupidity. 'Dulcie.' She said the name under her breath. How could she have forgotten?
'Buenos dias, Penny. So this is the child that has caused all the uproar and scandal. I simply had to see for myself,' Dulcie drawled in her native Spanish.
Penny responded in kind. 'Buenos dias. And what scandal is that?' she asked flatly, her eyes clashing with Dulcie's dark, venomous gaze, then dropping to the other woman's hand. Her heart froze in her chest. Dulcie wore the huge diamond engagement ring that Penny had first seen in the magazine photograph on the fatal day when James had been abducted.
'Why, the fact that Raul Da Silva, one of the most influential and revered men in the area, would ignore his obligations and dishonour his family name by lowering himself to marry someone like you simply because of a child that may or may not be his.'
She heard the words as if from a long way off, numb with shock. 'Obligations' could only mean one thing. Raul and Dulcie were or had been engaged. All the colour drained from Penny's face; she felt as if someone had twisted a knife in her stomach and gutted her. Involuntarily she picked James up in her arms, cuddling him to her icy body.
'James is Raul's son—' she stared bleakly at Dulcie '—whatever you may think.' But she could not deny the rest of Dulcie's malicious statement. She suddenly realised that she had been floating along in a sensual daze, accepting Raul's proposal, pretending to herself that it was a rational decision, when all the time she had been avoiding reality.
'I've got to hand it to you, Penny; you're cleverer than I thought. At least the child has Raul's colouring—and the poor man is desperate for an heir.'
Penny bent her head to disguise the anguish in her eyes. But she could make no response, because she knew that Dulcie was right.
'Of course, you know that if I could have children Raul and I would have been married when you two split up, but under the circumstances there did not seem to be any need to rush.'
Penny slowly raised her head. James squirmed to be put down and gently she set him on his feet, keeping a tight grip on his little hand, more for her own support than his. She stood up. Her legs trembled but she stared Dulcie straight in the face and gave a bitter, forced smile. ‘Then I have to thank you for my good luck and your bad fortune,' she managed to say sarcastically, amazed that her voice did not crack in the process.
Dulcie's eyes leapt with anger and something almost maniacal. 'Don't fool yourself that he loves you. Raul will always come back to me. He always has.' And with that vicious parting shot Dulcie turned on her heel and strode across the courtyard to her car, leaving Penny frozen to the spot, still grasping James but feeling unutterably alone. She wanted to cry, but instead James broke the silence.
'Not nice lady, Mamma.'
Out of the mouths of babes! she thought sadly. And, gritting her teeth, she lifted James up in her arms and walked into the house, appalled at her own gullibility. Raul had never cared for her. He never would. She had been kidding herself to think for a second that she could win his love. He had given it years ago to the woman who had just left.
Entering the kitchen, she acted on autopilot, preparing James's supper while he sat happily on the floor playing with a soup ladle and a couple of stainless-steel pans. For once she was grateful for the racket he made. It stopped her from having to think.
Ava arrived back from the town with Carlos, all smiles; she had found the perfect hat for the wedding.
Penny admired the hat and said all the right things, but her heart wasn't in it. It was slowly breaking into a million pieces.
She had no idea afterwards how she got through the next few hours. She bathed and bedded James down for the night. She changed into jeans and black sweater, then sat in the kitchen and pushed the dinner Ava had prepared around on her plate. And, when the telephone rang, and Ava answered it and Penny beard the name 'Raul', she got to her feet and dashed out.
'Wait,' Ava called after her. 'It is for you. Senor Raul.'
She could not trust herself to speak to him. 'Tell him it's bad luck.' She furiously threw his own words back at a shocked Ava as she ran upstairs and into the master bedroom.
She stopped, her glance skimming over the wide bed, and she shuddered, closing her eyes against the tears that threatened to overwhelm her fragile self-control. Maturity had taught her nothing. She clenched her small hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms till she broke the skin, but she did not feel the physical pain. The mental anguish was tearing her apart.
