By Request Collection Part 3. Robyn Donald

       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.

      It was in his knowing look. In the deep shuddering breath that expanded his wide chest, as if he had trouble filling oxygen starved lungs.

      Luisa waited for outrage to take hold. For pride to give her the strength to shove him away. Indignation didn’t come. It was excitement that knotted her stomach. Desire that clogged her throat.

      He’d introduced her to pleasure and she was too inexperienced to hide the fact that she craved more.

      Raul must have read her feelings for his lips curved in a smile that made her pulse jitter. Wordlessly he shoved open the door, pulled her in and against him as he leaned back, closing the door with his body.

      Fire exploded in her blood. Last night she’d loved the heavy burden of him above her. Now she wanted to arch into him and revel in the hard solidity of his big frame. It was weak of her but she couldn’t get enough of him.

      She shoved aside the memory of this morning’s desolation, and the suspicion that his desire now masked a determination to stop her prying into his past.

      At this moment it was Raul’s passion she wanted. Perhaps because of the emptiness she’d glimpsed in his eyes when he’d spoken so casually about a childhood that to her sounded frighteningly cold. Did she doom herself to a similar loneliness, marrying him?

      Yet it wasn’t fear that drove her. Or simple lust.

      Her heart twisted as she realised she wanted to give herself to her husband in the hope of healing some of the deep hurt she’d seen flicker for a moment in his eyes.

      ‘Luisa? Do you want this?’

      ‘Yes.’ She didn’t try to hide from his searching gaze.

      When he lowered his head to graze the side of her neck with his teeth the air sucked straight out of her lungs. Thought disintegrated as she sank into pleasure.

      She opened her eyes and groaned as he bit into the sensitive flesh at the base of her throat. Her hands clenched at his shoulders as his hands skimmed her jacket, undoing it and her shirt and spreading the open sides wide.

      ‘You were magnificent