For an instant back there he’d been tempted simply to kidnap her. The blood of generations of warriors and robber barons as well as monarchs flowed in his veins. It would have been easy to scoop her up in his arms and sequester her till she saw reason. So satisfying.
An image of Luisa Hardwicke filled his mind. She stared defiantly up with flashing cerulean eyes.
Raul recalled her shirt lifting when she reached for a glass, revealing her lusciously curved bottom in snug jeans. The feminine shape outlined by her shirt when she moved. A shape at odds with his original impression.
Fire streaked through Raul’s belly.
Perhaps there would be compensations after all.
Luisa Hardwicke had a wholesome prettiness that appealed far more than it ought. He’d made it his business these last eight years to surround himself only with glamorous, sophisticated women who understood his needs.
He grimaced, facing a truth he rarely acknowledged. That if he’d once had a weakness it had been for the sort of forthright honesty and fresh openness she projected.
The sort he’d once believed in.
Sordid reality had cured him of any such frailty. Yet being with her was like hearing an echo of his past, remembering fragments of dreams he’d once held. Dreams now shattered beyond repair by deceit and betrayal.
And, despite his indignation, he responded to her pride, her pluck.
It was an inconvenience that complicated his plans. Yet perversely he admired the challenge she represented. What a change from the compliant, eager women he knew! In other circumstances he’d applaud her stance.
Besides, he saw now, a spineless nonentity would never have been suitable for what was to come. Or so surprisingly appealing.
Raul tugged his mind back to business. He needed a lever to ensure she saw sense. Failure wasn’t an option when his nation depended on him.
‘Lukas, you said the farming co-op is in debt?’
‘Yes sir, heavily so. I’m amazed it’s still running.’
Raul looked back at the tiny speck that was her home. A sliver of regret pierced him. He’d wanted to avoid coercion but she left him no choice.
‘Buy the debts. Immediately. I want it settled today.’
The roar of a helicopter brought Luisa’s head up.
It couldn’t be. After rejecting her inheritance yesterday there was no reason for her path and Prince Raul’s to cross again. Yet she was drawn inexorably to the window. It couldn’t be but it was. Prince Raul—here!
To Luisa’s annoyance, her heart pattered faster as she watched his long, powerful frame vault from the chopper.
Twenty-four hours had given her time to assure herself he wasn’t nearly as imposing as she remembered.
She’d been wrong.
Luisa had searched him on the web yesterday, learning his reputation for hard work and wealth. The reports also referred to discreet liaisons with gorgeous women.
Yet no photos did justice to his impact in the flesh. Her breath caught as he loped up the steps. Good thing she was immune.
‘Luisa.’ He stood before her, wide shoulders filling the open doorway, his voice smooth like dark chocolate with a hint of spice as he lingered on her name.
A tremor rippled through her as she responded to the exotic sound of her name on his tongue. It maddened her that she should react so. She pulled herself together, fiercely quelling a riot of unfamiliar emotions.
‘Your Highness.’ She gripped the door hard. ‘Why are you here? We finished our business yesterday.’ Surely he had VIPs to see, deals to forge, women to seduce.
He bent over her hand in another courtly almost-kiss that knotted her stomach. She had to remind herself not to be impressed by surface charm. Been there, done that.
Yet her gaze riveted on his austerely handsome face as he straightened. The flash of green fire in his eyes sent tendrils of heat curling through her. His fingers squeezed and her pulse accelerated.
‘Call me Raul.’
It went against the grain but to refuse would be churlish.
‘Raul.’ It was crazy but she could almost taste his name in her mouth, like a rich, full-bodied wine.
‘Aren’t you going to invite me in?’ One dark eyebrow rose lazily as if her obstinacy amused him. She bit down on a rude response. He must have good reason to return. The sooner she heard it the sooner he’d go.
‘Please, come in.’ She led the way to the lounge room, ignoring the jitter of nerves in her stomach.
Instead of making himself comfortable, he took up a position in front of the window. A commanding position, she noticed uneasily as premonition skittered across her nape.
She didn’t like the glint in his eye or his wide-legged stance, as if claiming her territory for his own. She stood facing him, refusing to be dominated.
‘You haven’t changed your mind?’
She lifted her chin a fraction. ‘Not if the cash comes with strings attached.’
Desperate as she was for money, she couldn’t agree.
She’d spent yesterday afternoon consulting her solicitor. There must be a way to access some of the money she was in line to inherit without giving up her life here. She didn’t trust Raul, a man with his own agenda, to be straight with her on that.
It was too soon to know, but the possibility she could negotiate enough funds to give the co-op the boost it needed had given her a better night’s sleep than she’d had in ages. It buoyed her now, strengthening her confidence.
‘Can I persuade you to reconsider?’ His mouth turned up in the barest hint of a smile, yet even that should have come with a health warning.
Her breath sawed in her throat and her pulse quickened.
Luisa thought of the enquiries being made on her behalf.
She’d be a fool to give in to his preposterous suggestion. ‘Absolutely not.’ The very thought of accepting made her ill.
‘That’s unfortunate.’ He paused so long her nerves stretched taut. ‘Very unfortunate.’ He looked grim.
Finally he reached into his jacket pocket. ‘In that case, these are for you.’
Bewildered, Luisa accepted the papers. ‘You want me to sign away my inheritance?’ She’d sign nothing without legal advice.
He shook his head. ‘Take your time. They’re self-explanatory.’
Confused, she skimmed the papers. Unlike yesterday’s, these weren’t rich parchment. They looked more like the loan documents that were the bane of her life.
Luisa forced herself to concentrate. Hard to do with his stare on her. When finally she began to understand, the world spun around her.
‘You’ve bought the co-op’s debts.’ Disbelieving, she shuffled the papers, eyes goggling. ‘All of them!’
And in one day. Each paper had yesterday’s date.
Was it even possible?
Bewildered, she looked up. The gravity of his expression convinced her more than the typed words.
Luisa sank abruptly onto the arm of a chair, her knees too wobbly to take her weight, her breath choppy.
What strings had he pulled to manage that in a single day? Luisa couldn’t conceive of such power. Yet,