Heaven Sent (14 page)

Glancing around the room, she said, “Where is Dr. Rivera?”

“He left.”

“Without saying goodbye?”

“He said good night.”

Folding her hands on her hips, she glared at David. “What did you say to him?”

Closing his eyes and resting his head against the back of the chair, he compressed his lips. “Nothing.”

“David!”

He opened his eyes and met Serena’s angry expression with one of his own. “All I did was ask him for a bill.”

She tapped her foot impatiently. “And—”

“And he told me that your father had paid him.”

“So? What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that I want nothing from your father,” he hissed between clenched teeth. “
Nada
.”

Her mind reeling in confusion, Serena moved over to the sofa, sat down, and stared at David. There was no mistaking his hostility.

“What’s this all about, because it can’t be about money.”

He shook his head. He could not tell her of the enmity
between him and her father. He did not want her to choose between them, because he was certain he would come up the loser.

“You’re right. It’s not about money. Your father and I have never seen eye-to-eye where it concerns business and…” His words trailed off. He would not tell her that they despised each other.

Studying his impassive expression, she recognized a trait in the man she’d just slept with that was so apparent in her father. They were more alike than dissimilar. “You don’t see eye-to-eye because you both want control. It’s about power, David.” She waved a slender hand. “You men and your asinine
machismo
. When will it ever stop?”

“Don’t blame me, Serena.”

“I’m not blaming you. My father is not exempt. Both of you are stubborn and hardheaded.”

He managed a half-smile. “Don’t forget patient.” She snorted delicately under her breath while cursing him. “Did you say something, my love?”

“I’m not your love,” she retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. Why was it that she couldn’t remain angry with him?

“Are you offering me your tongue again, Darling?” he asked, his drawling cadence verifying that he was a product of the American south.

“You’re disgusting.”

“I’m honest, Serena.” Picking up his cane, he pushed to his feet. Limping over to the sofa, he sat down beside her. Leaning closer, he studied her steady gaze. “I want you. Not just your body, but all of you.”

Her eyes widened, while she searched his battered face for a sign of deceit. “You want more than I can offer you.”

His lids lowered over his near-black eyes. “Are you saying that you can’t love me?”

“I tried loving once and it didn’t work.”

“I’m not your ex-husband,” David countered.

“That you aren’t.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?”

“Take it any way you want. I can’t give you what I don’t have.”

They stared at each other, neither speaking, until they realized they were not alone. Serena turned and found Rodrigo staring at her and David as they sat on the sofa with less than a foot between them.

“
Sí?
” she asked sharply, finding her voice.

“Your father called while you were taking
siesta
,” he said with a knowing grin on his face. He was aware that when her parents called she had slept not in her own bedroom, but in that of the
Americano
. “He and your mother will be flying back tomorrow morning. I will pick them up at the airport at eleven-thirty.”

“Thank you, Rodrigo.”

“
¡De nada!
Señorita Vega.”

Serena waited until Rodrigo left the room before she threw her arms around David’s neck. “It worked! It had to, or else they wouldn’t be coming back so soon.”

Pulling back, he stared at the excitement shining from the depths of her brilliant eyes. “What worked?”

“My brother’s coming home.”

Her joy overrode her realization that Rodrigo should have given her the message from her parents when he announced Dr. Rivera’s arrival. Her happiness was boundless as she permitted David to share the moment as he held her to his heart.

D
avid relished the warmth of Serena’s body and her spontaneity. He wanted her again, but needed nourishment first.

“Can you give me the number for the nearest take-out restaurant?” he whispered close to her ear.

Pulling back, she stared up at him. “Luz Maria Hernando’s food is better than that of any take-out restaurant in the world.” A smile ruffled her mouth. “I take it that you’re hungry, Sport?”

“Starved.”

“You should be. You sent your lunch back.”

“I wasn’t hungry.”

“It wasn’t that at all. You sent it back because you were pouting.”

He managed to look insulted. “I don’t pout.”

“You don’t realize you do. When you don’t get your way you affect an expression that looks very much like a pout to me.”

He gave her a pained expression. “Why are you torturing me,
mi alma?
You know that I’m weak and in pain.”

“You weren’t so weak during
siesta
,” she teased with a winning smile.

Shrugging his broad shoulders, he waved a hand. “That was different.”

Rising to her feet, she crossed her arms under her breasts. “How different?”

He stood up, towering above her. His mood changed and his expression sobered. “That was different because I wanted you so much. And I’ll want you even as the breath leaves my body for the last time.”

Her pulse quickened, sending a shiver of chills over her flesh. She did not know why, but she felt a wave of fear settle in her chest. David’s words echoed Xavier’s. Her ex-husband had stated that he loved her so much that he did not want to live without her, and in the end his obsessive behavior was responsible for destroying their marriage.

“Don’t want me
that
much, David.”

“Don’t tell me what to want or feel.”

Serena knew he was spoiling for a confrontation, but refused to rise to his bait. The knowledge that her brother was coming home soothed her quick temper.

“Either you can stay here and mouth off, or come and eat.”

David clenched his teeth and cursed himself as soon as he did. A wave of pain radiated up the left side of his face. Serena might not share Raul Vega’s genes, but she had acquired his quick, biting tongue that stung as sharply as any whip.

“You like your men submissive and I like
mis mujeres
docile.”

She arched an eyebrow. “I’m not your woman.”

“Yes, you are,” he stated confidently. “You just haven’t accepted it yet.” She spun around on her heel, leaving him to follow.

Everyone was more certain about her future than she was. David wanted all of her, and Luz Maria predicted she would marry him and give him children.

Why was it so difficult for her to accept the inevitable? Was it because of Xavier? Or was it because she did not want to love and lose again?

David limped into the large kitchen behind Serena, returning the warm smile of a petite woman stirring a large pot.

“Doña Maria, this is Señor David Cole. Señor Cole, Doña Luz Maria Hernando.”

David took Luz Maria’s right hand and placed a kiss on her knuckle. “My extreme pleasure, Doña Maria.”

The older woman blushed furiously as she stared at the tall man’s bowed, graying, black head. Her vision had manifested itself. She hadn’t seen David Cole’s face clearly, but she recognized his smile immediately. It was his dimpled smile she had seen in her vision; a smile his children would inherit, along with Serena’s eyes.

“
Mucho gusto de conocerlo por la primera vez
, Señor Cole,” she returned shyly. What she wanted to say was that she’d already met him several times in her dreams—and it was indeed a pleasure to finally get to meet him in the flesh.

“Señor Cole will no longer take his meals in his bedroom,” Serena announced, watching the warm interchange between the cook and her father’s guest.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Luz Maria stated, withdrawing her fingers from David’s loose grip.

“Much better. Thanks to your tea and soups.”

Luz Maria turned her attention to Serena. “Will you be taking your meals in the dining room?”

“No. We’ll eat here in the kitchen. Please sit down,” she said to David. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

He nodded and sat down, unaware that Luz Maria watched him as his gaze followed Serena as she left the kitchen, disappearing from his line of vision.

“Tea, Señor Cole?”

His head came around slowly and he stared at Luz Maria as if he had never seen her before. “
Sí
,” he replied absentmindedly.

Serena retreated to David’s bedroom and stripped the bed of the soiled linen. She quickly and expertly remade the bed, then dimmed the lamp on the bedside table before drawing the silk-lined, pale drapes over the French doors. She repeated the motions in her own bedroom before she returned to the kitchen.

David’s gaze never left Serena’s face as he spooned portions of
sancocho
—a flavorful Caribbean stew laden with yellow and white
yautía, name
, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, green and ripe plantains, beef, and corn—into his mouth. He ate everything except for the small chunks of meat. The sensitivity in his left cheek would not permit him to chew without experiencing some discomfort.

She speared a slice of ripe plantain, wiggled her eyebrows at him, then popped it into her mouth. His gaze moved slowly down to her mouth, visually tracing the outline of her lips. His smile faded when he recalled the texture and taste of her moist, hot mouth. Within the span of a second he relived the sensual encounter that had left him gasping and dizzy with spent passion. And what he wanted to do was relive that passion with
Serena over and over again. He watched her form words, not hearing any of what she was saying.

“Are you all right?”

He nodded, blinking rapidly. “I’m sorry. My mind was elsewhere. What did you say?”

“I said that if you don’t want dessert we can go into the living room, where you can try out the piano.”

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, David stood up. He’d reached for his cane and taken several steps before she attempted to rise. She waited, watching intently as he took several steps, then waited for her to precede him.

“What other instruments do you play aside from the piano?” Serena asked once they were seated side by side on the piano bench.

“Guitar and percussion.” David rested his fingers reverently on the keys as if he feared contaminating them.

“That explains the calluses on your fingers.”

“They come from hours of playing the congas.”

Seeing his fingers poised over the keys made her aware of the breadth of his large hands. He struck a chord, the sound resonating melodiously throughout the space. It was apparent that her mother had the piano tuned regularly.

She was mesmerized as he went through a series of scales, his fingers skimming over the keys like a waterfall. Her gaze shifted from his fingers to his face. He’d leaned forward, eyes closed as if he were in a trance, and played everything from Joplin to Handel. When she registered the distinctive notes from Gershwin’s
Rhapsody In Blue
she joined him in a duet.

David’s piano playing was masterful, and it was the first time since she’d sat down to take lessons that she’d
actually enjoyed playing the piano. They shared a wide grin as the last note lingered, then faded into a hushed silence.

Curving an arm around his waist, Serena rested her head against his shoulder. “You’re incredible.”

The fingers of his right hand encircled her neck. “You’re pretty good yourself.”

“Not half as good as you are.”

“That’s only because I have longer fingers.”

“Don’t be modest, David. It’s not becoming.”

Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against her ear. “When are you going to change your opinion of me?”

“Never,” she whispered. “I’ve gotten used to your arrogance.”
And it wasn’t his arrogance she liked. She liked the man.

“How often do you play?” he questioned, his warm breath sweeping over her bare lobe.

“Not often. But I usually play here at
La Montaña
because I like this piano.”

David nodded, his fingers caressing the side of the Steinway. “It should be played every day, because it’s truly a magnificent instrument.”

“Was your transition from musician to businessman difficult?”

“No,” he admitted with a smile. “I had majored in music education and minored in business administration.”

“Why business?”

Lowering his eyebrows, he glared. “Because my father deemed it. He expected business to be my major, but after a somewhat passionate altercation we decided to compromise.”

A knowing smile trembled over her full lips. “I take it you’re used to winning?”

He arched a sweeping eyebrow. “I don’t know what it is to lose,” he admitted quietly.

She shuddered as if a breath of cold wind had swept over her body. At the same time, a warning voice whispered in her head that David Cole could be a formidable adversary, as was Raul Cordero-Vega. She shook off her uneasiness.

“Did you always want to be a musician?” David did not answer her right away, and she thought perhaps he hadn’t heard her question.

“Always.” Another hushed silence ensued. “There was a time when my parents thought I was hard of hearing because I didn’t respond when they spoke to me. What they didn’t know was that instead of hearing people speak I heard music notes, notes in perfect pitch.

“Whenever my older brother and sisters sat down for their lessons I lingered in the room, memorizing every note. A week after my sixth birthday I began my own lessons. Everyone was shocked, including the instructor, when I went through the beginner’s book in four weeks.”

“Were you a musical prodigy?”

“Oh, no. I was just a possessed pianist who practiced a minimum of three hours each day.”

“It paid off, because you play beautifully.”

“Will you let me play for you when we return to the States?”

“Where?” she whispered, her husky voice lowering seductively.

“At my home in Boca Raton.”

“Will I need a special invitation?”

“Of course not, Serena. My home is yours. You can come to stay—forever, if you so choose.”

She slipped off the piano bench and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, her gaze fixed on the all-encompassing darkness punctuated by strategically placed lights illuminating the perimeter of
La Montaña.

Screams of frustration and fear echoed in her head. Fear that she knew her own destiny, and frustration that Luz Maria’s gift had become her curse because she was unable to rally the defenses she needed to stave off David’s deliberate seduction.

She found it eerie—no, unnatural—to know that the man sitting at the piano would be the one she would marry even before she was given the chance to fall in love with him.

But could she love him? Could she trust him, or any man, enough to open her heart to love again?

Turning slowly, she met David’s gaze as he sat watching, waiting. Her mind told her to resist his pull, but her body refused. If she hadn’t lain with him, then she would be able to turn and walk away. Something within her called out to him, and she could not and would not walk away, because she knew he was to be a part of her life. He was her destiny!

David reached down and retrieved the cane resting beside the piano. He managed to find his footing with greater ease than he had since he woke up and found himself at
La Montaña
. What he wanted to do was fling the object across the room and walk unaided. He wanted to sweep Serena up in his arms and climb the staircase to his bedroom for an encore of what they’d shared that afternoon.

He wanted to relive the blinding passion, merging
with an uncontrollable lust, that made him fuse his flesh with hers, and his former trepidation about having unprotected sex vanished the moment he filled her body with his seed. In that brief, dizzying moment of lingering lust he wanted Serena Morris as his wife and the mother of his children.

“I’m ready to go back to my room.”

Serena nodded, moving quickly to his side. “I thought you would want to try out the guitars before going back upstairs.”

“Tomorrow.” The single word denoted finality. Tomorrow Raul Cordero-Vega would return to
La Montaña
and tomorrow would be the time for him to reveal his innermost wishes to Serena.

Tomorrow
, she repeated to herself, leading David past the living room staircase, along a narrow passage off the kitchen, and through a door that led to the staircase at the rear of the house.

“My brother and I used to sneak in and out of the house using this route.”

Following her lead, David trained his gaze on her back. “Were you ever caught?”

She smiled at him over her shoulder. “Once. I stayed out past my curfew and thought I was going to get over when I managed to slip in the back door that Gabe left unlocked for me. What I didn’t count on was my father waiting for me in my room. He’d waited so long that he fell asleep on my bed.”

David chuckled, remembering his own youthful escapades. “What happened?”

“I undressed in the dark, and when I got into bed I startled him and he swung at me and bloodied my nose. My screams woke up the entire household. Mother thought he’d deliberately hit me, and she let loose with
a stream of colorful expletives closely resembling profanity, shocking everyone. Poppa stared at her as if he’d never seen her before, then walked away without saying a word to defend himself.

“They avoided one another for several days before I went to my mother and confessed what had happened. She told me that I had come to her just in time to stop her from leaving her husband. She showed me the tickets she’d purchased. She was going to return to the States, taking us children with her.

“I begged her not to leave, because I realized at that moment I loved my stepfather too much not to have him in my life.”

“How was it resolved?”

“I apologized to him, while my mother grounded me for a month. Gabe was given two weeks for being an accomplice.”