Lost heritage (22 page)

He placed his hand over hers and his long fingers curled lighdy as he conveyed it to his mouth. Pressing his lips to her palm, he looked into her eyes, a long and sensuously slumbrous look that stirred a chaos of desires in her that she could not hope to control. *Let us agree,' he said in his deep soft voice, *that neither of us would ever abandon our children, heinV He buried his mouth in her palm once

more and slid an arm about her, drawing her close until she caught her breath at the first tingling contact with his body. *Child of love/ he murmured as he placed his other arm about her. *It is such a good name for you, ma petite, and a much sweeter translation than the other, eh?'

*Much—sweeter,' she agreed, her hands side by side on the broad expanse of his chest. *Even though it doesn't apply, it's much nicer.'

His lips touched her brow lightly and he looked down into her face, her eyes hidden by long tawny lashes and brushing her flushed cheeks. *We are—some kind of cousins, Charlotte j eh? Not so close, because Grand'mere married for a second time. Could you love your cousin?'

Charlotte's heart beat hard againsT her ribs, and she dared not look up at him, for he would surely see just how much she could love her cousin. Yet she could not yet let him know how much, and she spoke without looking up, giving another meaning to his question.

*0f course,' she said. 'We should love our cousins, shouldn't we, Raoul?'

In the brief silence that followed she sensed a moment of doubt that brought a strange stillness to him, almost as if he had stopped breathing for a moment or two. Then a big hand raised her chin until she was obliged to look up into his face and see the steely brightness of his grey eyes.

*So you still seek to provoke me?' he said, but apparently without resentment, and the hand on her chin tightened its hold. 'Have I not warned you of the dangers of doing that, ma helleV

*Raoul '

His mouth covered whatever she had been going to say and Charlotte lifted her arms and drew the dark head closer still, clinging tightly to him while her body responded to the persuasion of his touch. Deep inside her somewhere a little niggle of doubt disturbed the perfect pleasure of the

moment, but she did not pay heed to anything but the excitement of his kiss and the thrilling vibrance of his lean hard body for the moment while he held her close.

'Charlotte! Ma belle petite cousine!' He kissed her again lighdy, and he was smiling in a way she had never seen him smile before, his grey eyes gende and warm as he looked down at her. ''Do you love your cousin as you should, cherieV He pressed another, harder, kiss on to her parted lips, robbing her of the chance to answer. *Did I not tell you, Charlotte, that once I had discovered your secret I must find another reason for kissing you?'

*I remember.'

She made the admission breathlessly, and RaouFs grey eyes sent disturbing litde flutters of anticipation rippling through her body. Then somewhere out in the hall a door closed and footsteps sounded on the bare stone floor. Charlotte glanced across, half fearful that the door might open and socoeone come in; she wanted this moment to go on for ever, not be interrupted by Bernard or Michel coming in, and she looked up at Raoul anxiously.

*Michel?' she asked, and he shook his head, drawing her back to him, as close as he could bring her, where the muscular vibrancy of his body transmitted its urgency to her, and made her tremble.

*Michel is seeing Lizette,' he said, and even now his voice conveyed a suggestion of that familiar impatience. *He has other matters to attend to, he will not come here.'

Charlotte remembered then what it was that niggled so persistently at the back of her mind, even while Raoul was kissing her, and she looked up at him in sudden anxiety.

'They're not ' She caught her lower lip between her

teeth and shook her head slowly, remembering the promise she had made to Lizette. *They won't part, will they, Raoul? I mean permanendy,' she went on. *Only I promise —^I made her a promise that I wouldn't leave her again;

I had to, she needed me, Raoul, she still does.'

'And I also need you, ma cherie,'' Raoul said, his hands holding her bruisingly tight while he looked down into her troubled face. * Would you desert me, Charlotte, so soon?'

She knew she couldn't, but what would happen if Lizette left Michel and Les Chataignes for good, she dared not contemplate. Holding tightly to him, she looked up, searching his face for something to help her nnd the answer, but she could see only the bright, glowing look in the steely grey eyes and feel the head-spinning sense of elation it aroused in her.

*No,' she whispered huskily, *I don't think I could—^I know I couldn't!'

Raoul's hands framed her face, the long fingers gently holding her head while the thumbs caressed the vulnerable sofmess of her mouth. *Lizette needed you to give her a sense of purpose,' he told her, 'and now that she has you she will not, I think, trouble herself quite so much about

Michel's 'A large hand let go briefly to express his

meaning, then once more curved about her face with that gentle caress. 'Michel has been frightened by what happened, very badly frightened, and I think there will be more—more understanding between them now.'

Scarcely daring to hope, Charlotte looked up at him. 'Truly?' she said, and Raoul kissed her mouth with infinite gentleness.

'I have sent Annette Villeaux away,' he said, and the sound of his voice made her shiver momentarily. He could be ruthless, and he would be in the protection of his family's name and to avoid the scandal of divorce. 'She has been well provided for and she will not be coming here again—ever. If the marriage does not work then it will be the fault of the partners and neither can make demands on anyone else. If Lizette refuses to listen to Michel's proposal

for contmuing their marriage then she will leave without you!'

*Oh, but Fm sure she'll agree,' Charlotte assured him. *She doesn't really want to end it, she's—settled here, and now that she has her baby—me, off her conscience I think she'll be much better. She'll stay, I'm sure she will.'

The big hands moved caressingly on her cheeks and Raoul looked at her with such intensity in his grey eyes that she turned her head and pressed her lips to one broad palm before resting her cheek there and half-closing her eyes. *And you, ma belle amie? Will you also stay?'

Charlotte looked up at him, her whole being responding to the look in those grey eyes. *ril stay if you want me to, Raoul,' she said, and he pulled her to him swifdy, and kissed her.

He kissed her for so long that she felt she had ceased to breathe, conscious only of the crushing force of his arms about her and the passionate fierceness of his mouth. 'You will stay,' he whispered in a voice that was harsh with emotion. *You will stay and marry me, ma belle, because I cannot face a future without you!' Once more he sought her lips with compelling force and crushed her close to the vibrant urgency of his body. *I love you, ma chere Charlotte, and I need you like a tree needs the earth! Will you give me what I crave, mignonneV

Held close in his anns Charlotte had scarcely enough breath to say she would, but eventually she smiled and he bent and kissed her parted lips fiercely. *I love you,' she said. 'Whatever happened now, I couldn't leave you!'

*If you did,' Raoul promised, *I would follow you and bring you back! I am not like my namesake, I would never let you go!'

Charlotte looked up at the firm curve of his mouth and traced its outline with the tip of a finger. It was hard to think about anything else, but just for a second she gave a

thought to her true father, killed before he was as old as she was now, and to Lizette, her mother, who had paid a thousand times over for one impulsive gesture made a lifetime ago.

*Don't ever let me go, my darling,' she whispered, and clung to him even more tighdy.

*Never!' he vowed firmly, and with Raoul's kiss on her lips she had no fear that he would.

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