"Si, and maybe we should fix the locks, too." He pulled the door shut. The pounding of his crutches sounded extraordinarily loud, as though he wanted them to be sure they heard him leave.

Studying the sheen of his dark hair, Luz combed her fingers through it, smoothing down the areas she had previously ruffled. When he tilted his head to look at her, she was filled with a toasty warm feeling. His hold shifted, his hands spreading to cover the rounded cheeks of her bottom and applying pressure to arch the lower half of her body more fully into the open cradle of his hips.

"I had forgotten how very soft you feel to me," he murmured against her cheek, his accent thickening. "It has been too long."

"I know."

"Tonight ..." Raul pulled slightly back, letting their noses touch and their breaths mingle. "Shall I come to your room or will you come to mine?"

"I don't know where you sleep."

"At the far end of the upper hall. It is better that I come to you. No one will think anything if they see me in the hall." He kissed her again, long and hard.

"Lunch is ready," she unwillingly reminded him.

"That is not all." The comment needed no explanation; Luz was fully aware of the bulge in his breeches. But he loosened his hold, setting her away from him so that he could stand up. When she started to move away from the desk, he repeated, 'Tonight."

"Yes."

Long after the last bedroom door had closed, Luz waited in her room, straining to catch the smallest sound in the hallway. All she could hear was the creakings of the house. For the third time, she paced to the window and stared out the dark pane that reflected her image in the lamplight. She glanced at the nightgown draped over the corner chair, debating whether to give up and go to bed. It was late and getting later. The soft makeup, the perfume discreetly dabbed in indiscreet places, the s.e.xy silk peignor-all seemed destined to seduce only her own pillow.

Two light taps sounded on her door, and Luz nearly ran across the room, slowing herself at the last minute. As she opened it, Raul slipped quickly inside, clad only in a terry-cloth robe. After the door was shut, there was an instant when they merely looked at each other, posed like a stag and a doe before the mating ritual begins.

Luz wasn't sure which of them moved first, and it didn't matter. She was in his arms, feeling the heat of his kiss. Her hands slid inside his robe and spread over his chest, discovering the hardness of his nipples. The bedcovers were turned invitingly down, and they gravitated to them, stopping to shed their robes, then gliding onto the sheeted mattress. The bedsprings groaned under their combined weight.

"I should have warned you about the squeaky springs," Luz murmured as she leaned over him, the tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s brushing across his smooth chest.

"The house is blessed with thick walls," he a.s.sured her as he pulled her head down to devour her lips.

Her hands caressed him, traveling over the hard planes of his body while she dragged free of his mouth to rub her lips over his clean-shaven jaw and down the tanned column of his throat. There was none of the hesitancy of the first time, none of the uncertainty and waiting to see what he wanted her to do. Luz did what she wanted, and that was to explore and enjoy this man of muscle and bone and hard flesh.

She was conscious of the stimulating caress of his hands, kneading and stroking her body with building urgency. They aroused her, as he was aroused. Traveling from the hollowed cheek of his flank, her fingers spread into the silken hairs covering his thigh, her arm brushing the head of his erection. She felt his involuntary flinch when she cupped his male sacs in her hand. A low groan broke from his throat as she stroked his engorged flesh, rediscovering the power a woman held equally over a man.

Shifting, Raul lifted her easily and rolled them both over to a.s.sume the position of dominance. She saw the desire in his heavy-lidded eyes. It excited her own. Now it was his hands that began the stimulating play while his lips, tongue, and teeth created their own havoc with her senses. Before they were through, she swore he had discovered every perfume-dotted place. When his hand glided between her thighs and his fingers located the swelling bud of her s.e.x, it was she who writhed convulsively under their teasing manipulation, the soft, involuntary cries torn from her throat, as she had done to him.

The satisfying weight of his body at last moved onto her as he sheathed himself in her. Pa.s.sion moved them together, gloriously out of control. Neither of them heard the rhythmic creak of the bed springs, or the increase of its tempo.

When his seed was spilled and it was over, they lay for a long while lightly cradled in each other's arms, absently kissing and touching, murmuring things that were not as important as the sound of the voice.

Finally, Raul got out of bed and donned his robe. Luz sat up and plumped a pair of pillows behind her, then leaned against them, pulling the sheet and tucking the hemmed facing under her arms. He paused beside the bed.

"I must go. You will sleep well, no?" There was a lazy quality to his look as if all the hard-driving energies had been drained from him. That was what she had done for him, Luz knew.

"Very well," she a.s.sured him, still feeling like thick, rich cream inside.

He pulled the knot of his sash tight. "Tomorrow."

"S." The corners of her mouth deepened in a tiny pleased smile. "Moana." She saw the amused glint in his eyes at her use of Spanish.

Then Raul moved away from the bed, and she watched him leave as silently as he had come. For a little longer, she lay reclined against the pillows, then she reached over and switched off the lamp and snuggled under the covers. The scent of him clung to the sheets. Luz closed her eyes, breathing it in. Sleep came easily to her totally relaxed body.

A pattern was set that night. The days went as they had before, with Raul instructing at the practice field, holding the rap sessions in the game room, and working evenings in his office. Luz saw little of him except at meals in the company of the others. However, Hector had taken it upon himself to change the seating arrangements at the dining table, insisting that Luz sit at the table and act as hostess. With Trisha gone, the change appeared to be a natural one, a courtesy to the only lady present. While Luz liked looking down that long table and seeing Raul sitting at the head of it, the distance limited communication to smiling glances. But they made up for that separation late at night, after everyone else had gone to bed.

September brought sunnier skies and warmer temperatures-and a change in the week's routine. The Argentine polo season was in full swing, which meant weekend compet.i.tions at the various polo clubs in the Buenos Aires suburbs. All week they practiced and refined their skills, and on weekends they played polo in earnest. The level of compet.i.tion, high-goal or low, dictated the makeup of the various teams.

Sometimes Raul and his other professionals made up three of the four. When it was high-goal play, Luis, Carlos, and Raul played with a fourth professional, the Mexican ten-goaler Juan Echevarria. As Raul had explained to Luz, this foursome would compete for the Argentine Open Championship in November, and these preliminary compet.i.tions gave them an opportunity to become used to playing together as a unit.

At the Hurlingham Club, Luz stood at the picket line with Rob and watched the four professionals on the field. It was an aggressively played match marred by frequent fouls that continually halted the flow of action for penalty shots, so no momentum was established by either team. But when the final bell rang, Raul's team, Los Pamperos-the Spanish word for the wild wind on the pampas-rode off the field the victors.

Luz walked forward to meet the four returning riders, applauding their skills. "Congratulations! Magnfico!" Raul reined his horse to a halt beside her and swung down, elation tempered by fatigue. "Great game." With onlookers around, Luz was careful to keep her att.i.tude casually friendly. When Raul rested an arm about her shoulders, she lightly hooked his waist and glanced at Carlos Rafferty. "That was some goal you made, Carlos," she said as he swung a leg over the front of the saddle and jumped to the ground. "You had hardly any window at all to the posts." Raul's hand tightened on her shoulder, instinctively fitting her closer to his side and making her conscious of his hard-breathing rhythm, a mark of the physical exertion the game required.

"S, it was something." Carlos grinned. "I did not think I would make it."

As they turned in unison to lead the horses to the picket line, Luz noticed the way Rob was looking at her. She became self-conscious about the arm she had around Raul's waist and let it slide away, angling away from him so that it appeared his hand dropped naturally from her shoulders.

"Are we going to have drinks at the club before driving back?" She moved away from Raul, toward Rob.

"Yes." His glance briefly questioned her action, then darted to her son.

"Rob and I will meet you there." Linking arms with Rob, she turned him in the direction of the clubhouse. "That was a hard-fought game, wasn't it?"

"I guess." He shrugged unresponsively and lifted his arm free of hers, shunning the contact. Frowning, Luz studied the tired, brooding look on his face.

"Is your shoulder hurting? That was a nasty spill you took in the fourth chukkar." Rob had played in an earlier game on another of the club's fields, a game his team had unfortunately lost.

"No. It's all right," he mumbled.

"What's wrong then?"

"Nothing's wrong. Why does something have to be wrong? Can't a guy just not feel like talking?" he retorted sharply in anger, displaying the foul temper she had sensed. She walked, saying nothing, knowing it would blow over as quickly as it had blown up. "Are you planning to fly home on Friday or Sat.u.r.day?"

"Neither. I thought I'd stay awhile longer." She smiled quickly at him, falsely casual. "After all, there's no real rush to get back."

"What about the horses? I'm not buying more than the nine we've purchased. Aren't you going to ship them back to the States?" Rob challenged.

"Yes, but I decided to send them via Hopeworth Farm. Stan Marshall has imported horses before, so he's familiar with all the paperwork and quarantine procedures. He'll be on hand to accept delivery, so it isn't necessary that I be there." At this time of year in Virginia, the first hint of autumn colors would be showing, but here the green of spring was all around. Here new life was beginning, and Luz felt it was true for her. "Besides, what would I do in Palm Beach by myself? It would be the same old thing-luncheons, benefits, charity socials, committee meetings. I'd rather stay here with you and make sure you learn something." The attempt at lightness was deliberate as she tried to imply there was no special significance to her decision.

"Yeah. I know how interested you are in what I do."

She didn't like his tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You haven't been on the sidelines watching me since before Trisha left, and that's been three weeks ago already," Rob accused. "You're real interested in how well I'm doing."

"I am, Rob. It's just that I've been busy getting all the papers transferred and the bills of sale finalized for the horses you bought." Seven were from Raul and the other two from individual breeders in the area. "Besides ..." Luz realized she had to tell him the truth about her absence from his workouts. "Raul felt I was distracting you."

"I'll just bet that's what Raul felt," he mocked bitterly, then stopped, causing Luz to halt. "Is it true what the guys are saying about you two?"

The challenge took her completely by surprise. She had thought he was upset over her absence from the practice field. No words came out. She just stood there looking at him. How did a mother admit to a grown son that she was having an affair?

"It is true, isn't it?" Rob accused in disgust. "He's s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g you, isn't he?"

"Rob, stop it." She clenched her fingers into her hands, holding them rigidly at her side to keep from slapping him.

"You were really all broken up over the divorce, weren't you. It really tore you up, didn't it?" he taunted. "Five months! That's all it's been and already you're hopping into bed with another man. It really hurt you, didn't it? You needed me. That's what you said."

"And I meant it. Rob, you're my son," Luz insisted angrily. "Whatever is between Raul and me has nothing to do with you."

"Hasn't it? Do you think he's going to want me around? Look at the way he's already persuaded you to stay away from the practice sessions. If you can't see what he's doing, you're blind!"

"That isn't true. That came about before I ... we ... ever became involved. Raul is no threat to you. You're being childish." She realized immediately that it was the wrong thing to say, however accurate it might be. She was the one guilty of encouraging Rob's closeness and dependency on her. She couldn't blame him for being possessive of her now. "I'll speak to Raul about observing the training sessions again. I'm sure he'll reconsider."

"Be sure to ask him while his c.o.c.k is stiff. A man will agree to anything then."

She slapped his face. "Don't ever speak to me like that again!"

He went white, his features drawn and pinched with rage. He glared at her for a long second, then turned on his heel and stalked away. Her outrage died almost instantly, leaving a heavy anxiety and confusion in its place.

After four weeks of playing, eating, and relaxing with the other players, Rob was familiar with their backgrounds, habits, and vices. He knew exactly which one to seek out and headed straight to a young Argentine, Tony Lamberti. More than once he'd caught him slipping outside in the evenings to smoke a joint; he had shared one with him a couple times.

"Tony, come here. I gotta talk to you." Rob dragged him away from the trio of giggling girls.

"Che! I will let you have one." The handsome dark-haired, dark-eyed man of twenty-two considered himself the consummate lover. Rob had even seen him turning on the charm with Anna.

"You can have all three," Rob muttered indifferently. "Just tell me how I can get my hands on some c.o.ke." At the initial frowning stare he received, he added more explicitly, "You know, cocaine."

"Che! El loco pibe!"

"English, dammit. And I'm not crazy." Rob struggled to control the seething rage that pushed at him.

Everything had gone sour for him lately. Admittedly he was learning a lot, but somebody was always riding him, criticizing him and finding fault-usually Raul. Now his own mother was going against him. He needed the lift c.o.ke could give him. Everybody was trying to drag him down, but he'd show them. h.e.l.l, he wasn't hooked on the stuff. It had been four weeks since he'd had any-and he'd been free-basing. That proved he wasn't addicted to it. But he needed its boost right now. Luz could go screw herself silly. He didn't need her.

"Listen, Tony," he lowered his voice. "I want a couple bags of cocaine. I got the money to pay for it. Don't worry. And you know where I can get it. What do you say, compadre? You've got your car here." Still hesitant, Tony eyed him warily and Rob's impatience grew. "Don't try to tell me you can't get it. The d.a.m.ned stuff grows here."

"S. The coca plant is a crop that is grown here. It used to be sold to your Coca-Cola Company. But your government made them take the c.o.ke out of the cola, no? Now the workers in the mountains, they are smarter. They chew the leaves so they won't feel so tired or cold or hungry. This has been so for hundreds of years. The coca was considered a divine plant by the Incas. Did you know this?"

"I'm not interested in a d.a.m.ned dissertation on the history of cocaine. Are you going to put me in touch with your dealer or not? All I want is yes or no," Rob demanded.

For a long, slow minute, there was silence as Tony made up his mind. "He will not sell to you. I will make the buy for you."

A smile spread across Rob's face as he relaxed. "I knew I could count on you, Tony."

"I will make a phone call. We will see."

"Sure, Tony. Sure."

The late return from the polo matches necessitated a late dinner at the estancia. After changing clothes, Luz went downstairs to join the others. But her mind wasn't on food. She was just going through the motions for the sake of maintaining the routine so that she didn't draw attention to herself and arouse questions she didn't want to answer. This matter was strictly between herself and Rob, and no one else's business.

The softly flaring skirt of parchment linen brushed her calves as she entered the large living room where the group had a.s.sembled. She paused an instant, scanning the faces, then walked in. "Where's Rob? Hasn't he come down yet?"

"I don't think he's back," Duke Sovine replied. "He and Tony left the club together, and they haven't showed up here so far."

"I see," she murmured while her fingers worried with a b.u.t.ton on her cream-colored cardigan vest.

"They probably stopped somewhere and ran into some girls. You know how Tony is," the Texan reminded her.

"Yes, of course." It was a logical explanation, and probably accurate. Knowing Rob, he was probably staying out just to make her worry about him. And it was working, she realized with vague irritation. Fixing a smile in place, Luz glanced at Hector and avoided any contact with Raul, the source for Rob's bitter confrontation with her. "I hope you were not planning to wait dinner for them, Hector. They could be quite late."

"Si, we will eat now, but I will make certain there is food waiting for them in the kitchen when they return," Hector promised.

It was late when Rob and Tony returned to the estancia. Luz sat tensely in front of the small television set in a corner of the living room, indifferent to the Spanish program being broadcast. When she heard the front door open and boisterous, laughing voices in the entry hall, she made herself remain in the chair. She waited until the approaching footsteps entered the living room, then rose and turned to meet her son. His laughing smile never faded when he saw her, but the defiant glitter in his dark eyes mocked her for waiting up for him.

"Where is everyone?" Tony Lamberti stared at the half-dozen occupants lounging in the living room.

"They've retired to their rooms for the night," Luz replied, aware Raul was among those who had gone upstairs in the last half hour. "It is late," she reminded Rob pointedly and advanced toward the wide doors to the hall. "I believe there is food in the kitchen for you. I'll let Hector know you've returned."

"Don't bother," Rob said. "I'm not hungry."

"Me neither, seora," Tony echoed. "We have already had something. Is that not so, Rob?"

Rob grinned at his companion. "We sure did."

"In that case ..." Luz paused, turning slightly to face him. "I'd like a private word with you, Rob."

Tony mockingly clicked his tongue at Rob. "Your madre is upset with you. You are a bad boy for staying out so late, no?" He gave Rob a shove, pushing him toward Luz. "You must tell her how sorry you are. You do not want her to be angry with you." He walked away laughing, mocking Rob for being a mama's boy.

Reluctantly and defiantly, Rob walked over to her. She had the distinct feeling he'd been drinking, although she could smell no alcohol on his breath. "Where do you want to have this 'private word'?"

"In here." She walked stiffly to the game room, waited until Rob followed her in, then closed the doors. He wandered over to the pool table and began rolling the billiard b.a.l.l.s across the felt-covered slate.

"What is it you want? As if I didn't know."

"We need to clear up this business about Raul." Luz caught the ball he was rolling, obtaining Rob's attention. "I was under the impression that you thought a lot of him."

"Yeah, as a polo player." Rob straightened from his bent position. "But if you couldn't stand not having a man, I don't see why you had to pick him."

"I like him, Rob." At the moment, that was as far as it went. Their relationship was more physical than emotional. They enjoyed a s.e.xual intimacy, but they weren't together for long enough periods for it to have advanced very far beyond that. Luz cared for him, but she wasn't sure how much. It hadn't been important to find out yet. "But you are my son. I love you. Nothing-no man-will ever change that."

"Yeah." He picked up another ball and rolled it between his hands.

"That is the truth."

"So you're going to keep sleeping with him, is that it?" A sideways fling of his hand sent the ball careening wildly around the table. "Go ahead. In the meantime, I'm going to pick his brains clean. I'm going to be a better polo player than he ever dreamed of being. I can do it, you know." He tilted his head, a smug confidence in his look. "You'll see. I'm going to be the best."

"And I'll always be there, Rob." She wanted to rea.s.sert his importance to her.

"Yeah." He thrust his hands inside his jacket pockets. "If that's all you wanted to talk to me about, I'll go to my room now."

"That's all, I guess." Containing a sigh, Luz decided this grudging acceptance of the situation was the most she could expect from Rob for the time being. Later maybe he'd understand, and there wouldn't be this wedge between them.