When Thanksgiving Day arrived, Luz discovered she was the nervous one. Raul's calm bordered on indifference. At first she was hurt by his att.i.tude, then she realized family had never played a major role in his life. He hadn't grown up needing their approval, support, or permission. Nor did he seek that from hers, now. He felt none of the pressure that she did.

Precisely at two o'clock they all sat down to an elaborate Thanksgiving meal. Luz knew it was Audra's habit to separate couples when she arranged the seating placements, so she expected her namecard to be at one end of the table and Raul's at the other. She was pleasantly surprised to find him occupying a chair diagonally opposite hers.

After the soup course, the young maid carried in the large platter with the plump golden-brown turkey. Audra signaled her to place it before Ross Carpenter, Mary's husband. Now that Jake was no longer with them, on this second Thanksgiving since his death, and with none of her sons present, the duty of carving the turkey was given to her son-in-law.

"You don't celebrate Thanksgiving in your country, do you, Mr. Buchanan? It's a uniquely American tradition. But I think any occasion that brings a family together is a good one. My family is very important to me, but I am certain that is something you understand, being Spanish yourself." Audra looked every inch the matriarch presiding over the dinner from her chair at the head of the table.

"I am Argentine," Raul politely corrected her. "And I have no family, so perhaps my feelings are not as strong as yours."

"How unfortunate that you have no one but yourself," Audra said sincerely.

"In my profession, I have found it to be an advantage. I have to travel a great deal playing polo, which means I am away for long periods of time. This would be hard on a family."

"But I understand you own a ranch in Argentina."

"I do, but I am there only three or four months a year. I have a man who runs it for me. It is where I raise and train polo ponies, and conduct courses in polo, such as the one Rob took. It is a sideline of my work. That is all, Mrs. Kincaid."

"I understood it was your home." She frowned slightly.

"It is the place where I go," Raul replied, and Luz considered that an accurate description. Although it was the closest he had to a home, she didn't think he had any real attachment to it.

"How sad. My home and my family have always been very important to me. My children know that my doors are always open to them. They always have a place to come. This is their home, too." Audra expounded on her favorite theme while the maid brought the various dishes that accompanied the roast turkey to the table.

"That is what makes a family strong. Over the years others have become a part of us." Audra smiled benignly at the pudgy Ross, then looked rather pointedly at Raul. "But nothing comes between us."

"Well said, Grandmother Kincaid," Rob remarked. It was the first time since Raul's arrival that Rob had even hinted he still felt Raul could alienate Luz's love for him. Audra's message had been more subtle-Raul might join them, but she would not allow him to separate her daughter from the family, specifically herself.

Later, after dinner was over, the adults retired to the living room. Luz noticed Rob and Mary's teenagers heading for the enclosed stairs to the oceanfront cabana where they could play their music without being ha.s.sled about the volume. She moved to intercept him before he reached the stairwell.

"Rob," she said to stop him.

A resentful look flashed across his expression. "I'll be right there," he told the others. When the clatter of footsteps had receded along with the loud sibling banter, Rob turned to her. "I knew you were going to say something to me as soon as I made that remark."

"Then why did you? I thought you understood-"

"I understand. I just wanted to make sure he did," he retorted. "What is it? Do I have to watch everything I say around him or what?"

"Of course you don't."

"Then what are you climbing on me for? I make one innocent remark and you turn it into a federal case," Rob protested.

"I just want the two of you to get along. I thought you were-"

"We are! We're real bosom buddies-polo pals, okay? Satisfied?" It was an angry and impatient challenge.

"Okay, Rob." It wasn't true at all, but Luz knew she would gain nothing from harping on the subject. At least he accepted the situation. She wasn't the only one who had to get used to having a man around the house. She just had to give them more time. "The others are waiting in the cabana for you. You'd better go or you'll miss refereeing their latest squabble."

"How long are we going to have to stay? I'd just as soon get back to the stables."

"Audra will expect us to stay another hour, minimum. We'll go as soon as we can." She straightened his shirt collar with affectionate care, wishing there was something she could say to this lean, raw-boned son of hers that would ease his mind.

"Okay." He turned and headed for the stairwell.

Luz watched him run out of sight down the steps, and she sighed, vaguely discouraged. Rob was so touchy lately, not just with her but with everyone. Yet the other day, she'd seen him at the stables, happy as a lark. She had hoped these mood swings were an adolescent phase he'd outgrow. So far, it didn't appear that he had. If anything, they were getting worse.

"Something wrong?" Mary asked.

Turning, Luz shook her head. "No. It's just Rob." And that said it all. She deliberately changed the subject. "Aren't you going to tell me what you think of Raul?" she asked dryly.

"I like him, actually better than I thought I would. He stood up to Audra rather well. I remember poor Ross the first time I brought him home. He was more intimidated by Audra than by Jake."

"Weren't we all," Luz murmured.

"I left Audra alone in the living room. I'd better be getting back before she thinks the entire family has deserted. Are you coming?" Mary paused by the door.

"Where's Raul?"

"Out on the sun deck smoking a cigar. Maybe we should take up smoking, Luz. I've never tried that excuse." A grin stretched across her handsome features.

"And be lectured on the perils of getting cancer? Spare me," Luz declared mockingly. "Tell Audra I'll be there shortly. I'm just going to check on Raul."

As Mary headed back to the living room, Luz walked to the gla.s.s doors that led to the sun deck. Raul stood at the railing gazing absently at the waves rolling in from the ocean. A sea breeze swirled away the smoke curling from his cigar. The sound of her footsteps on the planked deck reached him, and he turned his head toward her. She walked over to stand beside him and leaned her hands on the rail.

"It was a good dinner," he said.

"The food was excellent." She still wasn't sure about the dinner. "The Kincaids can be overpowering at times," Luz ventured to elicit his reaction.

"So that is your secret." The grooves deepened near his mouth.

She laughed, suddenly rea.s.sured. "You've finally learned it's the Kincaid in me you find so irresistible."

He removed his hand from his pocket and hooked it around her waist, pulling her against him. "Among many other things."

She kissed him lightly, then pulled away to stroke the point of his chin with her finger. "We won't have to stay much longer."

"You want to go?"

"I think you've been exposed long enough to Audra."

"Hector would call her a formidable woman." Raul smiled. "As he also once described you as a tiger cat protecting her kittens."

"Hector?"

"You are like your mother in that respect," he said.

"I'm going to have to think about that awhile before I make up my mind whether it's a compliment or not," Luz accused.

"It is the truth, and truth can be neither flattery nor insult." He kissed the corner of her lips to bring back their softness. "We should go back inside so your mother will not think me rude-or that I am stealing her daughter."

"I suppose we must." She sighed.

"Why do you come if you dislike it?" Raul frowned.

The question surprised her, forcing her to think about her answer. "I guess the truth is I do like coming. Outwardly all of us protest Audra's possessive demands, but we still come. We are all very close, and she's kept it that way. Maybe we don't see each other as often anymore, except Mary and myself, but when we need help, we always go to each other, never strangers. We Kincaids are a tight clique. I know Drew sometimes felt left out at the family gatherings. A lot of the spouses do. It isn't intentional. I guess that's what I came out here to say."

"Perhaps we should go back inside then."

"We should," she agreed reluctantly.

With the holiday weekend over and December just around the corner, Raul spent the following week holding what Luz could only describe as tryouts for the two remaining positions on the polo team he was putting together for Rob, and for himself of course. Many players of the caliber he sought were already committed to other teams. Most of his choices he had contacted while he was still in Argentina. This week he had narrowed that number to six.

"What do you think?" Luz asked as they left the stables to walk back to the house for lunch. Raul's arm was a heavy weight on her shoulders, indicative of the weariness she saw in his face.

"I think I am like a tired horse who needs a warm bath and a good rundown after a hard morning's work." Even his crooked smile showed the strain of effort.

"I meant about the players, as if you didn't know. I thought Brubaker did well when you put him in the defensive slot." She had watched most of the morning's workouts, during which Raul had played riders at various positions, sometimes switching them after a chukkar of play and changing sides occasionally.

"He is steady. He may make a good anchor." But Raul wasn't prepared to commit himself. "I liked Masterson at the Number One position. He has a lot of flash. He could spark the team. However, Rob is against him. He claims Masterson wants to hog all the glory to himself. I admit he does have a tendency to show off."

"Lawless has a good string of polo ponies," Luz remarked.

"The decision is not an easy one." The creases around his eyes crinkled in amus.e.m.e.nt when he saw her trying to weigh the various contributions each player might make. "Many factors must be considered-the player's skill, his style of play, whether it is compatible, his ponies or whether we must supplement his string so he is better mounted. But most of all, is he simpatico?" As they approached the French doors, he took his arm away from her shoulders so Luz could precede him. "After that we must consider how much we will have to pay him."

"Then it comes down to the business of polo. And I wanted to sponsor a team." Luz realized how much more was entailed than she had thought. "Do you want to work this afternoon on selecting which tournaments to enter, so we can come up with a tentative travel schedule and estimate expenses?"

"Yes, and we need to make sure we allow time for the ponies to rest if we have to trailer them any great distance." Upon entering the house, they walked straight through the living room to the foyer.

"That's what bothers me about going from Texas to New York. We might be wiser to catch the Oak Brook Tournaments. I-"

"Excuse me, Luz," Emma Sanderson interrupted, coming into the entry foyer from the galleried hall. "I heard you come in, and I have Connie Davenport on the telephone. She is calling to find out why you haven't RSVPed her party invitation. She's concerned whether you've received it. What should I tell her?"

Luz paused and glanced at Raul. "It's her annual millioncalorie pre-Christmas party," she explained while studying him with a considering look. "I suppose I can't keep you to myself forever, can I?" she said, half in jest, then responded to Emma. "Tell her we'll come."

"Very well. I'll put it on your calendar for Sat.u.r.day," she said and retreated into the hallway.

"I hope you don't mind going." Luz slipped her hand in his as they started up the great oak staircase. "I know you aren't much for parties."

Strangely, she hadn't missed the social whirl. Once her world had revolved completely around it. If she hadn't been planning an event herself, she'd been going to this one or that Now her time was occupied with so many other things, most of it involving the business of polo, whether it was horses or players or the logistics of transporting ponies and equipment from one city to the next.

"Some parties are not as bad as others. It depends on the company." Raul gave her one of his warm, lazy looks that always seemed like a caress.

"I know exactly what they're going to say when they see you with me. 'That lucky Luz Thomas. You might know she'd find somebody like him. She's a Kincaid,'" she mocked. "Oh, the tongues will wag."

Suddenly she was looking forward to the party. The revenge was going to be sweet after all the pitying looks she'd had to endure when Drew left her. She could hardly wait to see their faces when they saw Raul. This was one party she was going to enjoy thoroughly. No more was she "poor Luz."

Upon entering the bedroom they shared, she directed Raul toward the bath. "Take that hot shower. Afterward, we'll see about that rubdown."

CHAPTER XXVII.

Cars were stacked along the driveway, and the grand house blazed with lights. Garlands of green spiraled down the white columns of the front portico, and a huge wreath of ribbon-tied pine boughs hung on the door. Luz elected to stay in the car with Raul while he found a place to park instead of being dropped off at the entrance. There wasn't any way she was going to walk into the party without him.

m.u.f.fled sounds of the party in progress filtered through as Raul rang the doorbell. Luz ran an admiring glance over the flattering cut of his dark suit. She faced the door, feeling proud and confident.

One of the catering staff admitted them into the house. As Luz surrendered her long cloak to him, she was conscious of the flash of sequins that striped the red silk georgette of her tunic-style dress, the yoke beaded with linked squares. The eye-catching choice had been deliberate.

"Luz! It's been ages since I've seen you!" The gushing greeting came from the plump, rounded Connie Davenport, approaching to welcome them to her house. "You look stunning in that dress-all Christmas and glittery. And who is this?" she asked without drawing a breath, then murmured conspiratorially. "Is this him?"

Luz's lips twitched with the smile she tried to contain. "Connie, this is Raul Buchanan. Our hostess, Connie Davenport."

"I swear I'm going to start attending the polo matches at the club. I feel like I'm the only one who didn't know who you were." She hung on to his hands with her pudgy fingers. "Oh, Luz, no wonder you kept him hidden away all this time. He's wonderful!"

"You are very kind, Mrs. Davenport." Raul gently pulled away his hand.

"My G.o.d, that voice." Connie shivered in exaggerated reaction. "It makes me feel like the creamy center of a bonbon." The doorbell rang, announcing the latest arrivals. "I'm sure you know everyone here, Luz. I invited Drew, but he called and begged off at the last minute. He couldn't find a sitter. Isn't that hysterical? At his age!" She backed toward the door. "Remember the rules of the party. If you're on a diet or restricted foods, you must leave immediately. Everything here is full of calories and cholesterol. The eggnog, I promise, is made with pure cream. Enjoy!"

"She means it," Luz warned in an undertone as she linked her arm with Raul's and started toward the main room. "Everything here is probably a thousand calories a bite ... or swallow. Food is her pa.s.sion-the richer the better. She's the only woman I know who comes to a party and wants to take the leftovers home."

Christmas decorations adorned the large room, dominated by a huge tree with gingerbread men and candy canes hanging from its silver-garlanded branches. Candy dishes of every shape and size, mounded with a mult.i.tudinous a.s.sortment of confectioneries, sat on every flat surface in the room except the floor. Guests crowded the room, sitting or standing in cl.u.s.ters, the sweet temptations around them.

As Luz and Raul entered the room, a tall, thin woman in a beaded green dress that appeared to weigh more than she did immediately stopped them. "Luz, darling. Should I dare ask where you've been keeping yourself?" Her throaty greeting was accompanied by a slyly knowing look.

"h.e.l.lo, Veronica. I'm surprised Connie allowed you to come."

"I explained that the doctor said I had to gain weight, and she loved the idea of fattening me up."

"I don't believe you've met Raul," Luz began.

"Actually I have, although I don't know if he remembers me." She placed her long, bone-thin fingers in his hand. "It was last year at Chet Martin's party when he won the Kincaid Cup. I'm Veronica Hampton."

"Of course." Raul bowed slightly over her hand, his expression polite, but showing no recognition.

"It was prophetic, wasn't it?" she said to Luz. "When you decided to stay so long in Argentina, I guessed the reason. Who wouldn't if you had a chance of bringing home something like him? I won't ask if you enjoyed yourself."

Luz chatted for a few minutes more with Veronica, then made an excuse to move on. "Raul and I haven't been to the bar yet for our cup of Christmas spirit. We'll talk again later."

"Better keep an eye on him," Veronica warned.

As they moved away, Luz leaned close to Raul and murmured, "I hope she does listen to her doctor and gain some weight. Otherwise she is going to prove that the is part of diet."

She was aware of the heads turning to look at them. Inwardly she was pleased at the stir she was creating with Raul at her side. She knew she was smiling like a contented cat. Which was just the way she felt. When they neared a small group of guests standing by the buffet table, Luz recognized the flaming red hair of one of them.