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‘Her poison couldn’t have fallen on more fertile ground,’ Raul remarked grimly when she had finished speaking. ‘That first night she joined us for dinner I watched her with you, and I was immediately suspicious of her behaviour. She was too friendly towards you and too flirtatious with me...you should have come straight to me with the truth. When you said nothing, I thought I might’ve misjudged her.’
Polly grimaced, suddenly feeling such a total idiot. ‘I didn’t want you to think I was jealous again.’
Firmly closing a determined hand over hers, Raul took her back indoors through the entrance that led into his suite of offices.
‘How much proof do you need to trust me?’ Raul challenged. ‘We are about to face Melina together!’
At that disconcerting announcement, Polly gulped.
‘I sent the maid to tell Melina that I wanted to see her in private.’
Raul thrust open the door before them. Melina was inside, lounging back against Raul’s desk. She straightened with a bright smile that froze round the edges, her brow furrowing, when she saw Polly.
‘After all the lies you’ve told, I’m amazed that you can look either of us in the face,’ Raul drawled in icy condemnation.
Taken aback by that direct opening, Melina’s eyes rounded. ‘What are you—?’
‘I’ve been more than fair to you,’ Raul cut in. ‘When you came to me last year, distraught about your financial problems, I was sympathetic.’
Two high spots of red now burned in Melina’s cheeks. ‘I wanted more than sympathy, Raul!’
‘I paid you to act as my hostess when I entertained here. You were excellent in the role, but it was strictly a business arrangement.’
Melina’s face twisted with fury. ‘If it hadn’t been for her and that wretched child we would’ve ended up with a lot more than a business arrangement—’
‘There was never any question of that,’ Raul dismissed with stark impatience. ‘Dios mío... I learned my lesson with you at nineteen, but I was willing to help you as a friend. The lies you’ve fed Polly...and attempted to feed me...merely prove that you haven’t changed at all, Melina.’
‘I don’t know what you see in her!’ Melina raged at him incredulously. ‘I should have been your wife!’
‘You wouldn’t know love if it smacked you in the face,’ Raul responded with contempt. ‘Greed and ambition are no more attractive to me now than they were years ago.’
Melina reddened, sent him a look of loathing, and then seemed to collect herself. Tossing her head high, she parted her lips, but Raul got in first. ‘I expect you to vacate your present accommodation by the end of the month. I won’t be renewing the lease and you are no longer welcome here. A car will take you home.’
Without another word, Raul swept Polly back out of the room. Her legs felt hollow and butterflies were dancing in her tummy. She could not credit what a fool she had been to listen to the other woman’s insidious lies. ‘She’s never been your mistress...’
‘We had a brief affair when I was nineteen,’ Raul admitted grimly. ‘Although I didn’t know it, I was far from being her only lover at the time. She’s several years older than me. I was infatuated with her, but I wasn’t a complete fool. Melina couldn’t hide her greed. No matter what I gave her, she wanted more. When she realised I had no plans to marry her, she married a wealthy industrialist in his sixties—’
‘And he died?’
‘No, she’s been married twice. Her first husband divorced her; the second died, leaving her in debt.’
‘And that’s when she came to you for help?’
Raul nodded, his jawline squaring. ‘I should’ve known better than to take pity on her, gatita. She was always a bitch.’
‘She resented me...she was just furious that you’d married me...’
‘Dios mío, I didn’t even realise that she was hoping I might become involved with her again. I’m not attracted to her now, but she can be amusing company.’
‘I’ve been an idiot,’ Polly mumbled ruefully.
‘I should’ve made you tell me the truth. Your silence protected her.’
They returned to the party. Polly was light-headed with relief but thoroughly humbled by the awareness that she had been very naive in her dealings with Melina, and that it had taken Raul to sort it all out. OK, she had finally surrendered to the need to tell him the truth, but it had taken her too long to reach that point.
She wanted so much to be alone with Raul then, but it was impossible with so many people around. It was near dawn before the last of their guests dispersed. By then Polly felt stressed out emotionally, riven with guilt that she had so misjudged Raul and appalled that he knew of the suspicions she had cherished. And, worst of all, how could she have reacted as she had when he’d talked about loving her? Hadn’t he already shown in lots of ways that he cared about her, desired her, enjoyed her company? So maybe that still didn’t quite amount to her estimation of love, but it was probably as close as she was likely to get to being loved!
Raul thrust the bedroom door shut behind him, his screened gaze zeroing in on her aimless stance in the middie of the carpet ‘I wish every one of our guests would evaporate,’ he admitted with real fervour.
