AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER NINE
‘YOULOOKFANTASTIC,’ Ruy murmured as Suzy emerged from the dressing room, a flirty net fascinator anchored in her vibrant curls. She was an amazingly sexy vision. No man in the world would wonder why he was with such a beauty. That emerald-green shade accentuated her translucent skin and vibrant curls.
Her elegant gown, with its strategic panelled splits, revealed an occasional discreet flash of long shapely calf and tiny feet shod in high-heeled shoes that were a curious mix of bondage boot and sandal, with narrow straps that bared her toes while accentuating the delicacy of her ankles. ‘I notice that you’re not wearing any jewellery.’
‘I’m wearing the engagement ring, but I decided it was best not to borrow anything from that chest,’ Suzy told him gently. ‘I’m not a member of the family and it would be tasteless of me to be seen flaunting any of it before we were married. Your brother’s bride would have more excuse than I would have.’
‘The collection was offered to her and refused,’ Ruy sliced in coolly. ‘Of course, Rigo is marrying an heiress and the bride probably has her own inherited gems to flaunt.’
Suzy flushed a little. ‘I wasn’t being rude. I just don’t think it would be appropriate for me to be showing it off in my current role. You’ve told me nothing about the woman your brother is marrying. Tell me more,’ she urged, keen to leave the topic of the jewellery she had rejected behind.
‘Her name is Mercedes Hernandez Ortega. She’s the only child of a prominent industrialist and well known for her charity work. I’ve never met her because she’s more in your age group than mine. As my father would have said, however, in a worldly sense, Rigo has done very well for himself this time.’
‘This time?’ she questioned as they walked downstairs.
‘This is Rigo’s second marriage,’ Ruy admitted rather stiffly.
‘He’s divorced?’
‘Widowed,’ Ruy corrected. ‘His first marriage wasn’t a happy one, though.’
‘Well, then, it’s lovely that he’s met someone else and that he wasn’t soured by his first experience,’ Suzy declared in that upbeat way of hers, so very different from his own more pessimistic outlook on relations between the sexes.
Ruy was almost tempted to say that his twin had been very much soured by his first marital venture and that he had put all the blame and responsibility for that failure squarely on his brother’s shoulders. But he didn’t want to talk about the past or dig up its ugly secrets, particularly not on a day when he was hoping his sibling, Rigo, had finally chosen to move on from that divisive past into a new era. That Ruy had even been invited to share his brother’s big day signalled a very positive change in attitude. Even so, he would have felt a lot less comfortable attending without a woman of his own by his side.
The wedding ceremony was taking place in a huge church in Seville. It was late afternoon as they walked in the sunshine into the big building and the instant she crossed the threshold Suzy felt as if every eye in the place swivelled in her direction. A moment later she caught the whispers about ‘la pelirroja’—the redhead—and faint self-conscious colour mantled her cheeks as she sank into her seat. Ruy was a wealthy, important man in Spanish society, she reminded herself. Naturally the sudden appearance of an English fiancée, whom no one had ever met, would rouse considerable curiosity.
She studied the bridegroom waiting at the altar. Rodrigo’s features were similar enough to Ruy’s for Suzy to have guessed his identity, but he was less ruggedly masculine than Ruy, his build finer and he was more edgy in the fashion stakes, with his trendy-cut narrow suit and his long hair in a ponytail worn with a jewelled clasp. His bride came down the aisle in a flowing off-the-shoulder dress, her pretty face wreathed in smiles. She was a small curvy brunette with big brown eyes.
Afterwards, when Ruy greeted his brother in the crush that formed outside on the steps, Suzy immediately recognised the tension between the two men. It was there in the tightening of Rigo’s mouth, the rather forced smile, and in the taut flex of Ruy’s braced fingers against her spine. Ruy introduced her and she did feel as though her presence and the many questions asked of her got them all through what might have been an awkward moment. Mercedes recognised the tension as well and she was beaming and very talkative, chattering freely about her last trip to London. Suzy didn’t dare tell the bride that she had only visited London twice in her entire life and that one of those occasions had been to attend a funeral. She had no knowledge whatsoever of the luxury hotel where Mercedes had stayed or of the designer shops she had enjoyed.
‘How long is it since you last spoke to your brother?’ Suzy asked in the limo that collected them outside the church.
‘Several years,’ he said stiffly.
‘And how do you feel now?’
‘Relieved that that first awkward meeting is over,’ Ruy revealed flatly. ‘I suspect I have his bride to thank for my invitation. I could see that she was very keen to stress the family connection.’
‘Like me she has no siblings and she is probably struggling to understand the situation between you and Rigo.’
‘I’m sure Mercedes is as well acquainted with the gossip as everyone else,’ Ruy commented in a decidedly raw undertone.
Suzy stilled. ‘What gossip?’
‘It’s nothing that you need to concern yourself with,’ Ruy parried, exasperating her by putting up an immediate stone wall.
‘If other people know whatever it is, shouldn’t I know too?’
‘If we were genuinely engaged to be married, yes,’ Ruy agreed, cutting her to the quick with that blunt distinction. ‘But as we’re not, my past is not your concern.’
Painful colour flooded Suzy’s face and she twisted her head away to look out of the windows at the busy streets of Seville as evening fell. Slowly the colour ebbed from her cheeks again, but she still felt quite sick at being slapped down so hard for her curiosity. Well, that was putting her in her place and no mistake, wasn’t it?
Without warning, Ruy closed a hand over hers. ‘I’m sorry. I’m in a filthy mood,’ he breathed in a savage undertone. ‘I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. You deserve better from me. I simply don’t want to revisit the past because what’s in the past can’t be changed and that frustrates me.’
Suzy snaked her fingers back from his with the instinctive recoil of hurt pride and mortification. ‘That’s all right. I understand,’ she told him.
Ruy settled gleaming dark eyes on her in reproach. ‘Please forgive me,’ he urged.
