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He wasn’t the man she had believed he was, she reminded herself fiercely, heartbroken at the idea that he could have behaved so badly. He was neither loyal nor trustworthy. He was a cheater, and a man who would cheat with his brother’s wife would probably be unfaithful in future relationships as well. Of course, there was a chance that that vindictive woman had been lying, but Ruy’s own refusal to discuss the gossip he had acknowledged had convinced Suzy that there had to be a nasty secret in his past, one that, quite understandably, he didn’t wish to discuss.
But what sort of judge was she of any man? Particularly after her foolish trust in Percy? That had been a big fail on her part, and she couldn’t forget how naïve she had been.
Why was she so angry with Ruy, though? It wasn’t as though she had been in the running for something more serious with him. But she was disappointed in him, disappointed in herself, convinced that she should have sensed that moral vacuum inside him or at least suspected that Ruy didn’t share her basic moral values. That discovery made him a lot less desirable, she told herself firmly. Or at least it should’ve done, she registered, gripped with anguish when he closed his hand over hers to walk her out onto the formal loggia where drinks and coffee awaited them following the leisurely lunch, which under Manuel’s watch was conducted with many courses and great ceremony.
Time was running out for her and Ruy like sand running through an egg timer, leading to the inevitable separation. But if she had any real pride, she would be eager to leave him, she told herself urgently. It didn’t help that she was simply devastated to credit that he could have slept with his brother’s wife.
‘I wish Cecile hadn’t had to work. She always lightens the atmosphere on her visits,’ Ruy breathed with a frown, but his tolerance also showed her that he was very generous towards his demanding relatives. ‘You seem very...stressed, tense—’
‘I haven’t much experience of being on show like this,’ Suzy pointed out in a taut whisper, drawing her head back from his proximity as the achingly familiar scent of his cologne and his skin enveloped her. ‘And why would Cecile have made the effort to attend? She knows that this event is only an unlucky consequence of you having persuaded me to act a part at your brother’s wedding. She knows we’re a fake.’
‘Not quite as fake as you’re suggesting when I don’t want you to go home,’ Ruy disconcerted her by declaring with the utmost calm. ‘I want you to stay.’
Utterly taken aback by that astonishing statement, Suzy momentarily froze. ‘You’re not done painting me yet?’ she hazarded with a stilted laugh.
‘Probably not but that’s not the only reason,’ Ruy breathed, shooting her a narrow-eyed appraisal that questioned her attitude. ‘What’s the matter with you?’
‘I suppose I’m homesick. I can’t wait to see Dad,’ Suzy exclaimed in desperation, ranging away a few feet from his tall, still frame, determined not to let him pierce her defences, weak as they were.
‘You won’t consider remaining here with me?’ Ruy prompted on a dangerous note, his dark deep accented drawl dropping in pitch, purring down her spine like a caress.
Suzy lifted her chin. ‘It’s not possible. I think we’ve run our course, don’t you?’
And with that she lifted the coffee poured for her and strolled away. It wasn’t hard to sidestep Ruy in a family gathering. As soon as she stepped away, his relations closed in and clumped around him like a wall, full of deference and desperate for his attention. They told him about business upsets, family problems and financial challenges. Over lunch he had promised to check out the fiancé one of the daughters was planning to marry, had agreed to look over a cousin’s business plan and had promised to contact a friend to help a son find a suitable job. It was ironic that she had begun to see exactly how Ruy had developed his arrogant belief that he could solve every problem in her path. His family had convinced him that he was all-seeing, all-knowing, the ultimate oracle.
Even so, his tolerance of those same demands impressed her with his generosity although she did see why he guarded his privacy because his relatives recognised few boundaries.
Yet how had those same prim and prudish aunts and uncles overlooked his behaviour with Rodrigo’s first wife? Had they simply closed their eyes? Did their reverence for his social position, his wealth and his spectacular success excuse every flaw he had in their estimation?
The younger generation of his many cousins chatted casually to her and she talked freely to them, admitting that she hadn’t had the chance to further her education but that she was still hoping to rectify that oversight. But at the back of her mind, she couldn’t really think of anything but Ruy and the suggestion he had made that she stay on in Spain in his home.
What on earth was he proposing? And why had he waited until the eleventh hour to mention it? Of course, the wedding had taken up the whole of the previous day and evening and there had not been an opportunity for them to talk about anything serious. But then, Ruy didn’t do serious, so what was he talking about? She had a life to live and it wasn’t in Spain. Most probably he found their liaison convenient. The sex was off-the-charts amazing and wasn’t that, according to popular report, what the average guy reputedly valued the most? In addition, she made no demands on him. High colour mantled her cheeks at the humiliation of such thoughts in which she was reduced to rating her precise value like some product and she lifted her bright head high as she smiled at the last departing guests.
‘Now perhaps you’ll tell me what’s wrong with you,’ Ruy breathed in the marble hall.
‘I have to pack,’ Suzy told him with urgency.
Impervious to the hint that she intended to be very busy, Ruy followed her upstairs. He strode into the bedroom. ‘I ask you to stay on and you don’t even want to discuss it?’ he pressed incredulously.
‘It’s not possible,’ Suzy told him, hauling her case out in the dressing room, wishing he weren’t able to see that it was almost fully packed already. ‘Thank you for the offer but I’m saying no, we’re done.’
‘Why?’Ruy demanded rawly, swiping the heavy case from her and planting it noisily down on the luggage rack in the bedroom. ‘Why wouldn’t it be possible?’
Suzy felt trapped. She hadn’t wanted such a confrontation, had seen no advantage to it, indeed had only foreseen future repercussions. ‘It just wouldn’t be,’ she muttered evasively.
She yanked comfy clothes out of her case and carried them into the bathroom, closing and locking the door for privacy.
‘I want... I need an answer,’ Ruy growled outside the door.
Suzy stripped off the dress and pulled on yoga pants and a loose sleeveless sweatshirt. She was all shaky. She didn’t want to leave the bathroom, but she was no coward. Breathing in deep, she padded out again barefoot, to head back to her case to dig out canvas shoes.
‘I don’t want to talk about this with you,’ she warned him stiffly.
‘I’m afraid you have no choice but to talk about it. That jet won’t take off until I get an answer,’ Ruy spelt out flatly.
That hard assurance warned her that there was no way she would be getting home without satisfying his curiosity, but she was still very reluctant to tackle so controversial a topic with a male she knew to be fiercely private and determined not to confide in her.
‘Suzy...’ Ruy breathed.
