The Ring The Spaniard Gave Her - Lynne Graham Page 0,16

was not personally responsible for the profound luxury of their surroundings. The property wasn’t in a fashionable area and although the rooms were very spacious there didn’t seem to be that many of them. The house was a quirky one-off, so possibly he had got it cheap, she reasoned. On the other hand, equally possibly, he was a very successful artist. How would she know? That she had not recognised his name meant nothing because she had no knowledge of the art world.

‘The woods sold it for me more than anything else,’ Ruy told her. ‘Now, some things you said earlier today have worried me and I can’t pretend you didn’t say them. You said Brenton had too much power and that he would pile on the pressure and threaten you. Aside from the assault, why are you so frightened of the man?’

Suzy flushed from cheek to temple, the heat of mortification engulfing her in a tide, for she hadn’t realised just how much she had revealed while she was in the grip of hypothermia. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t discuss that.’

Undaunted, Ruy stretched his big powerful body back into his seat and lifted his dark head high, narrowed dark eyes of astonishing intensity locked to her. ‘Does it relate to your father’s ownership of the village pub?’ he enquired smoothly. ‘I’ve already learned that Brenton has a reputation for unscrupulous behaviour and that his financial dealings may be questionable.’

Hugely disconcerted by that statement, Suzy was grateful when the door opened and an older woman bustled in with plates. The interruption was welcome but at the same time Suzy was desperate to know how Ruy had acquired such information, bearing in mind that she had lived in the area all her life and had not heard so much as a whisper of such rumours.

‘Who told you that about Percy?’ she pressed as soon as they were alone again.

‘When I make financial enquiries, I have good sources.’ Ruy shook out his napkin with infuriating cool. ‘Let us enjoy our meal.’

Fizzing with frustration, Suzy settled her attention on her tomato and mozzarella first course and ate with an appetite that surprised her. Only when she thought about it did she recall that she had skipped her evening meal the night before and breakfast that morning and had only had the sandwich that Ruy had given her. Yet it felt to her as though weeks had passed since the previous day, because the future she had expected had suddenly vanished and she had no idea what would take the place of her acting as Percy’s wife. She supposed that after they had lost the pub she and her father would move to the nearest town in search of employment.

The main course, another sophisticated dish, arrived and Ruy offered her wine with the quip that Cecile wasn’t present to police her.

‘I’ve still got a bit of a headache and I took painkillers, so no, thanks, for the moment.’

‘Now,’ Ruy breathed with blistering assurance. ‘Enlighten me about your father’s financial dealings with your ex.’

‘How on earth do you even know that he has dealings?’ Suzy exclaimed, dropping her knife and fork with a clatter to emphasise her annoyance.

‘I refuse to believe that love had anything to do with your planned marriage to Brenton,’ Ruy intoned drily. ‘By nature, he’s a thug and a bully.’

‘You only met him for about ten seconds!’ Suzy snatched at her glass of water to occupy her restless hands, unnerved by Ruy’s steady stubborn persistence. ‘How could you even know that?’

A grim light shadowed Ruy’s gaze at that question. Being raised by a bully had made it very easy for him to recognise the warning signs. He had not had a pleasant childhood but, in many ways, his more sensitive twin brother, unable to handle their father’s lacerating tongue, had suffered much more in failing to meet the standards that Armando Valiente demanded.

‘Just tell me the truth, because you have to confide in someone.’

‘No, I don’t.’ Suzy sucked in a ragged breath and picked up her cutlery again with determination.

‘And you have to stop being scared for long enough to go to the police,’ Ruy contended.

Colour flooded the pallor that had spread across her small stiff face. ‘I want to go to the police...but I daren’t do it,’ she muttered shakily.

‘Tell me why not,’ Ruy prodded afresh.

And a tempestuous mixture of desperation and resentment assailed Suzy. Green eyes flashed with defensiveness and she lifted her chin as though daring him to judge