The Ring The Spaniard Gave Her - Lynne Graham Page 0,27

ensnared in the ongoing problem of Percy as she was?

‘You have to apply for a non-molestation order to keep Brenton at a distance but first you must report the original assault to the police,’ Ruy told her firmly. ‘You really can’t afford to wait to do that now.’

‘No,’ Suzy conceded with a shudder, her ex’s second attempt to assault her having shaken her up badly and made her appreciate that she did need the law to protect her.

‘It’ll take an hour for the solicitor I’ve instructed to arrive.’

‘I don’t know why you would be instructing a solicitor to help me,’ Suzy told him flatly, shooting him a bemused glance. ‘You know your moods change like the wind, Ruy. One minute you’re Mr Nice guy, the next—’

Watching her warily, Ruy expelled his breath in a hiss. ‘Will you allow me to apologise and explain?’

Suzy stiffened and flushed; her expressive eyes carefully veiled. ‘You don’t need to explain anything to me.’

‘I apologise for what I said upstairs,’ Ruy murmured in a driven undertone, thoroughly surprising her with that candid opening.

‘Unfortunately,’ he continued flatly, ‘after an experience I had with a woman eight years ago, I’m a little paranoid about having sex with a virgin.’

‘A little?’ Suzy stressed. ‘Anyone could have been forgiven for thinking I was ready to set a wedding date!’

But his frankness and the speed of his apology had already struck a reassuring note with Suzy. Clearly, Ruy had faults and baggage just as she did, a little voice piped up inside her head, and he was strong enough to admit those facts. He had helped her, had dealt with Percy and was still fully committed to ensuring that she stayed safe. Yes, Ruy had also said stuff he shouldn’t have said and made assumptions that he was not entitled to make, but if he was willing to explain she decided she would listen even if it was only out of curiosity. Stiff with nervous tension, she dropped down on the edge of a sofa and studied him with caution.

Ruy was currently engaged in buttoning the shirt he had put on with his jeans. He had been bare-chested when he repelled Percy, the shirt fluttering loose. He was now covering that broad slice of bronzed muscular torso. As a little spark of heat awakened low in her belly, she turned pink and swiftly averted her attention from him. ‘Eight years ago, you must have been quite young,’ she remarked uncomfortably.

‘I was twenty-two,’ Ruy admitted flatly. ‘I took a woman home from a club one evening. She was a virgin and afterwards she spooked me by announcing that she had always known that we would make a wonderful couple. I had never met her before and, at that age, I was more into one-night stands than anything else. Regrettably, she decided that that one night constituted a relationship and she turned into a stalker, who caused me a lot of trouble and unhappiness.’

‘Oh, my goodness,’ Suzy groaned in surprise and sympathy at his explanation.

‘So perhaps you can now understand why I forgot my manners for a moment with you and dived straight into mistrust. What happened with that woman did a lot of damage to my life. Since then I have generally been much more careful about the women I take as lovers and they have, until now, always been more mature and experienced.’

‘I think the lady’s problems had very little to do with her lack of sexual experience.’

‘You’re right, but that lack was the only thing that made her different from her predecessors. I’m afraid discovering your innocence unleashed my worst memories.’

‘I can understand that...now that I know about your past,’ Suzy extended, wanting to ask him more about his stalking experience, but, sensing that he had shared as much as he felt comfortable sharing with her, she reluctantly suppressed her curiosity.

‘Now go upstairs and put your boots on. We’re going to the police station,’ Ruy informed her.

‘Right now?’ she gasped.

‘No better time.’

Apprehensive at the prospect of reporting Percy to the police, Suzy got to her feet, ruefully amused that she had left her boots upstairs and had been running around in her socks without realising it. Putting on her boots, she came down again clutching her bag and tossing it into the car that Ruy stood beside.

‘You’ll feel relieved when it’s done,’ he assured her confidently.

Some time later Suzy emerged from the police station, answering the urbane solicitor, Ellis Johnson’s query about the nearest good hotel. The imaginary weight