The Ring The Spaniard Gave Her - Lynne Graham Page 0,36

a stewardess appeared. Deeply flushed, Suzy backed down into her seat again and sat there frozen in place while refreshments and snacks were served. She was so angry she was trembling with the force of her feelings. On one level she knew that Ruy was right. He had saved the pub from her ex’s machinations. He had made her father’s life a lot easier by releasing him from years of worry about money. But, ultimately, she was convinced that Ruy had bought into the pub to ensure that Suzy agreed to model for him and accompanied him out to Spain to pose as his fiancée.

‘Yes, what you did may have delivered a happy result for my father, but it doesn’t change the unscrupulous way you operate. You bought into the pub to put pressure on me.’

‘I bought into the pub to take pressure off you,’ Ruy stressed curtly.

‘I had the right to know your true identity before I slept with you,’ Suzy sliced back at him sharply.

‘It was casual sex, Suzy...not a life-changing choice!’ Ruy raked back at her cuttingly.

Her face flamed at the wounding reminder. What had meant a great deal to her had meant considerably less to him and that hurt, yes, it did, no matter how hard she resented that reality. Ruy had lied to her and that scared her and made her very wary, particularly after she had innocently chosen to trust Percy. She had already suffered the knowledge that she was not that perfect a judge of character and she knew she needed to be more careful.

‘Yes, it worked out so well for you when you ended up bedding a stalker!’ Suzy reminded him helplessly, needled by the statement that their encounter had been casual on his terms when it had been anything but casual for her when he had become her first lover.

A muscle pulled taut at the corner of Ruy’s unsmiling mouth. ‘You slept with me because you wanted me. It would have been wrong had I been married or concealing some other relevant fact that you needed to know, but I wasn’t.’

‘I wouldn’t have chosen to become intimate with a guy so far removed from my own world!’ Suzy retorted fiercely.

‘That’s inverse snobbery,’ Ruy countered, marvelling at the stubborn manner in which she held onto her ire, refusing to be soothed or to accept that he had done nothing wrong.

‘No, it’s not. You’re rich and I should’ve worked that out for myself because you don’t really hide it that well. You’re very arrogant. You think you can buy whatever you want and that your wishes and needs are more important than other people’s. You rearranged my life and my father’s purely to suit yourself.’

‘It suited you as well,’ Ruy incised coolly, all logic and calm, which only increased the frustrated rage she was suppressing.

‘Oh, shut up!’ Suzy finally launched at him in exasperation, ramming down the hurt feelings tugging at her that he was not the man she had naively assumed he was. Once again, she had made the wrong judgement call and that scared her. ‘I’ve heard enough of your smooth, specious arguments. You could probably talk your way out of murder but I’m not listening any more!’

And with that ultimate strike, Suzy rose from her seat, swiped up the magazines the stewardess had brought her and stalked to the end of that section of cabin to sit out of his view. Ruy brooded on his rage, even white teeth gritted. He was very wealthy, he had always been wealthy, and he supposed a certain level of arrogance and selfishness afflicted most men in his position. He was accustomed to getting his own way. He was used to paying more to get it too, it being his experience that those he dealt with expected him to pay more because he could afford it. How was that wrong?

What difference did his status in life make to her? Would she honestly have rejected him had she known that he was rich? And why was she the very first woman in his life to fight with him over the reality that he was as rich as Midas? The first woman to criticise him...aside of Cecile. And his sister adored him and only offered occasional nuggets of unwelcome truth in an effort to improve his character.

‘I have a business call to make,’ Ruy informed her as he came to a halt in the archway next to her seat. ‘But before I leave, allow me to