The Ring The Spaniard Gave Her - Lynne Graham Page 0,39

to quit. One and done was his pattern. He took a woman for one night and treated her like a queen for that night but there were no repeats, no extended interludes. He didn’t get involved in relationships. He had tried a couple of times, but within the space of a handful of dates the women concerned would get on his nerves and begin assuming that they were more important to him than they were and then he had to let them down gently. In truth, he didn’t like hurting people, women in particular, and some individuals, like Liliana, were dangerously fragile. It was easier simply to stick to one-night stands. Nobody misunderstood what was on offer then and nobody got hurt.

But, unfortunately, one experience of Suzy hadn’t been enough to satisfy him. He hadn’t even got a whole night with her. And worst of all, every moment of that impulsive, hasty encounter was etched on his mind like a scar. From her point of view, it must have been a pretty poor introduction to sex and that dented his ego and shamed him, but he hadn’t known, couldn’t have guessed that she would be that innocent. Even so, he didn’t believe that let him off the hook. And now he would never have the chance to show her how different it could be. After her experience with her ex and then his own callous words in the aftermath, the last thing Suzy needed now was another man trying to put pressure on her. He had promised that he wouldn’t do that. He had to keep that promise.

Ruy arrived home in time for dinner and found Suzy in the long portrait gallery with Manuel. Manuel was carefully naming pieces of antique furniture in Spanish and correcting Suzy’s pronunciation while giving her a potted history of the characters in the portraits. As most of them had led lives of stultifying boredom, Ruy was surprised to hear her laughter ring out. He was already trying not to let his gaze linger too long on her long shapely legs in denim shorts and the perky tilt of her unbound breasts or even the glorious messy tumble of her curls. That silvery peal of laughter only energised the throb at his groin.

‘Ruy!’ she exclaimed when she noticed him, tall and dark and devastatingly handsome in his silvery grey designer suit.

Manuel smiled and left them alone.

‘Poor Manuel,’ Suzy sighed. ‘He thinks you’re going to marry me and so he’s trying to get my Spanish up to speed and educate me about your home and your ancestors.’

‘My family were bankers to royalty for centuries. That’s just about all you need to know. What made you laugh?’

‘The one who had a whole string of wives,’ Suzy confided, an irrepressible twinkle in her bright eyes. ‘Your family’s version of Henry the Eighth.’

‘Except Diego’s five unfortunate wives died in childbirth,’ Ruy explained.

‘I suppose back then that was very common,’ Suzy remarked thoughtfully. ‘Thank goodness it isn’t now.’

‘My mother died in childbirth and my baby sister with her,’ Ruy heard himself admit in argument, startled to hear himself proffering that confidence, but there was something in the freedom with which she spoke and behaved with him that smashed his usual reserve and brought his own barriers crashing down. Somehow she made him want to tell her stuff and he couldn’t explain that to his own satisfaction. ‘It’s less common, but it still happens.’

‘What age were you?’

‘Rigo and I were five. Our world fell apart without her. She was very loving. My father, on the other hand, was more of a “spare the rod and spoil the child” parent.’

‘I’m so sorry. At least I was too young to be aware of my loss and Dad was very caring.’

‘You were fortunate. Our father didn’t have a kind bone in his body. He punished my brother and I for the smallest infraction. I excelled at school, but I still got punished for not doing well enough to please. Rigo, regrettably, was not academic. As you can imagine, he suffered more,’ Ruy told her grimly. ‘My father made Rigo compete with me and never let him forget that I was the elder, the heir, the important son. It destroyed our relationship.’

‘So, you were never close to your twin?’

‘No. He grew up resenting me and that never went away...in our twenties, something occurred that destroyed any hope of a closer relationship.’

‘And what was that?’ Suzy prompted, hungry for more detail, conscious that Ruy rarely spoke