so freely with her.
‘Rigo was addicted to drugs for a while. I don’t wish to share his history,’ Ruy admitted very stiffly. ‘That is his business.’
Suzy reddened, aware that she had asked one question too many and mortified as she took a determined step back from that angle. ‘What was it like for Cecile?’ she asked.
‘Cecile’s mother was my father’s mistress. She didn’t grow up with us and he never officially acknowledged her as his daughter. Rigo wants nothing to do with her because according to him accepting Cecile into the family is dissing my father’s memory. Even though our father was cruel to him, he still regards him as the ultimate standard of what he should aspire to.’
‘Life’s too short for an outlook like that.’ Suzy sighed ruefully, passing by him into the bedroom, relieved to have finished that conversation and backed away from it. ‘Do I need to change for dinner or anything?’
‘Not for my benefit, particularly when you look as incredible as you do in those shorts,’ Ruy told her with a slow smile.
Her face went pink as she watched him remove his jacket and tug his tie loose. The little intimacies of a shared room tugged uneasily at her and she walked restlessly over to the window. ‘Is that orange grove in the courtyard the one you were referring to?’
‘Yes, but there’s another wilder, larger version of it at the far end of the gardens beside the estate orchards. I remember playing hide and seek there as a child,’ Ruy imparted, his voice closer than she expected.
Suzy whirled round and there he was, a couple of feet away, clad only in boxers, almost every inch of his magnificent body bare for her perusal. Involuntarily her eyes roamed over the expanse of his bronzed torso, lingering on the corrugated slab of his abs and flat stomach. Her mouth ran dry, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth.
‘Don’t look at me like that. I’m not good at self-denial,’ Ruy warned her.
‘Neither am I,’ Suzy croaked, noticing, well, she really couldn’t help noticing that he was aroused. Those boxers didn’t hide much. ‘How was I looking at you?’
‘Like you want me...like I look at you,’ Ruy framed hoarsely. ‘Dios mio! Even my grammar’s going to hell!’
Warmth mushroomed inside Suzy at the confirmation that he still wanted her but that, just like her, he was in conflict over it. Still being tempted by him had seemed weak until he made that same admission. ‘I was so angry with you this morning...still am, because you aren’t the guy I thought you were and that threw me...and now I don’t have the right clothes.’
‘I’ll get you more clothes,’ Ruy swore impatiently. ‘Little problems of that sort aren’t important.’
‘You’re not allowed to buy me anything more,’ Suzy reminded him. ‘You keep your money to yourself.’
Ruy reached out and closed his big hands round her smaller ones to tug her closer. ‘Anything you want. I need you to be happy.’
‘It doesn’t take money to make me happy,’ Suzy mumbled. ‘Well, except when it came to saving Dad from Percy.’
‘There’s an exception to every rule,’ Ruy conceded generously while stilling in the act of edging her even closer. ‘We’re not supposed to be doing this.’
‘That’s your rule,’ Suzy pointed out helplessly.
And he kissed her, and a long breathless sigh of relief escaped her. The tension holding her fast snapped and propelled her into the muscular heat of him, her hands sliding up to his shoulders and stretching round his neck, her entire body melting and pliant. ‘I want you,’ she whispered daringly. ‘But not if you’re liable to freak out afterwards.’
‘Absolutely no freaking out,’ Ruy swore raggedly half under his breath. ‘Are you sure about this? I’m still the same guy who doesn’t want a relationship.’
‘Do we have to put a label on it? I don’t want a relationship right now either, not after escaping Percy. Do you think you could go with the flow just for once?’ Suzy murmured softly as she backed him towards the bed.
An unholy grin lit Ruy’s lean dark features as he realised what she was doing. ‘Just for once,’ he agreed, angling his lean hips against her, further acquainting her with his arousal.
A kernel of pure exhilaration, unlike anything Suzy had ever felt before, sparked and glowed at the heart of her, igniting an impatient pulse of need. He tugged her down on the bed and kissed her until she was pushing up against him, eager for