The Ring The Spaniard Gave Her - Lynne Graham Page 0,51

Ruy murmured, still holding her close.

Suzy had expected him to let go of her and retreat, but he did neither.

‘Are you feeling all right?’ he asked, a shade awkwardly.

‘I’m not great,’ she fibbed.

And he let go of her immediately, switched on the lights, emerged from the dressing room in jeans and left the room. Suzy sat up, wondering where he was going. She lay down again, planning to fake sleep, but a few minutes later Ruy reappeared with tablets and a glass of water, sitting on her side of the bed and feeding them to her. That he would be that considerate hadn’t occurred to her and she was embarrassed, forced to swallow pills she didn’t need.

‘Try to go to sleep,’ he urged as he doused the lights again.

He didn’t put his arms round her again and, absurdly, she wished he would because it would have been the very last time they were that close. She squeezed her eyes tight shut and ordered her brain to shut down but there was no closing out the revelation that Elisa Torres had made.

Had Ruy fallen in love with his brother’s wife? He must’ve done, she assumed. Surely he would not have betrayed his brother’s trust for anything less than an all-encompassing love? And yet it did not excuse him because love didn’t turn a sordid affair into a case of Romeo and Juliet. Ultimately, Ruy had ended the relationship but Rigo must still have been devastated. And then his wife had died, and he could hardly have got any sort of closure from that tragic conclusion. She marvelled that Ruy’s twin had invited him to his second wedding and could only admire Rigo for his ability to accept the past and forgive.

The next day, she had to work hard at keeping her spirits up. She was determined not to reveal the truth that she was dreading returning home when in reality it was what any sane woman would want after discovering such bad news about the man she cared about. Before lunch, which they would be sharing with Ruy’s closest relatives, she laid out the dress she had selected from the rails. It was a dark blue dress that barely showed any skin, extremely conservative. She had picked it after meeting a couple of Ruy’s very starchy aunts and uncles at the wedding the previous day. It helped to remember that she was merely fulfilling a pretend role and that in a few hours she would be taking off the truly beautiful ring for ever. None of it was real, she reminded herself doggedly. It was her own foolish fault that she had dived too deep into her first affair even after being warned that it wouldn’t be a relationship.

And she had no real grounds for complaint, had she? He had told her with candour that they had no future and he had treated her well and with respect. He hadn’t shared his deepest secrets but then who did in a casual fling? If she were discovering that in reality she couldn’t do casual comfortably with a man, that was her problem, not his.

Ruy studied her in surprise as she came downstairs. ‘You don’t look like you in that outfit,’ he remarked.

Suzy wrinkled her nose. ‘I might as well serve up what your relations like and expect from your future wife. Why ruffle feathers when it’s not real?’

‘I don’t care what they think,’ Ruy intoned almost harshly.

‘Ruy...you agreed to a fake engagement celebration for their benefit. Of course, you care. You were raised to care, weren’t you? You can’t help that,’ she reasoned.

‘I try not to follow my father’s rules,’ he countered.

‘I suppose that family is simply family and your father’s rules don’t come into it,’ Suzy murmured, connecting briefly with his stunning dark golden eyes and feeling her heart pound and her mouth run dry before swiftly evading that direct connection.

He wasn’t the man she had believed he was, she reminded herself fiercely, heartbroken at the idea that he could have behaved so badly. He was neither loyal nor trustworthy. He was a cheater, and a man who would cheat with his brother’s wife would probably be unfaithful in future relationships as well. Of course, there was a chance that that vindictive woman had been lying, but Ruy’s own refusal to discuss the gossip he had acknowledged had convinced Suzy that there had to be a nasty secret in his past, one that, quite understandably, he didn’t wish to discuss.

But what