The Ring The Spaniard Gave Her - Lynne Graham Page 0,57

about how I had led her down the garden path and broken her heart, which of course made him sympathetic towards her. I, on the other hand, was convinced she had chosen him because he was my brother...and in the end I was proven right on that score.’

Suzy gulped down a mouthful of wine. ‘She really did put you through the mill. What happened?’

‘He married her, and she began to stalk me again. She was very manipulative. My brother accused me of trying to lure her away from him when I would have done anything to be rid of her attentions!’ Ruy admitted in a driven undertone. ‘But, no, I certainly never wished her dead. She interrupted a business lunch I was having one day...my brother’s wife, my sister-in-law, walking in and draping herself over me as though we were lovers. Her behaviour caused a great deal of talk and I warned Rigo that he had to rein her in or that I would take steps to keep her away from me.’

‘My word, Ruy...she made your life hell.’ Suzy sighed, understanding all at once why Ruy was so set on not getting into relationships. Liliana had scared him off and had probably made him wary and distrustful of every woman he met after her. ‘And your brother’s too.’

‘The last time I saw her I tried very hard to persuade her to see a psychiatrist and I told her that there was no chance of her ever having a relationship with me, but she became hysterical and I had to drop the subject. That afternoon she bribed a cleaner to gain access to my apartment and took an overdose there,’ Ruy related grimly. ‘She knew my schedule and usually I would have been home that evening but a crisis had arisen and I flew to Brussels instead.’

Guessing the ending of his story, Suzy winced. ‘Oh, Ruy,’ she muttered, pained on his behalf and his brother’s.

Dark eyes grim, he compressed his lips. ‘I don’t believe that she meant to kill herself. I think it was another cry for attention and a desire to punish me. She expected me to find her and get her to a doctor in time. Unfortunately, she wasn’t discovered until the next day by which time it was too late. Rigo blamed me for her death.’

‘I don’t see how he could,’ Suzy breathed, troubled at that unjust bestowal of blame in such tragic circumstances.

‘He had to blame someone...why not me? As he saw it, I had stolen his wife’s affections, treated her with cruel indifference and destroyed her mental health. I tried to reason with him, but he was too bitter back then.’

‘It wasn’t your fault.’

‘Wasn’t it? Perhaps had I been a little more discerning the night I met her, I would have spent more time talking to her and then I might have realised that we were not suited in any way.’

‘I don’t think that would have mattered when she had already fixated on you. I’m sorry I misjudged you,’ Suzy said truthfully. ‘I shouldn’t have listened to gossip.’

‘None of us should but we all do it,’ Ruy murmured wryly.

‘I didn’t trust my own faith in you because of what Percy did to me,’ Suzy admitted in a shamed rush. ‘You see, I trusted him once too and then I realised how foolish I had been and, after that, I didn’t see how I could trust you...particularly when you seemed too good to be true.’

‘I like the sound of being too good to be true,’ Ruy confided.

Suzy went pink. ‘We were talking about Liliana and your brother,’ she reminded him. ‘I think she married Rigo simply to get closer to you. She used him.’

‘Although it’s taken him years of therapy to get over her, he’s stronger now and Mercedes is, thankfully, a very different woman. Now I want to show you something...’ Ruy paused at the foot of the stairs and regarded her expectantly, a catch in his usually level dark drawl, almost a slight hint of nervousness. ‘Your portrait.’

‘You finished it?’ Suzy prompted eagerly, springing up to approach him.

‘It’s upstairs.’

He cast open the bedroom door and there it was, resting on an easel by the window in the far corner. Suzy slowly crossed the room to stand in front of the vivid image and study it with wondering eyes. Her hair and her skin seemed luminescent. She looked as though she were about to leap off the bench and walk right out of the painting. It