Raul's Revenge

His mouth thinned to a hard line. ‘Dulcie does not speak English. How do you know what was said?’ he sneeringly demanded.

‘Because my Spanish is good; I understood perfectly and acted accordingly.’

‘Nonsense, Penny, you must have misunderstood. I have known Dulcie all my life. Unlike you, she would not deliberately insult anyone,’ he said with cutting sarcasm.

‘Obviously you have no such qualms,’ she shot back, but his words bruised her heart. Nonsensical was she? Along with ‘dumb’ and ‘idiocy’ it all added up to a man who had no respect for her as a person. Suddenly with blinding clarity she recognised what she had become. From an intelligent, ambitious woman she had turned into a fool for love. She blinked rapidly to hold back the tears, not sure if they were tears of sorrow or pure rage.

She shook her head in disbelief, and stared at Raul as though she had never seen him before. ‘How could you take the word of an old fiancée you have not seen for years against mine?’

‘I see Ava has been gossiping.’ One dark brow arched sardonically. ‘I might have guessed. You saw Dulcie as a rival and were smitten by the green-eyed god. Really, Penny, how childish.’

He could not have said anything more likely to enrage her. Childish was she? And jealous, to boot! She had not known who the damn woman was in the first place.

‘Rubbish! I didn’t even know the woman was your ex-fiancee until later. You certainly never mentioned her,’ she spat back, her body tense with outrage and a deepening hurt that she did her best to disguise.

‘My past relationships are none of your business,’ Raul informed her with icy precision. ‘It is the present that concerns you, and in half an hour Senor Costas and his daughter will be arriving for dinner.’

Penny’s mouth fell open in surprise and she spluttered, ‘You invited...?’ She could not go on, she was so furious, her body rigid with the effort to control her rage.

‘Yes. And I expect you to apologise for your behaviour the other day, and, hopefully, we can enjoy a civilised meal.’ She caught the implacable expression in his eyes, and her breath stopped in her throat as she realised what he had said.

Slowly she moved towards him, her cheeks scarlet, her anger so livid that she was shaking with it. She registered the arrogant stance of his tall body, the hands tucked easily into the pockets of his trousers.