All Night Long. Anne Mather

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СКАЧАТЬ nothing to be self-conscious about.’

      ‘No?’ Ally stifled the snort that rose into her throat. ‘Well, as you so succinctly remarked earlier, I’m not used to this—this scene.’

      ‘What scene?’

      ‘This scene.’ Ally permitted herself to look at him for a moment and then expanded her gaze to include the whole room. ‘Women sitting in bars on their own, accepting drinks from total strangers.’

      ‘We’re not total strangers.’ He kept a perfectly straight face but she was sure he was laughing at her. ‘We’ve been introduced.’

      ‘We introduced ourselves,’ Ally amended wryly. ‘That’s not the same thing at all.’

      ‘Okay.’ He conceded her point. ‘But it’s moot now, anyway. You can hardly pretend we don’t know one another when you’ve just swallowed half the drink I paid for.’

      Ally’s lips parted. ‘Are you implying I can’t buy my own drinks?’

      ‘Of course not.’ He was evidently growing weary of her argument. ‘Look, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you, right? I didn’t mean to. I just wanted us to get to know one another better, and I foolishly thought that teasing you might do it.’ He held up his hands, palm outward. ‘Obviously, I was wrong.’

      Now Ally felt sorry. She hadn’t wanted to offend him, and it wasn’t his fault that she was out of date when it came to dealing with the opposite sex. If anyone was to blame, she was. She had allowed Jeff to control her life for so long that she’d forgotten how to have fun.

      ‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly, half surprised that he hadn’t moved away to try his luck with someone else. There was certainly no shortage of younger—and apparently unattached—women in the bar, and from the looks she’d been getting, Ally guessed they were speculating about why a man like Raul should have hooked himself up with her. ‘I guess I’m too old for this.’

      His dark eyes narrowed on her face. ‘You’re not old,’ he argued. Then, his lips twitching at her tongue-in-cheek expression, ‘I mean it. You can’t be more than what? Thirty-two, thirty-three? That is not old, believe me.’

      Ally gave him an old-fashioned look. ‘If that’s a sneaky way of getting me to tell you how old I am, you needn’t have bothered. I’m not ashamed of my age. I’m thirty-eight; almost thirty-nine, in fact. Comfortably middle-aged.’

      He shook his head. ‘Why do you persist in putting yourself down?’ he exclaimed. ‘I wasn’t exaggerating. You don’t look your age, however much you might like to believe you do.’

      ‘Really?’

      ‘Yes, really.’ Raul regarded her with a disturbingly sensual gaze. ‘Who told you you were—what was it you said?—comfortably middle-aged? Some man?’

      ‘Isn’t it always?’ Ally was sardonic. Then, because that was one thing she couldn’t blame Jeff for, she added, ‘No, actually, it was Sam. My daughter. I think she thought it was a compliment.’

      ‘You have a daughter?’ He was polite, but wary, she thought, and she wondered if he was speculating about her husband. ‘Well, children can be very—very—’

      ‘Honest?’

      ‘No.’ His smile returned. ‘I was going to say cruel. And short-sighted. They see what they want to see. How old is—Sam?’

      Too late, Ally realised she had told him Sam’s real name. ‘She’s twenty,’ she admitted, with some reluctance. And then, because anything she told him was unlikely to go any further, she added. ‘She’s getting married next year. I think she wants to make me a grandmother.’ Her expression grew unknowingly wistful. ‘I suppose she assumes I’ve got nothing else to look forward to.’

      Raul shook his head. ‘That’s some opinion you’ve got of yourself, isn’t it?’ He paused before continuing, ‘Does your husband agree with her?’

      Ally’s lips tightened. ‘Her father and I are divorced.’

      ‘Ah.’

      His response was typical and Ally felt a sudden resurgence of the determination that had got her to buy her ticket to San Cristobál in the first place. ‘What do you mean—ah?’ she demanded hotly. ‘Does the fact that I’m divorced explain everything? Is that what you’re thinking? A woman scorned and all that guff? Well, let me tell you, I’m glad to be out of that relationship.’

      ‘If you say so.’

      ‘I do say so.’ Ally resented having to defend herself to him. ‘And now, if you’ll excuse me—’

      ‘Wait!’ As she would have slid off her stool, his lean brown fingers closed about her wrist, and her heart pounded wildly through her veins. ‘Don’t go,’ he pleaded, his dark eyes warm and appealing. ‘If I’ve offended you, I’m sorry. That was not my intention.’

      ‘Which begs the question, what was your intention in approaching me?’ retorted Ally tersely. And then, becoming aware that their heated exchange was attracting the attention of other people around them, she lowered her tone. ‘Please let me go. I have a table booked in the restaurant.’

      Raul sighed. ‘So do I.’

      Ally was not impressed. ‘So?’

      Raul’s thumb pressed insistently against the network of veins that marked the inner side of her wrist. ‘We could have dinner together—’

      ‘I don’t think so.’

      ‘Why not?’ Despite her obvious opposition, he held on to her arm. ‘We’re both on our own, aren’t we? Why shouldn’t we share a table?’

      ‘It doesn’t occur to you that I might not want to, does it?’ she exclaimed. ‘And why should you be so certain that I’m on my own? I could be with—with someone else. Just because I’m divorced—’

      ‘Are you?’

      ‘I told you I was.’

      ‘No, I mean, are you with someone?’ he asked softly, and, meeting his disturbing eyes, Ally felt her resistance falter.

      ‘I—could be.’

      He conceded the point. ‘But are you?’

      Ally’s breath came out with a resigned gulp. ‘No.’

      ‘So?’ His thumb softened on her wrist, finding her pulse and massaging its erratic beat with gentle insistence. ‘Will you let me buy you dinner?’

      Ally shook her head. ‘I don’t know why you should want to.’

      His lips twisted. ‘Put it down to my idiosyncrasy,’ he said drily. ‘Shall we go?’

       CHAPTER TWO

      THE restaurant was busy and the head waiter was more than happy to free up one of his smaller tables СКАЧАТЬ