Raul's Revenge. JACQUELINE BAIRD
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Raul's Revenge - JACQUELINE BAIRD страница 10
Название: Raul's Revenge
Автор: JACQUELINE BAIRD
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn:
isbn:
She felt the colour drain from her face. She stared at him helplessly. The shock of being confronted in such a way by the man she loved was totally numbing.
‘How dared you do such a thing?’ A cruel smile twisted across his face. ‘On what authority?’
‘On what authority’. The words echoed in her brain. They were lovers, partners—or so she had thought. Obviously Raul’s idea of a partnership was not the same as hers.
Angry colour flooded Penny’s cheeks. The nerve of the man, yelling at her as if she were no more than a servant in his home. Not even that—he was unfailingly polite to Ava and Carlos. What was the matter with her? She was letting Raul intimidate her yet again, as he had in the beginning when she had mentioned marriage, and again in Dubai, when he had packed her off to Spain. Was she a woman or a doormat? she asked herself.
Her spine stiffening, she looked straight into his dark, furious eyes. ‘I was under the impression that we were partners, and in your absence I was to treat your house as my own,’ she said, her voice coolly measured in sharp contrast to her rapidly beating heart. ‘If I misunderstood you, I’m sorry.’
A dark flush covered his hard face and he had the grace to look ashamed at his outburst, but not for long... ‘Yes, yes, but not to the extent of insulting my neighbours.’ He stormed across the room and then swung back to face her, running his large hand through his dark hair in angry frustration. ‘You will have to apologise to Dulcie, not me.’
‘I presume you are referring to that hateful woman, Dulciana Maria Costas. She marched into the house and was unspeakably rude to poor Ava. I told her to leave, as any other right-minded person would have done, and if you think for a second I will apologise to the woman forget it.’ Penny glared at him and folded her arms across her chest.
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.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.