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‘Diosmio...and he agreed to that?’ Ruy marvelled.
Suzy nodded miserably. ‘But I’m not sure now that he planned to stick to the rules and that he didn’t start hating me for them.’
‘How much does your father know about Brenton’s blackmail?’
At that question, Suzy frowned. ‘He knows nothing about any of it! Dad would never have agreed to let me marry Percy for his benefit.’
‘And the loan outstanding amounts to fifty thousand pounds or so?’ Ruy queried, startling her with his accuracy and, when he met her troubled gaze, dealing her an eloquent smile. ‘That was why you plucked that particular sum out of the air, wasn’t it?’
‘A ridiculous amount,’ she mumbled in severe chagrin as she recalled that conversation in the bar when he had urged her to name her price for modelling for him. ‘I wasn’t serious, of course...you do know that, don’t you? I’m truly not a greedy person. It’s just, Percy was starting to scare me, and I’d pretty much do anything for my dad.’
‘That’s not a sin. It’s proof of loyalty and of your love for a parent. You were willing to make a sacrifice to protect your father.’
‘But I tumbled at the last fence and now I’ve just dug Dad into a deeper hole!’ Suzy argued with a guilt-ridden shake of her head. ‘Now, after being left at the altar, Percy will be out for blood.’
‘He’s already had as much blood as he’s getting and he’s not taking any more out of your particular hide,’ Ruy asserted with scorching conviction. ‘Surely you realise that Brenton will now want to approach you with some suggestion aimed at saving his own skin? If you choose to prosecute him for assault his reputation will be ruined. He may well offer to write off that loan in an effort to keep you quiet.’
Suzy’s eyes widened. ‘No way would he do that. Percy has the reputation for collecting on all his debts.’
‘You have to report him to the police,’ Ruy continued. ‘And I can offer you a way to do that that will protect you and your father’s business.’
‘I’m not a kid, Ruy. There’s no magic fix for this mess,’ Suzy told him heavily as she pushed her plate away. ‘And in many ways, it’s a mess of my own making. I was stupidly trusting. I should never have agreed to marry Percy in the first place. That wretched money seemed to give him the impression that he was buying me body and soul and that that deprived me of any right to respect or decency. What I agreed to was wrong, though, and perhaps I deserve what happened.’
‘ValgameDios! Of course, you didn’t deserve it!’ Ruy argued in heated dissent.
‘And now you’re talking about making me an offer...presumably money,’ Suzy gathered with a little moue of distaste and a look of reproach in his direction that made him seal his wide, sensual mouth shut again. ‘Please...don’t. I’ll think over the idea of modelling for you, but I don’t know how it could be organised now because Dad and I will probably be leaving the village soon. But please, please, do not try to buy me like Percy did... I’ve learned my lesson and I’m off the market now.’
Unusual frustration currented through Ruy, but he was adept at steering paths round obstacles and varying his approach. Being flexible, innovative and highly intelligent had made him a living legend in the financial world and he recognised that Suzy would naturally be highly resistant to any offer of cash assistance after the experience she’d had at Brenton’s hands. The germ of an idea struck Ruy and at first he rejected it, deeming it not to be his place to interfere in a family matter or, indeed, in a family business. Even so, as he ran the concept swiftly through his brain he saw how he could extend his help without making Suzy feel that he had bribed, bought or blackmailed her. And how he too would benefit from the arrangement beyond her modelling for him. He would ask her to accompany him to his brother’s wedding.
Even so, his most pressing concern should be protecting Suzy from her ex, shouldn’t it? His thoughts froze on that startling point. Exactly when had he developed that strange notion? When had he last become this involved in problems that were not his to solve? He wanted to paint Suzy, which put her in an entirely different category, he assured himself. Having shaken off his unease over that uncharacteristic urge to protect, Ruy found that he could think with clarity again. To ensure Suzy’s security from further threats, or indeed dodgy proposals, he would need to view first-hand the loan agreement her father had signed. Once that problem was settled, he would consider his own needs and wishes, proving that he was not the selfish bastard his sister had implied, he reasoned with satisfaction, his momentary tension evaporating.
‘So, what sort of stuff do you paint?’ Suzy asked.
‘People, mainly portraits, usually women.’
‘Nudes?’ Suzy suddenly prompted in a slightly strangled voice.
‘I have done, but generally my models remain clothed,’ Ruy responded with a glint of amusement in his gaze, because she was shifting in her seat like an embarrassed child, her dismay at the prospect of posing nude for him clear as day. A prickle of interest in seeing those pale luscious curves unveiled shimmied through him like a sudden shot of some dangerously addictive drug. Taken aback by that loss of artistic objectivity, he struggled to suppress that leap of desire, all amusement buried by his own far too personal response.
Dessert was served as Suzy confessed, ‘I know nothing about art.’
‘Why would you when it’s not an interest of yours?’ Keen to stick strictly to business as he saw it, Ruy added, ‘If you agreed to model for me, you would have to first sign a non-disclosure agreement, which would prevent you from mentioning my name or indeed any details about me. It’s a standard safeguard I use with every model I employ.’
‘Why would you do that?’ Suzy surveyed him, eyes as green and fresh as spring leaves wide with curiosity and surprise. ‘Don’t artists need publicity to boost their careers and the prices their work commands?’
‘Privacy is more important to me,’ Ruy said quietly.
Suzy waved an expressive hand at the elegant table and her surroundings and laughed. ‘And, it doesn’t look like you’re hurting for a spare penny or two!’ she teased.
It was that playful quality, which his sister had called liveliness, that appealed to him, Ruy decided, his attention locking to that full pink lower lip, recalling the taste of her, the taste of temptation. When she smiled she practically lit up the room. Yet when she had danced, even before he had seen her face, he had wanted to capture her in oils, to somehow magically meld her innate grace of movement into the painting. Obviously, there would have to be more than one canvas, he conceded, to capture her different moods.
‘I would like you to consider granting me another favour,’ he divulged.
On the brink of asking why she would consider doing him any favours, Suzy caught her tongue between her teeth, recalling how supportive he had been.
‘I have to attend my brother’s wedding in a couple of weeks and it would be easier if I had a woman with me, a woman willing to pretend that she was engaged to me.’
‘Why on earth would you want that?’ she exclaimed, too disconcerted to guard her tongue.
