Blood in the Valencian Soil (Secrets of Spain) Read Online Free PDF

through the Prado museum to see my favourite painting, and forget the whole incident.”
    “Which is your favourite painting?”
    “ ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hieronymus Bosch.”
    “Ah, ‘El Bosco’, I know his work. It’s the one full of naked figures to depict sexual freedom? That big triptych, ¿no?”
    “Yes,” Luna said with raised eyebrows. She was impressed that he knew that.
    “It has the lovers in the glass ball. Pleasure is as fragile as glass, is that the expression?”
    “Yes it is.”
    “Would you like to go out for dinner with me?” Cayetano asked. The words practically fell from his mouth. “The Goya restaurant here in the hotel is excellent.”
    “The Goya restaurant here is phenomenal. A little too fancy for me.”
    “Nonsense, I can get us a table, I promise… unless you need an excuse not to have dinner with a humble bull-minder?”
    A smile spread over Luna’s smile as she sniggered. The humble bull-minder was an intriguing man. A handsome man. Live a little. “All right, dinner.”
    “Good. How about I meet you at midnight? Is that convenient for you? I’ll me et you in the lobby, by the staircase.”
    “Tha t would be good. Are you sure midnight is not too early?”
    “Maybe, but I can try and show up on time. It’s a date, as they say.” He placed his hand on her arm. “See you soon, Señora.”
    “Hasta luego.” Luna couldn’t contain her smile as the doorman opened the glided main entrance to the lavish hotel, and she left her new friend. Hang on, a date?

3
    Madrid, España ~ agosto de 2009
     
    Cayetano stood full of impatience in the lobby of the hotel under the soft lights dotted around the room. In one moment, this woman had bewitched him, just there on the path in a daze. He had gone home and tidied himself up, and then he realised that was a mistake. Dressed casual and unkempt made it easy to fit in, and Luna had  taken to that look, which surprised him. But now he looked like himself – the ‘himself’ that everyone knew. Dressed in his finest black suit, with his hair combed back, and his face smooth, he had become recognisable now. He was about to dine in a restaurant that was a place ‘to be seen’. Once Luna knew who he was, the whole thing could go rather different to what he hoped for. The unassuming way he had met Luna was a breath of fresh air. She hadn’t heard of him, didn’t know what he did, she didn’t know who his family was. Imagine if his wife knew where he was.
    Luna walked into the lobby of the hotel, her purse held tight in her hand. She had spent the rest of the afternoon in the air-conditioned halls of the Prado art gallery in peace. She was never alone, not with two five-year-olds, so this was new for her. She missed her boys and had called them before their bedtime. They were in Darren’s safe hands, but after she spoke to each of them, she did wonder why she hadn’t just gone back to Valencia on the train. Just because Darren thought she needed a night off – her first in five years – didn’t mean it was a bright idea, fancy hotel room or not. She had stood at the mirror in her ornate 100-year-old room, and wondered what the hell she was doing. She hadn’t come prepared for a date. In fact, all she had to wear was the outfit she had packed for the following day, a simple ice-blue dress. With luck, it would make the grade for the Goya Restaurant.
    She stood on the spot in the lobby, and twirled one of her long black ringlets in her fingers and tried to spot Cayetano. Maybe he ha d changed his mind. While her mind told her that would be a good thing, it hurt to think she wouldn’t see the engaging man again. Her eyes spotted him across the room by the staircase, just like he had said. The man she met on the street was gone. Stood before her was an impeccable gentleman. She watched him take swift steps towards her with a smile on his face. Did this man want dinner with her? He was the man that all women had in mind