The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife Read Online Free PDF Page A

strength to resist him this time. She very much doubted that she could ever manage it again.
    ‘Oh, damn you, Ramón Dario!’
    The words exploded from her in a fury of emotion, but whether that emotion was anger, or loss, or just the plain bitterness of physical frustration, even she couldn’t tell. So instead she gave in to childish petulance, reaching out and slamming the door shut with as much force as she could muster, glorying in the way that the violent sound echoed and reverberated round the room.
    ‘Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn you!’
    Just what was happening to her? How could things be like this so hard, so fast?
    She had thought that she loved Carlos Perea, but she had insisted on waiting…
    But she wasn’t in love with this man. How could she be? She had only known Ramón Dario for— A swift glance at the big clock on the wall told her that it was not even half an hour since she had walked into the room. Not even thirty minutes since her father had sent her here to meet the latest of the prospective husbands he believed his money had bought for her.
    But with Ramón Dario time hadn’t meant anything. She had felt the kick of response deep inside in the first moment she had looked at him. It was as if she had known her destiny. As if her body had recognised a master, the other piece of the jigsaw, someone she was programmed to respond to no matter what.
    She was only fooling herself if she thought that, if Ramón called to her, she would be able to resist. She hadn’t a hope of holding back from him, no matter how she tried. She might just as well admit that to herself and face the facts, once and for all.
    The one, the only good thing about this situation was the fact that, after the way that they had parted, the way that Ramón had stalked to the door and down the corridor awayfrom her, not even sparing her a single glance back, there was no chance that they would ever meet again. If they never met again, then she would never have to struggle with temptation in a fight that she knew she was bound to lose.
    If she never saw Ramón Dario again, then she was safe. Safe from him and from herself.
    That thought was supposed to comfort her. It should have comforted her.
    But in fact it had exactly the opposite effect.

CHAPTER THREE
    R AMÓN kicked the door to behind him, tossed his keys onto the nearby dresser and rubbed his hands tiredly over his face before surveying his empty, silent apartment with a grim expression on his dark features.
    Something had happened in the past couple of weeks. He wasn’t at all sure just what it was or how to explain this new set of feelings he was plagued with. He only knew that nothing seemed to be the same any more.
    A fortnight ago, his life had been his own, with everything planned out, everything just the way he wanted it.
    Except for one thing.
    He had wanted the Medrano Television Company and he had been determined to get it. And because of that one thing, it seemed that his life had been turned upside down.
    No.
    Raking his fingers through his hair, he massaged the muscles of his skull that always seemed to be so tight and tense these days.
    It was not because of the television company that things didn’t seem in control. It was because he had met Estrella Medrano. It was because of her that his life no longer felt as if it were his own.
    He needed a drink.
    On the way to the kitchen to find a large bottle of wine— the best his brother Joaquin’s vineyard could produce—he noticed that the light on the telephone answering machine was flickering wildly and a glowing red number announced that he had five messages waiting.
    That was hardly surprising. He had been preoccupied with so many things in the past couple of weeks that he had barely even touched base at his apartment. The time he hadn’t spent working he had been at his father’s home, or checking on Joaquin and how he was recovering from his recent accident. Pausing to press the ‘play’ button, he