The Spaniard's Woman - Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

the man who was holding her, his nearness sending a jolt of physical awareness shooting through every nerve end in her body. She had forgotten just how powerful an effect his presence could have on her. Rhianna sucked in a shocked breath, her eyes fixing on a button on his ice-white shirt. She had no desire to look up into those knowing dark eyes. God only knew what her expression would reveal. The thought of Dylan brought her a measure of calm; more than anything else, she had to be careful.
    ‘You are not going to speak, poco Rhianna?’ he queried softly, after a time.
    The arms that encircled her were strong and even with the passing of time they felt dangerously familiar. ‘I have nothing to say to you Senor Ortega,’ she returned, her voice flat. She was longing for this ordeal to be over, for the music to finish so that this hell could end. It was as if her body, treacherously female, was waking up after a long sleep, recalling how much it had always enjoyed being touched by him. Dancing in his arms felt like the most natural thing in the world and she fell into his rhythm with an easy familiarity that was disturbing.
    ‘Senor Ortega?’ he mocked, ‘But you are so formal. Are you angry with me, paqueno ?’
    This brought her gaze up to meet his, anger and incredulity flashing in her eyes. ‘Angry with you? Why would I be angry with you? You are nothing to me.’
    Abruptly, his arms tightened around her. ‘Is that so?’ Rhianna bit her lip, knowing that she had made a mistake. Her best line of defense would, perhaps, have been to pretend indifference to him or, if she could have managed it, some measure of warmth. Not that she could ever hope to be that good an actress, Rhianna reflected bleakly. Still, Gabriel liked nothing better than a challenge and claiming that he meant nothing to her was sure to provoke every masculine instinct he possessed. ‘I see that you are not married.’
    It was not a question but a statement. He would have noticed the lack of rings on her fingers. ‘No.’
    ‘So that man, the one you called Grady, he is your lover?’
    Rhianna hesitated. Instinctively, she wanted to protest because she knew that Gabriel would naturally think she had run straight from him, into the arms of the next man who was willing to ‘protect’ her. It was a very Spanish way of looking at women. Once, she had laughed at his insistence that he deal with her affairs, thinking it was a sign of how much he loved her. Now she knew it was simply that men like Gabriel believed women to be less than capable. It was an in-built arrogance that seemed to be common in Spanish men.
    But if she told him that she didn’t have that kind of relationship with Grady, Gabriel would demand to know what she was doing with him and Rhianna had no desire to go into the details of her life, not when one of those details was currently sleeping at home, dreaming little boy dreams...
    Rhianna retreated into righteous indignation. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business.’
    ‘It is none of my business,’ he agreed. That deep, dark voice with its attractively accented English was still as sexy as hell. Rhianna tried not to think of all the times she had lain in his arms, eyes closed, letting it wash over her. Being this close to him was stirring all kinds of memories she had managed to suppress for years. ‘But I am curious; how does a man such as that satisfy you, mi Rhianna?’ His voice dropped several notches, moving down into that sultry, seductive range that brought a shiver of heightened awareness sliding down her spine, ‘I remember just how much you enjoyed making love with me. The touch of my hands to arouse you into a frenzy of feeling so that you forgot everything except what I was doing to -’
    ‘Stop it!’ Her feet faltered. Rhianna stared up at him, white faced. ‘You have no right to speak to me like that.’
    ‘I was your first lover,’ he reminded her coolly, ‘I have often wondered who you found