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

to replace me.’
    His callous indifference to her distress was exactly what she would have expected from him. Had Gabriel ever cared for her or had he just accepted her blind devotion as his right, the right of a wellborn Spanish nobleman to be idolized by a woman? Rhianna was silent for a moment, trying to pull herself together. Thankfully, the music came to an end. Immediately, she pulled herself from his arms and spoke through stiff lips. ‘Thank-you for the dance, Senor Ortega.’
    He shook his head. ‘Another is beginning. You will dance with me again.’
    Once again, it wasn’t a request but a command but Rhianna wasn’t about to allow him to have his own way a second time. ‘I need to go back to Grady.’ she said, taking a hasty step away from as he advanced towards her, ‘I will bid you goodnight.’
    But he was not done yet, following along behind. ‘Does Grady know we were lovers once?’
    ‘Grady knows everything there is to know about me,’ she replied flatly. It was true enough. She had written to him from Europe, telling him about her travels. That was before he had had the accident. She had even told her old high-school sweetheart about the special man she had met in Girona. Typically, Grady had been far from impressed, both by her raptures and by the difference in their age and respective positions in life. Gabriel Ortega was ten years older than her and belonged to one of the wealthiest families in Catalonia. How could she possibly think something like that could work?
    Of course, he’d had a point but Rhianna had been blinded by love and she’d thought anything was possible. In her head it had seemed obvious that Gabriel would marry her. That they would have a family together and settle down to a life of unparalleled bliss. Rhianna’s lips twisted bitterly at the thought of how very naive she had been. Gabriel had never thought of her as anything but his mistress, an amusing distraction that could be discarded when he had to get on with his real life. ‘Is your wife with you, Senor Ortega?’
    There was a pause. Rhianna turned her head to look at Gabriel and saw a brief flash of... something on his face. It was gone in a moment, replaced by his more habitual expression of cool reserve. ‘No, Rhianna. She is not.’
    So Gabriel was in the country by himself – or with whoever his mistress of the moment was. Rhianna wondered what had brought him to Australia and - more importantly - when he would leave. In the normal course of events she would never have run across him; Grady’s company dealt in technology and the Ortega’s had no business interests that would have brought them to O’Farrell Industries. They were an old Spanish family with old Spanish money. The concept of anything as sordid as industry touching the Ortega’s was inconceivable.
    Catching her arm, Gabriel swung her back to face him. ‘This is unsatisfactory. Tell your lover that you will join him later. I wish to talk to you further.’
    Rhianna stared up at him, her breath uneven, incredulous that he would think he had any right to demand anything of her. ‘I don’t think Grady would like that and I’m certain that I wouldn’t. I have nothing to say to you.’
    The dark eyes narrowed. ‘So you keep telling me. I can understand your concern regarding your lover. If you were still my woman I would not like you speaking to another man either,’ he conceded. ‘But I think, under the circumstances, he will have to tolerate it.’
    Rhianna trembled. She had no idea why Gabriel Ortega had decided that he must renew his acquaintance with her but she knew that she must somehow elude him. The more time he spent with her, the more chance he had to gather information about her life and there was one secret she had determined never to share with him. ‘What circumstances? We have nothing to discuss.’
    His smile was wry. ‘I might have thought that too, until I saw you. But then I realized that we have a great deal to talk