He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth and settled back in his chair, cradling his cup to him, that same glimmer still there in his eyes. ‘No, I wouldn’t try and stop you seeing your father, even though I could.’
Oh, yes, he could. Of that Charley had no doubts. But she wondered if he would still hold the kids of Poco Rio over her head like a weapon if he actually met them and spent time with them.
‘It concerns me to see you give up a day for something that might not happen,’ he continued. ‘Your father is hardly the most reliable of people.’
‘Your concern for my emotional well-being is touching.’
Something dark glittered across his features. ‘I know you dislike criticism of him but I spent three years watching you be disappointed by that man.’
Her hackles rose. ‘That man is my father.’
‘And if he had ever acted like a father towards you I would be more forgiving of him. Charlotte, he was an hour late for our wedding. Your mother had to walk you down the aisle.’
‘He was stuck in traffic,’ she snapped, her belly knotting at the remembrance.
‘If he’d left earlier traffic wouldn’t have been a problem.’
‘You have no right,’ she said, red-hot fury pushing through her. ‘No right at all, not when your own family is more screwed up than mine.’
‘My family is—’
‘Perfect,’ she finished for him. ‘The famous Cazorlas, practically perfect in every way, apart from the only son clearly hating the infirm father and having a strained relationship with the mother, the only daughter hiding the essence of herself when with the parents so as not to fall off the pedestal they’ve put her on, everyone putting on a front when they step out of the door because nothing’s more important than showing that perfect face.’
The tendons on Raul’s neck were straining, his jaw clenched. ‘I warn you now, Charlotte, stop.’
‘Oh, I get it—it’s okay for you to pick fault with my family but I’m not allowed to criticise yours?’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yes, I do—I lived with you for three years, remember? The difference now is that I’m not wrapped up in my own insecurities. I can see it all clearly.’
He got to his feet and placed his hands on the desk, looming down over her, his face a mask. ‘My family is none of your business, not any more. You lost that right when you walked out on me.’
‘Then consider my family off limits too.’
His eyes bored into her, his lips now a tight line. ‘What date has your father given for you to meet?’
Her answer was just as terse. ‘A week on Saturday.’
‘I will check my diary and let you know if we’re free.’
‘Thank you.’
He straightened and reached for his cup, his breathing heavy. ‘I’ve arranged for a member of the finance team to sit down with you for the afternoon and go through some accounts with you.’
‘Now?’
‘Now.’
He strode back into his adjoining office and closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER NINE
RAUL PASSED THE living room on his way outside for his daily swim and paused.
Charley was sprawled on the sofa thumbing through a Spanish magazine, dressed in a thigh-length white T-shirt, her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, not a scrap of make-up on her face. She was working her way mechanically through a bar of chocolate.
Deep in concentration, she didn’t notice his presence, allowing him to gaze at her unhindered.
His guts twisted.
Walking away before she noticed him, he stepped out into the swimming-pool area, placed his towel on a sun lounger, and dived in.
As he powered his way through the water he waited for the usual calm to envelop him and empty his mind.
Today, it didn’t happen. Length after length, his mind was filled with his wife. Not the heated discussion about their families that had taken place two days ago and which had settled into a strange kind of truce, nor their lovemaking, the potency of which still showed no sign of abating, but the vision of her sitting on that sofa eating the chocolate bar, just as she’d been eating those biscuits at her desk.
It was that sense of déjà vu again, that feeling of staring at the Ghost of Wife Past.
For the first time, he properly considered if there could be any truth in her words that she had spent their marriage unhappily striving to be the person she thought he wanted.
When they’d first met she’d had an innate sunniness. Smiles and laughter had come easily. They were what had drawn him to her, along with the earthy sexiness that came off her in waves.