A thought crossed her mind. ‘When at the end of the month are we meeting him?’
‘The last Wednesday.’
‘Oh.’
‘Why?’
‘The last Wednesday of August is La Tomatina. We’re planning on taking some of the kids to it.’
‘You’re taking the children to a tomato fight?’
From the look on his face she might have said they were taking the children to watch bareknuckle boxing.
‘Just to watch. We took five of them last year and they loved it. We sat on a roof terrace with a box of tomatoes to throw at the crowd.’ La Tomatina was an annual festival in the Valencian town of Buñol.
He eyed her thoughtfully. ‘Have you already got your name down to go?’
‘Yes, but don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on stealing your helicopter again to get there.’
‘You wouldn’t have had any luck if you did—my pilots now know not to take you anywhere without my express permission.’
Only Raul could give with one hand and take with the other, one minute sounding human and reasonable, the next reminding her of her current position in his life. The difference now was that he said it with good humour rather than the horrid cold tone she’d hated so much. It made her hope he was thawing towards her.
She grinned mischievously. ‘I wasn’t going to steal your helicopter. I was going to steal your Bugatti.’
‘I am going to assume you’re joking or my blood pressure might combust.’
‘You should come with us,’ she said, speaking on impulse.
‘I think not,’ he said drily.
‘Why not? Worried you might get your clothes dirty?’
‘No.’ He shook his head.
‘Then why not?’ Her eyes were on him, peering intently. ‘Is it not becoming for a man of your standing to have a tomato fight?’
‘You know perfectly well it isn’t.’ Raul couldn’t think of anything more abhorrent than pictures of himself covered in gunk surfacing in the press and on the Internet.
‘Go in disguise.’
‘Charlotte, I’m not going to take a whole day off work to watch a lot of people throw tomatoes at each other.’
‘Don’t be such a snob. It’s fun.’
‘I’m not a snob.’
‘Not consciously,’ she conceded.
Her phone vibrated loudly. She read the message and sighed, the smile leaving her face.
Raul knew before she said anything that it was her father.
‘Dad can’t make it.’
He kept his features neutral. ‘Why?’
There was that defensive look he recognised. ‘He has a business meeting.’
‘On a Saturday?’
‘You have business meetings on Saturdays.’
‘I run a multibillion-euro company. Your father is currently jobless.’
‘Well, this is something to do with him finding a new job. You should be pleased he’s trying to find one.’
‘I am.’ Raul’s issue was that he simply didn’t believe it. Graham had most likely found himself a date and concocted a story for his daughter’s benefit rather than admitting the truth. The only good thing was that he’d had the decency to cancel in advance rather than at the last minute as he had done on numerous occasions.
The problem was, Charley didn’t want to hear it.
Shaking his head, he strolled back to her dresser and picked up the rest of the papers. ‘While you were sleeping, I also had the chance to look through the financial report you produced.’
‘And?’
A pang shot through Raul’s chest to see trepidation immediately fill her eyes.
‘You did a good job.’
The trepidation was pushed out by a ray of beaming light. ‘Really?’
Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her lightly and murmured, ‘Really.’
He’d been astounded at how good a job she had done.
All throughout their marriage he’d believed in her innate abilities, had known she needed to harness them and focus to achieve something substantial. And now he’d been proved right.
But she hadn’t believed it.
Why had he not recognised before that his wife had no confidence in herself?
She’d put on a good front, that was for certain. But they’d been married. How had he not seen her insecurities?
‘Come on,’ he said, giving her one last kiss before stepping back. ‘Get dressed—I’ve got a meeting in half an hour.’
Before leaving the room, he turned back to her. ‘Don’t feel you have to dress up for the office any more. You’re coming with me as my sex toy, remember?’
His heart lightened to see the grin spread across her face. ‘Shall I dress as a dominatrix?’