‘So how were you diagnosed? What happened?’ There was anger in his tone and Grace glanced at him miserably, knowing that he had reason to be angry.
She hadn’t told him the truth about herself, had she?
She’d taken the loan without being entirely honest about her skills—or lack of them.
‘A new teacher started at the school. She was much more progressive and had some experience with dyslexic students. She had her suspicions immediately and arranged for me to be tested. The results really shocked her. I was severely affected and she couldn’t quite believe that no one had helped me before.’ Grace shrugged. ‘She saved my life. She spent hours with me, hours of her own time, helping me. And she taught me ways of coping. She showed me all the things that I could do really well and she taught me that I wasn’t stupid. But most of all she taught me never to give up.’
Rafael ran a hand over the back of his neck and closed his eyes briefly. ‘And you didn’t think this was worth mentioning to me before?’
‘You only gave me ten minutes.’ Her pathetic attempt at a joke fell flat under his stare and she sighed. ‘No, because I’ve never made excuses for myself. And I just wanted to live my life by the same rules as everyone else.’
‘You didn’t mention it when you were given the loan?’
‘If I’d told you then you wouldn’t have given me the loan.’
He frowned. ‘That’s not true.’
‘Yes, it is true. You would have said that I wasn’t the sort of person to be running a business—’ she swallowed painfully ‘—and you would have been right. I see that now. I thought I could run a business providing I had people to help me, but if you can’t trust your own family, who can you trust?’
‘That is a question that I’m not qualified to answer because in my experience no one is to be trusted, least of all family.’
‘Oh.’ She gave a painful smile. ‘Does your family lie and cheat and try and rip you off? It’s enough to shatter all your illusions, isn’t it?’
‘I don’t have a family, Grace,’ a muscle worked in his lean, aggressive jaw and the sudden flicker in his eyes discouraged any further questioning on that subject, ‘and nor do I have any illusions about people.’
‘Well, that makes you the sensible one, doesn’t it?’ She let out a long breath and studied the floor, wondering where to go from here. ‘Look, I’m very grateful to you for trying to sort out the mess and find out what is going on. It’s more than I managed to do. And you must be very angry with me.’
‘You’re right that I’m angry.’ He prowled across the room towards her, his tempestuous mood sizzling the air around them. ‘I’m livid.’
‘Yes.’ She forced herself to face his anger even though her knees shook and her palms were damp. ‘You have every right to be angry. I lost Filomena and Carlos a significant amount of money.’
His dark brows met in a frown. ‘That isn’t why I’m angry. Obviously I intend to give them all the money they need, although I’ll have to be subtle because they’re very proud. No, I’m angry because you didn’t give me all the information. I’m angry because you didn’t tell me any of this sooner.’
‘But I did tell you that I hadn’t stolen money,’ she muttered in a feeble attempt at self-defence but the words subsided in her throat as he delivered her a furious glare that told her everything she needed to know about the current state of his extremely volatile temperament.
‘Given that you withheld the one vital piece of information that would have actually allowed me to believe you, you’ll agree that the evidence wasn’t exactly stacked in your favour?’
She chewed her lip. ‘I suppose I just expected you to trust me.’
‘And why would I do a thing like that?’ His voice was soft and he moved close to her, something dangerous lighting his dark eyes. ‘I’m not like you, Grace. I don’t trust people I don’t know. I don’t trust the people I do know. The truth is that I don’t trust anyone at all, and especially not when all the evidence points to guilt. I don’t give people the benefit of the doubt. Haven’t you heard that about me?’ The atmosphere throbbed with suppressed emotion. His anger, her misery and something far, far more powerful than either.
Sexual chemistry. It simmered between them, providing an undercurrent that heated the atmosphere.
‘I heard that about you,’ she said hoarsely, struggling to ignore the sudden rush of heat that engulfed her body. ‘It’s hard not to. The papers are full of what a bad boy you are.’
A humourless smile touched his firm mouth. ‘And yet, even knowing that about me, you chose to fly all the way out here to try and persuade me to extend your loan.’ He was standing close to her now. Incredibly close. ‘You must have known I’d ask you difficult questions involving numbers.’
She gave a wan smile. ‘I just hoped they’d be questions that I’d memorised the answers to.’
He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair. ‘Senior businessmen with decades of experience think twice before discussing numbers with me and yet you walked into the lion’s den like a baby deer offering itself up as a sacrifice.’
Her heart bumping against her chest, she shook her head. ‘No,’ she said breathlessly, ‘I didn’t do that. I knew from the first moment I saw you that there was good in you. I knew that the papers were lying.’
He stepped back from her and she sensed his immediate withdrawal. She sensed the depth of his cynicism and something close to distaste.
‘Don’t do that, Grace.’ His voice was rough, almost aggressive, as if he were determined to keep her at a distance, and perhaps he was because he turned away, leaving her only a glimpse of the hard lines of his profile. ‘Don’t give me virtues that don’t exist. Don’t trust in people that don’t deserve your trust. You made that mistake with your father and his little band of accomplices. And you made it with me.’
‘No.’