Page 37

T he door crashed open. Ramón strode into the room. Perlita followed, hovering anxiously.

Ramón wasn’t particularly tall, but he was built like a bull, with broad shoulders and a deep barrel chest. Dark, with a swarthy complexion, his face was dominated by a large nose and a thick, black mustache.

He barely even glanced at Isabella. With his gaze fixed on Luke, Ramón swaggered up to him, planted his feet apart, and said, “So, you walk right into my parlor, Englishman? Are you a fool, then?”

Luke politely rose to his feet saying pleasantly in English, “And a Fee Fi Fo Fum to you, too, sir.”

Behind him he heard Isabella choke.

Luke continued in Spanish. “El Conde de Castillejo, I presume? I am Ripton, Isabella’s husband. How do you do?” He extended his hand.

“Husband? Not for long.” Ramón made no move to shake Luke’s hand.

Luke shrugged, sat down again, and bit into another cake. “These are remarkably good,” he commented.

As Luke had intended, Ramón seemed nonplussed by such behavior. After a minute of glowering and some more huffing and puffing, he boomed, “You stole my treasure.”

Luke took no notice.

Ramón’s face grew red.

Isabella knotted her fingers anxiously.

Luke finished the cake and dusted the crumbs from his fingers. Then he glanced up and said innocently, “Oh, sorry, were you talking to me? No, I didn’t steal anything.” Red rag to the bull.

Ramón gave a low growl. “I meant Isabella!”

“Stop it, Luke. Don’t provoke him,” Isabella whispered.

Luke smiled. Isabella opened her mouth to argue, butLuke silenced her with a look.

“Well?” Ramón said in a belligerent voice.

“Yes, my wife is indeed a treasure.” Luke wiped his fingers with a napkin and added in a cool, silky tone, “But she’s not yours, never was, and never will be.”

Ramón snorted. “You’re a fool.”

Luke raised a single brow. “Am I?”

“To come with your rich young wife to the lair of the wolf alone and unprotected? You must be a fool.”

Isabella couldn’t restrain herself any longer. She jumped up. “Stop it! Don’t you dare threaten us!”

Ramón sneered and gestured to the dueling swords. “On my land I do whatever I want, little cousin. And if I want to make you a widow, I will.”

“Oh, you want to fight like a gentleman, do you?” Luke drawled. “In that case…” The ice was beginning to sing in his veins, as it always did at the prospect of a fight.

“Luke, he’s not a gentleman,” Isabella said in a low, vehement tone. “He won’t follow any gentlemen’s rules. He has no rules but Ramón’s.”

“Exactly, little cousin.” Ramón sneered. “Ramón’s land, Ramón’s rules.”

“No!” She tried to get between them.

Luke gripped her firmly by the arms and moved her behind him. “Sit there and stay out of the way,” he ordered. “This is men’s business.”

She whitened but, amazingly, obeyed.

The ice well and truly singing in his veins now, Luke strolled to the fireplace and plucked one of the crossed swords from above the mantel.

“Actually she’s only your second cousin, and twice removed, I believe.

I intend to remove her even further, so if you have a burning desire to kill me, you are welcome to try.

” He flexed the long blade experimentally.

Behind him Isabella made a small distressed sound. The timbre of it disturbed Luke. He glanced at her.

His little fire-eater sat frozen where he’d put her, watching Ramón, small and still as a mouse mesmerized by a snake. Her face was pale and pinched, her golden eyes dark and filled with…

Luke frowned. He’d never seen her looking like that before. He didn’t like it. He glanced back at Ramón, who was glowering and clenching and unclenching his fists. How could she be frightened of such a fellow? Brute force, he supposed.

He lightly drew his finger along the edge of the blade. Sharp as a razor. He tested the sword for balance, then swished the blade through the air.

And from the corner of his eye he saw Isabella flinch. She gave Luke a stricken look, bit down hard on her lower lip, clenched her hands into small fists, and resolutely looked away. With a shock he realized he was the one who’d put that look in her eyes.

She was frightened for him.

He froze. For the last seven years he’d embraced any opportunity for a fight, sought out danger, gloried in living on the edge. It was the only thing that calmed, for a brief time, the restlessness, the emptiness that gnawed at him.

But the look in Isabella’s eyes…

The singing ice in his veins faded. What the hell was he doing?

Ramón grabbed the other sword and shifted into a fighting stance. “Prepare to die, Englishman.”

Isabella rose to her feet and stamped her foot. “I won’t be fought over!” But her voice was high and tremulous, and the desperate sound of it pierced Luke.

He dragged his gaze from his wife’s stricken profile. Time to use his brains, stop playing this stupid game—and it was a game. But not to her. And no longer to him. He had a wife now.

He flexed the blade and said to Ramón, “You are still welcome to try. I am curious, though. How do you imagine my death would benefit you?”

Ramón laughed. “Are you stupid, Englishman? I would marry Isabella, of course. She is certainly worth fighting over.”

Perlita gave a distressed little moan, and Ramón’s gaze snapped toward her. “It will make no difference to us, Perla.”

Perlita hid her face from him and made no response. His brows locked briefly, then he turned back to Luke and his gaze hardened. “Well, Englishman?”

“Anytime you want. I didn’t realize it was Isabella herself you wanted.”

“What?”

“I thought it was her fortune.”

Ramón frowned. “I want both, of course. The two go together.”

“Ah, no.” Luke made a practice pass. The thin, deadly blade sliced the air. “There you are mistaken.”

“Mistaken?”

“Yes. Isabella comes separate from her fortune.” He pretended to parry. “And when I am dead she will be penniless.”

“Penniless?” exclaimed Ramón. His thick brows knotted in suspicion.

“Penniless?” Bella echoed in shock. She stared at Luke. It couldn’t be true.

Luke met her gaze ruefully. “Penniless,” he confirmed.

“That cannot be,” Ramón said. “Her mother left her a great—”

“Fortune, yes, but it all came to me when we married. There were no settlements, you see. It was a marriage made in haste.” He glanced at Ramón.

“Your fault, that. Ironic, is it not?” He touched the point of the sword.

“Naturally I made a will straightaway. Everything, every penny I own, goes to the support of my mother and younger sister.”

“Is this true?” Bella stared at Luke with her mouth open.

“On my honor as a gentleman.” He met her gaze ruefully, and she saw it was true.

“But what of Isabella?” Ramón demanded.

“Yes, what of me?” Bella repeated.

“You will live with my mother and sister, of course. They will take good care of you.”

Bella could hardly believe her ears. But the look in his face… and the oath he’d sworn. He wouldn’t make that lightly.

Live with his mother and sister? Be dependent on two strange Englishwomen? She didn’t want to be dependent on anyone. It was her fortune, left to her by her mother. It should come back to her.

No wonder he wasn’t worried about coming here…

Ramón was incredulous. “Isabella will have nothing of her own? Nothing? I don’t believe it.”

Perlita said, “It’s true, Ramón. Look at her face.”

Ramón looked, then turned to Luke. “That’s monstrous! No provision for your widow?”

“I am English,” Luke said carelessly. “We do things differently. A rich widow is a target for unprincipled men.” He gave a cold, two-edged smile to Ramón.

“But Isabella is a treasure in herself, and no right-minded man would need a bribe to marry her.” He blew Bella a kiss and raised the sword.

“So, if you still want to fight for her…”

Bella blinked. Blowing her a kiss? His eyes were dancing. He was enjoying this!

With a sudden flash of insight, she realized that her husband wasn’t going to fight at all, that for all his talk and action, he had no intention of fighting Ramón. That it was all a bluff!

“Nobody will fight for me!” Bella declared, suddenly angry. Neither man even glanced at her. She didn’t know which was worse, the amused expression on her husband’s face or the look of determined greed on Ramón’s. She knew who she wanted to hit, though, and it wasn’t Ramón.

Ramón glowered. He turned to Isabella. “Did you not negotiate the marriage settlements?”

Isabella flung him a scornful look. Of course she had not negotiated settlements. She was thirteen and fleeing from her violent pig of a cousin. To Luke she said, “So, you would leave me entirely to your mother’s mercy?”

“Why not? My mother is very nice,” he assured her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Luke smiled, confirming everything she’d thought.

She bared her teeth at him in what was not exactly a smile. Oh, she would make him pay for this.

Ramón exploded. “You stupid bitch! Marrying an Englishman without thought or preparation. Dazzled by his pretty face!” He smashed his big meaty fist against the wall, making them all jump. “The money belongs here, here at Valle Verde! And now it’s lost, lost to you and lost to Valle Verde.”

“And lost to you, which is some compensation, at least,” Isabella said.

Ramón clenched his fists. “You should have married me! This is what comes of running from your family—you marry a stranger, an Englishman!” He spat.

“Still better than marrying you!” Isabella flashed.

“You brainless little slut, he’s not going to look after you. Don’t you understand? When he dies you’ll be penniless, no better than a beggar, dependent on the charity of strangers—”

“I’d rather be penniless than married to a pig like—”

Ramón raised his hand.

And found a sword at his throat. He froze.

“Lay one finger on my wife and you’re a dead man,” Luke said softly.

Ramón clenched his fists.

“I meant every word,” Luke said. A trickle of blood appeared at Ramón’s throat.

“Please, Ramón,” Perlita begged.