Claiming His Wife

'Sis!'

As Cassie closed the door to the formal dining room behind her Roy emerged from beneath the stone arch that led to the kitchen quarters. It took her two seconds to reach him. She wanted to shake him but he looked so wretched she hugged him instead.

'I couldn't sit through dinner, not knowing whether you'd persuaded Roman to give me another chance.'

She had meant to tell him that she'd tried and failed, that he was on his own now and had to take the consequences of his dishonesty, but she could feel his wiry body shaking. Her heart lurched. Her eyes filled with tears.

In the past she'd fought all his battles for him. Maybe he would have been a stronger character if she hadn't. Maybe she was to blame for the way he'd messed up his life.

But how could she fail him now, when he needed her most?

'It will be all right,' she told him unsteadily. 'You'll be given another chance. Make the most of it, though, because it will be your last.'

CHAPTER THREE

The kitchen was in the older, original part of the house; the stone walls were painted white and the huge black range added to the warmth of the early morning. Asuncion, who ran the household and ca­tered for the unmarried estate workers with unruffled efficiency, was kneading dough; two of the maids sat at the other end of the central table, chattering over their toasted rolls and coffee.

'Have you seen Senor Fernandez?' Cassie asked as her appearance made the housekeeper stop pum­melling and the maids fall silent.

Unless they'd changed their habits during the past twelve months, Dona Elvira and the aunts wouldn't surface until after they'd breakfasted in their rooms at ten. But when he was here Roman was always out on the estate soon after sunrise; she didn't want to miss him and hang around until lunchtime, getting more nervous and downhearted with every passing second. She wanted to get this over with.

'No, not this morning, senora.' Asuncion planted her floury hands on her wide hips, her small dark eyes sparking with curiosity. 'Senorita Delfina waits for him also.' One of the maids smothered a giggle, earning a quick dark look from the housekeeper. 'If you join her in the courtyard, someone will bring coffee out for you.'

'Thank you, Asuncion.' Cassie retreated smartly, her cheeks burning. Las Colinas Verdes was like a small village; everyone knew everyone else's busi­ness and the affairs of the family were the subject of eternal gossip and conjecture.

They would all be wondering why the runaway, unsuitable English wife had returned and why el pa­tron had taken his young brother-in-law out of his comfortable office in Jerez and put him to work like a labourer in the fields. Uncomfortably, she won­dered what answers they'd come up with.

She had no wish to join Delfina but she really did need that coffee. Her night had been restless, tor­mented by the knowledge of what she'd let herself in for. She couldn't go back on her promise to Roy, but if Roman wanted her to pretend that they were making a fresh start, and get his relatives off his back, then she had a condition of her own to make, she thought firmly.

Delfina was sitting in the shade of the sprawling fig tree which grew against one of the high stone walls of the courtyard. She was wearing form-fitting stretch jodhpurs and a cream-coloured, heavy silk shirt; the long sleeves were casually rolled up to just beneath her elbows, displaying lightly tanned fore­arms and a matching pair of thin gold chain bracelets.

She looked every inch the aristocrat, as if she be­longed here. Cassandra couldn't understand why Roman was going to such lengths to pretend he wanted another shot at making his marriage to an average-looking nobody like her work, when surely he could see that this beautiful, sophisticated daugh­ter of a wealthy sherry family would make him a perfect wife. Or had he really meant it when he'd said that Delfina's type bored him?

'If you're looking for Roman, you're out of luck,' Delfina snapped. 'We had a date to go riding but he must have left without me.' The lovely, perfectly made-up face was petulant, the scarlet mouth droop­ing sulkily. 'He always did head for the hills rather than spend time around you, so I guess that's what's happened now.'

'Is that so?' Cassie slid on to the bench seat on the opposite side of the table, in the full glare of the already hot sun, noting that the other woman had barely touched her coffee or her juice. Roman might enjoy the flirtatious attentions of Delfina, and the way she hung around him would boost his already considerable ego. But he certainly wouldn't want to marry her, and not only because her shallowness would bore him.

Delfina had been born to elegance and style, and was accustomed to the high life. She certainly wouldn't allow herself to be isolated here, seeing her husband only when he felt like dropping by for a week or two, producing babies and closely chaper­oned by his mother and aunts while he swanned off, free as a bird. She would make a demanding wife, while he had wanted a dutiful, self-effacing one, one who didn't ask questions or demand a single thing of him.

Roman Fernandez was far too selfish to com­pletely tie himself down to a woman; he enjoyed the pleasures of a bachelor-style life far too much. But at least, Cassie knew, he wouldn't seduce the other woman. She came from an important family and he wouldn't compromise her; his Spanish code of hon­our wouldn't let him. Though why she should see that as a consolation, Cassie couldn't imagine. She no longer cared what he did.

'I can't think why you came back after all this time,' Delfina said pettishly. 'You're wasting your time if you expect Roman to take you back—because he won't, you know. How long are you staying, any­way?' she wanted to know. 'It can't be too long if the only thing you've got with you is the same old suit you wore to dinner last night,' Delfina added disparagingly. 'And you really shouldn't sit in the sun, not with yo

ur ginger colouring. You'll get cov­ered in ghastly freckles, just like your brother. And what's he doing working here? I thought Roman had given him an easy life back in the office in Jerez.'

'He's learning estate management from the bottom up,' Roman's dark, velvety voice supplied. He was standing in the shadow of the pillared arcade that surrounded the courtyard on three sides. 'And you never know, if he's not otherwise engaged when Miguel retires in six years' time, Roy might make manager.'

Cassie got the message. Roy could make some-thing of himself here on the estate, or go to prison. She shivered, despite the warmth of the sun. At least Roman hadn't confided the true situation to Delfina. She offered up a silent word of thanks for his tact.

'We had a date,' the Spanish woman cooed as Roman stepped out of the shadows. The petulance gone, she was all smiling welcome. She stood up, smoothing her hands over her prettily curved hips. ‘I've waited for ages, but at least you're here now— so just this once I've decided to forgive you!'

He wasn't dressed for riding. Wearing narrow fawn-coloured cotton trousers topped by a black shirt in the finest lawn, he looked fantastic, all raw male sexuality—and then some. Cassie knew exactly why Delfina couldn't keep away from him; she could imagine how the Spanish woman's hopes would have soared when she'd learned that his failure of a wife had left him.

Cassie almost felt sorry for her! 'You're going to have to ride alone this morning,' Roman stated abruptly, as if his patience was running out. 'I have urgent business with my wife. But,' he added as a palliative, 'I had Demetrio saddle up for you. The mare's ready and waiting in the stable yard.'

His cool smile seemed to soften what was obvi­ously a blow and pushed what petulant words Delfina might have been about to say back down her throat. Asuncion, bearing down on them with a huge tray, did the rest.

As the housekeeper, with a murmured, 'Senor, Senora,' set out breakfast for two and cleared away the offerings Delfina had barely touched, the Spanish girl swept her eyes dismissively over Cassie, gave Roman a commiserating smile and drawled, 'I'll leave you to your boring business then, caro. You can make amends for letting me down when you've finished with it.' Another pointed glance in Cassie's direction and then she was walking away, leaving the sultry perfume that was her trademark behind in the hot summer air.