‘I—’
‘You will not defy me in this way again, Lia,’ he bit out evenly. ‘Do you understand me?’
‘But—’ She broke off as the unfortunate waitress chose that moment to come back and take their order.
‘We are not staying,’ Gregorio informed her abruptly as he took out his wallet to remove some money, handing it to the waitress as he slid out of the booth and pulled Lia with him.
‘Where are we going?’ She just had time to grab her shoulder bag as he marched them both towards the exit.
‘Somewhere we can talk privately,’ came the grimly determined reply.
Lia didn’t like the sound of that.
At all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘WILL YOU JUST ease up—before I either fall over or you pull my arm out of its socket?’ Lia complained as Gregorio continued his march down the street, his fingers firmly around the top of her arm as he pulled her along beside him. Everyone instinctively stepped out of his way, and consequently hers too. They obviously knew from looking at Gregorio’s face not to get in his way.
His expression was... Dark and dangerous. That was the only way Lia could think of to describe it. Thunderous brows were lowered over even darker and stormier eyes, his jaw was tight, lips still thinned, his jaw clenched. His whole body language said, Get out of my way or risk being trampled underfoot.
An impression no doubt added to by the two men who were six and half feet of pure muscle following just a couple of steps behind them.
‘Gregorio—’
‘It would be better if you did not speak to me right now,’ he bit out, without so much as glancing at her.
‘But—’
‘Dios, do you ever do as you are told?’ He maintained his hold on her arm as he turned to face her, his eyes glittering darkly as he glowered at her from his superior height. ‘Do you have any idea what you risked by meeting Richardson alone?’
She did now. ‘I wasn’t exactly alone when one of your men follows me everywhere I go. Besides, David would never—’ She broke off with a wince, knowing that the David she had met today was not the man who had wooed and won her. Today he had been that cornered animal. Feral. Likely to strike out and maim or kill without warning.
Gregorio eyed her scornfully. ‘Do not try to convince me of something you no longer believe yourself!’
Her cheeks warmed. ‘That isn’t true—’
‘Do you still have feelings for him? Is that it?’ Gregorio snapped disgustedly. ‘You want to believe he is not involved because you are still in love with him?’
‘No!’
Gregorio couldn’t miss the vehemence in her denial. ‘Then why meet with him at all? Why would you even do something like that when I have told you of my suspicions regarding him?’
‘Because I needed to know—to see for myself—whether or not David is capable of doing what you suspect he has!’ She glared at him.
‘And?’
She gave a shiver. ‘He’s more than capable. In fact I was about to excuse myself from having lunch with him when you arrived and started acting like a caveman.’
Given the circumstances, Gregorio considered his behaviour earlier to have been quite circumspect. What he had really wanted to do was rip David Richardson’s head from his shoulders for daring to so much as breathe the same air as Lia.
If Lia thought he had behaved like a caveman when he’d joined her and Richardson, then she should have seen him when he’d first received Silvio’s phone call telling him exactly who she was meeting for lunch.
Gregorio had left the hotel immediately and walked the short distance to the bistro. Seeing Lia sitting cosily in a booth with Richardson had only made him angrier. Overhearing Richardson’s scornful comments to her, mocking her social fall and her need to work for a living, had made Gregorio want to slam his fist into the other man’s face.
‘I consider myself to have been very restrained,’ he assured her tightly.
‘Is your restraint an excuse for all that nonsense about an engagement ring too?’ She eyed him disgustedly.