It was supposed to hurt, but only if you were a virgin, and since she wasn’t…
Since she wasn’t a virgin she hoped she would enjoy it. Some women did, she’d heard the girls whisper. Most didn’t. Only bad girls liked doing it.
Bella thought of all the many times she’d been in trouble. Would she turn out to be a bad girl in this, too? She certainly hoped so.
She mopped up the last of the chicken and pepper sauce with a crust of bread, wiped her mouth, and sat back in herchair with a sigh of satisfaction. “That was heavenly. I don’t think I’ve had such a delicious meal in, oh… I can’t remember.”
“Yes, the food here has always been very good.”
Always? “You’ve been here before?”
“Once or twice,” he said indifferently. “Years ago in the war.”
“Then you knew we were traveling east.”
He gave her a dry look. “The moon made that fairly obvious.”
So he had realized they were traveling toward Valle Verde, not away from it. Did that mean he’d decided to let her go to Valle Verde after all? “So tomorrow, will we—”
“Señorita?” A touch on her shoulder.
Bella looked up. A rather dashing-looking gentleman of about thirty stood by her chair. “Sí?”
He bowed. “You are the daughter of the Conde de Castillejo, are you not?”
“I am,” Bella breathed. Without thinking, she held out her hand.
“Don Francisco Espinoza de Cadaval at your service. I had the honor of fighting under your father’s command. I was there when he died. It is a great pleasure to meet you,señorita.” He raised her hand and kissed it so ardently, she could feel the tickle of his thin, elegant mustache.
Chair legs scraped abruptly on the floor as Luke stood. “You’re mistaken,” Luke said in a harsh voice. Bella and Don Francisco looked at him in surprise.
“She’s notseñoritaanything. She’s my wife, Lady Ripton, and we are about to retire for the night. Come, my dear.” He held out an imperious hand to Isabella.
“Oh, but I would like to—”
“Now, Isabella.” His dark gaze bored into her, and she reflected that she’d probably defied him enough for one day already. And that a public dining room was not the place for a dispute with her husband.
Don Francisco took one glance at Luke’s face, took a step backward, and bowed gracefully to them both. “Good evening, then, Lady Ripton. Perhaps in the morning…”
Bella gave him a warm smile to make up for her husband’s rudeness. “Yes, that would be—”
“I doubt we’ll have the time. We’ll be departing very early.” Luke took Bella’s hand, pushed past Don Francisco, and led her from the room.
“Really, there’s no need to be so boorish.”
“There’s every need. You have no idea who that man is.”
“I do, too. He was one of my father’s men.”
“I heard who hesaidhe was. He could say anything and you’d believe him.”
“He was with Papa when he died,” she said. “I would have liked to talk to him, to hear more—”
He stopped abruptly and swung her to face him. “The two men who attacked you when you were a child were your father’s men and had been with him when he died, too, and look how well that turned out.”
She bit her lip and looked away.
His voice softened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to remind you of it, but… you’re too trusting for your own good. Terrible things happened in this country while you were in the convent.”
