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.
He glanced at her, and the tension in his big, bull-like body lessened slightly. “I will not touch her,” he growled, and Luke lowered the sword.
Perlita flew across the room and pressed a handkerchief to the cut on his neck. He brushed her off and turned to Luke. “I do not like being threatened in my own home, Englishman.”
“I do not like my wife being insulted, Spaniard,” Luke returned coolly.
The two men glared narrow-eyed at each other for a long, tense moment, then Ramón shrugged. “We shall eat dinner,” he announced, as if nothing had happened. “Perlita?”
“It-it’s ready,” she said, her voice shaking. She rang a little silver bell.
Her mother’s bell, Bella noted distantly. Now she was really confused.
