plate. ‘But I’ve never been to the Boat Show. I don’t live in London, you see. I live in the north of England. That’s why I’m spending the night here. It would have been too much of a gamble to risk connecting with my flight in the morning.’
‘Ah.’ He gave an understanding nod. ‘So your holiday’s begun a day early.’
‘You could say that.’ Ally realised she had finished her soup and felt a moment’s surprise. Talking to Raul, she had completely forgotten the problems she’d been having with eating and she half wished she’d taken a chance and ordered a steak, after all. She replaced her spoon and took a mouthful of her wine before continuing. ‘That was lovely.’
‘I’m glad you enjoyed it.’
‘Oh, I did.’ Ally propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her linked hands. Then, feeling quite expansive, she added, ‘As a matter of fact, I haven’t had much of an appetite lately. Not since—not since—well, all the fuss.’
Raul regarded her thoughtfully. ‘The divorce?’ he ventured softly, and she found herself nodding her agreement.
‘It was so—ugly,’ she said, with a shudder, hardly aware that the amount she had drunk was loosening her tongue. ‘We had to sell the house, move into a much smaller semi. And because Sam and Ryan are at college, I’ve had to do most of the organising on my own.’
‘Tough.’ Raul was sympathetic. ‘Why couldn’t your—ex-husband lend a hand?’
‘Jeff?’ Ally grimaced. ‘He wasn’t there. He left for Canada before the decree nisi. He’s always wanted to travel, and if—when—he marries Kelly he’ll probably apply for a Canadian passport.’
Raul frowned. ‘What does your husband do?’
‘Do? As in, for a living?’ She pulled a face. ‘He’s a biology teacher.’
‘Biology?’
Raul grinned and suddenly Ally was grinning, too. ‘Yes. Ironic, isn’t it?’ She stifled a laugh. ‘You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.’
‘So this woman you mentioned, she’s a teacher, too?’
‘Mmm.’ Ally bent her head, aware that she was being far too familiar, and tried to tone the conversation down. ‘She—er—she came to Jeff’s school on one of those exchange schemes. According to him it was love at first sight.’
‘You don’t believe it?’
‘Oh, no.’ Ally looked up, her eyes widening. ‘I believe it. She’s one of those petite blondes that all men seem to find irresistible. Well, men of a certain age anyway.’
‘I don’t,’ said Raul at once, and Ally gave him a retiring look.
‘You’re not as old as Jeff,’ she said. ‘Give it time.’
‘I don’t need to.’ Raul studied her face with disturbing intensity. ‘I wouldn’t leave you for a bleached blonde.’
Ally dimpled. ‘How do you know she was a bleached blonde?’
‘Aren’t they always?’ Raul waited until the waiter had removed their plates before continuing, ‘Desperate women, who can’t get a man of their own so they resort to stealing someone else’s.’
‘I don’t think Jeff put up much opposition,’ said Ally wryly, and Raul shrugged.
‘More fool him.’
She giggled then. ‘You’re awfully good for my ego, do you know that?’
‘I aim to please.’
‘Yes, you do, don’t you?’ The colour in her cheeks deepened becomingly. ‘I wonder why?’
Now it was Raul’s turn to pull a face. ‘That sounds suspiciously like a criticism,’ he remarked drily. ‘Has no one told you what an attractive woman you are?’
‘Not recently, no,’ Ally admitted. ‘Who are you? Some kind of guardian angel employed to comfort lonely women?’
‘My name’s Raul, not Gabriel,’ he retorted, refilling her wine glass. ‘Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve invited a woman I’d never met before to have dinner with me. I know you think I’m stringing you a line, but I’m not. I genuinely am enjoying myself.’
‘So’m I.’ Ally looked down into her glass, amazed at her own audacity. ‘I’m glad you asked me to have dinner with you.’
‘Yeah. Me, too,’ he conceded, touching his glass to hers. ‘Here’s to us.’
‘To us,’ she repeated obediently, wishing they had longer than tonight to get to know one another better, and was aware of him watching her as she sipped her wine.
The main course was just as delicious as the first, although in all honesty Ally was hardly aware of what she was eating. Afterwards, all she remembered was that Raul had offered her a taste of his steak, and the intimacy of sharing his food had extinguished everything else.
She also knew she had never been as relaxed with a man in her life. Not even Jeff, who had usually dominated their conversations with his work, his problems. Looking back, she was forced to acknowledge that although she had always thought they had a good marriage, it had hardly been a partnership in the real sense of the word. For years, she’d let Jeff make all the decisions and, because she’d seldom objected, he’d begun to believe that she didn’t have an opinion of her own.
Still, she could hardly blame him for that…
She declined a dessert and, instead of staying at the table, they went to have their coffee in the adjoining lounge. They were shown to a table in the shade of a palm. There were two comfortable armchairs and a low sofa set around the table and Ally chose the sofa, expecting Raul to take one of the armchairs opposite.
But he didn’t.
‘You don’t mind, do you?’ he asked, when his thigh brushed against hers as he seated himself beside her. She managed to get, ‘Not at all,’ past the sudden constriction in her throat. She was intensely aware of his closeness, however, and of the fact that his weight depressed the cushion beneath her hip.
‘I suppose you’re staying at the hotel, too,’ she said quickly, to distract herself from the powerful length of his legs that he was forced to fold beneath the table, and Raul waited until the waiter had served their coffee before replying.
‘Fourth floor,’ he told her easily. ‘How about you?’
‘Oh, I’m staying here—’
‘I know that.’ The look he gave her assured her that he hadn’t been deceived by her attempt at subterfuge. ‘Which floor?’
‘I—the first, I think.’
‘Don’t you know?’
Of course she did. And it wasn’t the first.
Pretending to be indignant, she exclaimed,
