His fingers clenched around the delicate crystal stem and Rico had to force his grip to relax before the glass simply shattered in his hand. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and even, despite the anger churning within.
“You ran. From me.” His gaze caught hers and he noticed the flicker of…was it shame shining in her light brown eyes? If so, he was glad to see it. “I’m a King, Teresa. We don’t lose. Ever.”
She pulled in a long, shuddering breath. “So this is a game? A competition? I can leave but only when you say so?”
“If this is a game, it is one you devised,” he reminded her. “But it is one I will win.”
“You’re wrong,” Teresa said softly, with a slow shake of her head. “No one’s going to win.”
His heart fisted in his chest and that tight knot of pain told him she was probably right. By the time they were through, there would be no winners.
Only survivors.
“Are we interrupting?”
He knew that voice. Scowling, Rico turned to the man standing beside his table. He slanted a hard look at his cousin Sean, then smiled at the lovely, very pregnant woman by his side.
“Would it matter if I said yes?” Rico asked his cousin.
“No,” Sean said.
“Yes.” Melinda spoke up at the same time. She gave her husband’s arm a light swat, then shrugged and looked at Teresa. “We are interrupting, but honestly, I just had to get out of the house.”
Sean wore slacks and a long-sleeved white shirt. Melinda’s long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail gathered at the base of her neck. Her blue eyes looked tired and she was dressed in a long skirt and a clingy top that emphasized her pregnancy.
“You mentioned you were going to dinner,” Sean put in, already helping Melinda slide across the leather seat. “And we thought that sounded like a great idea.”
He settled at the end of the booth, directly opposite Rico, and gave him a grin. Rico blew out a sigh, but short of tossing his cousin out, there was no way to get rid of him. Besides, Melinda was much too nice to be treated badly because of her idiot husband.
“Hey, champagne!” Sean spotted the bottle nestled in a silver ice bucket and signaled to a waiter for another glass. Remembering his wife, he also ordered a bottle of sparkling water.
While they waited, Rico looked at Teresa. “This is my cousin Sean King and his beautiful wife, Melinda Stanford King.”
“Stanford?” Teresa asked. “Any relation to Walter Stanford? The man who owns this island?”
“He’s my grandfather.”
Rico watched Teresa curiously as the two women fell into an easy conversation. She had known about Walter Stanford. So she’d done some research on Tesoro before arriving on the island. To help her family? Or to find out more about Rico and where he was living now?
She laughed at something Melinda said and the delicious sound settled over him like a warm blanket. Seeing her now, he wasn’t looking at his betrayer, but simply a woman so lovely it took his breath away. And he realized that the tightness in his chest was easing.
Maybe it was a good thing Sean had horned in on dinner. Having the other couple here was definitely easing the tension at the table. Though it would no doubt return when the evening was over and they were back at Rico’s house.