‘I seem to have monopolised your attention for far too long,’ she said stiffly.
‘I’m not complaining, querida.’ Ramon’s confident smile held it all—satisfaction that she had succumbed to his potent charm, and the expectation that he had only to click his fingers and she would fall into his bed.
She had to get away from him before she made an even bigger fool of herself. ‘Actually, I’ve got a headache. Please excuse me,’ she mumbled, and spun away from him before he had a chance to protest.
She walked swiftly across the ballroom, needing to escape the cacophony of noise, the sound of people’s voices and the music. She needed to be alone, to think, as the enormity of her decision to keep Matty a secret from Ramon evoked the nagging guilt that she had tried to push away.
She hurried into the lift and pressed the button to take her to the fifth floor. The door had started to close when a figure appeared, and she gave a silent groan when Guy Hadlow joined her.
‘Off to bed so early, Lauren?’ he taunted.
She ignored him, but he moved closer, trapping her against the wall of the lift. She wrinkled her nose in distaste when she inhaled the strong smell of alcohol on his breath.
‘The question is—whose bed? Are you going to bunk up with your Spanish playboy?’ Guy gave a mocking laugh. ‘No wonder you were picked for the Velaquez job. What did you do? Promise to drop your knickers if he gave you the contract?’
The crack of Lauren’s hand on Guy’s cheek resounded around the lift and he jerked his head back, his mouth thinning to an ugly line.
‘You bitch. I’m only saying what everyone is thinking.’
‘Well, it’s not true.’ Lauren felt sick with shame and misery. She heard the ping of the bell announcing that the lift had arrived at her floor and tried to push past Guy—but he gripped her arms with bruising force.
‘Really? You give it away for free, do you, Lauren?’ the lawyer sneered nastily.
To her horror he hit the button to prevent the lift door from opening. She could tell from his flushed face and glazed eyes that he was seriously drunk, but while she was desperately searching for something to say that would defuse the situation he grabbed one strap of her dress and wrenched it down over her shoulder.
‘For God’s sake, Guy, let me go.’ She could hear the panic in her voice, and shuddered when he lowered his head towards her.
‘I wanted you long before Velaquez,’ he slurred.
Nausea swept through Lauren when he put his hand on her breast, but she quickly took advantage of the fact that he had released his grip on her arm, and somehow found the strength to push him away. The lift was still stationary. She frantically jabbed the button to open the door, and stumbled blindly out into the corridor—straight into the solid wall of a broad, muscular chest.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘LAUREN? What’s going on?’
Ramon stared down at Lauren’s paper-white face, and the purple bruises already appearing on her upper arms, then swung his gaze to the man still lounging against the lift wall. He had felt a faint sense of unease when he had watched the man follow her into the lift a few minutes ago, and had quickly taken the other lift up to the fifth floor. It seemed that his instincts had been right, he thought grimly.
Lauren shook her head, beyond speech. She was sure she had been in no real danger from Guy, but the memory of his sweaty hands on her skin as he had pawed her made her sway on her feet.
She could have no idea how vulnerable she looked at this moment, Ramon thought savagely, white-hot fury surging through him. He was startled by the strength of his need to protect her. He wanted to take her in his arms and simply hold her—let her know she was safe with him and that he would never allow anyone to harm her—but first he had to deal with the jerk in the lift.
‘Just a moment, querida,’ he said, as he gently moved Lauren to one side. ‘Let me get rid of this trash.’
‘Ramon, what are you doing?’ Lauren gasped, when Ramon grabbed Guy by the lapels of his jacket and raised his fist. ‘No! You can’t hit him. He’s drunk.’
‘And that’s his defence?’ Ramon growled. ‘He hurt you.’
Guy’s bravado had deflated like a popped balloon, and he cowered away from the furious Spaniard. ‘He was just being an idiot,’ Lauren said heavily. She still felt sick when she remembered how Guy had dragged the strap of her dress down her arm, but it was obvious he had had too much to drink. ‘Look at him; he can hardly stand up. Anyway, brawling with him will only make everything a hundred times worse.’
Ramon frowned, but reluctantly released Guy. ‘Go and sober up,’ he ordered the younger man harshly, ‘and if you value your life keep away from Miss Maitland in the future.’