Who Rides the Tiger Page 17
'That's not true—' she began indignantly.
'Not now, perhaps,' he amended softly. 'Now, I'm beginning to believe that there is such a thing as love. I didn't used to. I never wanted to. And when you challenged me, I hated you. Believe me, Dominique, I could have killed you for destroying the faith I was beginning to find.'
Dominique propped herself up. 'But you could have denied it. You could have told me the truth!'
Vincente bent his head. 'I am a proud man, Dominique. That is not a proud confession, it is unfortunately the truth. I could not bear that you should believe that woman before me. I wanted to hurt you, and then - I merely succeeded in hurting myself.'
'But why did you change your mind?'
Vincente sighed. 'That day - that day you ran out of the hospital in Rio, I knew then that I had really hurt you. I wanted to run after you - to plead with you - to tell you I was sorry. But of course I could not. And I never had the chance - until now - to show you I am merely a man who loves you to distraction.'
'Oh, Vincente,' she whispered, and drew him up beside her.
For a while there was silence in the room, and Dominique was content. But later, she stroked his head as it rested on her breast, and said:
'John had something to do with the explosion at the plant, didn't he?'
Vincente shrugged his broad shoulders. 'I don't know.'
'That's not the truth, is it?' she murmured.
'It is over, Dominique,' he replied gently. 'Providing you can stand to live with these scars for a while, I don't care about anything else.'
'But I do.'
Vincente looked up at her, shaking his head. 'Your Mr. Harding is being transferred to the Buenos Aires plant.'
'You could fire him,' she murmured.
'I could not be so unkind to the man who introduced me to the most important woman in my life, replied Vincente, with satisfaction.
Table of Contents
WHO RIDES THE TIGER
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN