LITMIR.BIZ

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have children of her own, and when she saw news coverage of the devastation in Sarajevo she was keen to give a home to orphaned children.’ Elin grimaced. ‘Jarek said that we were another of Ralph’s projects and he soon lost interest in us.’

      She turned her head to look over her shoulder and check on Harry and Cortez breathed in the lemony scent of her hair. ‘On the surface we appeared to be the perfect family, but the truth was that Ralph had affairs with other women,’ Elin said flatly. ‘I’m sure Mama chose to ignore his infidelities because she did not want Jarek and me to suffer more upheaval if she and Ralph divorced.’

      Elin fell silent when they reached the centre of Seville and Cortez needed to concentrate on driving in heavy traffic. Finally he turned the car onto a driveway in front of the Garcías’ elegant villa.

      ‘Don’t be nervous,’ he said softly when he saw her tense expression. ‘This is an informal occasion, and Teresa and Nic are charming people.’ He climbed out of the car and carried Harry in his baby seat up the front steps of the house. A maid opened the door and Cortez slipped his arm around Elin’s waist as they stepped out of the bright sunshine into the cool hallway. ‘Our wedding is tomorrow, and we need to put on a convincing act in front of people that we are a happily engaged couple,’ he murmured when she stiffened.

      ‘Why does it matter what other people think about our relationship?’ she muttered.

      ‘I don’t want rumours to spread that we are marrying for practicality so that we can both bring up our son. Harry is only a baby now, but when he is older he might be teased by other kids at school. How do you think he would feel if he learned that his parents had only married for his sake?’ Memories of when he had been taunted by the other boys at school because he did not have a father made Cortez determined that his son would never have reason to feel embarrassed about his parentage.

      The maid showed them into a large salon with glass doors that opened onto an attractive courtyard garden. A man and woman came towards them, smiling warmly, and Cortez introduced Elin to Teresa and Nicolás before proudly showing off his son. Harry looked adorable in his blue and white striped outfit and seemed quite happy to be the centre of attention when the other guests crowded around to make a fuss of him. Elin visibly relaxed after a few minutes as she chatted to Teresa and admired the Garcías’ son Luiz, who had recently learned to walk.

      ‘Hola, cariño,’ a woman’s seductive voice murmured close to Cortez.

      ‘Sancha.’ He greeted his ex-mistress with a cool smile and tried to suppress his irritation when she linked her arm possessively through his. ‘I did not realise you would be here today.’

      ‘I wouldn’t have missed my sister’s party for the world when Teresa told me that you would be coming,’ she assured him softly. She leaned forwards so that her breasts were in danger of spilling out of her low-cut dress. ‘I was surprised you did not mention that you had accepted an invitation to the party when we met in Madrid a few weeks ago.’

      Fortunately, Nic came over to ask Cortez what he and Elin would like to drink, and Sancha sashayed across the room back to her latest lover, who, Cortez happened to know, was some twenty years older than her and a multimillionaire. He almost felt sorry for the guy.

      Would Sancha have turned down a mansion and estate worth thirty-five million pounds? It was unlikely, he thought cynically. He turned his head towards Elin and watched her carefully lift Harry out of the baby carrier. Her face was soft with love for her baby. She glanced over and returned Cortez’s smile and he felt his heart kick in his chest.

      In twenty-four hours she would be his wife and he was surprised by how relaxed he felt at the prospect. He had not planned to marry, certainly not at this stage of his life. But discovering that he had a child had changed everything. He would not allow his son to be illegitimate. Elin had shown herself to be a devoted mother, and perhaps it was time that he let go of the past, and Alandra’s terrible betrayal, and learned to trust his soon-to-be wife.

      * * *

      The Garcías’ party was the first occasion that Elin had taken Harry out in public. She had hidden away at Cuckmere Hall after his birth, partly because she had needed to recover her strength following the postpartum haemorrhage, but mainly because she could not bear the idea of the tabloids branding her an irresponsible single mother and all the speculation there was bound to be about the identity of her baby’s father.

      Cortez looked shocked when she admitted that she had kept Harry’s birth a secret. ‘Are you ashamed of our son?’

      ‘Of course not.’ She looked over to where Teresa was holding Harry while she and Cortez helped themselves to lunch from the buffet table. ‘I am ashamed of myself,’ she said in a low tone, ‘and my behaviour when I met you at my birthday party. You probably don’t believe me, but I had never slept with any man before that night.’

      Cortez speared a king prawn viciously with a fork and transferred it to his plate. ‘I wish I had realised you were a virgin,’ he said in a taut voice that Elin had never heard him use before. She could almost believe he cared about her feelings until she reminded herself that he was being attentive to her at the party because they were pretending to be in love. She should not read anything into the way he smiled whenever their eyes met, as if she were the only woman in the room.

      She glanced down at the sparkling engagement ring on her finger, a square-cut sapphire surrounded by white diamonds. It was the most exquisite ring Elin had ever seen and she could only guess how much it was worth. When Cortez had slipped it onto her finger a few days after she’d agreed to marry him she had protested that she could not accept a valuable piece of jewellery from him. He’d replied that the engagement ring would prove to people that their relationship was genuine, but then he had made her heart leap when he’d said he had chosen the sapphire because it matched the colour of her eyes.

      The party was a relaxed affair and Elin found she was enjoying the good food and wine and the chance to socialise with Cortez’s friends. A few other couples had young children, and she began to think that living at La Casa Jazmín would not be as isolating as she’d feared. Although she would have to learn to speak Spanish quickly, Elin decided. The other guests all spoke to her in English but they slipped back into speaking Spanish among themselves. She and Cortez had already agreed that Harry would be brought up to be bilingual but she was worried that if she did not master Spanish she would feel alienated from her son and husband.

      Husband! Her heart lurched when she thought of her wedding tomorrow. Since she had woken up at La Casa Jazmín nearly a month ago and discovered that Cortez had brought her to Spain while she’d been ill with a kidney infection, her life had seemed unreal. And her sense of unreality had increased over the past weeks as Cortez’s attitude towards her had changed radically.

      He was no longer cold and stern, and it was hard to believe he had made those horrible accusations that she was a drug-user and an unfit mother. It was as if he was now determined to charm her, and he did not have to try very hard, she acknowledged ruefully as she looked across the room to where he was standing by the glass doors that opened onto the garden. Late afternoon sunshine filled the courtyard garden and danced over his hair so that it gleamed as black as a raven’s wing. His black jeans moulded his powerful thighs, and his cream shirt was open at the throat, showing his tanned skin and a sprinkling of black hairs that Elin knew, from when she had watched him swimming in the pool at home, grew thickly over his chest.

      She realised with a jolt that she had mentally thought of La Casa Jazmín as home. Tomorrow night would she and Cortez consummate their marriage in the master bedroom? Anticipation coiled in the pit of her stomach. They had not discussed the terms of their marriage, but the hungry gleam in his gold-flecked eyes told her that he desired her, and she had decided that she wasn’t going to hide behind her pride and deny that she craved physical intimacy with him. He was her only lover. But he was more than that, for his charm offensive these past weeks had captured her heart and deep down she knew she was falling in love with him.

      Harry behaved beautifully for the entire afternoon, but by early evening he became fractious and Elin took him into a small sitting room away from everyone so that she

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