The Gold Collection. Maggie Cox

do, but—’ Lauren broke off helplessly when she saw the light of battle in her mother’s eyes. Mateo’s flushed cheeks were probably because it was warm in the flat. He looked the picture of health, with his bright eyes and cheeky grin, and she knew Frances had been looking forward to spending some time with him. ‘All right.’ She gave in. ‘I’ll go.’

      ‘Good.’ Frances beamed. ‘You never know—you might be swept off your feet by a handsome stranger.’

      ‘God forbid!’ Lauren said fervently as she pressed the ‘send’ button on her laptop to email the report she had been working on to Ramon. ‘The expression “once bitten, twice shy” has never been more apt.’

      Huge, ornate chandeliers illuminated the ballroom and sparkled down on the dozens of guests who were milling about the room. Lauren smiled her thanks to the waiter who offered her a glass of champagne, and smoothed her hand down her dress as she made her way towards the group of senior partners and their wives. Her floor-length black silk-jersey gown was simple but elegant; the diamanté shoulder straps and narrow belt around her waist broke the starkness of the dress, and matched her silver stiletto heels.

      It was amazing to think that ten months ago she had looked like a barrage balloon in full flight, she mused when she caught sight of her reflection in a mirror. She was lucky that her stomach had regained its pre-pregnancy flatness, but she had eaten sensibly while she was expecting Mateo, and, thanks to her hectic life of combining work and motherhood, she was actually a few pounds lighter than before she had conceived him.

      It made a change to dress up for once, she admitted, feeling a little spurt of confidence when she became aware of the admiring glances from a couple of lawyers from another department of PGH. She continued on her way over to the senior partners, but her steps faltered, and for the second time that day shock drained the blood from her face as she caught sight of a familiar tall, dark figure.

       What in the devil’s name was Ramon doing here?

      ‘Ah, Lauren, delighted you could make it.’ Alistair Gambrill chose that moment to turn his head in her direction, so she had no option but to carry on walking, her heart thudding painfully as she felt Ramon’s intent scrutiny.

      ‘Good evening.’ She managed a brittle smile for Alistair and the other partners, and somehow forced herself to meet Ramon’s glinting gaze.

      ‘You and Ramon have met, of course.’ Alistair gave her a faint frown. ‘Actually, I was surprised you hadn’t invited Ramon tonight. I’m sure you are aware that PGH are always delighted to welcome clients to our Valentine’s Ball.’

      ‘I…’ Hot colour stormed back into Lauren’s face.

      ‘As a matter of fact, Lauren did issue an invitation,’ Ramon murmured smoothly. ‘I had to decline because of a prior engagement, but that engagement was cancelled just before you telephoned me, Alistair, so I was able to attend the ball after all.’

      ‘Ah, well. Good!’ Alistair’s face cleared and he gave a jovial smile. ‘Ramon was just saying that he is new to London and isn’t acquainted with any of the other guests here tonight. I know you’ll be delighted to introduce him to people, won’t you, Lauren?’

      ‘Delighted,’ she assured the senior partner through gritted teeth. She knew she should be grateful to Ramon for covering up her lapse in not inviting him to the ball, but he knew of course that she had deliberately not done so, and his smug smile was infuriating.

      ‘I will certainly appreciate your company,’ Ramon assured her, pure devilment gleaming in his eyes. ‘Allow me to get you another drink.’

      ‘New to London!’ she snorted, stalking furiously beside him when he took her elbow and guided her towards the bar. ‘Presumably Alistair is unaware that you’ve slept with just about every woman in the capital between the ages of eighteen and sixty?’ She glared at him when he chuckled, the sound of his sexy laugh causing a squirming sensation in the pit of her stomach. ‘Would you like me to hold your hand while I introduce you around?’ she queried sarcastically.

      ‘To be honest, I would prefer you to hold another area of my anatomy, querida,’ he said dulcetly. ‘But as we are in public I will settle for your hand in mine.’

      ‘How dare you…?’ Scarlet-cheeked, Lauren tried to snatch her hand from his grasp, but with insulting ease he tugged her onto the dance floor and settled his other hand on her hip, the mocking glint in his eyes warning her that she would come off worst if she caused a scene.

      ‘Relax,’ he bade her, his breath whispering against her ear as he drew her rigid body closer against his broad chest. ‘You used to enjoy dancing with me.’

      But that had been back in the heady days of their affair, when she had kidded herself that he saw her as more than a convenient mistress, Lauren thought bleakly. Now she knew that she could never mean anything to him.

      But trying to disguise her intense awareness of him was not her only problem. Far more seriously, most of the PHG staff knew she had a child, and it would only take one unwitting remark to alert Ramon to that fact. Panic surged through her. Perhaps it would be better if she danced with him all night, she thought wildly. At least that way he could not speak to anyone else.

      Ramon inhaled the lemony scent of Lauren’s hair, and could not resist sliding his hand up her back to tangle his fingers in the long honey-blonde tresses that she had left loose tonight. Dios, she was beautiful. And soon she would be his again, and he would slide his hands not over her dress but across her naked satin-soft skin. He moved his hand down to her derrière, and felt the tremor that ran through her when he drew her hard against the throbbing erection straining beneath his trousers. For a second he almost gave in to the temptation to scoop her up and stride out of the ballroom, up to his hotel room, but he forced himself to be patient and bide his time.

      ‘How about that drink?’ he murmured, a long while later.

      Lauren lifted her head from Ramon’s chest and stared at him dazedly, appalled that she had been so seduced by the warmth of his body that she had melted against him. She had no idea how long they had been dancing. All she had been aware of was the sensual, spicy scent of his cologne and the steady thud of his heart beneath her ear.

      The heartbeat was such a poignant sound—the drumbeat of life, she thought emotively. When she had been pregnant, hearing her baby’s heartbeat on the monitor at her antenatal appointments had been so exciting. It had been a link with her child—a link that Ramon had never experienced, because she had never told him that she had conceived his baby.

      She bit her lip and tore her gaze from the golden-brown eyes that were so like Matty’s. Had she been wrong to deny him his child? she wondered desperately. It was a question that had haunted her constantly over the past months. She had tried to do the right thing for Matty—had been so

      afraid that Ramon would not love her baby that she had decided to bring him up on her own. But what if that decision had been wrong? Supposing Ramon would have loved Matty even if he was not the noble heir deemed necessary for the Duque de Velaquez?

      Her thoughts swirled in her head until she felt as though her skull was about to split open. Unable to meet Ramon’s gaze, she glanced around the ballroom and realised that many of her work colleagues were staring at her speculatively. Their curiosity was not surprising, since she had been snuggled up to PGH’s most prestigious client, she acknowledged grimly. Guy Hadlow was leaning against a pillar, watching her, and his knowing smirk was mortifying.

      ‘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.