The Gold Collection. Maggie Cox

will be cold at this time of year. But if it’s mountains you want, I know of a place that is quiet and peaceful, with just the sound of a stream outside the house to disturb us. But it’s not much—just a simple lodge. And there isn’t room for any of the staff.’

      ‘It sounds perfect,’ Lauren assured him.

      She knew many of her friends back in London would love to have an army of staff to take care of the cooking, housework and childcare, but she found the stiff formality of the castle rather stifling, and she didn’t think she would ever get used to the maids bobbing a curtsy every time they saw the new Duquesa.

      Ramon dropped a kiss on her mouth. ‘That’s settled, then. I’ll instruct the staff to pack for us, and we’ll leave in a couple of hours.’

      ‘This is spectacular,’ Lauren said in an awed voice a few hours later, as she climbed out of the four-by-four Ramon had driven from the castle up into the Cantabrian mountains. Below them was a lush green valley, with farmhouses dotted here and there, and orange and almond groves in full bloom. The stream that threaded through the valley was glinting like a silver ribbon in the sunshine. All around the wooden lodge where they were to stay were tall pine trees, and rising up behind them were the higher peaks of the mountains, capped with snow that sparkled pure white against the cornflower-blue sky.

      The lodge was as basic as Ramon had said, but perfectly comfortable, with a large sitting room and kitchen, a main bedroom with a bathroom leading off it, and a smaller room where they would set up a travel cot for Matty.

      They unpacked the car, and then Ramon took charge of his son while Lauren spread out a rug on the grass and opened the picnic hamper the castle cook had prepared for them.

      ‘What a heavenly place,’ she murmured, her eyes drawn to the towering mountains. ‘Do you often come up here?’

      Ramon carefully spooned some yogurt into Matty’s mouth while the baby was distracted by playing with the car keys. ‘Not as much as I would like. The responsibilities of running the company and the castle estate leave me with little free time, but when I was a boy I came up here most weekends, to hike or to fish in the mountain lakes.’

      Lauren nodded. ‘I can understand why. I love it here. And I love picnics. I always seem to eat twice as much when I’m out in the fresh air,’ she said ruefully as she bit into another smoked salmon sandwich. ‘I must admit I prefer meals like this much more than the formal dinners we have at the castle, with the butler and a dozen servants in attendance—even for just the two of us.’

      Ramon frowned at her outburst. ‘It has always been the tradition for the Duque and Duquesa to dine in the great hall. Even when my sisters and I were little my parents insisted that we should dress for dinner each evening, and we were expected to sit through five courses and make polite conversation without fidgeting or appearing bored.’

      ‘Do you mean that you never ate pizza in front of the TV? Or invited a few friends round and slung steaks on the barbecue?’ Lauren said in astonishment.

      ‘Certainly not. I was brought up always to be aware of my position and to act accordingly.’

      She grimaced. ‘No wonder you looked shocked when you caught me eating ice-cream out of the tub at your apartment in London—and when I ordered Chinese takeaway and insisted that we picnicked on the living room floor. What on earth did you think of me?’ she muttered, blushing at the memory.

      She doubted Pilar Fernandez would experiment with chopsticks to eat sweet-and-sour chicken balls, and dribble the sauce down her chin. It emphasised yet again that she did not belong in Ramon’s world, Lauren thought dismally.

      ‘I thought you were fun,’ he told her, smiling when she stared at him in surprise. ‘I’d never met anyone like you before. You liked to do crazy things, like walking in the rain, and cooking bacon sandwiches after we had made love for hours and were starving.’

      ‘Don’t remind me,’ she groaned.

      ‘I could relax with you,’ Ramon said quietly.

      He hadn’t realised how much he had enjoyed being with her until she had ended their affair and he had returned to Spain soon after, to help care for his dying father.

      ‘I loved my parents, but my childhood was restrictive,’ he admitted. ‘I was brought up mainly by my governess, and I only saw my father for an hour each evening, when I was summoned to his study so that he could tell me about my ancestors, and the history of the castle, and instruct me on the duties I would one day take on when I became the Duque de Velaquez.’

      ‘Did you want to be a duque?’ Lauren asked curiously, trying to imagine him as a little boy, perhaps not many years older than Matty, being taught the responsibilities that lay ahead of him.

      Ramon hesitated. It had been impressed on him by his father that a duque should be strong and in control of his emotions. From a young age he had understood that he must never cry—even when he had been thrown from his horse and had broken his arm. The lessons of his childhood were deeply ingrained, and he did not find it easy to confide his thoughts and feelings. But Lauren was his wife, and he realised that for their marriage to stand a chance he must now learn to open up a little.

      Ramon’s sudden grin reminded Lauren of the relaxed, carefree lover she’d had a passionate affair with eighteen—no, nineteen months ago. ‘Actually, I wanted to be an astronaut,’ he told her, laughing when she gave him a disbelieving look. ‘I had a passion for science—especially physics, which I studied at university. After I completed my Masters degree I was offered the opportunity to study with the American Space Agency.’

      Lauren’s eyes widened. ‘Did you take it? Why ever not?’ she demanded when he shook his head.

      ‘I couldn’t,’ he said with a shrug. ‘I was the only son and heir of the Duque de Velaquez and I always knew that my life was to be at the castle, running the winery and the estate, and heading other Velaquez business interests.’

      ‘So you sacrificed your dream for duty,’ Lauren said slowly.

      Ramon’s strong sense of duty must have been ingrained in him as soon as he had been old enough to understand his family’s noble heritage, she realised. And as the only son he had grown up knowing that he must marry—not necessarily for love. He must choose a woman with a similar noble pedigree to provide the next Velaquez heir.

      It was small wonder he had never considered that an affair with his English mistress could ever lead to a deeper relationship. Even if he had begun to care for her, as she had hoped at the time, she understood now that he would not have put what he wanted before his duty to his family—he would never have allowed himself to fall in love with her.

      ‘So, did you never come up here to the lodge with your father?’ she asked curiously.

      ‘No. I had various tutors. One of them enjoyed the outdoor life, and used to accompany me. I was educated at the castle because my father feared that I might make unsuitable friendships if I went to school,’ Ramon explained when Lauren gave him a puzzled look. ‘I only ever socialised with young people from a similar social standing to my own. It was only when I went to university that I realised how stifling my upbringing had been,’ he admitted.

      ‘I’m surprised your father agreed to you going to uni,’ Lauren commented.

      ‘It took me a long time to persuade him.’ Ramon sighed heavily. ‘And then I gave him good reason to regret his decision by falling madly in love with a topless model and announcing my intention to marry her.’

      Lauren gave him a startled glance, feeling a sharp stab of jealousy that Ramon, whose heart was made of granite, could ever have been ‘madly in love’.

      ‘But I thought it was your duty to marry a woman from the Spanish nobility? What did you father say?’

      ‘Naturally he was horrified, and tried to dissuade me. But I was eighteen, enjoying my first taste of freedom, and I was hell-bent on making Catalina my bride. That’s when my father took action.’