The Gold Collection. Maggie Cox

employed a private investigator, who discovered that Catalina had a lover. The lover was a drug addict, who needed money for his habit, and so Catalina came up with a plan to seduce the wet-behind-the-ears son of a wealthy duque, persuade him to marry her, and then make a mint from the divorce settlement. Armed with these facts, my father dragged me along to the hotel where he knew Catalina and her lover met in secret, and presented me with the two of them naked in bed together.’

      ‘Ow,’ Lauren murmured sympathetically. ‘That can’t have been a good moment.’

      ‘There were plenty of others just as bad when the press got hold of the story. My humiliation was very public,’ Ramon said dryly. ‘I felt a fool—and, worse, I knew I had greatly disappointed my father. I soon got over Catalina, once I had seen that she was a mercenary slut, and in a way the whole sordid experience was good for me—because it taught me to be careful who I trusted. The Velaquez fortune is a powerful aphrodisiac for many women,’ he drawled sardonically.

      ‘Not for me,’ Lauren told him firmly, horrified that he might have thought her to be a gold-digger when she had first met him. ‘I was determined to train for a good career so that I could earn my own money and never be reliant on any man.’

      ‘Your desire for independence is all very well, but you were wrong to keep my son a secret from me,’ Ramon said harshly. ‘You put what you wanted before the needs of our child.’

      Lauren bit her lip. ‘I’ve already explained that I didn’t think you would want our baby when you’d just told me that you intended to marry an aristocratic bride. If I had known that you would love your child, regardless of his mother’s social standing, I would have told you I was pregnant the night we broke up.’

      The tense silence that fell between them was broken by Matty, who had grown bored with playing with the car keys and made a grab for the pot of yogurt, chuckling when yogurt flew through the air and landed on Ramon’s shirt.

      ‘You have to admit he’s got a great aim,’ his father commented as Lauren hastily took the yogurt pot from Matty, before he could spread its contents any further.

      She glanced at Ramon, worried that he was annoyed with Matty, but Ramon laughed as he gathered him into his arms and lifted him high in the air, so that the baby squealed with delight.

      ‘Even if you had told me, I don’t think I would have had any concept of what having a child really meant. Nor would I have known that I could feel such a strength of love for my son,’ he admitted in a low tone. ‘Until I saw Mateo for the first time I had viewed having a child as a duty, to ensure the Velaquez name. I had never imagined what it would be like to be a father, to feel this absolute, overwhelming love for another human being and know that I would gladly give my life for his.’

      Lauren swallowed the sudden lump in her throat, startled by the raw emotion in Ramon’s voice. ‘I know what you mean,’ she said huskily. ‘The first time I held him I was swamped by the most intense love for him, and everything else, including my career, suddenly seemed unimportant.’

      Her eyes locked with Ramon’s in a moment of shared parental pride for their son. Matty linked them together inextricably, she realised. For the first time since the wedding she felt a sense of calm acceptance that she had done the right thing by marrying Ramon, and that giving up her career was a small sacrifice when it meant that her baby would grow up with both his parents. But hearing Ramon voice his love for Matty made her heart ache with longing that he would love her too.

      ‘I always respected my father, but it was not until the last months of his life that I realised how much I loved him, and that he loved me,’ Ramon admitted deeply. ‘I was taught that men should be strong and hide their emotions. But my sisters’ husbands are all excellent fathers, who do not believe it is a sign of weakness to show their love for their children. I want to be like them, but it is hard to change the habits that have been ingrained from childhood.’ He hesitated. ‘I need you to help me be a good father, Lauren.’

      The note of uncertainty in his voice tugged on Lauren’s heart. It took a strong man to admit he felt vulnerable, and she loved him even more for his honesty. Without pausing to think what he might make of her actions, she leaned towards him and pressed her mouth to his olive-skinned cheek. ‘You’re already doing brilliantly,’ she told him softly. ‘Parenting is all new to me too, but we can learn together.’

      ‘That sounds good, querida,’ Ramon murmured, turning his head so that his lips brushed over hers in a gentle kiss that stirred her soul.

      There had been an unspoken promise in that kiss, of their unity in doing their best for their child, Lauren mused a little while later, when Matty had fallen asleep and they’d carried him back to the lodge. He did not stir when they laid him in the travel cot, and as they crept from the room and shut the door it suddenly struck her that she and Ramon were alone—and this was their honeymoon.

      He must have read her mind, because he swept her up into his arms and strode into the main bedroom, the hungry gleam in his eyes causing her heart-rate to quicken. ‘I think our son’s idea of a siesta is an excellent idea,’ he stated, as he placed her on the bed and began to unbutton his shirt.

      ‘You’re planning to go to sleep?’ she asked him, her voice emerging as a husky whisper as desire flooded between her thighs.

      ‘No. I’m planning to spend the next hour making love to you,’ he promised her, feeling a gentle tug on his heart when he looked into her eyes. He smiled at her quiver of delight when he knelt above her and slid his hands beneath her tee shirt to cup her bare breasts in his palms. Her skin felt like satin beneath his fingertips, and with a groan Ramon tugged her shirt over her head and closed his mouth around one taut nipple and then its twin.

      He swiftly removed the rest of their clothes, the urgency of his desire for her making him uncharacteristically clumsy. But Lauren did not mind when she heard her cotton skirt rip. Her impatience matched his. She obligingly lifted her hips so that he could tug her knickers down, sighing with pleasure when he caressed her gently with his fingers before moving over her. He made love to her with tenderness as well as passion, each deep stroke taking her higher and higher, until with a cry she reached the pinnacle and fell back down, to be held safe in his arms.

      They spent a glorious week in the mountains. Away from the responsibilities of being a duque, and running a multi-million-pound company, Ramon relaxed and became once more the charismatic, witty and amusing lover Lauren had fallen in love with in London almost two years before. It was a chance for them to rediscover the companionship they had once shared, and to focus on being parents to their son.

      Lauren privately decided that they should escape the formality of the castle and come to the lodge for a least a few days every month.

      The honeymoon had been a turning point in their relationship, she thought some weeks later, as she stepped into the elegant cream silk dress she had chosen to wear to the christening of Ramon’s new nephews. Two weeks after they had married his sister Valentina had given birth to twin boys. The christening service was to be held in the castle’s private chapel and, knowing that Valentina was run off her feet now that she had four children, Lauren had offered to organise the reception.

      Ramon emerged from the en suite bathroom, rubbing his hand over his newly shaven jaw. His steps slowed when he saw her, and his sensual smile evoked the familiar ache in her chest. ‘You look beautiful, mi corazón.’

      Her heart leapt at the discernible tenderness in his voice. It was not the first time he had called her ‘his heart’, but she must not get her hopes too high that he meant the endearment literally, she reminded herself. And yet in the weeks since their wedding she had felt that they were growing closer—mainly due, it was true, to their intensely passionate sex life. In bed they were dynamite—and they were in bed a lot, she acknowledged with a smile.

      Ramon worked long hours, but this gave him the excuse to insist on early nights and lazy Sunday mornings, and of course there were numerous occasions when he took a coffee break that just happened to coincide with Matty’s afternoon nap!