down over his flat abdomen. She felt heat spread over her face and hoped he would think she was flushed from the warm sun, and not because she was overwhelmingly aware of him.
‘I suppose you have a secret code to unlock the gates,’ she said as she drew nearer to him. ‘Beautiful though the garden is, I am bored of walking around it and I’d hoped to take Harry on a longer walk, perhaps to a village if there is one nearby. But the perimeter gates are locked.’ Frustration edged into her voice. ‘You have no right to keep me imprisoned.’
Cortez looked unconcerned by her outburst. ‘The main gates are activated by car number plate recognition and they are kept locked for security reasons. The village is five miles away but it has no shops and there’s little there to excite you.’
‘You don’t know what excites me,’ Elin snapped, irritated by his arrogance.
He threw back his head and laughed, and she was riveted by the sheer beauty of his face, alight with merriment. The rich sound of his amusement reached down to something deep inside her. Laughter made him even more attractive, and he was already too gorgeous for his own good, she thought ruefully.
‘Actually, I have vivid memories of what excited you when you lured me into your bed, querida,’ he murmured.
She pressed her lips together to stop herself from responding to his baiting. She did not want to be reminded of her night of shame a year ago.
‘La Casa Jazmín is surrounded by vineyards,’ Cortez told her. ‘If you like I will show you where you can walk among the vines.’
Despite herself, Elin was curious to see the vineyards that produced the grapes which were used to make the famous Felipe & Cortez brand of award-winning sherry. Cortez led the way across the garden and held open a gate in the wall so that she could push the pram through it.
‘I suppose you grow Palomino grapes here,’ she said, recognising the dark green leaves on the vines. ‘The albariza soil type has a high chalk content, perfect for retaining moisture, which is vital during the hot, dry summers you have in this region of Spain. It’s interesting that the soil on the South Downs is also chalky, similar to soil in the Champagne region of France. But of course English summers are cooler than here, allowing us to grow Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grape varieties at Cuckmere. At least—’ Elin broke off and grimaced ‘—we grow those grape varieties currently at Saunderson’s estate winery, and we have concentrated on producing a sparkling white wine. But you, or whoever buys the estate if you decide to sell it, might decide to grow something else.’
She glanced at Cortez and found him staring at her with evident surprise. ‘I did not realise that you took a genuine interest in the winery,’ he said.
‘It was my adoptive mother’s dream to produce an English sparkling wine on a par with Champagne. When Mama died I was determined to continue her work and fulfil her dream, which is why I have a Master’s degree in viticulture and oenology. You look shocked,’ she said wryly. ‘Did you think I was the brainless bimbo that I am portrayed by the tabloids?’
He shrugged. ‘You cannot entirely blame the media for your reputation. The paparazzi did not have to look hard to find evidence of your wild lifestyle. Admittedly, it was months ago that you were regularly seen at the coolest London nightclubs and scandal was never far from you.’ He looked at her speculatively. ‘What makes me curious is why you seemed to deliberately seek notoriety and the attention of the press.’
Cortez’s insight made Elin uneasy. She did not want him to guess that she had sought to keep the paparazzi away from her brother when Jarek’s life was in freefall. She looked down the long rows of vines that stretched into the distance. ‘How many hectares of vineyards do you have?’ she asked in a blatant effort to change the subject.
‘Two hundred.’ Cortez’s voice was drier than the finest Manzanilla sherry and Elin dropped her eyes from his sardonic gaze.
‘There are only six hectares of vineyards at Cuckmere. It’s lucky you don’t have winter frosts this far south,’ she told him. ‘It would take an army of workers to light frost candles to protect all your vines.’
He helped her to steer the pram around the deep tractor tyre grooves on the path. ‘I have heard of the practice of lighting candles to raise the air temperature around the vines to above freezing but I’ve never seen it done.’
‘If you had looked out of the window the night you stayed at Cuckmere Hall you would have seen the vineyards glowing with golden candle lights,’ Elin told him. ‘There was a frost, but luckily a few of the estate workers stayed up all night to help me light the bougies. It would have been a catastrophe if the new shoots on the vines had been frost damaged.’
‘So that’s why you were still in bed at ten o’clock the next morning,’ Cortez murmured in an odd voice. ‘I thought you lazed around every morning and left Harry to be cared for by the nanny.’
‘Lack of sleep was probably a contributing factor when I developed a kidney infection,’ Elin confided. ‘Harry had been restless for a few nights before the fund-raising party for Lorna’s Gift. When I’m tired my immune system seems to shut down.’
Cortez was still holding the pram handle and Elin caught her breath when his fingers brushed against hers. She looked down at his darkly tanned fingers next to her much paler ones, and memories flooded her mind of his hands roaming over her body, caressing her breasts and slipping between her legs. She was appalled when she felt a molten sensation there, where a year ago his skilful touch had given her unbelievable pleasure.
‘We should go back to the house before Harry wakes up for a feed,’ she said stiltedly, praying that Cortez did not notice her flushed face. She felt hot with shame and a helpless longing that made her angry with herself. How could she want him after the way he had treated her? Where was her self-respect?
‘Another time I will give you a tour of the bodega,’ Cortez offered. To Elin’s relief, he seemed unaware that her hormones were in meltdown. ‘Not all the grapes from these vineyards are used to make Felipe & Cortez sherry. About a third of the crop is sold to other wineries.’ They had reached the gate in the wall, and he held it open to allow Elin to push the pram through to the garden before he continued speaking. ‘Tomorrow evening I am hosting a party for F&C’s shareholders and clients. A few media representatives have also been invited. At the party I intend to give a press statement announcing that Harry is my son.’
Elin’s heart dropped like a stone. ‘Why now? I mean...there is no rush, especially as nothing has been decided yet about who will have custody of him.’
‘Whatever happens in the future with regard to arrangements for where Harry will spend his childhood, and with whom, I want to publicly recognise that he is my son.’ Cortez frowned when he saw her dismayed expression. ‘I’m not going to drop out of his life, however much you might wish that I would,’ he said in a hard voice. ‘I want to be a full-time parent to him while he is growing up.’
‘So do I,’ she cried emotionally. ‘But you want to take Harry away from me.’
‘That’s not true. I accept that he needs you, certainly while he is so young. At the party I will introduce you as the mother of my child.’
Her brows rose. ‘Aren’t you worried I’ll turn up in a drug-fuelled haze, out of my head on whatever substance you think I snort up my nose, or inject into my veins?’
To Elin’s surprise Cortez looked uncomfortable as he raked a hand through his hair.
