The Secret He Must Claim Read online

  Thankfully, she had brought the antibiotics with her. She swallowed one of the pills and a strong painkiller before she called the nanny’s mobile number and explained that she was feeling unwell.

  ‘Do what the doctor said and start the course of antibiotics immediately,’ Barbara instructed. ‘I’ll leave my daughter’s right away and I should be in Kensington by the time Harry wakes up from his afternoon nap.’

  Elin was shivering, but when she glanced in the mirror she saw that her face was flushed and her hair was damp with sweat. Hopefully, the high-strength medication would halt the infection before it got too bad, she thought, as she climbed into bed fully dressed and burrowed beneath the duvet in an attempt to get warm. When she’d suffered previous kidney infections the antibiotics had made her feel as unwell as the illness.

  She fell into a fitful, feverish sleep. One minute she was hot and the next freezing cold and, as she tossed and turned, her mind was taken over by terrifying hallucinations. Distantly she was aware of Harry crying, and she knew she must go to him, but her limbs felt heavy and uncoordinated. She thought she heard a man’s deep voice talking to her but she couldn’t make sense of what he said. Some time later she felt herself being lifted and carried in a pair of strong arms, but maybe she dreamed it. After that she remembered nothing.

  CHAPTER SIX

  CORTEZ GAVE UP trying to concentrate on a financial report for Saunderson’s Bank after he’d read it three times and still had no idea what it said. Business had been his life since he’d graduated from university with a first class degree and a determination to succeed. His new role as chairman of the prestigious private bank was more proof that he had come a long way from picking grapes at his mother’s small vineyard in Jerez. But waiting to learn if he was the father of Elin’s child dominated his thoughts and he drummed his fingertips on the coffee table and glanced at his watch for the hundredth time.

  When his phone rang and he recognised the number of the paternity test clinic on the screen he took a deep breath before he answered the call. Moments later he ran an unsteady hand across his face.

  Santa Madre! He had a son.

  Conflicting emotions stormed through him. A fierce joy and pride in his beautiful son, but anger when he thought of the child’s mother. Elin had lied about Harry’s date of birth and Cortez was furious, knowing that if he had not insisted on a DNA test she might have disappeared with the baby and he would never have known he was a father.

  He lurched to his feet. He felt drunk although he had not had a drop of alcohol. He was in shock, he realised. When he’d seen Harry’s black hair and dark eyes he had wondered if the baby could be his. But he was unprepared for the overwhelming emotions that poured through him. Driven by a need to see his child, he strode out of the room and quickly climbed the stairs. He heard Harry crying and a feeling he could not begin to describe welled inside him, a fundamental desire to protect his son.

  Following the sound of Harry’s cries, he located the nursery and was surprised that Elin was not already there to comfort the baby. He stood next to the cot and felt as if his heart was being squeezed in a vice as he stared down at the screaming, red-faced infant. It was incredible that a small baby could make such a loud noise. Yet still Harry’s mother did not appear.

  Cortez opened a door to an adjoining room and recognised he was in the bedroom where he had spent the night with Elin just over a year ago. Memories assailed him of her wearing a scarlet silk dress and not a lot else besides, he’d soon discovered. Their passion had been electrifying and she had been with him every step of the way. He did not know what to make of her assertion that she’d had sex with him that night because her drink had been spiked with a date-rape drug. The sexual chemistry that had ignited between them when he had kissed her earlier today had been undeniable.

  The room was dimly lit by the bedside lamp. He switched on the overhead light and frowned when he saw the top of her blonde head poking above the duvet. ‘Elin?’ She did not answer, and when Cortez pulled back the covers her eyes flickered open and she stared at him vacantly. Her skin was pale and beaded with sweat. ‘Your baby needs you,’ he told her. She muttered something incomprehensible and huddled beneath the duvet. Cortez’s concern for his son was paramount. ‘Does Harry want to be fed?’ His jaw tightened. ‘For pity’s sake, you can’t leave him to cry.’

  She either did not hear what he said or did not care, and she closed her eyes again. Cortez frowned as he remembered the recent speculation by the media that Elin used recreational drugs. There had been a photo in some of the tabloids of her being carried out of a nightclub in a semi-conscious state. Had she taken an illegal substance this afternoon which had rendered her unable to care for her baby? His baby.

  He returned to the nursery and hesitated. His heart was pounding and for the only time in his life he felt terrified. He had never held a small baby before, and Harry looked so breakable. Taking a deep breath, he reached into the cot and picked Harry up. The baby’s cries immediately subsided to little whimpers that tore on Cortez’s heart.

  ‘Hey, little man,’ he murmured as he held the baby against his shoulder. Harry stared at him with big, dark eyes fringed with long black lashes. He was more beautiful than anything Cortez had ever seen. The baby’s Cupid’s bow mouth curved into a smile and Cortez felt a constriction in his throat. ‘My son,’ he said thickly, wonderingly. He was Harry’s father and he would never abandon his child like his own father had abandoned him. He was instantly smitten with his baby boy, and his heart felt as if it had swelled to twice its size and was filled to overflowing with love for his child. ‘I would give my life to protect you,’ he whispered to Harry.

  He heard a noise and looked round, expecting to see Elin, but it was the nanny standing in the doorway. ‘Ah, Miss Lennox.’

  ‘I would have been back from my daughter’s earlier, but there was a delay on the Tube,’ she explained.

  Cortez looked down at the baby he was cradling so carefully in his arms. ‘I am Harry’s father.’

  ‘Oh, I guessed that,’ she said cheerfully. ‘He has inherited your colouring rather than his mother’s.’

  ‘Elin is asleep and didn’t hear the baby crying. She seems...spaced out,’ he said tersely.

  The nanny nodded and seemed unsurprised. ‘She has these episodes quite frequently. Hopefully, she’ll be back to herself in a day or two.’

  Cortez instinctively held Harry a little tighter. The nanny’s words seemed to confirm the suggestion in the tabloids that Elin was a drug user and he resolved to protect his son from his mother, who was obviously unfit to take care of a child. One of the first things he intended to do was arrange for his name to be added to Harry’s English birth certificate under the section for father’s details. Even more importantly, he wanted to register his son’s birth in Spain, which would be Harry’s country of residence from now on. But, to do so, he would need Elin’s agreement.

  He handed Harry over to the nanny so that she could change his nappy. The procedure was one of many things he would have to learn how to do, Cortez mused.

  ‘Miss Lennox...’ he smiled at the nanny and turned on the full force of his charm ‘...may I call you Barbara? You guessed that I am Harry’s father and you might also have realised when you saw Elin and I together at Cuckmere Hall that we are reunited.’

  The nanny looked embarrassed by his reminder of when she had caught him and Elin kissing. ‘I’m very glad for the two of you,’ she murmured, ‘and for Harry to have both his parents.’

  Cortez did not disabuse Barbara of the idea that he and Elin were going to play happy families. ‘We have decided to take our son to Spain, and before we left Cuckmere Hall Elin gave me her and Harry’s passports.’ It was not a lie, more an elaboration of the truth, he assured his conscience.

  ‘Certain reasons make it necessary for me to return to Spain earlier than I’
d planned,’ he told the nanny. ‘In fact, I need to leave tonight to deal with an urgent business matter. As I am sure you will appreciate, I am reluctant to leave my son and Elin behind in England, especially when we have just got back together.’ He shamelessly pushed the idea that their relationship was the romance of the year.

  ‘I know it is short notice,’ he continued, giving Barbara another dazzling smile. ‘Would you be prepared to accompany us to Spain on my private jet? Elin will be able to rest during the flight, and I’ll need you to take charge of Harry because I am a new and inexperienced father.’ He thought of a possible problem. ‘You will need your passport.’

  ‘As a matter of fact I always carry it with me. Of course I’ll be happy to help in any way that I can,’ Barbara told him. ‘Elin came up to London only last week to shop for clothes to take on a holiday she’d booked to Greece. Would you like me to pack some things for her and Harry, Mr Ramos?’

  ‘Thank you. And Barbara, please call me Cortez, as all my friends do,’ he murmured. The nanny could be a useful ally in his bid to win custody of his son, he decided. He was a master strategist and he knew the benefits of making a friend in the enemy’s camp.

  * * *

  ‘Harry.’ Elin sat bolt upright and took a shuddering breath when she realised she’d been having a nightmare. In her dream she had been running down a long corridor and at the end of it was Harry’s pram. But when she finally reached the pram and looked inside, it was empty and she had no idea where her son was.

  She looked around her bedroom still with a sense of shock. Yesterday, or was it the day before?—she’d lost track of time—her fever had abated and her head no longer felt as if someone was boring into her skull with a pneumatic drill. But her relief had turned to astonishment when she’d found herself in unfamiliar surroundings and Barbara had told her that they were in Cortez’s home in Andalucía.

  The nanny had explained that Cortez had arranged for them to fly to Spain on his private jet. He had carried Elin into the plane’s bedroom and she had been in a deep sleep for the entire journey. A car had collected them from the airport at Jerez and brought them to his mansion, La Casa Jazmín.

  ‘Cortez had to return to Spain urgently, but he did not want to be separated from you and Harry,’ Barbara had told Elin. ‘I think it is so romantic that the two of you have got back together. Cortez is devoted to his son. He insists on giving Harry his bottle and he has learned how to change nappies.’

  Elin had masked her anger because she did not want Barbara to feel guilty that she had been tricked by Cortez into helping him in effect kidnap her and Harry. She hadn’t yet seen him to demand an explanation. Barbara said he had visited her room a few times, but on each occasion she had been feverish and she hadn’t recognised him.

  Worry gnawed in the pit of Elin’s stomach as she slid out of bed and went into an adjoining room which Barbara had explained had formerly been a dressing room. Cortez had instructed his staff to transform it into a nursery. Apparently no expense had been spared to equip the nursery and Harry slept in a magnificent hand-carved cot. She walked past the latest addition to the nursery, an enormous wooden rocking horse, and hurried over to the cot.

  Her heart missed a beat when she found it empty. For a few seconds she was back in her nightmare, searching desperately for her baby who had disappeared. She spun round at the sound of footsteps and stared frantically at the nanny, who walked into the room carrying a pile of baby clothes. ‘Where’s Harry?’

  ‘Cortez took him downstairs.’ Barbara seemed unaware of Elin’s tension. ‘He keeps the pram in his study so that he can be near to Harry while he is working.’ She looked closely at Elin. ‘I told Cortez that you were feeling much better this morning and he asked me to give you a message that he wants you to meet him in his study at eleven o’clock.’

  Elin was desperate to immediately go and find her son. She had been ill for a week but it felt like a lifetime since she had held Harry in her arms and smelled his delicious baby scent. But she acknowledged that she could not walk around Cortez’s house wearing her nightdress. When she met him in an hour from now she was determined to appear calm and in control, even though her insides were churning as she wondered what, if any, input he intended to have in his son’s life now he must have proof from the paternity test clinic that he was Harry’s father.

  Although she was feeling better, the effort of showering and getting dressed sapped her energy. She was grateful to Barbara for packing some clothes for her before they’d left London. It was unfortunate that the new outfits she’d bought to take to Rhodes for Virginia’s wedding were designed to be worn at beach or pool parties, and the short skirts and skimpy tops were more daring than she usually wore.

  She chose a pale blue chiffon dress that did at least have sleeves, but when she checked her appearance in the mirror she was dismayed that the floaty skirt was almost see-through. There was no time to change her outfit when a maid came to her room to escort her to Cortez’s study, but Elin reminded herself that he would not be interested in how she looked. He’d had sex with her once and had disappeared immediately afterwards. She was just another notch on his bedpost.

  As she followed the maid downstairs she could not help but admire the design and décor of the house. The white marble floors and neutral-coloured walls could have made the rooms feel cold, but patterned rugs and brightly coloured cushions and artwork lent interest and a homely feel to the elegant villa. She walked into the study and her eyes were immediately drawn to the large and very regal-looking pram. With a low cry she sped across the room. Her arms were literally aching to hold her baby.

  ‘Harry has just dropped off to sleep and it would be best if you did not disturb him.’

  Cortez’s peremptory voice made her halt, and she turned her head to see him leaning against his desk. He was wearing a superbly tailored grey suit, a crisp white shirt and dark grey tie and the formality of his clothes made Elin conscious of her insubstantial summer dress. She lifted her eyes up to his face and felt her heart crash against her ribs as she absorbed the perfection of his sculpted features. His lips were curved in a cynical expression but nothing could detract from the sensual impact of his mouth, and she hated herself for the quiver that ran through her.

  Anger was her only defence against her awareness of him. ‘You had no right to abduct me and my son. It’s outrageous that you brought us to Spain without my agreement,’ she said heatedly.

  ‘You were not in a fit state to agree or disagree to coming here,’ he responded coolly. ‘And you are forgetting that Harry is my son too.’

  Elin cast a yearning look at her baby sleeping peacefully in the pram before she marched over to the desk, determined to show that she was not intimidated by Cortez. ‘I have never forgotten that Harry was conceived as a result of the most shameful night of my life.’

  Her attention had been riveted on Cortez, but she was suddenly aware that there was someone else in the room and a frisson of unease ran down her spine as she saw an older man with grey hair and a stern face standing by the window.

  ‘This is Señor Fernandez,’ Cortez introduced the man. ‘He is a lawyer specialising in family law, particularly in cases when there is a dispute between parents over custody of a child.’

  Custody! Elin’s legs almost gave way but she fought against the dizzy sensation that swept over her, determined she wouldn’t faint. ‘There is no dispute.’ She was pleased she sounded forceful rather than scared. ‘I am going to take Harry back home to England as soon as possible. I’ve already told you that I don’t intend to ask you for financial help towards the cost of his upbringing.’

  ‘Harry does not have a home with you in England. If you think I would allow you to take him to live in a partly derelict cottage which, under the terms of Ralph Saunderson’s will, is your only asset, think again,’ Cortez said in a hard tone.

  ‘You ca
n’t keep me a prisoner here.’ Panic gripped her as she remembered that he was in possession of her and Harry’s passports.

  ‘I prefer the term guest to prisoner,’ he drawled. ‘You can leave whenever you wish.’ His meaning was sickeningly clear; she could leave, but he would not allow her to take her baby. Elin was tempted to grab Harry and run out of the study with him, but her common sense reminded her that she had nowhere to run to.

  ‘Sit down,’ Cortez ordered.

  Tension coiled in her stomach as she sank down onto the chair he pulled out for her. Cortez waited until the lawyer was also seated, before he took his place behind his desk. ‘Señor Fernandez has prepared a document for you to read.’

  The chill in his voice sent an ice cube slithering down Elin’s spine. She picked up the piece of paper Cortez pushed across the desk and as she read down the printed page her heart thudded painfully fast in her chest.

  ‘What the hell is this?’ she said thickly when she had finished reading.

  His dark brows lifted. ‘I believe it is self-explanatory. I am offering to give you Cuckmere Hall: the house and entire estate, including the vineyards and winery. The current value of the Cuckmere estate is twenty-five million pounds, and I am prepared to offer you an additional ten million pounds which you could invest and use the interest to pay for the running costs of the house and estate. Alternatively, if you decide to sell Cuckmere for its market value, you will still receive the additional ten million pounds, which will be transferred directly into your bank account.

  ‘In return,’ he continued smoothly, ‘you will sign sole custody of Harry over to me with a legally binding guarantee that you will not seek to change or reverse this decision at any future date.’ He ignored her sharply indrawn breath. ‘The agreement will take effect immediately when you have signed the document that you have in your hand. My private jet will be available to take you to England, and you will leave here with the deeds of the Cuckmere estate in your possession.’