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After a few minutes, the car veered off from the main road. Finally Hope was able to see more of her surroundings, which were illuminated by lights along palm-lined avenues and in front of massive wrought iron gates leading to mansions that weren’t visible from the road.

For the first time she wondered what would happen if Carlos had indeed hidden away in the villa there.

Would he be prepared to face Javier, whose plans for his entire future seemed to be laid out with such precision?

Caught by surprise, would he just fold and make promises he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep?

‘Not everyone’s like you, Javier,’ she said with sudden urgency.

He looked at her. She wondered how little or how much she should say but she was helplessly aware that when it came to his brother’s really personal dilemmas, it wasn’t her story to tell.

‘Meaning?’

‘I don’t know exactly why Carlos felt he had to take time out, but…’

‘Go on. I’m all ears.’

She rested her hand on his arm and looked at him in the darkness.

‘He’s very much in awe of you, Javier.’

‘Really? I’m not buying that.’

‘Well, he is,’ she said firmly. ‘Sometimes, when we’re in awe of people, we let them talk us into doing stuff we don’t, perhaps, really want to do.’

‘I’ve never talked my brother into doing anything he didn’t want to do. Unless you count packing in a drug habit that was going to see him ending up in rehab, or worse.’

‘Okay. But think about your dad…’

‘Sorry? Why am I thinking about my father? Are we going somewhere with this, or are we back to talking in riddles?’

‘He wasn’t trying to bully you into doing something you might not have wanted to do when he said that your duty would be to take care of Carlos and run the company as soon as you came of age, was he? But you were in awe of him and, I guess, loved him very much. So you obeyed and killed any little dissenting voices inside you.’

She held her breath while Javier looked at her with a shuttered expression.

This was the end of the line for her. How much could she try and persuade him to be sympathetic and attentive when she wasn’t free to tell him just why he might need those particular attributes?

‘You really care about Carlos, don’t you?’ Javier eventually said in a roughened undertone.

‘I really do.’

‘I have no idea why you’re protecting him. He might have a few wobbles about entering the big, bad world of work, because frankly life isn’t an eternal playground, but…’

‘But?’

‘I’ll listen to what he has to say.’ He smiled crookedly at her. ‘You’re wasted running painting and drawing classes. You should have been a lawyer. You certainly have a way of hammering home a point in a very reasonable tone of voice.’

‘I don’t run painting and drawing classes.’ But she smiled back at him with relief. ‘And you’re very, very annoying.’

‘More compliments. A guy could get used to that.’

He continued to look at her, head tilted to the side, lounging against the door. She felt the heat rise through her, hot, strong and pulsing. She felt her breath slow as his dark eyes continued to linger on her flushed face.

‘Amazing area,’ she said in a disoriented rush.

She was knocked sideways by a physical attraction that had crept through all her natural wariness and caution about the kind of person Javier represented.

Her voice had been calm and neutral when she had told Javier about her mother, but she would never forget the years of having to watch her mother make the same mistakes time and again.