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‘No.’
‘So I am your dirty little secret. How...charming.’
‘I’m a private person.’
‘Surely that is being paranoid? Do you not think it’s inevitable that the identity of your child’s father will eventually become public, or would you like me to wear a false moustache, possibly a full beard?’
‘I have to work with these people,’ she protested.
‘Actually, you don’t,’ he said pointedly.
‘I need to work, Rio. I’m not rich.’
‘But I am.’
The suggestion that she would allow him to keep her brought her head up. ‘I intend to be a role model for my daughter. I want her to be proud of me.’
‘You do not think that being a mother is a job to be proud of?’
‘Yes...no...of course I do, but I need to work for my own self-respect.’ She glanced behind a little nervously, but Ellie was busy holding a conversation in gibberish between a teddy bear and a toy horse.
He looked thoughtful but said nothing.
Then he commented, ‘She seems to have an active imagination.’
‘Most two-year-olds do.’
‘And most two-year-olds...’ Rio couldn’t understand a word Ellie was saying right now but struggled to tactfully ask Gwen what he wanted to know without causing offence. ‘Do they have much vocabulary?’ he wondered casually.
‘She is actually considered bright for her age.’
‘Ah... I don’t know many two-year-olds...or any, actually. So here we are.’
Gwen looked around as they drove through some tall gates. ‘This is a private airstrip.’
‘Yes, it avoids the congestion of the bigger airports and the facilities are quite good,’ he explained as he drove directly onto the tarmac.
Her eyes widened. So this was flying, but not as she knew it.
Once he’d brought the car to a halt he jumped out and started to talk to a man who had come out of the nearest jet. A few minutes later Rio walked around the car and opened the passenger door.
‘I have a couple of last-minute details to sort out.’
‘With the plane?’
He shook his head. ‘No, there is no problem with our flight; it’s just work. Ramon will board you.’ Like an actor in the wings waiting for his cue, a uniformed figure came hurrying across the tarmac. ‘He will make you both comfortable and I will join you presently.’
He did, but only for a moment; the pilot, it seemed, was a friend of his and he chose to travel up front with him, having first checked that she and Ellie were all right.
‘We’re fine,’ Gwen assured him, glad of a respite from the nerve-shredding effect of his close proximity, no matter how short.
The flight went without incident and, thanks to a very attentive crew, she didn’t really have to deal with Ellie, who they seemed to enjoy entertaining, though by the time the jet circled to land night was falling and Ellie’s eyelids were drooping.
By the time they were preparing to get into the car that waited for them, a big four-wheel drive with plenty of room, Ellie was sound asleep.
Gwen really hoped she stayed that way although she felt as though sleep might be a long time coming for herself. Gwen’s body was still taut with anxiety and self-doubt as she had spent most of the journey staring out of the window into blackness, wondering what awaited them in Spain and asking herself if she had made the right decision bringing Ellie here.
But what other option had she had?
