The truth was that even if he’d taken her to a busy restaurant full of people it wouldn’t have lessened his intensity, or his power to intimidate. Maybe this was how he flew under the radar? He kept his liaisons confined to his elegant apartment or the castillo. Well out of the public eye.
Leonora didn’t like to think that she was the latest in a long line of women who had been invited back to the castillo, but she told herself she was being ridiculous. There was a long line of women before her and there would undoubtedly be a long line after her. She didn’t see a man like Gabriel Torres settling down to a life of domesticity any time soon.
She couldn’t even imagine him in such a milieu.
He was turn
ing off the main road now, onto a smaller road which led to a huge set of iron gates that opened automatically as soon as they drove up to them. Gabriel lowered his window and saluted the security guard in the box on the other side of the gate.
Leonora’s family used to have security at their castillo—not any more. There was nothing of value left.
They drove in and Leonora tried not to let her jaw drop at the verdant splendour of the grounds. Tall trees lined the drive and beyond she could see lush landscaped lawns and blooming bougainvillea.
The winding drive opened into a massive courtyard with a fountain in the middle, behind which the castillo rose majestically. Not unlike Leonora’s home, but on a far grander scale, it had a distinctly Moorish shape. And she noticed immediately that it was in pristine condition, which made her heart ache as she acknowledged how far her family had fallen.
Gabriel stopped the car at the bottom of the steps leading up to the main door. He got out and came around the bonnet, opening Leonora’s door and helping her out.
A young man materialised seemingly out of nowhere and Gabriel tossed him the keys, asking him at the same time how his exams had gone.
The young man grinned and said, ‘Passed them all, boss!’
Gabriel responded, ‘Good for you,’ and the young man jumped into the car and drove it around to the back of the castillo—presumably to a garage similar to the one under Gabriel’s apartment, filled with expensive sports cars.
Keeping her hand in his, Gabriel led her up the steps. The door opened as they approached, as if by magic, and a uniformed butler bowed to them as she stepped over the threshold.
Gabriel said, ‘Ernesto I’d like you to meet Leonora Flores de la Vega. Leonora, this is Ernesto, the only person holding this whole place together.’
‘Not true, sir, but thank you. Señorita de la Vega, pleased to meet you.’
He bowed again and Leonora was charmed. She smiled shyly, ‘Lovely to meet you too.’
She liked the way Gabriel acknowledged his staff. She was ashamed to remember how her parents had treated their own as very much beneath them. And now they had none. Karma?
Her hand was still in Gabriel’s as he led her through a vast stone hall and out to an inner courtyard with a pool filled with colourful fish and lotus flowers. Stone pillars around the edges led up to a balcony running around the space.
Then they walked through to the other side and back into the main building, where another reception area led off to more rooms and a grand staircase up to the first level.
‘This is...beautiful. I was here before, but only in the grounds.’
Gabriel stopped walking and grimaced as he looked around them. ‘I’ve been working on bringing it into the modern era. For years it was dark and dank, full of useless antiques and mouldering paintings of long-dead relatives.’
Leonora couldn’t help a small wry smile. ‘That sounds like my family home.’
She caught Gabriel’s eye and his gaze dropped to her mouth. Suddenly he looked...hungry. Leonora’s heart thumped. Was he going to kiss her right here? Now? She wasn’t ready—
But then the look on his face passed and he kept walking, saying, ‘It’s a painstaking and expensive process. I’ve been working on this for the last decade and we’re not nearly finished.’
Leonora stayed silent, following where he led her, through a confusing labyrinth of corridors. She could see now why he might like his very sparse and elegant city apartment. It was a direct contrast to what he’d grown up with. That was why she’d liked it.
A sense of affinity struck her again...disconcerting.
They were approaching the end of the corridor now, and Gabriel pushed open a door which led into a massive drawing room, full of light and huge windows that looked out over the back of the castillo. All she could see was acres of lush green, trees, and what looked like an orchard in the distance.
‘We grow lemons and olives here. Sell them to an organic company. Part of my restoration is an attempt to make the castillo and its grounds as self-sufficient and environmentally friendly as possible.’
He let her hand go and went over to a drinks cabinet.
Leonora said wistfully, ‘That’s what I’d love to do too. The day when these kinds of buildings can justify themselves by merely existing has surely ended.’