‘Perhaps Carlos was hoping you would come back.’

‘He knew that was never going to happen,’ Señora Quincy scoffed. ‘He may not have been why I left, but he was the reason I never returned.’

Charlotte watched her closely, looking for clues, signals. ‘So it wasn’t to do with Jack, then?’

‘Jack?’ Señora Quincy looked at her sharply. It was another half-minute before she responded. ‘. . . No, not Jack.’

They fell quiet again. Charlotte didn’t want to push. She sensed the old lady would reveal more through musings and recollections, than interrogations.

‘Tell me, how did you find Ronda?’ Señora Quincy asked. ‘Did you like it?

‘I didn’t get to see much of it, sadly. The driver took me straight to the bullring from the airport and then, of course, I sprained this.’ She kicked her leg forward. ‘I couldn’t really walk anywhere, but Marina and I did take a horse-drawn carriage tour. It’s absolutely charming – all those white houses and tiny, tiny streets. I couldn’t believe we could get through most of them. I fully expected the carriage to end up wedged between two walls!’

The old lady smiled. ‘A great friend of mine lived in the mercadillo. I used to sneak down when I could as a girl. Those were the happy days.’

‘Marina wants to go back in tomorrow; she’s so keen to explore the town. I think she really wants to get to grips with her heritage.’

The old lady’s smile faded. ‘She will only be disappointed.’

Charlotte tipped her head to the side. ‘Will she? From what I’ve observed so far, she’s embracing this new life. You grew up in a different time, a time when the whole world was at war, and I don’t doubt you had good reason for doing what you did. But Marina’s a grown woman who can make her own choices. The world has moved on and the Mendozas are, after all, one of the most illustrious families in southern Spain.’

‘Illustrious is not the word I would use for this family,’ Señora Quincy said firmly.

Another silence.

‘So you really don’t see any sort of opportunity here for her? You don’t think that the financial security that comes with being a Mendoza could give her a better life? A more comfortable one?’

‘Of course you would say that. You are a – what is it again? A wealth counsellor. You are in the thrall of money, you worship riches and fame. It is your god.’

‘Believe me, señora, it most certainly is not. I know very well that money can be something from which to escape, as much as it is to embrace. Yes, many of my clients actively chased what they now possess, wealth was their dream. But I’m not there to show them how to spend it. It’s down to me to show them that they won’t find fulfilment in those things. I want to help Marina, to make sure she doesn’t get lost in the hype that is coming towards her – and it is coming. She can’t unknow what she knows. She is a Mendoza by blood, a member of one of the most prominent families in the country. Her life has changed already but she cannot merely step from one world into the next, not without help.’ Charlotte leaned forward slightly. ‘Just the technicalities of being recognized as a legitimate heir mean she’ll need to put a legal and financial team together. These are practicalities that can’t be ignored. But where I can help her is with coping strategies for how to manage her personal relationships, her daily routine, now that she doesn’t have to work – especially during this transition phase—’