‘Not at all,’ Marina said, perching at the front of her chair as if she was in a job interview. ‘In fact, I think my grandmother has benefited from having a few days to recover first from the journey.’

‘I’m glad to hear it. And she is quite well?’

‘Very, thank you. She’s resting in her room, getting ready I think for tomorrow.’

Mateo smiled. ‘Is she nervous about the reunion?’

‘I’m not sure. I think so, but then she’s always been very self-possessed. It can be hard to tell.’

Mateo inhaled. ‘I think my father is . . . relieved. I’d say that’s the word. I think this is something he has wanted for a very long time.’

Charlotte saw how Marina’s smile had become even more fixed and a small, awkward silence bloomed.

‘I only wish we had known about each other sooner,’ Mateo said, smoothly filling the void. ‘We might have met under happier circumstances.’

‘Yes,’ Marina agreed meekly, looking intimidated.

Mateo looked around the room, as though noticing something wasn’t quite right. ‘Ah, but where is our professor?’

‘Still working,’ Charlotte said neutrally, even as her stomach clenched again at his prolonged absence.

‘At this time of the evening?’ Mateo frowned, checking his Patek Philippe watch.

She tried to look surprised too. It was growing late now, all the museums or institutions he would be visiting for work would be closed. He was deliberately avoiding her. Their kiss earlier had him running scared. Another mistake . . . In the heat of the moment it had been just that: heat. Hormones. Chemicals. Adrenaline was up. But in the growing coolness of these hours afterwards, the facts would be reasserting themselves to him with stark brutality: he had a family. It couldn’t be changed.

‘Well he took a few hours out this afternoon to join me on a tour of the bullring,’ Marina explained. ‘It was very kind of you to have arranged the private visit.’

‘The least I could do,’ Mateo said, spreading his hands wide in a generous gesture. ‘We have, of course, very close links with them. I expect you saw the sculpture of the bull outside?’

Marina nodded.

‘That was one of our bulls – Leviatan. Truly one of the most impressive beasts we ever bred: he weighed two tonnes and had shoulders wider than a car. He was the creature that inspired Ferruccio Lamborghini when he came to visit La Ventilla in the 1960s and decided to have an image of the bull as the marque for his cars.’

‘Wow, I never knew that,’ Charlotte smiled, seeing how Marina looked like she might burst with pride.

‘That’s very cool,’ Marina grinned.

Mateo looked over at her. ‘It is cool being a Mendoza,’ he agreed, seeming pleased. He took a long sip of his drink. ‘Well, it will be interesting to see what his research has uncovered. How has history remembered the Mendozas, I wonder?’

Charlotte and Marina glanced at each other, sensing he had no idea of the shadows behind the family’s glittering name.