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‘That will only be temporary I know you don’t want to be married, much less a father’

‘But we areto be a father to my child A proper father’

CHAPTER FIVE

IF LISA HAD thought being in Madrid with Max at Christ that was not the case Since their arrival yesterday he’d been courteous yet as distant as a stranger That last night in London he’d just been proving his power over her, proving that desire and passion still si

They had left their hotel early that ainst the unusually cold winter winds, in a much less salubrious area than that of the hotel The kind of area she’d grown up in Surely Raul Valdez, with all hismarried anywhere near here

‘What are we here for?’ she asked tentatively, pulling the collar of her coat tighter around her neck

Max seemed impervious to the cold, his attention focused on the shabby aparts and one in particular ‘This is where my mother and I lived after we left Seville’

Lisa’s ht and his stepfather ell known in the world of football She’d never for one moment considered that Max knehat it was like to live on the wrong side of town

‘I never knew’ Her voice was soft, full of thought as she looked around her, turning to see a football ground beyond It was very different frorounds of the clubs that Max invested in ‘Did you start your football career here?’

Finally, he turned to look at her and for the briefest of ht she saw sadness in his eyes Then he blinked and the usual, ever-present guard was back in place The protection he alore

‘My mother ht at the ti that, by being close to hie his mind’ His jaw clenched as he turned to look once more at the three-storey apart football here seriously It’s also where my mother met’

Lisa’s heart wrenched as she thought of the young boy he’d been ‘Maybe your father did a good thing leaving you both to build a new life’

She was talking fro stuck in theparents, but the deep inhaled breath that prevented Max froht at all