At last Isabella was settled on the stretcher, and the paramedics hurried away with her. Sebastian prepared to follow the little party, but in the doorway he stopped and looked back. ‘Come!’ he commanded Catalina.

The girl shuddered. ‘I hate those places.’

‘Never mind that. Do as I say. Isabella is our responsibility. She mustn’t be left alone without a woman’s comfort. These will be your duties in the future, and you may as well start now.’

Catalina looked helplessly at Maggie.

‘All right,’ Maggie sighed, recognising the inevitable. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She met Sebastian’s eyes. ‘I can always leave later.’

‘To be sure,’ he said ironically. ‘My bride will magically become strong-minded and responsible, won’t she?’

In the flurry of departure she didn’t need to answer this. Downstairs the paramedics eased Isabella gently inside the waiting ambulance. Sebastian followed, nodding towards a car just behind.

‘Follow us to the Santa Maria Infirmary,’ he said curtly. Maggie’s eyes widened at the name of the most expensive private hospital in London.

‘Of course,’ Catalina said, when they were seated side by side in the back of the chauffeur driven car. ‘Isabella is one of his family. He feels responsible for her.’

‘He must do if he’s gone in the ambulance,’ Maggie mused. ‘Most men would die, rather. But you should have gone, my dear.’

‘I hate sickness,’ Catalina wailed. She saw Maggie looking at her in exasperation and added shrewdly, ‘Besides, Sebastian is the one she wants. He makes her feel safe.’

‘Yes, I noticed.’

Maggie had been unwillingly impressed by the kindness and patience he had shown the old woman, and the way she had clung to him, as though to a rock. However overbearing Sebastian might be, he clearly took his patriarchal duties seriously.

At the Santa Maria Infirmary, doctors were waiting for Isabella. As they prepared to wheel her away she cried out to Sebastian. ‘No, no! You promised not to leave me.’