Her father’s hands crashed down on the bar counter as he stood up from the stool, his shoulders squaring, his barrel chest puffing out aggressively as he towered up to his full formidable height and thundered, ‘You marry some bastard who got you pregnant without letting me get the lawyers onto him first! Where are your brains, Tessa? He took you once and walked away and he’ll take you again. Big time!’
‘No, he won’t!’ she retorted with absolute certainty. ‘Nick would never take a cent of Steele money. He bought this place for us all by himself. He’s paid for everything in it. He’s employing the staff, paying their wages. This is all…’
‘Nick!’ The name exploded from her father’s mouth. His neck and face went bright red. ‘Are you telling me you’ve married Nick Ramirez? That he’s Zack’s father? Is this what you’re telling me, Tessa?’
‘Yes, I am.’ Her chin came up in proud defiance of any criticism of her personal judgement.
He shook his head in rank incredulity. ‘I don’t believe it!’ He turned his back on her as though confirmation would be too painful to confront. ‘I can’t believe it!’
‘Nick is good with Zack, Dad,’ Tess pleaded. ‘Very good.’
He wheeled around, arms flying out, hands clenched to punch out his points. ‘Marrying Nick Ramirez is setting yourself up for one humiliation after another,’ he cried in anguished protest at her decision. ‘He might not be a gigolo bleeding you of money, but I’ve heard he’s into the pants of every beautiful woman who walks through his life. Just like his father.’
Hate-filled words, loaded with his own humiliation at the hands of Enrique Ramirez.
Tess frantically sought a way to counter them, her stomach churning over the very real possibility of a unbridgeable rift with her father opening up. She couldn’t deny Nick’s personal history and it was impossible to claim the future would be any different, yet she burned with the need to believe in the sense of unity she felt she had achieved with him in the past seven weeks.
‘At least Zack will know I married his father,’ she said fiercely. ‘He’ll know I tried to set up a family home and life for him. And if it fails, he’ll still have—he’ll always have—a mother who not only loves him but will always have time for him.’
Tears welled into her eyes and her throat choked up as memories of how deeply and frequently her own mother had failed in giving her either time or caring when it was sorely needed. There had been so many emotional holes in her life and maybe Nick wouldn’t fill them. Maybe he’d leave them emptier than ever in the end. But right now…
The electric kettle started a shrill whistle and she reached blindly for the switch. In the few seconds it took to find it and click it off, her father had rounded the counter of the bar and she found herself wrapped in a tight hug, her back being patted as though she were a baby needing comfort. Which she did.
‘It’s okay…okay. You’ve got a father, Tessa,’ he gruffly assured her. ‘No matter what happens with Nick Ramirez, you just remember you’ve got a father to turn to.’
The knotted tension inside her started unravelling. Tess’s whole body sagged in relief. Her father was not going to storm away. He cared enough to stay for her, and the proven magnitude of that caring caused the tears to flow unchecked.
‘I’m sorry you had it so rough as a kid, Tessa.’ His big chest rose and fell in a long, ragged sigh. ‘Damned difficult situation. I tried to even it out. Didn’t do too well, I guess.’
He hadn’t done too badly, Tess thought, given Livvy’s capricious temperament and his third wife’s jealousy. She held no grudge against her father for his part in her life. ‘You’ve always done good, Dad,’ she managed to choke out.
‘You should have let me give you a proper wedding,’ he said, a touch of wounded pride coming to the fore. ‘My only daughter…it should have been the biggest and best damned wedding money could buy.’
Tess sucked in a deep breath and lifted her head back to speak directly to him, gathering all her mental strength to keep her voice from wobbling. ‘You can’t buy people’s feelings, Dad. Damned wedding says it in a nutshell. You would have hated handing me over to Nick and your three wives would have been at each other’s throats…’
He grimaced at that undeniable truth.
‘Much better to keep it small and private—just me and Nick and Zack.’
‘Zack…’ His mouth slowly twisted up into a wry smile. ‘Guess I got stuck with my own advice.’
‘It was the right advice, Dad. It turned out well.’
He searched her eyes worriedly. ‘Did it, Tessa? Never mind Zack. I mean for you. God knows you’ve been short-changed of love all your life. Marrying for the sake of a child…’
‘No!’ She shook her head vehemently. ‘Don’t think that, Dad. Nick and I…we do have something good going together…’
Sex! Fantastic, addictive, incredibly wonderful sex! And lots of it! But she couldn’t say that to her father and a self-conscious blush was heating up her cheeks even as she thought it.
‘I wouldn’t have married him if I hadn’t…wanted him as my husband.’
‘Wanted…’ The tone of voice and the derisive flash in the blue eyes knew precisely what she was referring to in relation to Nick Ramirez.
It shamed Tess into revealing the truth in her heart. ‘I love him, Dad. I have from the very beginning. And I’m going to take all I can have of him. Please…try to understand and go along with me?’
‘Oh, I understand, Tessa.’ He lifted a hand to her cheek and gently rubbed at the wet stain of tears as his eyes shared a moment of mocking reflection with her. ‘We grab what we can of what feels good. That’s what makes life worth living.’
Tess wasn’t sure that was her philosophy, but she could see it was his…take, but expect to pay a price, because nothing comes free. It was part of the corruption that came with great wealth. Love was above that, she argued to herself. It was a gift that couldn’t be bought. But it could be paid for in pain, a little voice in her mind warned.
‘Let’s get this kettle boiled again,’ her father directed, releasing her from his embrace. ‘We could both do with a cup of tea.’
It was a huge relief that their usual father/daughter harmony had been re-established and Tess was grateful for some normal activity to bridge the awkwardness of having released so much naked emotion. The tea was quickly made and she carried the pot over to the table where her father had finally seated himself.