Tess had made the same assumption which was why she was moving out of earshot, knowing that any conversation with her mother would draw an acid side commentary from her father. She was already opening the gate out of the enclosed courtyard as she accepted the call and identified herself.
‘Tess, it’s Nick. Nick Ramirez.’
The shock of hearing so directly from the man who’d just been the focus of considerable mental and emotional conflict, robbed Tess of any ready reply. It also jolted her feet into a dead halt until she recovered sense enough to realise she didn’t want this conversation overheard, either.
‘Where are you right now?’ Nick ran on, apparently too impatient to wait for a normal greeting.
Facing the polo field where your father played with my father, setting off the train of events which has led to the situation we now have between us.
Tess checked the wild drift of her mind and the headlong rush of her feet to wide open spaces, took a deep breath, and with as calm a voice as she could manage, asked, ‘What is the problem, Nick?’
It had to be something to do with the casting agency. Had her personal assistant messed up his business in some critical way?
‘There’s no problem,’ he hastily assured her.
‘Then why are you calling me?’
‘I want to meet with you.’
‘What for?’
Silence.
A wave of electric fear shot through every nerve in Tess’s body, leaving them at rigid attention. Had he somehow heard about the baby? Did he think he might be the father?
‘Can we get together for lunch?’ he pressed. ‘You must be back in Sydney. Livvy’s here.’
‘No, I’m not in Sydney, Nick.’
‘Didn’t you tell me your mother needed you with her as a people manager while she directed her first movie? Wasn’t that why I’ve had to deal through your PA and not with you personally for the past six months? Because you were away with your mother?’
‘Yes,’ Tess acknowledged, her stomach contracting as she realised how easily Nick could uncover her lies if he put his mind to it.
‘Well, Livvy flew in from LA yesterday,’ he went on. ‘Since you’re answering this call, you’re obviously back in Australia, as well. So where are you now?’
‘I’m at Singleton, visiting with my father.’ That, at least, was the truth, and no way in the world would Nick Ramirez front up here.
His sigh seethed with frustration. ‘Tess, I need to get together with you.’
The driving purpose in his voice sent a quiver through her heart. ‘What for, Nick?’
He ignored the question, seizing on an event where her presence was certainly expected. ‘The premiere of Waking Up next Thursday night…’
It was a teen horror movie, its release timed for the end of the school year, hoping to draw big audiences once the Christmas vacation started. Tess had planned to return to Sydney tomorrow, settle back into her home at Randwick, catch up with her mother, buy something suitable to wear to the premiere…
‘I remember you did the casting for that movie,’ Nick said with considerable satisfaction in having connected her to a definite time and place. ‘If you don’t have an escort lined up for the red carpet, I’ll fill in. Okay?’
Shocked by what could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be called a business arrangement, Tess could not contain her astonishment at this suggestion. ‘Why?’ tripped straight off her tongue.
‘Why not?’ came shooting back at her. ‘Have you finally found a guy you care about? A guy who’d object to your being with me?’
The terse tone of his voice implied he didn’t care for any such hitch in his plans. Tess was goaded into saying, ‘Isn’t there a woman hanging around your neck who’d object to me sharing a premiere spotlight with you?’
‘Not a factor,’ he claimed.
‘I can’t believe you don’t have someone on your string.’
‘That string will be cut before next Thursday.’
An emphatically decisive note there.
Tess wondered if it was an ominous note for her. It wasn’t unusual for women to come and go very quickly in Nick’s life, but linking the current lady’s exit to this out-of-character public date with her…was Nick wiping his slate clean to deal with fatherhood?
This meeting could not be about business. Yet how could he know about the baby when she had literally dropped out of circulation in Sydney before her pregnancy showed?
She took a deep breath and confronted the issue. ‘What’s this about, Nick?’
‘I’ll tell you when I see you, Tess. Where and when do I pick you up for the premiere?’
He was arrogantly assuming she didn’t have an escort lined up. Or she’d just mentally jettisoned any prior arrangement to be with him instead. Fair enough, she supposed, given his belief that she’d been in Los Angeles for the past six months and definitely not deeply engaged with any hometown guy. Nick Ramirez was an important client who did warrant some indulgence and he was demanding it.
Besides, with her father’s very recent advice still weighing heavily on her mind, this was clearly an opportunity for her to get personal with Nick on her son’s behalf, if the circumstances felt reasonably favourable. Better not to protest too much when she had her own agenda. And no man in tow, anyway.
On the other hand, until such time as she felt right about telling him of their child, she didn’t want Nick seeing Zack, or even knowing about him.
‘I’ll be staying at The Regent Hotel that night.’ Completely neutral ground. ‘The after-show party is to be held there,’ she went on. ‘I’m not sure when the limousines will start rolling to the theatre…’
‘Meet me in the lobby of the hotel for drinks at six.’
A public place was fine. ‘Okay. Six it is.’
‘Thanks, Tess.’
Was that a tinge of relief in his voice? Tess was intrigued by the idea of Nick Ramirez needing her for something personal.
‘You know, I’ve actually missed you while you’ve been away,’ he added, and she could hear him smiling through the words, the dry mocking smile he attached to any expression of emotion. ‘I look forward to being with you, Tess.’
Connection cut.
She stood in stunned stillness.
This call couldn’t possibly have been related to any suspicion she’d had a baby—his baby. Clearly Nick still believed her LA cover story which explained her lengthy absence from normal business. The most curious and nerve-tingling part was…his saying that he’d missed her, which had to mean her, the person, because this movie premiere had nothing to do with business and he had offered her his arm for it.