The boiling anger in her eyes cooled to a simmering scepticism, making Nick acutely aware that he’d given her no grounds for believing there was any real caring behind his apology. Words were not about to convince her otherwise. Instinctively he reached across the table and took her left hand in his, intent on reforging a physical link with her. The strong sexual connection between them had created this situation. Nick automatically employed that power now to move past the mental barriers Tess held against him.
‘If I’d been you, I wouldn’t have told me, either,’ he confessed, offering a rueful smile in the hope of lessening the tension between them. With a gentle pressure on her soft palm, he fervently added, ‘I’m glad you’ve told me now, Tess.’
Was he?
Her gaze dropped to the hand holding hers, feeling the tingling heat transmitted by his fingers, struggling to keep her mind above the wash of sexual desire that Nick Ramirez was so adept at setting in motion. She had to concentrate on the critical issues that had been raised between them, not let her thoughts get fuzzy with distracting feelings.
Nick had been proposing marriage for the purpose of having a child. It had clearly come as a huge shock to learn he already had one but he seemed to be accepting his fatherhood without any of the aggressive protest Tess had anticipated. He was even granting she had just cause for keeping it from him.
All in all, it was an incredibly positive reaction from him and she found it highly confusing since it contradicted what she knew of his attitude to relationships in general. Yet it did tie in with his stated reason for proposing marriage—wanting a child with her—and the seductively subtle pressure on her left hand suggested he was still pursuing that end.
‘Where is he—the baby—our son?’ he asked, his voice gruff as though furred with emotion he couldn’t control.
Did having a child affect him so deeply? Or was this some act to push through an agenda he was determined on carrying out by using whatever means came to hand?
‘In your suite here?’ he prompted when she didn’t reply.
‘No.’ Still wary of letting Nick too close when she didn’t understand where he was coming from, Tess kept her tone carefully matter-of-fact as she explained, ‘I left him at home in the care of his nurse.’
‘Nurse?’ Alarm flashed at her.
‘A Karitane nurse who specialises in helping new mothers with new babies,’ she quickly explained, her mouth twitching into an ironic smile. ‘I needed her more than Zack did. He’s perfectly healthy, Nick.’
Relief.
Natural enough, Tess told herself. Everyone wanted a healthy child. Though she couldn’t help wondering how well fatherhood would have worn with Nick if there had been something wrong with Zack. He was used to having his life running as he dictated it. What didn’t suit him was very quickly jettisoned.
‘Zack. You called him Zack. Is that short for Zachary?’ he asked.
‘No. It’s just Zack.’ Her chin lifted in defiance of any opinion he might hold on her choice of name for their son. ‘I liked it.’
‘Zack Ramirez,’ he said testingly. ‘Not bad. Shouldn’t invite any taunting variations at school. It’s a name a boy can live with easily enough.’
His arrogant assumption goaded Tess into coolly correcting him. ‘It’s Zack Steele, not Ramirez.’
Instantly a blast of dark, dangerous energy surged into a heart-jolting challenge. ‘I’m his father, Tess.’
‘You’ll have to convince me that fatherhood suits you, Nick,’ she challenged right back, though she was rattled by his intensity.
‘Then let’s get started. I’ll drive you home and you can introduce me to our son.’
‘You want to meet him tonight?’
‘Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?’
She wasn’t ready for it.
This wasn’t what she had envisaged coming out of tonight’s encounter with Nick Ramirez. Not only was he acting totally out of character but he was now set on invading her private life, having been given an inarguable reason for doing so.
Maybe it was simply curiosity about his child driving this move—curiosity that might be quickly satisfied. It was probably best to agree to a visit right now and watch Nick in action with their baby son. If he truly did want to embrace fatherhood, well…seeing was believing, she told herself. The big problem she had with Nick’s credibility this evening certainly needed some sorting out.
‘Tess…’ he urged, impatient with her apparent indecisiveness. His eyes were snapping with the need for quick, aggressive action. They weren’t simmering with sexual promise. It was painfully evident that she wasn’t really a part of what was going on inside Nick Ramirez at this moment. It was his child who’d grabbed him, wholly and solely.
‘Okay. Zack will most likely be asleep and I’d prefer him not to be disturbed, but if viewing him will satisfy you…’
‘Whatever’s best for him,’ came the swift agreement.
Nick was out of the booth and on his feet, drawing Tess from her seat without any regard for the fact that her glass was not yet empty and her chocolate cake was largely uneaten. Given his intense eagerness to see their son, any protest on a point of polite consideration seemed overwhelmingly petty. He tucked her arm around his, and Tess found herself swept along by a powerful force-field of irresistible purpose.
As always, her body was acutely conscious of his, shaming her with its wilfully wayward sexual responses when she knew sex was the last thing on Nick’s mind. It might have been a weapon in his battle to win his own way earlier tonight but it was now well and truly sheathed, his mind side-tracked by Zack, his will-power trained on getting to his son.
They started down the staircase to the foyer. Most of the people below looked up at them—the women focusing on Nick, the men on her. No doubt about it—the dress she was wearing was designed to get a rise out of any male. She’d wanted to at least match—no, surpass—Nick’s other women in the glamour stakes, proving she could be hot, too. And he had reacted. She’d succeeded in being a sex object. Except it wasn’t what she really wanted, and not what he wanted, either. So it had all been for nothing…this dress…
For whatever reason, Nick had decided he wanted a child and he’d chosen her to partner him in procreation—a pragmatic choice as she was conveniently free of gold-digging ambitions, young enough to be reasonably assured of problem-free reproduction, and comfortably compatible in her understanding of how his life worked. The huge irony was—if he’d made this decision a year ago, dumped this proposition in her lap a year ago, she would have been wildly happy about it, not feeling so horribly screwed up inside.