Identity Crisis(26)

At last he found his voice. ‘Your hair,’ he managed, ‘it’s …’

‘Red, I know. Didn’t you envision Tess as a redhead? I could never have imagined her as anything else. But don’t worry, I can be blonde again as soon as it’s all right with Tess.’

It was only when she offered him a smile and nodded to the limo that he realized he’d been staring, just standing there staring. He pulled the door to and locked it, then offered her his arm, which she took. And did she actually look up at him admiringly? Well, she was pretending to be Tess Delaney after all, wasn’t she?

To Garrett’s surprise, they’d made it to their table almost unnoticed. He figured that was because no one knew what Tess Delaney looked like, and no one honestly expected her to show up. Don was already there with some woman whose name Garrett promptly forgot after their introduction. He could barely remember his own, as focused on just getting through the evening as he was.

At the table closest to them sat the obnoxious critic, Barker Blessing. Garrett hadn’t thought to warn Kendra about the womanizing bastard, but then how could he have known? In his white tux and black bowtie, with his air-brushed hair, the man might have passed for an older version of James Bond, with a slightly slimy edge to him. Blessing’s striking good looks were quickly eclipsed when he opened his mouth and graced everyone with a vocabulary that mostly involved the words “me”, “my”, and “I”. Add to that the fact the man had the unpleasant habit of talking with his hands in the presence of good-looking women, hands that usually arrived uninvited on the more personal parts of female anatomy, and Blessing was best avoided whenever possible. Garrett could only imagine the explosion if the groping Barker Blessing’s hands invaded the volatile Kendra Davis’s personal space. He’d have to make sure that didn’t happen.

The second Garrett pulled out the chair for Kendra, Blessing was on his feet. ‘You must be the lovely, and very secretive, Tess Delaney,’ he announced loudly, bending over her hand to press a sloppy kiss across her knuckles. ‘At long last we meet.’

And that was it. The room erupted in a strobe of camera flashes as Kendra said something polite and then turned her attention to Don, who was also offering her his hand. It was clear he was very pleased with Kendra’s version of Tess Delaney. Before Don got his greetings out, there was a Dictaphone thrust in Kendra’s face.

‘Ms. Delaney, can you tell us why you chose this night to make your first public appearance after ten years of enthralling the world with your novels?’ the young female reporter asked.

Garrett bristled and was about to push his way in between Kendra and the reporter to protect her, but her hold on his arm became a vice grip, while the rest of her remained as calm and serene as a sunset over a summer ocean. ‘Why, Ms. Flannery –’ She called the reporter by name, which seemed to be a total, if delightful surprise to the woman. ‘I would have thought that would be obvious. I could hardly resist being here for the Golden Kiss Awards, not when I’ve had the honor of being nominated. It’s every romance writer’s dream to be in this place with these people, you know.’ She gave her a smile that had the reporter blushing like an adolescent. Oh, she was good. Behind them, Blessing was taking notes fast and furiously on his iPhone. Three other reporters asked her questions in rapid succession and she answered them just as easily.

Then the intrepid Ms. Flannery butted in again. ‘Ms. Delaney, I see that you’re here with Garrett Thorne. Are you two an item?’

Garrett truly had to refrain from dragging her away from the reporter. But Kendra was already as close to digging claws into his arm as she could possibly be without drawing blood. She gave him an adoring glance that softened his mood considerably, then smiled back at the woman. ‘Ms. Flannery, I never kiss and tell. I save that for my novels.’

Before anyone could ask more awkward questions, the press returned to their seats and everyone settled as the ceremony began.

In all honesty, Garrett paid little attention to anything other than the woman sitting next to him. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but it felt like all eyes were on her. On the one hand he could certainly understand why that should be, but on the other the longer they sat there under the curious gaze of everyone anxious for their first look at Tess Delaney, the more they risked being found out. He didn’t like the way Don was looking at Kendra. He sure as hell didn’t like the way Barker Blessing was looking at her, like she was dessert. God, he wished he’d warned her about the creep beforehand.