‘Okay, calm down,’ Walter said, lifting his hands in a quelling motion.
Nate dropped back into his chair, embarrassed to realise he’d raised his voice.
‘This is what I suggest,’ Walter continued in the cool, dispassionate tones of a man well used to talking people down off an emotional ledge. ‘We ask Miss Tremaine in here, and we negotiate. If you’re willing to offer her a generous subsidy to take care of all her living expenses until the baby’s born—’
‘I am...’ Nate cut in. He wanted this settled once and for all. He wanted Tess to cooperate, to be straight with him and he’d pay whatever he had to to achieve that. But most of all he wanted the hideous suspicion that had been torturing him most of the night—that he had always been his father’s son after all—to go the hell away.
Walter glanced up from the papers on his desk, sending him a level look. ‘Then I’m sure she’ll listen to reason.’
Knowing how contrary Tess Tremaine had been already, Nate wasn’t betting on it, but he nodded anyway. ‘Great, when can we do it? I don’t want this messing with my head any longer.’
He still hadn’t quite figured out what he was going to do when he knew the truth for sure, but once he had the ‘Tess Factor’ under some semblance of control, he would take the necessary steps to ensure he did what he had to do. If the child was his, he would provide for it. And acknowledge it. That much was non-negotiable.
Walter flicked through the large leatherbound planner on his desk. ‘I’ll have my office contact her and see if we can set something up this week. If the baby does turn out to be yours, one thing you’ll want to do is start establishing a quantifiable interest in it as its biological father. Most courts so far have determined that a father’s rights are directly related to how involved he has been in the nurturing of a child.’
Nate nodded stiffly, the thought of nurturing a child paralysing him for a moment.
‘Right.’ Getting up from the chair, he held out his hand to the elderly man, glad to be finally setting something concrete and definable in motion. This didn’t need to be the emotional minefield Tess was trying to make it. They could negotiate this situation sensibly, like civilised adults. But given their bad habit of resorting to mind-blowing sex every time they were alone together, involving a third party was the way to go.
‘Thanks, Walter, I appreciate your input.’ He picked up his suit jacket, slung it over his shoulder. Feeling more in control than he had since he’d first laid eyes on Tess Tremaine. ‘Let Jenny know when the meeting’s scheduled and I’ll be there.’
Walter slammed the planner closed. ‘Are you sure that’s wise?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve gotta say, son, I haven’t seen you this steamed up since that episode with the Ducatti woman ten years ago. It might be simpler and less provocative if my team and I handle it from here.’
Nate debated the thought. Yes, it would be easier and more rational to let the legal team take over from here. But then the image of Tess, lying to him without a qualm not a half-hour after he’d been thrusting into her on her kitchen counter, blazed through his mind.
The hell with that.
He couldn’t just let it go. Maybe it was irrational, and a little childish of him, but he wanted to see her brought to account. And the good news was he wasn’t that dumb twenty-year-old kid any more, who had fallen so easily for Marlena’s lies.
Tess had been driving him slowly insane from the first minute he’d spotted her in the crowded rooftop bar during the Galloway party. But despite that cosmic chemistry, she didn’t have any more power over him than any other woman. And when she signed on the dotted line and took his money, he’d be able to prove it.
‘I’ll let you do all the talking, Walter,’ he said, making it clear he’d made up his mind on the issue.
Walter gave a brief nod, but looked unconvinced. ‘All right. You’re paying the bills, I guess it’s your call.’
Damn straight it was, Nate thought as he left the office.
And when Tess Tremaine finally figured that out, everything could be worked out to his satisfaction.
* * *
‘I do not believe it!’ Tess slammed the phone back into the cradle on Eva’s kitchen wall.
‘What’s happened? Who was that on the phone?’ Eva asked, pausing as she shovelled some unidentifiable substance into Carmine’s open mouth.
‘That, if you can believe it, was the PA to Walter Jensen.’ Tess spat the words out. ‘Who is none other than the legal representative of Nathaniel Graystone, CEO of Graystone Enterprises.’