“What!”
“But now I realize that you were just using Mike to get to me,” Ryan continued without missing a beat.
“Using—Me—? You—? You mean you thought I would seduce—? Oh!Ohhh! Why, you…you…”
Tess sputtered and fumed, too shocked and enraged to think of anything vile enough to call him.
“Save your outraged act for someone else,” Ryan snapped. “It doesn’t work on me. As I said, you’re wasting your time, Mrs. Benson. I’m just not interested.”
Tess gulped a deep breath and fought for control. “Mr. McCall, you are not only a colossal egotist, you’re sick and disgusting! I am hardly at the peak of my sexual attractiveness at the moment, but even if I were, let me assure you that I would not be interested in you!”
She had started off speaking slowly and distinctly through her clenched teeth but with each word her voice rose in pitch and volume, until by the time she reached the end she was shrieking.
“Good. Then we understand each other,” he said matter-of-factly, and hung up.
Tess gasped and jerked the receiver away from her ear. She stared at it. “Oh! Of all the—!” She slammed the phone down so hard it jumped out of its cradle and she had to do it again, which made her all the more furious.
Unable to move, she stood there, shaking all over, her heart pounding, breathing hard. Several seconds passed before she noticed. Oh, Lord. It couldn’t be good for the baby to get so upset, she thought. Calm down. Just calm down.
Leaning back against the wall, she closed her eyes, splayed one hand against her heaving chest, the other across her belly and drew several deep breaths.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry,” she soothed in a caressing voice. “I shouldn’t have yelled like that. But Mommy’s okay now. Everything’s fine.”
Gathering her scattered composure, Tess pushed away from the wall and returned to the sofa, lowering herself gingerly onto the cushion. She still felt shaky. No one had ever made her that angry before. She hadn’t known she could get that angry.
But then, who wouldn’t if they had to deal with an obnoxious man like Ryan McCall?
When she had met him, she had given him the benefit of the doubt and put his abruptness down to a bad mood, but not this time. The man was a rude, evil-minded, ill-tempered brute. Imagine! Accusing her, in her condition, of coming on to him! And worse, of trying to seduce his thirteen-year-old son. It was a mystery how that hateful man ever produced a boy like Mike.
Mike. Tess sighed, sadness washing over her. As bad as she hated to, she would have to break all ties with the boy. His father obviously did not approve of their friendship. Anyway, the way things stood, she doubted that she could hide her feelings. Certainly she wouldn’t be able to hold her tongue whenever Mike mentioned his father, which was sure to be often. Mike and his dad were close, and the boy clearly adored him. Whatever else he was, Ryan McCall was apparently a good parent.
Tess discovered that she did not have the heart to tell Mike that they could no longer be friends. When faced with those guileless blue eyes and that eager face, she simply could not utter the words. So she tried to discourage him by withdrawing.
Over the next few days she avoided him whenever she could. When he knocked, she didn’t answer her door. She monitored her telephone calls through the answering machine, never picking up when the caller was Mike. When she left her apartment or returned, she did so quietly, tiptoeing in and out like a thief, and feeling as guilty as though she were one. On the few occasions when she did run into him, she pretended to be either in a hurry to get somewhere or terribly busy.
Mike, however, was not one to be put off by evasions. On the evening of the third day after the disastrous telephone conversation, he waylaid Tess in the hallway outside their apartments.
It was late when she climbed the stairs and found him sitting on the floor outside her door. He looked as though he had every intention of staying there all night if he had to.
Tess jerked to a halt at the top of the stairs so suddenly that Amanda nearly barrelled into her.
“Hey! Watch out,” her friend yelped, but Tess didn’t hear her.
“Mike! What are you doing here? It’s late.”
Mike looked up, his expression sullen. “Waiting to see you.”
“Oh.” Tess licked her lips and glanced uneasily at her friend. “We’ve…uh…we’ve been to a Lamaze class. Amanda’s my coach.”
“Hi there, sweetie. How ya doing?” Amanda said, but he merely shrugged and mumbled, “Okay” before returning his attention to Tess.
He climbed to his feet and brushed off the seat of his pants. His gaze never left her.
“I thought you said we were friends.”
“Why…we are, Mike.”
“Then how come you didn’t answer your door this morning when I knocked?” Both his look and his tone accused.
“I…guess I wasn’t here.”
“Your car was in the parking lot. I checked.”
“I see. Well, then…” Tess gestured vaguely. “I must have been in the mail room.”
“Uh-uh. I checked there, too.”
Amanda remained silent. Her shrewd gaze switched back and forth between them.
“I see. Well…I, uh…I suppose we just missed each other somehow,” Tess said lamely.
Mike stared at her in silence. Tess could feel the guilt written all over her face, but there was nothing to do but brazen it out.
“Can I come in?” he asked finally.
“Oh. Well…I’m pretty tired, and it’s getting late. Maybe some other time.”
Hurt flashed in Mike’s eyes. Then pride took over and his young face grew remote. “Yeah. Sure.” He nodded and stuck his hands into his back pockets. “See ya.”
Tess watched him walk away with a lump in her throat.
“Would you mind telling me what that was all about?” Amanda demanded the moment they stepped inside Tess’s apartment. “You were downright cold to that boy.”
“I know.” Emotion threatened to choke her, and her voice wavered. Fighting back tears, she gave her friend a woeful look. “Oh, Amanda,” she whispered wretchedly.
Without a word, Amanda’s demeanor softened, and she gathered Tess close—or as close as her girth would allow—and led her toward the sofa. “All right, now. Tell me what’s happened,” Amanda said in a commanding but gentle voice once they were settled.
Hesitantly, Tess recounted what had transpired between herself and Ryan McCall. During the tale, Amanda’s expression ran the gamut—from a haughtily raised eyebrow to a sagging jaw and finally ending with her beautiful face set in an icy mask of fury. “Do you mean that bastard had the unmitigated gall to accuse you—you of all people—of trying to seduce Mike?” she said, enunciating every word in a tight, dangerous voice. “And of using that sweet boy to get to him?”
Miserable, Tess nodded.
“Why that sorry, no good…And to think, I thought he was the nice one.”
“For some reason, he seems to have taken an intense dislike to me. So you can see that I have to break off my friendship with Mike. I really don’t have any other choice.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Amanda sighed. “It’s a shame though. Mike is bound to be hurt.”
Tess tried not to think about that. “Yes, well…at least