“Does this project concern me?”
“I said I’ll explain later.”
“You’re not bored with me and chasing another woman already? Another blonde?”
“Good Lord, no! Whatever gave you that idea?”
She refrained from throwing Roberto to the wolves for one ill-advised remark. “Oh…nothing. Forget I asked.”
“There’s no other woman for me, and there never will be.”
“You’re a billionaire. You could have anybody.”
“Strange as this may sound, that’s not true. Believe me, I have had plenty of time to discover that there’s no substitute for the real thing. You’re the real thing.”
Something twisted near her heart. “Oh. Am I? Tell me more…”
But that was all she could get out of him other than a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.
He was hiding something. Just as she was.
The next weekend as Zach stood in a glamorous penthouse that had seventeen gloriously imagined rooms with high ceilings and tall windows, he thought of Summer’s cozy apartment. Was the penthouse too much? Would she like it? Women could be very particular about their homes. Maybe he should show it to her before he bought it, but he was too impatient.
She could call the marble and gold vulgar and rip it out if she didn’t like it, he decided. She was too creative not to find a way to make it hers. The location was too stupendous to pass on, and he needed a place like this to impress the business people he dealt with.
All week Zach had been in a fever to ask her to marry him. Every time they’d talked, the question had been at the forefront of his mind. The pressure to wait until he had the ring selected and the penthouse bought and his new offices acquired and a contractor to remodel Thibodeaux House was making him feel explosive.
She’d looked so haunted when she’d tried to talk to him about the past. Was he rushing into this because he knew he should wait?
What if she said no?
Zach opened a glass door and walked out onto the terrace. The air was cool and crisp. Central Park was ablaze with riotous fall colors forty stories beneath him.
“I told you the penthouse was fabulous and the view lovely,” the Realtor gushed behind him. “Now do you believe me?”
“I had to make sure,” Zach said. “It’s a deal, then.” He turned and shook the woman’s perfectly manicured hand. “Send me a contract.”
She grinned brilliantly. “I like you so much.”
“Roberto Gomez will be handling this for me.”
“Yes. I’ve already had several emails from him. Charming man. It’s been a pleasure…”
Zach nodded, turned on his heel and strode toward the elevator. He had a long day ahead of him and no time to waste.
He’d arrived in Manhattan a day early this weekend to approve his future office space in Lower Manhattan and the penthouse that his most trusted people had selected. Summer didn’t expect him until tomorrow.
He was staying at the Pierre. She’d liked the suite there so much last weekend, he’d rented it again.
In the elevator, he slipped his hand into his pocket and touched the small, black-velvet box.
Tomorrow, at the Pierre, when they were alone, he would offer her a glass of champagne, get down on his knee and hand it to her.
When he got off at the bottom floor, his excitement about the gorgeous penthouse and his new offices and the ring was so great he wanted to share his news with her. Why wait until tomorrow to propose when he felt so sure this afternoon?
Why not go to the theater and propose to her now? He knew she was in rehearsals and that they hadn’t been going well. He knew he shouldn’t bother her. Still, he wanted to see her. He wanted to hold her. Most of all he felt an urgent need to propose to her. He was afraid if he waited, somehow he’d lose her again.
He pulled out his phone and studied his calendar. Calling Roberto, he told him to cancel the rest of his meetings.
Then he stepped into his limo and ordered his driver to take him to her theater.
Bad idea, he thought. But he couldn’t stop himself.
Summer raced to her dressing room during a break in rehearsals to return her agent’s calls, of which there were three. She hoped the call wouldn’t take long because she wanted so badly to call Zach.
Carl answered on the first ring. “You’re an angel for getting back to me so fast.”
“What is it?”
“Hugh Jones is in town. Just for the day. The PR people from the studio want to set up a short interview for the two of you.”
“When? Where? I’m really busy.”
“They had a hard time talking Jones into it as well, but they’ve got him to agree. So-say in an hour. In your dressing room.”
“Impossible. Things for the show aren’t going well, and some of the production’s big investors are here giving Paolo a hard time. He’s pretty insane.”
“The studio has already talked to Paolo. He’s fine with it.”
“What?”
“The interview won’t take more than fifteen minutes. There was so much buzz about your scenes with Jones that…”
She shut her eyes. That buzz, as Carl termed it, had nearly destroyed her relationship with Zach. Except for the fact that she hadn’t found a way to tell him about the baby, things were going so well for them right now. She didn’t want to stir up another round of press interest, and Hugh was a hot button she didn’t want punched until Zach truly trusted her and their relationship was on less fragile ground. Until she’d told him about the baby…
“The movie isn’t coming out for months. I don’t see why I have to do an interview with Hugh this afternoon.”
“Well, the PR department makes those calls, not us. Their team thinks it’s essential to keep up the momentum.”
Translation: they wanted hordes of paparazzi questioning the true nature of her relationship with Jones and continuing to chase her and take pictures of her with Zach. The PR department wanted her face and name out there, so she’d be a draw. They didn’t care that by linking her to Jones, they drove Zach crazy. To them, this was just another juicy story.
She had to protect her relationship with Zach at all costs.
“Sorry!” she said and ended the call. But no sooner had she hung up than Sam rang her.
“You signed a contract agreeing to do promotion. Paolo’s okay with it, so what’s your problem?” Sam read her the clause in her contract. It didn’t take a genius to understand his thinly veiled threat. They could sue her if she didn’t do as they commanded.
Feeling queasy and a bit shaky, which had been happening a lot lately, especially in the mornings, she hung up and called Zach’s cell.
But his phone went to voice mail. She didn’t want to leave this kind of news in a message. When she called him repeatedly, and he still didn’t answer, she began to feel sick with worry. She had to tell him about this interview before the paparazzi caught up with him and peppered him with questions he was not prepared to answer.
