at her ignorance was swiftly followed by twinkles of amusement. “Just show the card to your aunt, Erin. It tends to influence people, believe me.”
She heaved a rueful sigh. “Guess I’m out of the general loop.”
He grinned. “Charmingly so. May I ask a favour of you?”
“Ask away,” she invited, dazzled into ready compliance by the grin that seemed to say he found her attractive, too.
“My cell phone number is on that card. Call me after Mrs Harper has been and gone this afternoon.”
Excitement zinged through her. This might not be the end for them. “You want to know how it pans out?”
“I’d like to hear your impressions of the mother’s reaction to what happened here.” He grimaced. “Truth tends to get lost when it comes to divorce and the best interests of a child are not always served.”
“You’re right about that,” she said with feeling, having been the child of divorced parents herself.
“So you’ll call me?” he pressed.
“I will,” she promised, blithely uncaring about whether it was appropriate or not. The call might lead to another meeting with this amazing man.
“Good!” Satisfied that a pact had been sealed, he turned to the father and boy. “Got to let Thomas go with Erin now, Dave.”
There was no argument.
“I’m sorry for the scene I caused,” Mr Harper offered as he handed Thomas over to Erin.
“I hope you have good times together in the future, Mr Harper,” she replied with genuine sincerity, then quickly led the boy away, seeing that Sarah had the crocodile line in order and was anxiously waiting for them to join it.
She was incredibly conscious of her body as she walked away from Peter Ramsey. It was as though she could feel him watching her, assessing everything about her. It made her shoulders square up to a straighter carriage, caused her bottom to feel twitchy, and her knees actually threatened to wobble. She didn’t look back, telling herself to maintain some dignity and not moon over the man like some star-struck teenager. His card was in her hand. That guaranteed another connection with him.
Once back at the kindergarten, Erin helped settle the children for their afternoon nap. She had intended to leave at this point, having done the favour her aunt had requested. A story-telling session from Erin Lavelle was great PR for the preschool, backing up the much-dropped fact that she was, indeed, Sarah’s niece. However, the intriguing encounter in the park demanded a change of plan.
Having taken the precaution of copying the essential details from Peter Ramsey’s card into the notebook she always carried with her, Erin slipped into the administrative office to have a private conversation with her aunt who was sitting at her desk, hunched over a newly made cup of coffee and looking as though she needed a shot of caffeine to stitch frayed nerves back together.
“That could have been nasty. Really nasty,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Thanks for helping out, Erin. I don’t know how I would have handled it…” Her voice trailed into a heavy sigh as she shook her head over the frightening incident. “The children could have panicked…”
“It was lucky Peter Ramsey was there,” Erin quickly put in.
The name jolted Sarah out of her fretful train of thought. Her eyes sharpened to a wary alertness. “Who? Who did you say?”
“The big man. His name is Peter Ramsey. He gave me his business card…” She placed it right in front of the coffee cup, hitching her bottom onto the front edge of the desk’s large surface as she explained the card’s purpose. “He said for you to mention his name to Mrs Harper if she gets ugly over what her husband did.”
Sarah picked up the card and stared at it disbelievingly.
Erin carried on with her job as messenger. “He also gave his personal assurance that Mr Harper would seek legal help to get some custody rights, so you shouldn’t be afraid of him going off the rails again because of not being able to see his son.”
“Peter Ramsey,” her aunt said with almost breathless awe. Her eyes were goggling when she looked up at Erin. “I should have recognised him. But why on earth would he be in that park?”
Erin honed in on the most pertinent point. “Why should you have recognised him?”
“Because of who he is, of course,” her aunt brushed off impatiently, then caught Erin’s grimace of frustration. “Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of him. He’s Lloyd Ramsey’s son and heir.”
This stunning revelation was a blow to the fantasy that had been building up in her mind. “You mean the multibillionaire, Lloyd Ramsey?”
“The one and only,” her aunt confirmed.
Lloyd Ramsey was virtually an Australian legend, making so many headlines over so many years, even Erin who’d always lived in the world of books, was not ignorant of the man’s power and how he wielded his wealth. He’d been nicknamed “the shark” because he went after a bite of just about every big business enterprise going. From Sarah’s reaction to Peter’s name, apparently his son had also carved out a prominent position in Australia in more recent times.
Erin had the queasy sense he was way out of her league, occupying a far, far different world to hers. “Is Peter Ramsey a business whiz, too?” she asked.
“Very much so on the international scene,” came the heart-sinking reply. “All high-tech stuff. I’m not up with that but he’s always in the social pages, being photographed with other celebrities. Every time he changes women it’s big news.”
Erin’s stomach did a dive, too. “You mean…he’s a playboy.”
The macho BMW sports car popped back into her mind. Had he been the driver?
Her aunt shrugged. “Well, he’s still playing the field. Hasn’t married anyone yet. Probably doesn’t give much time to his relationships. Always on the go. And let’s face it, a man in his position can get any woman he wants when he wants.”
Yes. He probably could.
The excitement that had been fizzing through Erin’s bloodstream completely flattened out. The possibility of Peter Ramsey being her prince was looking dim if not downright dead.
Yet he had certainly played knight to the rescue in the park and she had felt a strong connection with him. On the other hand, their shared empathy for Mr Harper’s situation could have accounted for that feeling, plus, of course, her instinctive response to his very dynamic sexual appeal.
“Why do you think he’s involved himself with this?” Erin asked, wanting more input from her aunt.
Sarah shrugged. “Why was he in the park? Maybe the two are connected.”
“What do you mean?”
“There must have been a trigger for his action.” She paused to think through what had happened. “Maybe he overheard Mr Harper yelling out that he’d been ripped off by his wife. That could have hit a sore spot with
