HOT SET: Playing with Fidelity (A romantic suspense novel) (14 page)

“
That’s great but why are you thanking me?”

“
Because I heard you at the party, where you told Norm off?” Kate felt immediately sick at the memory. It was one of the few times in her life she’d stood up for herself.

“
Oh, no. You heard that?”

“
Yep and you were right, totally right. I had the power all along. The next day when he came home from work, his suitcases were on the front step and the locks were changed. Now he’s living with his mother and paying a fortune in child support.”

“
You’re kidding!”

“
No! You’re a hero in my books. I’ve never been so happy!”

“
I’m… speechless! And the kids are okay?”

“
They’re fine. Norm was never home anyway so little has changed. I was practically a single mum of seven before with all the time he spent at home. It was only when he’d left that I realised just how much the bastard was dragging me down.”

“
And you look amazing!”

“
Thanks.” Patrice blushed. “I feel amazing. I’ve loved spending some money on me for a change.”

Kate
shook her head, “I just can’t get over this.”

“
Muuum! I’m hungry!” a little girl tugged on her jacket.

“
Me too!” said her brother, a boy so similar they must have been twins. On cue, the small boy in the pram started yelling, too.

“
Okay, okay. There’s food in the car. We’ll go in a sec. Anyway Kate, I have to go but I’m so glad I saw you and got to say thanks.”

“
Umm, you’re welcome?” Patrice laughed then impulsively reached forward and gave Kate another huge hug.

“
I’m so glad you said something to him, Kate. He deserved it and it changed my life.”

Kate stared
after Patrice as she grabbed the hand of the little girl, said, “come on” to the boy and pushing the pram, left walking along the sidewalk.

Wow
. Just wow.

Kate
turned back towards the front of the shopping centre doors.

What an amazing day.

Kate
’s attention was focusing on something out of the vast windows at Sydney Airport Domestic Terminal. She was wearing a loose pair of light cream cargo pants, a fitted black t-shirt and sturdy-looking brown hiking boots. Her long hair was plaited down her back with a few short curls lying gently against her slender neck. She wore only light make-up, her rings and a leather-strap watch on her left wrist. She had a crumpled backpack at her feet partially covered by a grey knitted cardigan. The bright sunlight reflecting brilliantly off the plane just outside the glass illuminated her face, carving her high cheekbones and full lips into a clear-skinned statue.

Rhys
stood a few metres to the left behind Kate, wondering what she was looking at with such concentration and noted she’d hardly moved in the few moments he’d been looking at her. He’d found out about her husband on the second day of filming and had felt genuine disappointment but quickly pushed that aside for the mere enjoyment of her company.

A
s usual, he was missing the undercurrent around him as his famous presence caused a ripple through his fellow passengers. Watching Kate with such concentration, he didn’t register the gentle tugging on his pants until he felt his belt slip over one of his hips and quickly comprehended he was being unceremoniously de-panted in the centre of Terminal 3. He frantically grabbed at his descending trousers while simultaneously searching for his untimely prankster and found himself eyeballing the earnest, sweet face of a little pig-tailed, brown-haired girl of about three-years-old.

“
S’cuse me. Mum asked if you could get me an auto…autorf… an auto-fluff please.”

He grinned
. “An auto-fluff?”

“
Yes please” and a tiny, dimpled hand lifted to present him with a ticket and a bright green pencil.

He quickly scanned the crowded terminal to see seated next to a pile of
bags, a curvy brunette in a loose pink top and ¾ length tan cargos. She was watching them, her face a bright scarlet. He sent the mother a designed-to-halt-traffic smile and the poor lady’s eyes nearly popped. She dropped the open water bottle and scrambled furiously among her possessions to grab it before it drenched everything. Rhys crouched down in front of the little girl and looked into her face.

“
I can give you an auto-fluff. What’s your name?”

“
Bethany.”

“
And how old are you Bethany?”

“
I’m forr,” and four little fingers were presented for inspection.

He took the proffered ticket and pencil and wrote on the back ‘To Bethany and her charming mum
. Rhys B.’ He handed back the ticket and Bethany turned and ran a few steps before skidding into a halt. She turned back.

“
Sank you!”

Rhys
’s smile followed the child back to her very embarrassed mother. He started to move further into the lounge area and found Kate watching the whole episode with a half-smile on her face and he grinned back at her, causing her heart to jolt traitorously.

“
Cute kid,” he said.

“
Definitely.”

“
Going to cause the boys when she’s older, I bet.”

“
Most likely.”

“
Do you like kids?”

She paused
. “Yes,” she said quietly.

“
Do you want them one day?”

“
Yes – Mark and I have wanted children for a long time now.” She sounded sad.

“
Well… hope it doesn’t take long then.” He shuffled uncomfortably beside her and Kate again turned to stare out the window. After a moment, he realised he was getting nothing more from her, moved off and dropped his big frame into a tiny recess of plastic and polyester upholstery next to Mira who was typing rapidly into her laptop.

A few minutes later the boarding call resounded loudly and the passengers gathered belongings and moved into an orderly line
. Kate sat down in a chair and watched the passengers being herded through the gate. People watching had always been a favourite time-killer and with a movie star in the midst, it was an interesting psychological assay.

Trystan
sided up to Rhys and the two of them chatted while an eccentrically-dressed Trystan fawned up to the taller man in his usual manner. They were laughing at some terrible joke Trystan was concocting and the line moved forward. Mira, dressed in a sharp navy-blue pinstripe suit, had quickly packed up her computer and was standing quietly in line behind Rhys. Nadia was looking fabulously skinny in a tight pair of jeans, stacked heels, tight glittery, one shouldered top, heavy hooped earrings and her thick hair sculptured perfectly into a glossy wave. She also looked incredibly uncomfortable. She was pleading with Jane, who was dressed in old jeans, runners and a wrap shirt over her buxom bust, to lower the cleavage line of her costumes and Jane was shaking her head.

Kate
widened her visual exploration. There were around a hundred people gathered around the gate, about half worked on the movie and the rest seemed to vary between the usual business and pleasure varieties. It was the latter half that caught Kate’s attention and how the hordes hovered around the edge of the charisma-sphere Rhys emanated biologically. Physically attractive people always had the ability to fascinate, but with fame and power added to the mix, the waves of awe were tangible. The majority of people gathered in that line watched Rhys, either with surreptitious peeks or all-out staring.

A couple of metres behind
Rhys stood a gaggle of about ten ladies in their sixties looking like they were going to Central Australia on a girl’s holiday. They were all twittering and pointing in his direction and Kate could just hear their gossiping.

“
It is him, I’m sure it is!”

“
But why would he be getting on a plane to Alice Springs? Shouldn’t he be in Hollywood?”

“
They do travel, Bette.”

“
True. He must be working on a big budget movie or something.”

“
I’m sure Donna told me he was Australian?”

“
I don’t know! But one of us should definitely ask for his autograph.”

“
Wait till we’re on the plane, he can’t get away then.”

“
Good idea.”

“
He’s taller than I thought.”

“
Sexy bum, too.”

“
I bet those jeans are designer. Those movie types are rich enough.”

“
I wouldn’t be surprised Glyn.”

“
Oh, how exciting! I can’t believe we’re standing in line behind Hugh Jackman!”

Kate
snorted with laughter behind her hand. Absolute classic.

She waited until all the passengers had filed through the boarding gates, handed over her pass
for scanning and walked down the gangway toward the plane. Thinking back on what she’d just seen, she was glad she wasn’t really famous; she didn’t think she could handle that sort of constant interest. She noted with curiosity that Rhys seemed immune to it, but he’d been at it for long enough so he must have gotten use to the kerfuffle.

She breathed deeply
. She loved this part of travelling; the smell of the fuel feeding the idling turbines, the carpeted, enclosed ramp muffling her footsteps and the squares of light cast diagonally in the dust by the bright sun through small, high windows. She turned the corner at the end of the ramp and passed onto the bridge connecting the airport to the plane.

Showing her ticket to the attendant, she was directed to the
first row of seats on her left. She hoisted her bag up onto her chest and then moved around the centre bulkhead and locked eyes with Rhys. She flinched but then lifted her arms to place the light backpack into the overhead compartment.

Rhys
looked up at her stretching over him, a smooth, bare stomach and belly button right at his eye level and Kate felt self-conscious, guessing correctly his eyes were doing a slow peruse down her body. Yet, he gave no indication of doing so, unfolded his long legs from the seat frame and stood up next to her.

“
It looks like we’re travelling buddies today.”

“
I thought Mira would be sitting here?”

“
No, she’s sitting next to Barry, bailing him up for the next month’s production schedules, I’m sure.”

She smiled and slid down into the seat by the window, pushing the belt buckles out of the way as she did so
. Rhys wedged himself back into the seat and reached around his body for his own belts. While Kate lifted her elbows to lock in her buckle, his came up at the same time and their elbows connected with a resounding and very painful crack. Kate let out a tiny howl and Rhys grunted with the pain, both rubbing their offended joints in sync until the ache eased. They took one look at each other’s crumpled face and burst out laughing.

“
Funny bone, my ass,” Rhys muttered.

“
It would help if you were the size of a normal person.”

“
I am the size of a normal person; it’s the rest of the world that’s in dispute.”

“
Rubbish. I fit fine.”

“
You’d fit into a shoebox.”

“
I’ll have you know that I am exactly five-foot-five; average height.”

“
For a dwarf.”

She shook her head
. “That’s very un-PC of you, Mr Movie Star.” He ‘cringed’ at her look by laying back into his seat then grinning at her.

“
Behave Rhys. We have to work together for four months and Barry would have a fit if I killed you before we left Sydney.”

“
You could only try.”

“
Tough guy.”

“
Minx.”

She straightened in her seat as she felt the plane start rumbling underneath her
. The flight attendant took her place at the front of the plane a few steps from Rhys and got her paraphernalia ready for the safety demonstration. The recorded instructions buzzed to life from the speakers above their heads and the hostess picked up her mask to illustrate how it is worn in case the cabin lost pressure. Just at that moment she flicked a quick glimpse towards Rhys who was watching her closely and he lifted an eyebrow and gave her a luscious smile. She started and the mask dropped from her fingers, only saved from crashing embarrassingly on the floor by the elastic she’d ungainly snatched on the downward journey. She slapped back on her mask of professionalism and looked down the plane, never letting her eyes rest on Rhys for the remainder of the presentation.

Kate
saw the whole thing.

The attendant left her place to walk down the plane to check everyone’s seatbelts the overhead compartments.

“Why do you do that?”

“
What?”

“
You purposely flustered that poor woman.”

“
I smiled at her.”

“
Rhys, you know too well a smile from you isn’t the same.”

“
Same as what?”

“
As – as regular men.”

“
So I’m not a regular man?”

She
got cranky. “You’re a movie star, that comes with certain privileges and… oh whatever.”

She turned away from him in a huff and he stared at the back of her head in surprise.

They didn’t talk as the plane cruised out to the end of the runway and after a short wait, lined up on the tarmac. Kate forgot her annoyance for a moment as the captain turned up the turbines to a shrieking crescendo and lifted his foot from the brake, snapping the unwieldy machine into its inborn purpose and the passengers were pressed back into their seats from the force of forward momentum. The plane tore down the runway, the sound of the engines blanketing everything else for several seconds until the nose lifted elegantly off the ground and the body willingly followed, pulling the massive metal bird into flight and causing a dip in the passengers’ stomachs.

Kate
was unconsciously smiling. She adored take-offs and although had flown a dozen times, had never tired of the pleasure of feeling the force of man and nature pressing her back into her seat. Rhys looked across, noticed her expression and understood why. Even after all the planes he’d been in, he still felt that touch of glee at the pure force of a take-off.

“
Good fun, aren’t they!”

“
Take-offs?” she questioned.

“
Yep, never get tired of them.”

“
Me neither.”

They paused for a moment.

“I’m sorry about before. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Kate said.

“
Tis okay, I deserved it.”