“He talks about the guy nonstop. At first I thought they were just best friends, but he even murmurs his name in his sleep.” Isaac flushed. “I probably shouldn’t talk about this with you.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“You really are terrific.” His soft gray eyes swept up her figure from carefully styled hair to the pink toenails peeking out of her strappy heels. “You look sensational, by the way. If I was into girls, I’d definitely be thinking inappropriate thoughts
right now.”
She laughed, glad the tension between them had eased. “You’re quite the charmer, Dr. Crandall.”
He helped her into his car, and they headed to his parents’ house. He told her about some fancy diagnostic machine they’d installed at his father’s clinic and how it would make the office cutting-edge. “I can’t wait to be a part of it. They already have more patients than they can handle. This is an amazing opportunity for me.”
“You’ll be awesome,” she said.
“Assuming I don’t mess this up. Thanks for helping me out, angel.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
When they arrived, a valet took Isaac’s car and parked it somewhere in the next county. Isaac settled a hand on her lower back to guide her into the sprawling Mediterranean-style house. There were a lot more people at the dinner party than Rebekah expected. Isaac introduced her to so many people that her head was spinning. Everything was going well until someone noticed her engagement ring.
“My Lord, Isaac, how did you ever afford that rock on your salary?” a gentleman, who looked like he’d fallen off a bucket of fried chicken, asked.
Isaac grabbed Rebekah’s left wrist and stared at the hefty ring. “An enormous loan,” he said with a nervous laugh. “I hope Father’s hiring.”
The Colonel Sanders look-a-like pounded him on the back enthusiastically. “I think he might be.”
Isaac steered Rebekah toward a corner. “You’re engaged?”
Rebekah’s heart fluttered, and she smiled. “Well, yeah. How did you not notice?” She lifted her left hand. “It’s pretty obvious.”
Isaac sighed. “I was a little distracted.” He reached for her hand and tried to slip the ring from her finger. She jerked her hand away and hid it behind her back.
“What are you doing?”
“You have to take it off. It’s obvious that I didn’t give you that ring. I could never afford it.”
“I’m not taking it off, Isaac.”
“She’s not taking it off, Isaac,” a low voice said behind her. Before she could turn around, she was wrapped in a strong embrace, and a hard kiss hit her in the temple. “Congratulations!” She struggled against the hard body behind her. He released her, and she spun around to glare at… Trey?
Her mouth dropped open in shock.
“What are you doing here?” Isaac asked in a harsh whisper.
“My father conned me into coming along. Usually, I try to get out of these kinds of things, but…” He shrugged. “I thought it would be fun to see how good of an actor you are, young Dr. Crandall.”
“Your father?” Rebekah questioned.
“The highly celebrated plastic surgeon of the rich and famous, Ethan Mills, MD,” Trey said. He waved at a man who could have been Trey’s twin had he been twenty-five years younger and traded his conventional haircut for Trey’s long in the front, short in the back style.
Doctor Mills wrapped a possessive arm around a lovely woman who looked earthy, eccentric, and completely bewildered in her round glasses, peasant garb, and Birkenstocks. She had a smudge of pink paint on her tan cheek, and her waist-length, curly brown hair, which was held out of her face with a green plastic headband, looked completely untamable. She fit in with the black-tie crowd almost as well as Eric would have. Rebekah instantly loved her.
“And that sweetheart with him is the highly underrated mixed media artist, Gwen Mills, also known as my mom.” Gwen must have known someone was talking about her, because her head swiveled in their direction, and her entire face lit up with delight when she noticed her son. Trey’s parents headed in their direction. Isaac tried to hide behind a drapery.
“Did you find someone to talk to?” Dr. Mills asked and extended a hand in Rebekah’s direction.
“Yeah, small world,” Trey said. “This is Rebekah, Sinners’ temporary soundboard engineer. I told you about her. Dave’s little sister.”
Dr. Mills’ expression turned serious. “How’s your brother?”
She smiled at his concern and shook his hand. “Not mobile yet, but working on it. It takes more than a broken neck to keep him down.”
“And I just found out that she’s Eric’s fiancée,” Trey added. “Check out her new rock.”
Gwen took Rebekah’s free hand in hers and shook it up and down vigorously. “That boy needs a nice girl to look after him. Good for you!”
“And tonight she’s pretending to be Isaac’s girlfriend,” Trey added, “so mum’s the word. Wouldn’t want to make dear Isaac uncomfortable.”
Trey grabbed Isaac by the arm and pulled him out from behind the gauzy drape. Scowling, Isaac shoved him.
“Don’t worry,” Trey said. “I already told them all about you.”
Isaac turned green. “All about me?”
“Well, not that sexy little noise you make when—” Trey bit his lip. “Never mind.”
“It’s not healthy to pretend to be something you’re not,” Dr. Mills said to Isaac. Being Trey’s father, the guy had to be incredibly open-minded. Or totally clueless.
Isaac sidled toward the drapery again.
Trey’s head turned as he tracked a gorgeous cocktail waitress distributing champagne to guests. “I just wanted to say hey. I’ll leave you two pretend lovebirds alone.” He dashed off without another word and walked directly in front of the waitress. Startled, she almost dropped her tray of drinks as she skidded to a halt. With a twirl, Trey somehow managed to catch the tray in one hand and press the disoriented woman against his length with the other. “Careful,” he said in that low voice that made knees go weak. Rebekah was immune by now, but the waitress sagged against him, her eyes wide, her lips slightly parted as she gawked at him.
Rebekah rolled her eyes and shook her head.