Her lids began to drift downward, then shot back up when Connie’s voice interrupted from the doorway into the living room. “If you’re hungry, Derek, the canapés look delicious.”
“I prefer nibbling on your roommate,” Derek shot back easily though he stepped away from Summer and offered her his arm. “I seem to have kept you in the foyer, Summer. Please come in.”
“Why, thank you, Derek,” she replied, resting her hand on his arm without a perceptible pause. Nothing about her relaxed, poised stance would indicate that her mind was reeling and her senses vibrated wildly from that intimate moment with him. Avoiding Connie’s quizzical look, Summer shot a glance at Derek to find him looking back at her with a hungry expression that made her gulp. There was definitely something different about the man tonight. Something that made her quite nervous.
“May I get you a drink, Summer?” he offered smoothly.
“Yes, Derek, thank you.” I hope it’s a strong one, she thought fatalistically. Something tells me I’m going to need it.
Summer wasn’t sure if she was more nervous about the way Derek was looking at her or the idea of mingling with his guests tonight. She didn’t care for parties where she didn’t know many people. She infinitely preferred the loud, cheery bashes she and Connie usually attended, where most of the guests were from their crowd and the new ones blended in swiftly. Unless they were like Derek Anderson, she amended, who didn’t belong at those parties in the first place.
But tonight would not be like that. Tonight would be formal and restrained, and Summer would be the one who did not belong. She would have to make conversation about subjects that bored her—politics, the economy, artsy movies with subtitles—and she would have to make explanations about her limp. It always happened in encounters with strangers. Some well-meaning soul would assume she’d recently injured herself and would inquire solicitously about her, and she would have to explain that the limp was a permanent part of her. Then she would have to see their pity as they told her how sorry they were. God, she hated pity. At her parties she could make jokes about her limp, laugh off her motorcycle-riding days, and everyone would laugh with her. She had a feeling her usual flip responses would be inappropriate tonight.
She took a rather desperate gulp of the champagne that Derek had procured for her—and she didn’t even like champagne. She started to ask if he had any rum punch, then decided against it.
“What’s wrong, Summer?” Derek asked perceptively, watching her grimace at the taste of the expensive champagne.
“Nothing,” she assured him, not quite meeting his eyes.
“You’re not nervous about tonight, are you?”
“Now why would I be nervous?” she bluffed.
“Some people would be a little intimidated before a gathering of people who are all strangers.”
“I don’t know about Summer, but I’m scared spitless,” Connie threw in, draining her own champagne. “You usually couldn’t drag me to one of these affairs. Hope I don’t embarrass you tonight, Derek.”
“You won’t,” he answered assuredly. “Have I remembered to tell you how much I appreciate your doing this for me, Connie? Parties seem to go much more smoothly when there is a hostess as well as a host, don’t you think? The caterers will take care of everything, for the most part. All I want you to do is mingle and keep the conversation going, and keep an eye on the caterers to make sure the trays of canapés and drinks don’t get empty. Easy, right?”
“Piece of cake,” Connie answered glibly. When Derek turned away, she mouthed in Summer’s direction, “Help!”
Summer laughed, steeling herself for the evening ahead. She recklessly swallowed the rest of her champagne, deciding that false courage was better than no courage at all.
6
THE FIRST GUESTS ARRIVED soon. Derek introduced Connie and Summer as his sister and “a very close friend.” Almost from the beginning Connie and Summer seemed to take on the role of co-hostesses, both of them mingling easily with Derek’s guests—more easily than Summer would have imagined earlier—and keeping a close watch on the tables. Soft music played in the background, serving as no deterrent to the subdued conversations and restrained laughter. A far cry from the party that the two spirited young women had hosted the week earlier.
Though it wasn’t quite as bad as Summer had feared, she still found herself getting bored when the party was only some forty minutes along. Everything was so… so predictable. Everything except Derek. He was driving her slightly crazy.
Derek practically glued himself to Summer’s side from the moment the party had begun. He included her in his conversations, frequently asked her opinion about various topics of interest and had his arm around her waist as often as not. Summer was irritably aware of the assumption being made by Derek’s guests. One woman even asked how long Summer and Derek had been dating and remarked that they made a lovely couple. At first, Summer had resisted his annoying little game by trying to excuse herself whenever he approached or subtly trying to slip away from that distressingly exciting arm around her waist. But since resistance only seemed to make Derek more determined to pursue her, she soon stopped trying and willed herself to relax against him. Only Derek could have known that the sweet smiles she gave him were delivered with silent promises of retribution.
“God, I’m glad you’re here tonight, Summer,” Connie said with a sigh when they met in the kitchen for a quiet moment an hour after the party had begun. “I’d be going crazy if it weren’t for you. This is definitely not my kind of party.”
“I know,” Summer commiserated. “But you’re doing fine, Connie. I’m sure Derek’s proud of you. Anyone who didn’t know you would probably think you were a real, proper lady.”
Connie snickered. “Then I’d better continue to resist the urge to turn the stereo to a loud heavy-metal station or dance on Derek’s expensive coffee table. Too bad Clay’s not here to liven things up, isn’t it?”
Grinning, Summer nodded. “Hang in there, kid. You’ll get through it. By the way, I noticed that you were fast making friends with a very attractive man with gorgeous black hair and a sexy mustache. The one in the gray suit that cost more than our combined paychecks for the past two weeks.”
A mischievous smile playing at the corners of her plum-glossed mouth, Connie winked at her best friend. “Nice, isn’t he? His name is Joel Tanner, and he’s going to be quite wealthy, thanks to my brother. He was one of Derek’s first clients.”
“Married? Engaged? Gay?”
“None of the above. Those were the first three questions I asked him. I think I’ll go ask him some more. Ta, darling.”
An hour later they met again, this time in the rest room, where they collapsed against a marble-topped vanity table as spasms of pent-up giggles erupted from them like steam from a pressure cooker.
“Summer, I can’t stand it!” Connie wailed. “I swear, if this party doesn’t end soon, I’m going to scream, just to see if anyone is ill-bred enough to notice. Or maybe I’ll just jump Joel’s bones right there in the middle of the room. I am so totally bored.”