“Which house?” he asked, glancing at Teddy. He frowned when he saw her struggling with the ruby and diamond band she wore on her ring finger.
“Stop the car for a minute,” she said, her tone exasperated.
He slowed the Mustang to a halt as close to the side of the narrow road as he could, put the vehicle in park, and turned to face her. “What are you doing?”
She tugged and twisted on the band, her face contorted with frustration. “I’m trying to take off my ring.”
“Why?”
She exhaled loudly and continued her determined attempt to remove the ring, which refused to slip over her first knuckle. “Because my parents gave me this band when I graduated from high school, and they’ve never seen it on my left hand.”
He couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face. “Ah, so the illusion of being ‘taken’ is for everyone else’s benefit, but not your family’s.”
“Yeah, something like that,” she muttered vaguely.
He continued to watch her struggle, amused with her thinking. “Don’t you think you’re making the issue more complicated than it needs to be?”
“No.” Her succinct answer segued into a wince of pain, then a very unladylike curse when the gold cut into her flesh. “I must be retaining water,” she said hopelessly.
Taking pity on her, he reached for her left hand. “Here, let me help.”
“What?” she asked incredulously as he examined her finger. “You’ve got a pair of clippers in your glove box to cut the ring off my finger?”
He chuckled at her sarcasm. “Nope. Don’t need any.”
She snorted in disbelief. “Well, that ring isn’t going to come off any other way…”
Her sassy comment rolled into a surprised gasp as he lifted her palm and used his tongue to dampen the skin where the ring encircled the digit, then closed his mouth over her finger to moisten the entire length. He suckled gently, swirling his tongue up and down her finger, thoroughly wetting her sensitized skin. Her eyes widened, her hand went limp in his, and an arousing groan slipped past her parted lips.
Once he was confident that her skin was slick enough, he dragged her finger from his mouth and gave the ring a twist and a gentle tug. The band slipped to her knuckle, and tightened around the bone. She let out a discouraged sigh, but he wasn’t about to admit defeat, and slipped her finger into his mouth again, using his teeth and tongue to work the ring over her knuckle.
This time, he succeeded. Removing the band from his mouth, he turned her hand over and dropped the ring onto her palm.
“Thank you,” she said breathlessly.
“Anytime.” He grinned wickedly. “Do you need help putting it on your other finger?”
She quickly shook her head, but not before he saw the spark of desire that colored her brown eyes. “I think I can manage on my own.” She did the deed herself, without any problems.
Putting the car into drive, he eased back into the street. “If you insist on wearing a ring on your left-hand finger, you need to think about getting yourself one that fits.” He extended the comment mildly, but a fleeting, possessive thought crossed his mind as he turned into the Spencers’ driveway. He wanted to be the one to put a ring there.
“So, Austin, how did you and my daughter meet?” The elder Evan Spencer the third asked as he handed Austin the double shot of Bailey’s he’d poured for him.
Austin glanced around the expensively furnished parlor, complete with a professionally decorated twelve-foot blue spruce, and noted that all eyes were on him—from Teddy’s parents, to each one of her three brothers and their respective wives, to Teddy herself. The eight nieces and nephews he’d met in a blur upon arriving were now in an adjoining playroom, watching videos, playing on the pinball and arcade games, and from the sounds of their laughter, having a good time with all the high-tech toys Grandma and Grandpa had purchased for their enjoyment.
“Yes, how did you meet?” Teddy’s mother, Gloria, insisted on knowing. She tilted her blond head questioningly, appearing very much the well-bred hostess.
Teddy stood a few feet away, next to her mother, her luminous gaze pleading with him to be gentle with his answer.
No pretenses, he’d told her, yet he found he didn’t want to embarrass Teddy, either. He’d only known the Spencers for less than half an hour, yet he got the distinct impression that Teddy’s parents would find the truth distasteful and him unsuitable for their only daughter. The last thing he wanted was two strikes against him before he had a chance to convince Teddy how good they could be together.
He grinned at everyone, then settled his gaze on Teddy, giving her a private smile. “We met on her birthday, at the Frisco Bay.”
Gratitude colored Teddy’s eyes, but her relief was short-lived.
Gloria gasped, her hand fluttering to the pearl necklace layering the front of her cream silk blouse as she stared at her daughter in mortification. “You were picked up in a bar?”
Susan and Natalie, two of Teddy’s sisters-in-law who were sitting next to each other on the sofa, smothered amused laughter. The sympathetic look they sent Austin’s way led him to believe that their mother-in-law’s theatrical display was a normal occurrence.
“No, Mother,” Teddy said patiently. “I was with Kayla and Laurel, having a drink for my birthday, and Austin didn’t ‘pick me up.’ He was very much a gentleman, and we hit it off well.”
“So well that she took him to her Christmas party,” Susan announced, just in case that tidbit of information hadn’t made the rounds.
“Wow, must be serious, Theodora,” Teddy’s oldest brother, Evan, Jr., commented, winking at his little sister. “It’s been so long since you’ve dated, we were beginning to worry that you were thinking about joining a convent.”
Teddy glared at her brother. “You live to torment me, Evan.”
“You’re wrong, Evan,” her other brother, Russ, added. “She’d rather be a CEO than a nun.”
That earned a harrumph from her father. “I just don’t understand you and your silly whims, Teddy,” Evan, Sr., said sternly, swirling his martini. “We raised you to be a respectable young woman—”
“I’m an independent woman,” Teddy interrupted her father’s tirade.
“No argument there,” Brent agreed with a grin. “Independent, stubborn and full of sass.” Brent saluted Austin with his own drink of Jack Daniel’s and soda. “If you can handle the independent gal, you can have her.”
“No man worth his salt is going to allow his wife to work,” the senior Evans said gruffly. Susan rolled her eyes as if to state she’d heard this lecture before, and the other two merely shook their heads.
“Isn’t that right, Austin?” Evan, Sr., asked, looking for approval.
The cable-knit sweater Austin had worn suddenly felt heavy, hot and suffocating. Teddy’s three sisters-in-law leaned forward in their seats, looking on in avid interest. Her brothers were obviously finding a lot of humor in the situation, and Teddy’s mother was standing by her man and his old-fashioned ways. Even Teddy’s expression showed she was curious about his answer.