The woman set her drink down and took Evy’s hand in hers. “I’m Marina Montegu Wesley, an old friend of Genevieve’s.” The woman’s crisp British accent took Evy by surprise. “It’s very nice to meet you. I’m in town for the dog show next week.”
“Oh! I’ll see you there. I’m cohosting with Chip Dunklin. We’re the presenters for the event.”
“Oh lovely.” Marina gestured toward the dog at her feet. “You’ll get to know Soraya then. I fully expect her to be in the finals this year with her handler Karim. She took first in the hound group last year, and as long as the judges aren’t in Bunny’s pocket again this year—”
“Marina…” Sergio’s voice was amused. “We don’t know that she paid them off. Baron is an exceptional dog.”
Marina rolled her eyes. “Five years’ worth of exceptional? Don’t tell me his stack wasn’t falling off a bit last year. They gave him Best for sentimental reasons. She was a fool to enter him again this year.” She turned to Julia and Evy. “You’ll hear nothing but show talk this weekend, I’m afraid.”
Julia pointed at Sergio. “We expect it, knowing this one. He’s determined that Cleo is going to win this year.”
Evy knew that Sergio bred and showed his golden retrievers, but she somehow hadn’t realized that he’d be competing at the event she was hosting. “You’re showing Cleo? What about Caesar?”
Sergio’s smile was sad. “Caesar had his final show last year. He’s a champion so many times over I didn’t want to push it, and Cleo just lives for the ring. She loves showing off. She was my better bet to beat Bunny this year.”
Julia sipped her gin fizz. “You people and your fancy dogs.” She glanced at Evy. “Mick is talking about getting another one, but he goes the mutt route. Heck, he’s due home tomorrow from Thailand, and I half expect him to have a dog in his suitcase.”
“Awww.” Evy didn’t have any pets, but she loved animals. She was on Mick’s team though. The only dogs the Landas had ever had growing up were the kind that wandered into her dad’s shop and wouldn’t leave. “I think that’s so cool. Then he’d have someone to keep him company when he’s on location.”
“That’s the idea since I’m mostly stuck here.” Julia’s job as a real estate agent didn’t afford her much time for long trips, though she was supposed to be cutting back. “So how’s Geoff lately? You haven’t brought him around much.”
Julia was a medium, which meant she could directly communicate with Evy’s haunted dummy. “You know I always feel left out of those conversations.”
“Bullshit,” her friend said. “You’re avoiding him.”
“I don’t need him to read people anymore, so he’s kind of…”
“Uncomfortable? Stressful? Intrusive?”
“I just don’t need him, all right? I don’t need him to be funny. Isn’t that a good thing?”
Julia pursed her lips. “It’s not a bad thing except that I really do think you miss him. You’re not doing as many comedy gigs as you used to, and I think it’s because you and Geoff need to work things out.”
Genevieve frowned. “Who is Geoff?”
“Geoff is my ventriloquist dummy,” Evy said.
“And he’s possessed by the spirit of the original owner, a really nice ghost named Geoffrey,” Julia added. “He’s part of the reason Evy unlocked her telepathy.”
“Of course.” Genevieve sipped her drink and reached for a croissant.
Marina’s eyes were wide. “Excuse me, did you say—”
“I’ll explain it later, my dear.” Genevieve patted Marina’s hand. “Where’s Rafe gotten to?”
Marina looked over Evy’s shoulder. “He said something about the alpaca, and then I lost him. I think I see him coming up the driveway though.”
“Oh?” Julia turned. “Oh look! There’s Vivian, Richard, and Henry too.”
Evy turned to see her friends walking along the pathway, accompanied by one of the singularly most attractive men she’d ever seen in her life.
“Here he is,” Marina said. “Ladies, meet my son, Rafe Wesley Bamford-Howell.”
The man approached Evy, his eyes already locked with hers, and Evy could feel the zings of attraction zipping between them.
Good Lord, was everyone feeling this way? The man was absolutely magnetic, from his dark, shoulder-length hair to his vivid blue eyes.
He reached out his hand and took Evy’s. “For the love of God, call me Rafe.”
Accent. Accent alert.
Evy was a sucker for an accent, and Rafe Bamford-Howell had one in spades. It was that kind of easy, cultured, I’m-rich-but-we-don’t-talk-about-it English accent that left Evy in a metaphorical puddle on the ground beneath Dean and Sergio’s patio table.
Evy had moved on from feeling like the only woman in the world to a lucky bystander when she realized that Rafe flirted with everyone. Her, Julia, Genevieve, Sergio, even Baby Henry. He seemed particularly taken with Baby Henry, but then, all of them were.
“Look at all his hair.” Rafe bounced the six-month-old on his knee. “God, I love it. Mum, did I have hair like that?”
“At least that much.” Marina’s eyes were warm on Rafe and the baby. “But we never lived anywhere that was as hot as Palm Springs.” Her eyes turned to Vivian. “Are you going to cut it when summer comes?”
“We’ll see.” Vivian still had the rosy glow of new motherhood and new love. “I hate to even touch it, but he might be really hot.” With Richard at her side, Vivian made single parenting in your forties look fashionable and chic.
Not that Evy was tempted. She had myriad nieces and nephews to carry on the Landa name, and she had no desire to add to the gene pool.
“Rafe’s sister has four small ones,” Marina said. “So he’s a very practiced uncle.”
“They’re all in Denver though.” Rafe popped a kiss on the top of Henry’s fuzzy head. “And I’m in Arizona. I don’t get to see them as much as Mum does.” His eyes darted to Evy. “What about you, Evy?”
She smiled. “No kids for me, but I’m also wealthy in the auntie department. I work so much I don’t even have time for a dog.”
Genevieve harrumphed. “Everyone should have time for a dog. Tell your boss not to be such a bitch.”
Evy smiled when she saw Rafe’s mouth drop open.
“She’s only saying that because I work for myself.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure that makes it better.”
“Fair point.”
Rafe bounced Henry from his own knee over to Richard’s waiting arms on his left side. “There you go, little man.”
Richard turned to Vivian. “I think he’d take a bottle if you have one ready.”
“I do.”
“And brunch is served.” Dean walked out of the kitchen and gestured to the door. “We’re keeping everything inside, so make yourself at home and grab a plate.”