Convenient Marriage, Surprise Twins. Amy Ruttan
“HE’S AN IDIOT. I dislike him. There’s no way in heck I’m going to work with him, let alone marry him!”
What Iolana failed to say was, Dr. Andrew Tremblay may be an ass, but he’s sexy as hell and all I want to do is throw him down and either kiss him or strangle him repeatedly.
Her little brother didn’t need to know that part.
No one did.
Or she’d lose her reputation. The one that she’d painstakingly rebuilt since David had left her heart in tatters two years ago. She needed to keep that reputation intact. It was bad enough that she was the daughter of the Chief of Surgery.
Being the daughter of the Chief of Surgery meant that she had to work even harder to prove herself. That she didn’t get handouts.
“Come on, Lana, he’s the best trainer and sports medicine guy that knows about surfing. He’s going to get me into the championships in a couple of months. I need him.”
“No way, Keaka. There is no way.” Iolana smiled to herself, using her brother Jack’s Hawaiian name, which drove him nuts. Even though he used it when he was surfing.
Jack frowned and crossed his arms as he glared at her.
“There is no point in giving me the death stare, Keaka. I invented that death stare.” Iolana pushed past him. And she had taught him that death stare. She’d practically raised Jack after their mother left.
“Dad would’ve applied for his green card as his employer.”
“No, Dad didn’t want to do that. He sees it as favoritism.” Jack rolled his eyes. Lana didn’t find it hard to believe that her father hadn’t applied for Dr. Tremblay’s green card. That sounded like something her father would do.
Never take responsibility, unless it was his patient or his hospital. Which was why Jack was here, begging her to fix his problem. Like she’d done before. Many times. Lana shouldered a lot of responsibility for her little brother.
“Why didn’t Andrew take care of it? He has time.”
“He got busy. Now it’s too late for him.”
Lana rolled her eyes.
Not surprising.
The moment Andrew had walked through the doors of Kahu Kai Hospital he’d had entitled, irresponsible playboy written all over him. Not irresponsible with his patients, but with everything else in his life.
“Keaka, I love you but I don’t think so.”
“Come on, Lana,” Jack begged. “Andrew Tremblay was the best surfer for years. He dominated the world championships. I need this favor from you.”
Iolana snorted. “A Canadian who was a world champion surfer. Seems highly unlikely.”
“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Lana!” There was a glint in Jack’s eye and Iolana couldn’t help but smile, just a bit, as she sat down on the edge of her desk, crossing her arms the way her little brother had done to give him the death stare.
Jack was younger than her by ten years and he always got what he wanted, being the only son. Lana had shouldered a lot of responsibility since their mother left. Their father was a prominent surgeon in Oahu, claiming that he was a distant descendant from an ancient king who ruled Oahu and didn’t have time to raise little kids. So Lana had raised Keaka “Jack” Jr.
Iolana knew their father, Dr. Keaka Haole Sr., wanted Jack to follow in his footsteps and be a surgeon. Except Jack didn’t want any of that. He wanted to be a world champion surfer. That was Jack’s passion, and it had been Iolana’s too, but there’d been such a gulf between Jack and her father since their mother left that Iolana felt as if she had to constantly work to repair the rift between them.
Which was why she was an orthopedic surgeon at her father’s hospital. Or surfing alongside her brother.
“Why should I marry him?”
“Because he’s my friend, a lot of Hawaiian entrants are counting on him, I’m your brother and...” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “He’ll be kicked out, Lana. There is no surfing in Canada.”
Iolana cocked an eyebrow. “I believe there is.”
“It’s not the same, which is why he came here and became a legend.” Jack ran his hand through his hair. “Lana, athletes come from all over North America to train with Dr. Andrew Tremblay, which is why Dad let him have hospital privileges here.”
“Don’t remind me,” Iolana griped.
She was all too aware that Dr. Andrew Tremblay was given privileges at her hospital, in her department, no less. The way he strutted around the halls, when he was actually here, drove her bonkers.
So smug. So sure of himself.
She’d always thought Canadians were supposed to be nice.
Jack was right. Andrew brought in a lot of money to their hospital and it would make a significant dent in their hospital profits if he left. And Jack might lose his chance at becoming a champion surfer.
Her dreams had been crushed to keep the peace; she couldn’t let that happen to Jack.
“I think this is fraud,” she said. “I don’t relish jail time.”
“You’ve known Andrew for some time. I think we can pull it off. Besides, isn’t Dad always on your case about settling down?”
Iolana frowned. She hated it when her brother was right and their father had been on at her lately about settling down. And her father respected Andrew and knew what he brought into their hospital.
Her father would approve of her choice.
Would he?
Her father had approved of David and look how that turned out. She’d become the laughingstock of the hospital, falling for a womanizer like David.
Her father had been disappointed instead of consoling when it had ended.
People pitied her.
Poor Dr. Lana Haole.
She hated the pity. Hated that her reputation had been destroyed.
It would just be for a year or two. It wouldn’t be all that horrible to marry him for convenience sake.
Jack was grinning at her, probably because he knew that he was wearing her down and she was going to say yes.
“He has to ask me,” Iolana said. “That’s my condition. If he wants the world to believe that we’re an item and that this marriage is legitimate to protect his keister, he’s going to have to get on one knee with a ring and ask me.”
Jack winced. “A ring?”
“A ring.” Iolana got up and walked to the door of her office, giving her little brother a subtle hint that she wanted him to leave. “And a nice, big, expensive...”
The words died in her throat when she saw that Andrew was on the other side of the door, a hand raised as if he was about to knock. He grinned in that boyish way that simultaneously made her melt and grated on her nerves. How many times had they butted heads on the ER floor? And he always ended arguments with that smile which infuriated her.
“I see Jack’s spoken to you.”
Iolana crossed her arms and glared at him. All he did was grin. “Dr. Tremblay,” she acknowledged.
He slipped his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat and grinned, leaning forward. “You know, if you glare