| |
The day of the wedding dawned bright and sunny. The hills closest to Invertary were a lush green; the ones in the distance faded to purple. The sky was that perfect luminous blue poets wrote about, with just the odd fluffy cloud to break up the expanse. The water of the loch sparkled aquamarine and lapped idly at the shore. A soft sun reflected off the crooked white buildings that lined the high street. Birds sang. People laughed. Yadda, yadda, yadda...
It wasn’t like Caroline could see this perfect summer’s day. Oh no. She had to imagine it. Because she was under house arrest until the ceremony. She’d been woken by Josh at some ungodly dark o’clock and whisked away to the castle before the press got wind that she’d moved. Now all she could see was the grey stone of the castle walls, the white of the huge marquee taking up most of the garden and the destruction the renovation crew had left in its wake.
She stepped back from the tiny bathroom window, where she’d been watching the mass of people prepare for the day.
“I can’t do this.” She held on to the porcelain sink and stared at her reflection. “No. I can do this. Of course I can do this. I promised to do this.” She rested her forehead on the cool glass of the mirror. “No. I can’t do this.”
There was a knock at the door. “Caroline, are you coming out of there sometime today? I’ve still got your makeup and hair to do. It’s only five hours to the wedding. We have to hurry.”
Caroline groaned. And not the good kind of groan she’d taken to making any time she was around Josh. That man had turned her into a sex addict. She’d even consulted her stolen books to see if there was a chapter on the subject. There wasn’t. She’d tried investigating it on the internet while Josh was asleep, but the sites her search brought up made her unplug the computer from the web and pray for forgiveness.
“Caroline?”
Any minute now, Kirsty would fetch Lake to kick down the door.
“I’ll be out in a minute. I’m just...” Her mind went blank. She’d already showered. There was no other reason to spend twenty minutes in the bathroom. At least, none she wanted to use as an excuse.
Kirsty sighed loud enough to be heard through the solid wooden door.
“Something is wrong. If you don’t come out and tell me what this minute, I’m going to fetch Lake.”
“You are so predictable.” Caroline took a deep breath and opened the door.
She was wearing a new lingerie set that Kirsty had brought over for her. A white satin corset with lavender velvet bows and matching thong. Caroline tugged at the corset. She couldn’t breathe. It must be too tight. She needed air. There wasn’t enough air in the room. She walked past a worried Kirsty to open one of the turret’s windows.
“What on earth?”
Kirsty came over to stand beside her.
Caroline pointed. “There are tartan sheep all around the marquee. Where the heck did they come from?” She looked closer. “Oh for goodness’ sake, they’re pooping everywhere. I’m going to talk to the wedding planner. This was not on the list I made for her.”
She marched towards the door.
Kirsty ran to stand in front of her. “You are not going anywhere. Not until you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”
Caroline folded her arms. “I’ll tell you once I get back. I need to sort out the sheep problem first.”
“No you don’t. The sheep are a gift from the domino boys. They had the Donaldson twins dye them.”
“Did they buy the sheep?”
Kirsty sported her best innocent look. It wasn’t good enough.
“We can’t have stolen sheep at our wedding. I need to deal with this.”
Kirsty stepped in front of her. “In your underwear?”
Caroline looked down at herself. The wind went out of her. She turned and flopped onto the armchair nestled into the bay window. Kirsty crouched in front of her.
“What’s wrong, honey? Please tell me so that I can help you.”
The concern in her best friend’s eyes made Caroline’s heart ache. She chewed her bottom lip.
“I’m not sure if I’m making a mistake or not.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
“It’s not too late to stop the wedding.” Kirsty’s eyes were sympathetic, but the set of her mouth was determined. Caroline was in no doubt her friend would wade out into the crowd to put an end to this day—if that was what Caroline wanted.
“No. I need to go through with it. I promised.” She threw back her head and covered her face with her hands. “It’s just...I’ve fallen in love with him and I’m afraid I’ll spend my life married to a man who doesn’t love me back.”
There was silence for a minute. “I don’t understand, sweetie. You didn’t seem to mind that this was a loveless arrangement when you made it.”
“That was before I fell in love. Now I think it might break me to spend a lifetime wanting his love back.” She groaned. “Oh my goodness.” Caroline sat up straight. “I just had a thought. What if he falls in love with someone else?”
Kirsty scoffed. “I wouldn’t panic yet. I thought the whole point of this wedding was that he didn’t believe in romantic love.”
“Just because you don’t believe in something, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”
Kirsty sat on the arm of the chair and patted Caroline’s shoulder. “Don’t go through with it. Call it off. You deserve someone who loves you back.”
“Do I really? Does anyone? None of us deserve to be loved. That’s why it’s so special. We don’t do anything to earn it. The people who love us give it freely.”
“Fine, you deserve romance, then. You deserve hearts and flowers. After the way you’ve spent your life taking care of everyone around you and making things special for everyone else, you deserve a man who’ll do that for you.”
Caroline let out a long, heavy breath. “I don’t need that stuff.” She clenched her fists with determination. “Ignore my moaning. This is a case of pre-wedding jitters. Everyone gets them. Heck, Josh is probably going through exactly the same thing right now.” She stood up and tugged at the corset. The window was open, but where was the air? “I need to be realistic. I’m thirty-one. I want a family. Josh is promising me one. He’s promising a glamorous life. Not that I want a glamorous life, but it was nice of him to offer. At the very least, I’ll never have to worry about paying bills. It’s a good deal. He’ll be kind to me. And he’s great in bed.” Caroline flushed. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” She stopped dead. “What if he goes off me? I’m a novelty right now, but what if he decides he wants other women? If he doesn’t love me, what’s to stop him?”
She bent over and gasped for air. Why, oh why, was she getting married on the hottest day Scotland had seen in a hundred years? There was no blooming air!
Kirsty rubbed her back. “Take slow breaths. Everything is going to be okay.”
“I need to get out of this corset. It’s strangling me.”
“I don’t think it’s the corset, sweetie, but I have other lingerie sets for you to try. We’ll find something that feels comfortable.”
“Yes. Different underwear. That will fix everything.” Caroline gave her best friend a grateful smile.
“Normally, I would totally agree with you, but in this case, I’m thinking not so much.”
Caroline frowned. “Just get me out of this thing. I need to get ready. I’m getting married in less than five hours.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Kirsty mumbled as she dug around in the huge bag full of lingerie she’d brought with her.
Josh was rocking his tux—even if he did say so himself. He looked around the packed church and felt smug. He was getting married. Not only that, he was getting married to Caroline Patterson. He’d hit the jackpot. He was a walking advertisement for why you should get your best friend to find you a wife. It was the best idea he’d ever had. He was a damn genius.
As he stood at the front of the church, he eyed the packed pews. His side of the building was full of friends and distant family members. There were a few famous faces, but nothing along the lines of some celebrity weddings. Josh liked to think he’d invited only those he actually considered friends, and not just anyone he thought should be there.
He wished he could say the same of Caroline. She’d felt it was her obligation to invite practically everyone in town. While his side of the room sat in a dignified manner, quietly chatting. Caroline’s side of the room was raucous. Not only that, but he could see folk pointing at his more famous friends, and he could have sworn at least one person was sneaking photos.
Caroline had given Lake strict instructions about confiscating cameras and phones. Josh signalled to Lake, who was dressed in a black suit and shades. He had a wire tucked discreetly around the back of his ear, and Josh saw him talk into his wrist once or twice. You would have thought he was guarding the president.
Lake strode over to Josh like a man on a mission. “What?”
“Some of the Invertary mob have cameras.”
“Who?” He was a man of few words.
“The one in tartan.”
Lake hitched one eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be funny? Point out one person on that side of the church who isn’t wearing something tartan.”
Yeah, he had a point. “Four rows in, three people along.”
“Better.” He strode off.
“Nervous?” Mitch came up beside Josh.
“Nope.”
“Second thoughts?”
“No way.”
“Any worries about your future at all?” Josh eyed his friend. Mitch shrugged. “You wouldn’t let me organise a bachelor party. I’m trying to be a good best man here.”
Josh looked at the ceiling of the church, asking quietly for patience. “I am absolutely convinced I’m doing the right thing. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Fine.” Mitch sighed. “Ten minutes to showtime. You’d better give me the rings.”
Everything within Josh stilled.
Mitch sucked in a breath. “Seriously, tell me you have the rings.”
Josh smiled nervously.
“Holy crap, you didn’t even order the damn things, did you?” Mitch’s voice was gaining volume.
“Shh!” Josh hissed. “And stop cursing. We’re in a church and I’d rather not get struck by lightning on my wedding day.”
“You’re gonna get struck with a lot more than that if you don’t have a ring when Caroline gets here. She is going to be seriously pissed. It was your one job. How could you forget your one job?”
“It wasn’t one job. I organised the honeymoon.”
“Technically your PA organised the honeymoon. You spent all of twenty seconds on the phone telling her where you want to go.”
He had a point. “What are we going to do?”
Mitch cast a glance at the altar. “Pray?”
“Yeah, smartass, apart from that?”
“We have to borrow some. Come on, let’s talk to your parents.”
They strode over to Josh’s parents with smiles plastered to their faces. No need for anyone to suspect a problem.
“We need to borrow your rings,” Josh whispered.
His mum stared at him for a minute before swatting him on the arm. Hard. “You forgot the rings? How could you forget the rings? Send someone to the castle for them. We’ll wait. It shouldn’t take long.”
Josh looked at his shoes. “I forgot to buy them. I need to borrow yours.”
His mum looked like she wanted to hit him again. His dad stopped her, but started laughing at the same time, which didn’t help.
“You can’t borrow mine,” his mum hissed. “I haven’t been able to get them off for years.”
“And I don’t have one.” His dad wiggled his bare ring finger. “Never did like rings.”
Josh eyed his parents. They were very cosy. His father had his arm wrapped around his mom’s shoulders. He pointed at them. “Is this for show or is the divorce off?”
“It’s off.” His dad looked pretty pleased with himself.
His mother scowled up at him. “No it isn’t. I’m keeping it in reserve in case you slack off and go back to your boring old ways.”
“We’ll talk about this later, woman.” He gave her a look that made his mum blush.
“I like our talks,” she said coyly.
His father grinned, and Josh had a sudden urge to vomit.
Lake stepped into Josh’s peripheral vision. “Caroline has arrived. Time to take your position.”
Josh shared a look with Mitch. “I am so screwed. Can you even get married without rings?”
Mitch held up his hands helplessly. “How should I know?”
Yep. Josh was screwed.