Like hell, Seth was going to behave. He had to admit, Julie had gotten to him with the poor, overworked pretty woman trick with the butterflies. He’d never imagined she’d have a devious side. It made him like her more. He wouldn’t underestimate her again and he definitely wasn’t going on some goose chase to find nonexistent sprinklers. She had thrown down the gauntlet with the butterflies. The birds were just the beginning. Now he needed to find something epic.
He started humming “Kiss” by Prince. As he passed by the kitchen door, dragging noises interrupted his tune, followed by a grunt from the other side of a stainless steel table.
“Hello?” Seth rounded the table.
A woman in a white uniform struggled with a case of champagne. “Sorry, didn’t hear you come in. Don’t suppose you can help me get these chilled?”
Without his suit jacket, he blended in with the white button-downs and black pants of the waitstaff. Seth picked up the box. “Point me to the fridge.”
The woman pulled out one of the bottles. “These were supposed to be left in the cellar to keep them cool, so it would take less time in the refrigerator.”
He hitched the box up higher. “The freezer would cool them fast.”
And had the potential to create just the chaos he needed for this wedding.
An irritated voice from another room shouted, “We need those napkins.”
The woman stood undecided for a moment. “I don’t think we should put them in the freezer.”
“Now!” shouted the voice.
“Go ahead.” Seth nodded toward the door. “I’ll take care of these.”
She nodded and pointed. “The refrigerator is back there.”
She hurried out before the voice could call again. While the refrigerator would probably cool the champagne, the freezer would cool it faster. He’d left a bottle in the freezer for a week and when it didn’t explode, he uncorked it and had some champagne slushie. Nothing said romance more than a champagne slushie.
If he got lucky, Julie would be too busy looking for the birds and wouldn’t see this one coming. He chuckled as he thought of Julie’s expression when the bottles were opened and instead of bubbly, out poured an ICEE. As much fun as it was to taunt her, the look on her face would be priceless.
***
4 hours until ceremony
“How’s the bride?” Julie swept into the bridal suite.
“It fits.” Tessa turned with a tentative smile. The wedding dress did fit her perfectly. The A-line skirt was smooth and wrinkle-free with just the right amount of sparkle on the empire waistline to match the sparkle in the bride’s eyes.
“You look gorgeous. The photographer is waiting in the hall to take some pictures.” Julie noticed the mother of the bride over by the window. What she didn’t notice was the maid of honor. “Where’s Renata?”
“She went to get coffee a while ago,” Tessa said. She had that nervous look that some brides had when the wedding was pulled together quickly. Like a deer caught in headlights.
The mother also had a strange look on her face. Probably just worried, too. It was rare that everything lined up exactly right. But Julie did her best.
“Don’t worry. I’ll find her and send her up,” she assured Tessa. “Meanwhile the photographer can get some shots of you and your mother.”
As the photographer came in, Julie shook out the train of Tessa’s dress.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Julie.” Tessa grabbed her hand. “I don’t know how we’d do it without you.”
Julie stood a little straighter and smiled. “Thank you.”
That was what made this all worth it. The bride was able to relax while Julie stressed over the details of the wedding . . . like the missing maid of honor.
As Julie started down the stairs, out of the corner of her eye she saw a stuffed snowy owl sitting on a shelf overlooking the entryway. Seth Downing. Him and those stupid birds. While she didn’t appreciate him trying to “make something go wrong,” she had to admit it was kind of clever. Unsupervised, he could be getting into anything at this point. It was worse than having a toddler running amok. Except . . . he wasn’t a toddler. He was a very distractingly handsome man.
She regarded the owl. It was within her reach. She could put it in the upstairs linen closet . . . She shrugged and smiled a little. It wasn’t hurting anything where it was. In fact, the owl looked like it belonged. She doubted anyone but her would even notice it with it there. Besides, she had bigger issues to deal with.
***
In the reception hall, Seth picked up the card with Aunt Bea’s name on it. Someone had put her right next to him. A headache he didn’t need today. Why hadn’t he settled down? Isn’t there anyone special? Didn’t he want children?
Surely there was a better candidate to talk to during the stuffy dinner part of the evening who wouldn’t question him about his life choices.
He walked over to the table closest to the gifts. If he knew his aunt, she’d love that. All the better to slip one into her oversized purse. He picked up a card, but before he could exchange it, the door opened.
“Stop right there,” a familiar voice said.
With his hands up in the air, he turned to see Julie in her pristine purple suit with a frown on her perfect pink lips and flashed her his most mischievous grin. “It’s not like I’m robbing the joint. Just fixing your seating arrangement.”
She strode forward and swiped the card out of his hand. Then, as if she knew the seating chart by heart, she put them back where they belonged.
“I was just trying to help.” He tried to sound sincere. “After all, if Aunt Bea doesn’t think the meal is up to her standard, she’s going to want to take back her gift and maybe a few extras for the effort it took for her to get out here.”
She glared at him with her hands on her hips. “What else did you switch?”
“I didn’t get that far.” He held his hands up in innocence but winked at her for good measure. “You can check my pockets if you want.”
Her gaze swept over the room and settled on the little stuffed wren on the gift table. “I get it. You’re Mr. Funny. Desperate for attention and recognition. If I admit that you are the Master of Chaos, will you please go out to the lawn and wait for the wedding to start?”
Her exasperation made his smile even wider.
“Where’s the fun in that?” He picked up another name card and walked to another table.
She charged up to him and snatched the card out of his hand, but she didn’t back away. Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight coming through the windows. Her voice was low when she began to speak. A strand of hair made an escape attempt from her bun. “Do you have any idea what goes into preparing the seating arrangement? How many hours it took to make it perfect?”
It took everything he had not to brush the tendril of hair back from her eyes. “I imagine it took a while just to write these names. When did you learn calligraphy? Because this handwriting is exquisite. How much would you charge to come over at Christmas and write all my gift tags?”
Her eyes narrowed on him. Just when he thought she was really going to let him have it, she stopped and took a deep shaky breath. Smoothing back her hair, she even managed a tight smile. “Mr. Downing—”
“It’s Seth, and admit it. You are enjoying this as much as I am.”
Her smile softened. “I admit you are clever and I’ve enjoyed trying to thwart you. I’m sure it would have been an epic battle to the death. But I’m a grown woman with responsibilities to the bride. So now I have to concede and offer a truce, because I have more important things to do.”
His brows knit together. “What happened?”
“Have you seen Renata, the maid of honor?”
“Last night at the rehearsal dinner. If she’s blaming something on me, I didn’t do it.”
Julie sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “She’s missing.”
“I definitely didn’t do that.”
She raised an eyebrow. “If you see her, could you send her to the bridal suite? I have to get going. Please just go back out to the lawn with the other ushers.”
She hesitated as if she had more to say. But then turned and started toward the door.
Unguarded, he could make sure that any number of things were set and ready to spring out at the most inappropriate times. He looked at her retreating form and sighed. “Wait!”
If she could use his help, he wanted to be there for her. He caught up with her. “You wanted a truce? Maybe I can help?”
She stopped. “Help? You? What, so you can mess this up, too?”
“I’m actually a very responsible person in real life. You know . . . lawyer and all that.” He reached toward her, but didn’t touch her. “I want to help.”
Eyeing him skeptically, she said, “You could stop pulling pranks or whatever it is you do for starters.”
Small price to pay for spending more time with Julie. “Done.” He straightened. “What else?”
“Honestly?” She waited for his nod before she continued, “If you’d just go out to the garden with the rest of the guests, I’d know you weren’t getting into trouble. That would be a major help.”
He gave her his best grin. “Or . . . I could help you search. What better way to make sure I’m not doing something diabolical behind your back?”
She glanced at her phone and slipped it into her jacket pocket. When she looked up at him through her lashes, his pulse quickened. Her small smile was all the encouragement he needed.
“As long as you don’t get in the way . . .” she said before muttering, “I’m going to regret this.”