He quirked one eyebrow at her. “Yes, ma’am,” he drawled, just to get under her skin.
She ignored him. “You are in charge of getting the rings.”
“Are you sure I can handle that?”
“No.” Caroline gave him a haughty glare.
Mitch didn’t even try to cover his laugh.
“As for you lot.” Caroline focused on the domino boys. “You will no longer be involved in wedding planning. You can help with the security for the event instead.” The men gave each other a round of high-fives, obviously pleased to be doing something more manly. Caroline swept a prim glance around the group. “Anything else?”
“No.” Millicent smiled for the first time since she’d arrived at the castle. “That’s perfect. I’ll get right on it.”
“Good.” Caroline stood up and smoothed down her skirt. “In that case, I need to talk to the foreman about the restoration, and then I have to get back to the library to look after the Grayson toddlers.”
And she sailed out of the room without so much as a glance at Josh.
“I want her.” There was awe in Mitch’s words. “I could rule the world if she worked for me.”
“Absolutely,” Millicent said. “That was impressive.”
“She’s babysitting some kids at the library?” Josh looked to Archie.
“She turns it into a day-care every Wednesday, just for Sheila Grayson.”
“Never charges her a thing,” Hamish added. “And those little buggers always eat all the chocolate biscuits.”
“Huh.” There was a lot more to Caroline Patterson than met the eye. Josh stared at the door she’d disappeared through.
Mitch’s eyes were also on the door. “That woman has organisational skills people would kill for. Maybe she’d be open to a job offer,” he mused.
“She’d be great in event planning too,” Millicent agreed.
Josh headed to the counter for some much-needed coffee.
“Back off, people,” he told them. “The ice queen is mine.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Explain to me again why we have to do this,” Josh grumbled the following afternoon as they headed towards the Presbyterian church.
Caroline sigh was long-suffering. “If we want Reverend Morrison to perform the ceremony, then we need to do what he requires.” She stopped suddenly, making him pull up short against her. “And he requires that he counsels us and that we get to know each other. We should be thankful that’s all he wants—the man wouldn’t have been out of order if he’d demanded we get a psychiatric evaluation.”
“I keep telling you, Caroline. I’m as sane as you are.”
“Right now, that isn’t much of a comparison, is it?”
Josh reached out and snatched her hand, holding tight in case she pulled away. Slowly, he caressed the soft, fleshy part of her palm with his thumb. “I can think of better ways to spend our time.” He waited for the pink dots to appear on her cheeks, and smiled when he saw them. “Come on.” He stepped towards her. “Let’s blow this off.”
She stared up at him. For a second he thought he saw desire flash in her eyes. He smiled knowingly. She snatched her hand away and curled it around the handle of her oversized brown leather bag.
“We’re in public.” Her tone was a reprimand.
“Alert the media. Josh McInnes was seen holding hands with his fiancée on an Invertary street.”
She blew out an exasperated breath. “We’re going to be late. Get a move on. I hate being late.”
“Why am I not surprised?”