Goody Two Shoes (Invertary 2)

“Wear a hat,” his father said.

Josh willed him to shut his mouth. The man barely spoke. Surely he had enough sense to know that now wasn’t the time to start talking.

“Why on earth did you do that to yourself, woman?”

Josh groaned quietly. Apparently the family skill for dealing with women had skipped a generation.

“What I do and don’t do is none of your business anymore. Now why don’t you concentrate on what you do best and keep quiet.”

Josh let out a low whistle. He took a step back towards the door. If things got ugly, he’d make a break for it.

“I know you’re upset.” His father just didn’t know when to quit. Josh kept inching his way towards freedom. “But that’s no reason to mutilate yourself.”

“You know I’m upset?” His mother’s voice rose higher with every word. “You know I’m upset?” She marched towards his father. Josh stopped his retreat, wondering if he should stay and referee. “How would you know I’m upset? We don’t talk. We never talk.”

“And what do you want me to do about that?”

His mother let out a strangled groan before grabbing Josh’s half-empty cup of coffee off the table. She held her hand high and tipped it over his dad’s head. “Why don’t you do something about this instead?” She stormed out of the kitchen.

Josh stared after her for a moment before turning to his dad. The man was wiping coffee out of his eyes with his sleeve.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?” Josh handed him a dishtowel.

“If I knew, I’d tell you. Everything has gone to hell, and I’ll be damned if I understand any of it.”

With that, his father stalked from the room, leaving Josh with cold bacon and eggs and a deep regret that his house had guest rooms.

Caroline was up to her ears organising a wedding. Add to that liaising with the castle restoration team, her duties at the community centre and the many committees she was on, and there was no time to think about Josh. Which was perfect, because she figured the only way she’d make it to the wedding without freaking out completely was to avoid him.

She knew it was stupid to be scared of your fiancé touching you. She resisted the urge to bang her head on her desk. It wouldn’t knock any sense into her anyway. Intellectually, she knew she had to touch him. Physically, she wanted to touch him. But emotionally, she wasn’t ready. It was all going too fast. And she was scared. Scared she wouldn’t be good enough. Scared he’d expect more than she was willing to give. Scared that he would be repulsed by how little experience she had and wouldn’t want her anymore.

She needed to become more knowledgeable about sex. And fast. There was only one thing for it—research. She checked that no one was looking and sneaked into the library. There was exactly half a shelf dedicated to helping couples with their sex lives. With her cheeks burning, she scooped up all the books and practically ran back to her office. She dumped them into a shopping bag beside her desk, quickly turning over The Joy of Sex so that no one could see the title. And then she did something she’d never done before—she didn’t check any of the books out in her name.

She was on a slippery slope. First she was lying to the police. Now she was borrowing books without telling anyone. Who knew what depths she’d sink to next? Guilt gnawed at Caroline long into the afternoon, and overflowed into her meeting with the wedding planner.

“So we’re agreed, then?” Millicent Price’s question jarred her back to the present.

“Yes.” Caroline looked at the proof for the wedding invitation on her computer screen. “They look perfect.”

“Good.” The wedding planner made a note on her iPad. “I’ll make sure they get posted today. I’ve also made appointments for you with Pronovias and Browns in London.”

Caroline tucked her hair behind her ears. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Millicent’s smile was kind. “They are prestigious bridal wear boutiques. Pronovias is at Harrods and Browns is a legend. We don’t have the time frame to get you into something bespoke, but we can at least get you a dress that you’ll love and make sure it’s fitted perfectly.”

“I guess I should look into flights, then.” The thought of going wedding-dress shopping in Harrods made her weak at the knees. She was a girl who bought her work clothes in her local charity shop. Harrods was so far out of her league it was on another planet.

Millicent seemed to read her mind. “Perhaps you should take someone with you. For a second opinion.”

The compassion in her eyes made it clear that she thought Caroline needed way more than a second opinion. She needed someone to hold her up.

“That’s a good idea.” Caroline swallowed hard.

The question was who to take. Her sister was in Dubai. And she still hadn’t managed to marshal her courage enough to tell her best friend Kirsty that she was getting married.

“I’ll go with you,” said a deep, masculine voice.

Caroline’s head shot to her office doorway, where Josh was filling the frame.