Josh smiled knowingly. “I’m partial to Scottish, myself.”
“I need to use the bathroom,” Caroline shouted. “If you don’t release me, there will be an accident.”
“Okay, I’m out of here.” Mitch headed for the front door. “Don’t worry about the wedding. I’ll deal with Millicent. I’ll tell her Caroline is tied up at the moment.” With a grin, he put on his sunglasses and left.
“I can’t hold it much longer. Josh, get your backside up here right now.”
With a chuckle, Josh trotted up the stairs to his fiancée.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Caroline sat on the sofa facing Josh, and fumed. He’d graciously allowed her to use the facilities and get dressed. Before he let her leave the bedroom she’d had to swear a vow, hand held high, that she wouldn’t run. Now she was on house arrest and currently engaged in a staring contest with the insane American she’d promised to marry.
“Could you at least put a shirt on?” Caroline snapped.
Josh looked down at his bare abs. “What? I thought you liked my chest. I thought you wanted to, and I’m quoting here, lick it like an ice lolly.”
She felt her face burn. “That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I realised how much of a bully you are. It’s a decidedly unattractive quality in a man.”
He smiled like he knew better.
“You can’t keep me here as a prisoner.” Although Caroline sounded convinced, inside she wasn’t so sure. “This is my town. I have responsibilities here. A life here.”
Josh ran a hand over his face, sighed and then leaned forward to perch his elbows on his knees. He took a deep breath before pinning her with those stunning blue eyes of his.
“I might have said some things yesterday that I regret.”
“Really? You think?” Caroline wasn’t ready to let go of her anger quite yet. The man had chained her to a bed! That might be entertaining in a romance novel, but in real life, not so much.
“I’m trying to apologise here, Caroline.” His tone said he was running out of patience with her.
“Is that what you’re trying to do? It wasn’t clear.”
His jaw clenched tightly before he took another deep breath. “I’m worried about you. Worried about your safety. Worried that your trusting nature will lead you to give time to people who don’t deserve it.” He hung his head before looking at her again. “I’m worried you’ll get hurt.”
The wind went out of Caroline. He was worried? She couldn’t remember the last time someone was concerned about her. For as long as she could remember, it was her job to look out for everyone else. “You don’t need to worry, Josh. I really can take care of myself. Honestly. I’m thirty-one. I’m not a child.”
“Don’t you think I know that? But this is a different world you’re in now, baby.” The muscles in his shoulders clenched and unclenched, causing a chain reaction in Caroline’s stomach. For someone who was always so easy-going, he oozed tension. “I’ve had a long time to get used to being a celebrity. It started slowly for me—getting recognised locally, then nationally, now globally. I’ve had time to develop strategies to cope. I’ve also had time to get to know what that world is like. To recognise the danger in it.” The concern in his eyes made her heart beat faster. “But you have only had a couple of weeks.”
Caroline leaned forward on the sofa. “I keep telling you. That’s your life. Not mine. I don’t need time to get used to it.”
“Yeah. It’s my life. It’s got nothing to do with you.” He snorted. “So how come the photographers are hounding you? Why are magazines running spreads on what you wear? Why did thousands apply to be your assistant?” He let out a long breath. “I wish it were different. I really do. But you’re in this along with me now. My fans want to know all about you. The paparazzi want to take your picture. People want to use you to get to me. That’s your reality.”
Caroline wanted to argue that he was wrong. She wanted to believe she was separate from everything his celebrity brought about, but she was only fooling herself. There was no separation. As soon as she’d agreed to marry him, she’d kissed her privacy goodbye. The knowledge came crashing down on her. She studied the ugly faded carpet her grandfather had picked out decades earlier, as she chewed on her bottom lip. No matter which way she looked at it, the situation didn’t change.
“I can’t keep working at the centre, can I?”
Josh pulled his chair forward so that he was within touching distance. He reached for her hand, his hold strong and sure. “I’m sorry, baby.”
Caroline looked around her living room. The photos of her as a child smiled back at her. The walls of books she’d poured herself into seemed to close in around her.
“Everything has to change, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.” His voice was soft. He threaded his fingers with hers.