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to terms with being a spinster.”
    Anger fought with humiliation as Caroline watched the men’s faces.
    “It’s a bit confusing, lass.” Archie leaned forward and gently patted her hand. “We assumed you weren’t interested in all that stuff.”
    “All what stuff?” Caroline hoped they would note her icy tone.
    They didn’t. “You know,” Brian said. “Husband, kids, S-E-X.”
    Her jaw dropped. “You do know I can spell, right?”
    Brian at least had the good grace to look embarrassed.
    Caroline wished she had the power to turn invisible at will. Instead she had to sit there pretending she wasn’t humiliated, while the boys informed the man she was going to marry that she was an asexual spinster. She had absolutely no doubt that Josh was rethinking his decision to wed her. She only hoped she’d get the castle restored before he found another woman to take her place.
    “You’ve got this all wrong.” There was a smile in Josh’s voice.
    Here it comes, the rejection . She sat up straighter and made sure her face was carefully blank. Suddenly, she felt a strong hand curl around hers. Startled, she looked down to see Josh’s fingers linked with hers.
    “Caroline here has a very healthy interest in S-E-X.” Josh winked at her. “Seems like we know two different people.”
    Caroline blinked hard. Was he defending her? Josh squeezed her hand. She tried to pull it away. He held tight. It was on the tip of her tongue to point out that she could look after herself. When she turned to tell him so, the soft look in his eyes made the words stick in her throat.
    Archie dragged her attention back to the domino boys. “When’s the wedding?”
    “Three weeks.” Josh’s fingertips caressed the palm of her hand. “I have a wedding planner flying up from London to help sort things out.”
    Caroline tried to hide her disappointment. “I was going to organise it. I made a list.”
    “She’s working for you, baby. You can use her any way you like.”
    There was an awkward silence. Caroline tried again to pry her hand from out of Josh’s grip, but it was impossible. Worse still, he seemed amused by her efforts.
    Josh turned to the domino boys. “We’d be grateful if you could keep this information to yourselves. We don’t want the town overrun with press.”
    The boys shared a look that Caroline didn’t like one bit.
    “It’s going to cost you,” Archie said at last.
    “Archie Mcpherson!” Caroline started to lay into him, but Josh held up a hand.
    “I want to hear this.” He turned back to the boys, who were looking craftier than ever. “What’s it going to cost?”
    “Oh, we don’t want money,” Archie said as the other men nodded.
    “No”—Brian grinned widely—“we want something much better than that.”
    Caroline had an awful sense of foreboding.
    James leaned across the table towards Josh. “We want in.” The boys nodded in unison.
    Josh just grinned. “And by ‘in,’ you mean?”
    “We want to work on the wedding,” Hamish said. “You have your namby-pamby English planner coming in, but we want to be wedding planners too. Caroline needs someone looking out for her interests, so that she doesn’t get overlooked in this whole celebrity shindig.”
    “Yeah,” Josh drawled. “Because we all know that Caroline has a problem standing up for herself.”
    They all laughed.
    “Sitting here,” Caroline snapped at them. “Sitting right here and planning to check out the book on poisons we have in the library. Remember that the next time I make you a pot of tea. Also remember that I know where to hide the bodies.”
    Josh seemed impressed. The rest of the men paled.
    “Caroline Patterson,” Archie said. “Don’t go telling lies. We all know you’re far too moral to break the law. You’d no more murder us than you would steal from the post office.”
    “Fine.” Caroline glared at him. “But I have no problem lacing everything you eat and drink with laxatives.”
    Josh put up his