He’d also booked us into a ridiculously extravagant hotel, in a suite, no less. It had two bedrooms, a sitting room, a dining room, and a small kitchenette, not to mention its own bar and a giant TV. There was even a roof terrace and a hot tub with a jungle’s worth of foliage arranged around it, all designed to shield the occupants from people like me. An expensive paradise and one usually out of my reach unless I was pushing a vacuum cleaner.
“What’s the plan?” Nick looked longingly at the hot tub. “Should I order lunch?”
“I promised Missy I’d help, but you can stay here.”
“If you’re helping, I’m helping. What do we need to do?”
I checked the list of instructions she’d sent me earlier. “First, we have to pick up the dresses. Actually, that’s second. You need to meet Missy before we do that.”
“Sure.”
“If she tries to interrogate you, just let me do the talking.”
“Okay.”
“And if she offers you any homemade appetisers, say you’re allergic.”
He sucked in a breath. “Got it.”
When we drew up outside her house in the Mercedes, the drapes twitched, and before we could walk up the path, Missy flung the front door open.
“Should’ve brought earplugs,” Nick whispered as she squealed loud enough to wake the dead three counties over.
A group of small children on bicycles paused, and a man watering his garden two houses along stared as I put a finger to my lips.
“Shhh.”
But Missy was having none of it. “Ohmigosh! He’s hotter than all his cars. And speaking of hot, how the heck did you get on celebgossip.com with Armand Taylor? His arm was touching you! Tell me you haven’t taken a shower since?”
“I had to. I got all sweaty dancing.” What a lovely picture to put in Nick’s mind. “Wait a second—I was on the internet?”
“Don’t worry, you looked real pretty.” She turned to Nick. “As do you, stud muffin. And the pair of you make a lovely couple.”
“Missy, we’re not—”
“Look at the time! We’re late. Theresa hates it when people turn up late.”
Theresa herself was waiting at the door of the bridal shop when we drew up in Missy’s minivan. Nick had taken the front seat while I got wedged in the back beside Missy’s nephew’s car seat and six boxes of fairy lights, and even though she drove sedately, I still felt sick by the time we arrived. Which dress had Missy chosen? When I asked, she wouldn’t tell me. It would be a surprise, she said. I’d love it.
Would I? Would I? If she’d picked the one with the giant train, I’d end up with a hernia trying to get Missy to the altar.
My heart hammered as I climbed out of the van and trudged inside. Missy’s fashion sense wasn’t the only reason I was nervous. The only thing more awkward than going to a bridal shop with a man I really, really liked but couldn’t have was doing so while keeping one eye out for the ex who’d tried to kill me.
Then it got worse. Two assistants struggled in with the mother of all garment bags, knees buckling under the strain, and the true horror of the situation became clear.
The butterfly dress. Missy had chosen the butterfly dress, but that wasn’t where the nightmare ended.
“Theresa added a train and rhinestones as well. It’s like three dresses in one. Isn’t it something else?” Missy reached out and touched it reverently.
Oh, it was something else all right. Nick let out a snort of laughter and hurriedly turned it into a cough while I tried to wipe the look of shock from my face and plaster on a smile.
“It’s lovely. Uh, what’s that?”
Another giant garment bag, another monstrosity of a dress, and this one was mine. It was even more hideous than I remembered because Missy had convinced Theresa to cover it in rhinestones as well.
Please, somebody kill me now. Where was Billy when I needed him?
“Now we match!” Missy clapped her hands in glee. “Isn’t it great?”
“Fantastic.”
Beside me, Nick was struggling. I elbowed him in the side, but his lips kept twitching like he had a tic disorder.
“Stop it!”
Missy looked at him, and he took a hasty step back. “Excuse me. I have to make a call to, uh, to my stockbroker. Really important.”
He hightailed it out of the store, leaving me to get stuffed into my dress by Theresa. Was it too late to send Nick back to Virginia? I’d happily take the bus home if it meant he