laughed, but then quickly sobered. What was it about a man with a title that made a woman lose her head? Her thoughts drifted to Sawyer, and then, annoyed with herself, she focused on the topic at hand again.
Among their trio of friends, Belinda had always been the levelheaded, responsible one. After getting her degree in the history of art from Oxford, she’d begun a respectable career working at a series of auction houses. Tamara just couldn’t picture Belinda eloping in Vegas with her family’s nemesis. Pia, maybe, Belinda, no.
“There wasn’t an Elvis impersonator involved, by chance, was there?” she heard herself ask.
Pia stifled a giggle.
“No!” Belinda said. “And I just want this headache to disappear!”
“Not likely,” Tamara remarked. “I don’t see Colin going away quietly.”
“He will,” Belinda replied adamantly. “What would make him want to stay in this ridiculous marriage?”
Now there was the million-dollar question, Tamara thought. Belinda sounded as if she was trying to convince herself as much as anyone else.
Tamara decided to turn the conversation in a different direction, to take the pressure off Belinda.
“Pia, I saw you stalking off to the kitchen at one point,” she said. “You looked upset.”
“I wasn’t upset about Colin crashing the wedding,” Pia responded. “Well, I was upset for Belinda. But I had s-someone—ah, other things on my mind.”
Pia’s slight stutter was in evidence, and Tamara knew it only came out these days when her friend was agitated about something.
Tamara decided to probe delicately. “Ah, Pia … these other things wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain very toff British duke-turned-financier, would it?”
Pia gasped. “That didn’t make Mrs. Hollings’s column, too, did it?”
“I’m afraid so, sweetie.”
Pia moaned. “I’m doomed.”
According to the Jane Hollings column that had appeared in Sawyer’s newspaper that morning, there had been an argument at Belinda’s wedding reception between Pia and the Duke of Hawkshire. Reportedly, Pia had discovered at the reception that the duke was none other than the man she’d known only as Mr. James Fielding when she’d been involved with him a few years before. Upon the discovery of how she’d been mislead, Pia had apparently smashed some hors d’oeuvres into the duke’s face.
“Pia, please,” Belinda said, obviously trying to lighten the mood. “Doomed is committing bigamy.”
“Which you didn’t!”
“Almost.”
“N-no one will want to hire a wedding planner who’s a security risk to wealthy and titled guests!” Pia wailed.
“Did you really sleep with Hawkshire?” Belinda asked.
“He was Mr. Fielding at the time!”
“Oh, Pia.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Tamara said at the same time.
Naturally, Tamara thought darkly, Sawyer was friends with the duke as well as with Belinda’s yet-to-be-annulled husband. Of course both of Sawyer’s good friends would be disreputable.
“Well, it seems like we all had a great wedding,” Tamara said. “Sorry, Belinda.”
A sigh sounded over the phone. “No apologies necessary,” Belinda said. “Not even the best spin doctor could put a good face on Saturday’s disaster. It’s not every day a bride almost acquires two husbands.”
They all shared in some self-conscious laughter.
“Well, what made Saturday so bad for you, Tamara?” Belinda asked.
“In short?”
“Yes.”
“Sawyer Langsford. Lord Odious himself.”
Pia giggled.
“Oh, I don’t think Sawyer is so terrible,” Belinda remarked.
“Putting aside his friendship with Colin, you mean?” Tamara asked.
“Okay, I see your point,” Belinda conceded.
“Sawyer is good-looking,” Pia said. “Those topaz eyes, and all that rich, burnished hair—”
Tamara made a face. “Whose side are you on?”
“Well, yours.”
“Good.”
“What about Sawyer’s presence put you out?” Belinda asked. “You’ve socialized before without any problem, as far as I could tell.”
“Because we’ve always ignored each other,” Tamara replied. “But my father seeing the both of us in the wedding procession reminded him of the cherished idea that he and the previous earl had of having their children marry each other.”
Pia spluttered. “You and Sawyer?”
“Hilarious, I know,” Tamara responded.
“Oh, rats,” Belinda said. “If I’d known, I’d have suggested to Tod that he pick another groomsman.”
Tamara grimaced. “It’s not something I like to talk about. In fact, it’s an idea I’ve been hoping was dead and buried. But then Sawyer made it clear on Saturday that he’s willing to entertain the idea.”
Pia and Belinda gasped.
Exactly, Tamara thought.
When she’d heard Sawyer was to be in the wedding party, she’d figured she was a big enough girl to handle it. But she hadn’t foreseen Sawyer’s proposal.
“You and Sawyer are so different!” Pia said. “You’re the Bridget Jones to his Mr. Darcy.”
Tamara closed her eyes in existential pain. “Please. Bridget and Darcy ended up together.”
“Oops, sorry!”
Tamara knew Pia was a romantic. Being a wedding planner suited her friend’s personality. The only surprising thing was that Pia herself wasn’t married. But then, Pia had had her own experience with an odious man.
“So what’s next for you two?” Tamara asked, wanting to change the subject.
“I’m flying to England for a few days on business.”
“And I’ll be in Atlanta to consult with a client on a wedding.”
“Abandoning the field of battle?”
