Marsha patted Dellina’s hand. “I’ll do the asking, dear. Madeline, your town needs you to plan a wedding. Are you up for it?”
“I don’t know,” Madeline admitted. “I’ve never done anything like that before. I work with brides and we talk details, but to take a wedding from start to finish, even a small one, would be challenging.”
Which was as close to saying no as she was going to get, she thought as the mayor continued to look at her with that steady, supportive You’ll do what I say because I have powers and you’ve never once refused me anything look that was both famous and inescapable.
“I have a master list and I’d be happy to help,” Dellina added. “I’m sorry to put you in this position.”
“Don’t apologize,” Mayor Marsha said firmly. “I’m to blame. When I spoke with Dellina earlier today and she said she wasn’t available, we brainstormed who we could ask. You’re the one we both thought of.”
Madeline got the subtext of the message. Dellina had been as trapped as she was now. When Mayor Marsha wanted something done, she was unstoppable. Which meant saying no wasn’t an option.
Planning a wedding in seven weeks, over the holidays, when she’d never done much more than be a bridesmaid and sell wedding dresses? Were they crazy?
“Sure,” she said easily. “I’m in.” She frowned as she realized she didn’t know anyone who had recently gotten engaged, or even who was planning a holiday wedding. “Oh, who’s getting married?”
“Ginger Blaze.”
The name meant nothing. “She’s not local. Is her fiancé...”
Madeline felt her heart stop. Physically stop. There had been steady beating, then nothing. That was followed by a distinct popping sound in her ears along with panic. Cold, slimy, I-can’t-breathe panic.
“Blaze,” she whispered. Quite the trick what with her heart stopped and her lungs not working. “Blaze as in Jonny Blaze?”
Mayor Marsha nodded. “Ginger is his younger sister. I believe she lives in San Francisco. She’s in a PhD program. Something with biology or genetics. Mr. Blaze wasn’t clear. However, he asked me to help him find someone to plan the wedding with him. That’s when I approached Dellina. You know the rest, my dear.”
Jonny Blaze? The tall, handsome action-movie star who had recently moved to a ranch outside of town? The man who had a body like a god and a smile that reduced perfectly intelligent, articulate women to puddles? Jonny Blaze, who was, unbeknownst to him, of course, her movie-star boyfriend?
No. She couldn’t. She had a mad crush on him. Every time she’d seen him in town, she’d stared like an idiot. She’d babbled and he hadn’t been closer than twenty-five feet. She couldn’t imagine being next to him, let alone working with him.
I can’t. There. She’d said it. Or at least thought it. Which was practically the same thing. She couldn’t.
“From what I can tell, Mr. Blaze is a very nice man,” the mayor was saying. “He wants to fit in. Be a part of the community. As you know, we take the well-being of our citizens very seriously. Mr. Blaze needs a refuge from the trappings of his career and we can provide that. The quiet, everyday kind of life he craves.”
“The wedding is going to be close friends and family,” Dellina added. “It’s small and intimate. I swear, if I had an extra second, I’d take it on.”
“You’re already doing too much,” Madeline said, pleased she could speak. “I know you. You’re running in forty-five directions.”
If it were anyone else, she thought frantically. But it wasn’t and saying no had never been an option.
She drew in a breath and told herself she was strong. She was mature. At the very least, she could keep from squealing in his presence.
“I’m happy to help,” she said.
“Excellent.” Mayor Marsha nodded. “You’re meeting with him in an hour.”
Of course she was, Madeline thought, not even surprised. Because that was how the mayor got things done. A well-planned ambush followed by a lack of time to come to one’s senses.
An hour. Not nearly enough time to lose five pounds, have a makeover and become glamorous and sophisticated. Why, oh, why hadn’t she learned French? Or aikido? Anything that would make her interesting for Jonny Blaze? She briefly wondered if aikido was the martial arts training or the dog breed, then sighed. Too late to worry about that now. As it was, she was going to be stuck being herself.
“I’m going to tell him I don’t have any experience with planning a wedding,” she said. “I need to be honest about that.”
The mayor smiled. “I would expect no less, my dear.”
* * *
Jonny Blaze had traveled all over the world. He was used to the insular world of a movie set and the contrast of whatever town they were in during filming. He’d lived in tents, high-rises and, for six gut-churning weeks, on a fishing boat. But none of that had prepared him for the quirky, busy, oddly happy place that was Fool’s Gold.
Everyone here was...nice. They said hello to each other, knew each other’s kids’ names and, as far as he could tell, celebrated every known holiday and a few he’d never heard of. He’d been looking for a place to hide and instead he’d found himself in an unusual town that he couldn’t seem to ignore, but also couldn’t bring himself to embrace. It was an unexpected conundrum.
He stepped into Brew-haha for his two o’clock meeting. The barista greeted him by name and asked if he wanted his usual. Had he been anywhere else, he would have known she’d remembered his usual because of his movie-star status. Except in Fool’s Gold, the barista treated everyone exactly the same. An experience so refreshing that coming to the local coffee shop became one of his favorite things to do when he was in town.
He paid for his order, then went to wait. Because this wasn’t LA where a starstruck employee raced to get him his coffee. He had a turn, just like everyone else.
Jonny had grown up normal, so he’d been unprepared for how starring in action movies would change everything about his life. Now, over a decade later, he was used to slipping into restaurants through a back door and knowing paparazzi were going to be lurking around every corner. He’d tried living in a secure condo, then had bought the obligatory walled estate, high in the Hollywood Hills. When that didn’t keep out the unwelcome, he’d gone looking for something better.
He’d found it about twenty-five miles outside of Fool’s Gold, California, on a cattle ranch with a rambling old house and a barn that he’d converted to a shop and workout room. He was close enough to town that he could get his normal fix at Brew-haha, but far enough away that he could revel in the quiet.
He’d sold the cattle to another rancher and had leased the grazing rights to the same guy. Now, as Jonny took his coffee, he grinned. Yup, he had grazing rights. What could be more middle America than that?
He turned his attention to the half-dozen tables at the small coffee shop. He was supposed to be meeting a Madeline Krug. The mayor had recommended her to help him plan his sister’s wedding.
