Marry Me at Christmas (Fool's Gold #19)(2)

Dellina shifted slightly. “Yes, well, it’s more than my usual panicked call to come stuff goodie bags. It’s a wedding.”

Madeline looked between the two of them. “I don’t understand,” she admitted.

“There’s going to be a wedding the Saturday after Christmas,” the mayor said happily. “You know how I love a wedding. This will be a small affair. Right now the guest list is at forty. I suspect it will grow a little, but shouldn’t be more than fifty or fifty-five people. There’s no location issue—everything will be at the bride’s brother’s house. The catering is taken care of.”

“Ana Raquel is handling that,” Dellina added. “She had a cancellation and can fit in the wedding. So it’s just the basic details. Dress, invitations, decorations. I know it’s a lot to ask...” Her friend shook her head. “I’m sorry. We haven’t asked yet, have we?”

Mayor 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.