Free Two Weddings and a Baby by Scarlett Bailey Page B

way and that, trying to fathom out what was the back and what was the front, and then once she thought she’d worked that out, she looked at the tiny child lying before her and decided that it was simply impossible to dress its little body without breaking it.
    ‘You could stay in those clothes,’ she suggested, staring into the bottomless black eyes. ‘Maybe when you get too big for them, you’ll shed them and grow new ones, like a snake.’
    The door opened and Jed popped his head round. The dog collar had gone again and his shirt was open at the neck. He had a very nice neck, smooth and kissable.
    ‘Catriona looks like she needs to sleep, so I thought I’d come and see how you are doing.’
    ‘Well,’ Tamsyn said, ‘on a scale of one to ten, I’d give myself a minus eleven. Who’s that lady you were helping? I didn’t recognise her from the last time I was here. Are you good friends?’
    ‘She’s my verger,’ Jed said. ‘Lay clergy. I couldn’t run the church without her, and yes, we are close friends. She and her mum moved here from St Austell a couple of years ago. She lost her mother a few months ago and it hit her hard; they’d always lived together, you see. I’ve been keeping an eye on her, making sure she is adjusting to life on her own, but I obviously failed her tonight. Poor woman is as sick as a dog.’
    ‘Well, you did have one or two things on your plate,’ Tamsyn said, nodding at the baby. ‘I’m sure she’ll understand. I was very grateful you were there when we were walking up the hill. And now I’m hoping you’ll guide me through the minefield of baby clothes.’
    Jed smiled, glancing at Tamsyn as he knelt on the rug beside her. ‘You look like you could use a change of clothes, too; the bottoms of those jeans are soaking.’
    ‘Oh … I … My suitcase! I left it at the church. It’s probably halfway to America by now!’ Tamsyn felt a moment of grief as she thought of her expensive case packed with clothes that she had carefully collected over several years, now probably all gone, swept out to sea. But they were only clothes, not people or animals. Although she did feel like she’d had one of the most meaningful relationships of her life with that vintage Dior tweed skirt and jacket.
    ‘Ah,’ Jed said. ‘Well … maybe Cordelia could lend you something?’
    ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter.’ Tamsyn kicked off the heavy boots she had borrowed and peeled off her wet socks. ‘Now tell me, how do we change this baby’s clothes without breaking it?’
    Jed took the Babygro and arranged it into the shape of a baby on the floor.
    ‘It’s simple enough,’ he said, reaching for the child and laying its body on top of the garment. ‘First of all, we have to take these damp things off, don’t we, little one? Yes we do! Yes we do!’
    Tamsyn blinked at him, the hunky vicar, talking like a loon to the tiny child whose dark eyes were now firmly fixed on his face. Unlike most of the people she met in her day-to-day life, he was very difficult to categorise. He seemed much too young to be a vicar, although Tamsyn had to admit that there probably wasn’t a lower age limit on the position, apart from being an actual adult. He was definitely too handsome, though. If there wasn’t a rule about handsome vicars, there should be. The only light in the cosy little room came from the fire, which cast his high cheekbones in bronze, finding gold highlights in the long fringe that swept over what Tamsyn had now noted were silvery-blue eyes. And he didn’t have the body of a vicar either: his shoulders were broad, his forearms, revealed as he pushed up his shirtsleeves to gently remove the layers of the baby’s clothing, were strong, muscular. And the way he had led them up the hill, utterly calm and capable, it was almost as if it wasn’t the first time he’d been caught in that sort of situation. Maybe he wasn’t a vicar at all, Tamsyn mused; maybe he was an undercover cop posing as a