Free Goody Two Shoes (Invertary Book 2) by janet elizabeth henderson

shift as Andrew brought the gargantuan chip on his shoulder into the room. He hadn’t said a word to her since telling her off about flirting. Not one word.
    She ignored her husband. “Mitch, tell me everything.”
    “Fine. Josh wanted an arranged marriage. So I arranged one for him.”
    Andrew let out one of the creative curses he’d learned as a boy in the Glasgow shipyards.
    “An arranged marriage?” Helen could hardly believe her ears.
    “Yeah.” Mitch cringed. Evidently it made as much sense to him as it did to her. “He wants what you guys have. Long-term commitment. Friendship. He thought romance would get in the way.”
    Helen shrugged out of her cardigan. “He wants what we have?” She glanced at Andrew. “If he doesn’t watch himself, he’ll get exactly what we have.” Her husband’s face was unreadable. Helen took a deep breath. “Show me to my room,” she told Mitch. “I’ll deal with Josh and his arranged marriage in the morning. Right now all I want to do is grab some dinner, shower and crawl into bed.”
    Mitch breathed a sigh of relief and practically ran up the stairwell. Andrew grabbed the suitcases and followed. On the second floor, Mitch pushed open a door to a light and airy room.
    “This is the only guest room that’s made up right now. I hope it’s okay.”
    Helen almost sighed with delight. There was a vast brass bed made up with crisp white linen. A small blue and cream sofa in the curved window—not much bigger than an armchair, but perfect for reading. An antique dresser and wardrobe completed the furniture.
    “Perfect.”
    “Great.” Mitch backed away. “I’ve got work to do. Josh will be back soon.” And then he was gone. Running from further interrogation. Some things never changed.
    Without thinking, Helen turned to Andrew and smiled in delight.
    “Can you believe it? We’re sleeping in an honest-to-goodness castle.”
    His face was inscrutable. But stupidly, Helen kept smiling at him, hoping for something in return.
    “I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said at last.
    And just like that, her perfect moment shattered.
     
    The meeting Josh had invited himself to was beyond boring. It was the most mind-numbing meeting in the history of the universe. Fifteen people droning on about how to finance a new roof for the church. Hell, for the first half-hour one guy lectured everyone else on why a roof was necessary. Josh could have knocked that discussion on the head in three seconds—we need a roof to keep the rain out. Seriously? Why was that hard? The guy loved the sound of his own voice. How Caroline sat through this crap without killing someone, he didn’t know. Josh noticed the pain-in-the-ass preacher wasn’t at the meeting, and his opinion of him rose infinitely. Anyone with any sense would run from this committee. No woman was worth enduring this agony. He eyed Caroline as she took notes for the group. Fine. One woman was worth it. Josh turned his eyes towards the community centre ceiling and begged God to make it end.
    At last, talking stopped and people left. Caroline came over to where Josh was dozing on one of the blue room’s old armchairs.
    “I told you, you didn’t want to be here.”
    He opened one eye. “You didn’t tell me I’d want to kill myself while I was here. Seriously. I was one step away from finding that book on poisons you keep going on about, and putting myself and everyone else out of our misery. Baby, this is hell.”
    Caroline rolled her pretty green eyes. “A slight exaggeration, Josh McInnes. But I will concede that this committee is one of the more trying ones I sit on.”
    “Hell, Caroline, how many of these things are you on?”
    She tugged at her grey suit jacket. “A few.”
    When she didn’t look him in the eye, he guessed it was more than a few. He had a horrible feeling Caroline was in the thick of it with every damn committee in Invertary.
    It took an embarrassingly long time to get out of the chair. The cushions had