Page 18 of Kiss the Bride

“Waterfront, then?” When Ryan nodded, Daniel rubbed his chin. “Sounds like something I’d like.”

“Can’t wait to show it to you.” Ryan grinned. Beyond the reception line, Mildred Morrey shook her head in response to some question Greg had asked her. His jaw set, the mayor locked arms with Nick Bell next. Despite an uneasy feeling that shifted in Ryan’s stomach while the two engaged in a whispered conversation, he focused on Daniel. “I hear you did some fishing back home. If you get a chance this week, come on down to the marina. I keep a couple of rods in my office. We can try for some stripers.” The fish was a local delicacy.

Daniel’s grin widened. “Now you’re talking.”

They talked about fishing for a few more minutes before Ryan stepped aside to let the next person in line take his place. On the other side of the room, the mayor was still making the rounds. Whatever the man wanted, he didn’t seem to be having much luck. Glad to stay out of it, Ryan headed in the opposite direction. At the buffet table, his stomach rumbled when he added Chef Hubbard’s famed sausage balls to a heaping plate.

“Hold it! Don’t move.” At his elbow, a photographer snapped a picture. “Thanks,” he said, lowering the camera. “You don’t mind if your picture appears in Weddings Today, do you?”

“Not at all.” The more publicity, the better. He balanced his plate in one hand and stuck out the other one. “Ryan Court. Owner of the Boat Works.”

“Curtis Webster.” The photographer squinted, then whipped a small notebook out of a back pocket and scribbled in it. “Sorry. It helps me later if I jot things down as I go.” He swung, searching. “Oops. Gotta get a picture of that. I’ll see you around, Ryan.” Curtis headed toward whatever had caught his attention on the other side of the room.

Ryan’s stomach sent up another reminder to feed it. He was just about to take his first bite when the mayor, along with Evelyn, Alicia, and Jenny, appeared at his elbow.

“A word, please,” Greg Thomas said. He marched to a corner without checking to see whether he’d been followed.

With a last wishful glance at his food, Ryan joined the others.

“I had a quick minute to speak with our winning couple, and I must say Daniel and Brianna are absolutely adorable,” Greg said once he made certain no one else lingered close by. “But they’re so young and so inexperienced, I’m concerned they might not have what it takes to make it through the week.”

Ryan eyed their guests of honor. Surrounded by well-intentioned townsfolk, they were so ill at ease he was surprised they hadn’t already bolted for the door. “They do seem a little lost. Makes you wonder why Weddings Today chose them.”

“Everything’s done online,” Alicia offered. “Couples submit a video along with their application. Junior staff weeds the entries down to ten. Senior editors conduct online interviews with them, but no one actually meets the winning couple until they arrive in New York for a photo shoot.”

Greg Thomas ran a hand over his balding head. “Brianna and Daniel come from a small, rural town where everyone knows everyone. She barely stepped foot outside of Geneva before this trip. Nothing in Daniel’s background has prepared him for all the hoopla, either. It’s a lot to handle.”

“Planning a wedding can overwhelm any bride and groom. Having to do it all in a week, well, we all saw how that worked out when I did it.” Jenny grinned. Her not-so-simple wedding had thrown the entire town into an uproar.

“I suppose you have a solution.” He waited for the mayor’s response. The man rarely pointed out a problem without having a plan to deal with it. Whatever it was, Ryan didn’t think he was going to like it.

“I want you to take them under your wings, guide them through the whole process.”

“Me?” He stepped back. Ask him to repair a busted window or change a flat tire, and he was your man. But he couldn’t do what the mayor was asking. There were rules against it. “Aren’t you worried I might try and sway Brianna and Daniel to choose the Boat Works?”

“That’s why we’re asking you and Evelyn to work together. So neither of you has the upper hand,” Greg soothed.

“I can’t afford to be away from the Cottage for an entire week,” Evelyn objected. “I’m already filling in for Jason. Plus, I have my own work to do.”

He wasn’t at all surprised to hear her protest, but he couldn’t help but wonder if it was the assignment or working with him she disliked the most. He quashed the question. She wasn’t any happier with Greg’s idea than he was—that was the important thing.

The mayor frowned. “I know it’s a lot to ask. I’d get someone else to do it if I could, but there isn’t anyone. I’ve asked practically everyone here. With the wedding season in full swing, Nick and his staff are working around the clock to make sure every cake gets delivered on time. Mildred Morrey’s so busy, her niece took a leave from her job in New York to help out at Forget Me Knot. Ashley and Alexis have hired two new people to help out at Favors Galore, and they’re still concerned about filling all their orders.”

So that was what all those whispered conversations had been about. That still didn’t mean he was the right choice. He scanned the rapidly emptying room. There had to be someone better qualified to take his place. “This seems like the kind of job a wedding planner would do, doesn’t it?” He eyed the two women who flanked the mayor.

“I have my hands full with other aspects of the contest. Coordinating visits at the participants’ shops, communicating with the editorial staff at Weddings Today. There are a million details that’ll require my personal attention.” Alicia passed the baton to her assistant.

Jenny stepped forward. “While Alicia devotes her time to handling the behind-the-scenes efforts, I’ll be in charge of all the other weddings we have scheduled for the Cottage this week. And I’ll take as much of your load off your shoulders as I can,” she said, directing the comment to Evelyn. “I’ll show prospective clients the grounds, answer phone calls, oversee the staff.”

“And don’t forget, the photographer from Weddings Today will be right there with you, too,” the mayor added.

“Sounds like you’ve thought of everything,” Evelyn mumbled.

Ryan wasn’t convinced. “I don’t have any experience planning a wedding. What makes you think I can do this?” He fought an urge to sidestep when Greg pinned him with a steely gaze.

“Daniel already likes you, Ryan.” Greg turned the same unflinching gaze on Evelyn. “And you seemed to hit it off with Brianna.” Raising his hands, the mayor aimed a finger at each of them. “I saw the way they opened up to you in the reception line. Believe me, they hardly said more than two words to anyone else.”

He shook his head. Working with Evelyn was a bad idea on so many fronts, he couldn’t even count them. And then there was the not-so-little matter of the couple who stood like two abandoned puppies in the middle of the room. How was he supposed to help them? “This is beyond my comfort zone, Mr. Mayor.”

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