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Ellie dropped back onto the sofa and giggled. “Unfortunately, he had very little else to recommend him!”

About five years ago, Winnie had decided that she wanted to see Ellie and Gwen happily settled.

While most of her efforts had fallen on Ellie, poor Gwen had to suffer when Winnie sprung the first of what turned out to be many blind double dates on them.

The last one had been the final straw, though, and both women had sat her down to explain that while Winnie’s efforts were appreciated, they were not necessary.

Winnie acquiesced gracefully, but Ellie had always remained suspicious. She glanced at the paperwork fanned out on the coffee table in front of her, the Celtic Connections logo prominently displayed at the top of each page .

“Well, this time, she pulled out all the stops.” Quickly, Ellie explained what was going on, and Gwen’s silence stretched. “Gwen. I had to.”

“I would’ve done the same thing for her,” Gwen admitted reluctantly. “I’m sorry, Ellie. But even I’ve heard of Celtic Connections. They’re the ones who matched my cousin. The one whose wedding cost over a million? Remember her?”

Ellie sat up straight. “Kristin Bouchement?”

“Yep.”

“But…she was a monster! Sorry. I know she’s your cousin.”

Gwen snickered. “If it hadn’t been for her saint of a wedding planner, I would’ve hated her. I remember the original bridesmaid dress she put me in was ‘shrimp.’ That was the actual name of the color.”

“Shrimp?”

“You’d call it prawn.” Ellie could almost hear Gwen shudder before she continued, “In college Kristin wasn’t the most pleasant woman to be around. And maybe a bit afterwards, too. But Justin’s chilled her out.”

Ellie pursed her lips. “The most high-maintenance woman in the history of women, chilled out?”

“I don’t think you ever met Justin in person. He’s super down to earth. They’re perfectly matched and she does a lot of charity work now.”

“Wow,” Ellie replied, impressed. “I didn’t think she had it in her to care about anything other than herself, to be perfectly honest.”

“No one did. Then Justin happened. When that company is featured in the entertainment news, you know something big is going to happen. And now you’re their first client in the UK! That’s a ton of pressure on them. Push for perfection.”

“You sound like Winnie!” Ellie chuckled, but she ended it on a sigh. “I’m terrified about tomorrow’s press conference.”

“I bet. I’m booking a flight into Heathrow right now.” Ellie heard tapping as Gwen continued, “There. My flight arrives—ugh, just after midnight. Go to sleep and I’ll let myself in.”

“You have more money than sense.”

Gwen laughed lightly. “There are definitely times when the trust fund is useful.”

“Like going to South Africa on a safari?” Ellie asked knowingly.

“You know damn well I didn’t go to South Africa,” Gwen teased. Her voice grew serious. “You don’t want to know where I really was, El. It was a tough trip, but I’m so glad I went.”

“Do your parents know?”

“Oh, hell no. If they knew, they’d insist on sending someone in my place. Safety and all that.”

Ellie nodded, though Gwen couldn’t see her.

The Allens were lovely, warm people—until Gwen’s safety was called into question.

Then they locked down tighter than Fort Knox.

Recently, they’d been easing up—Ellie suspected it had more to do with Gwen’s moving to a different state—but she knew them well enough to know they would do everything in their power to stop Gwen from going anywhere she would be in danger.

“Someday they’ll let me live my life on my own terms,” Gwen said. “But until then, for all intents and purposes, I had a delightful stay in Johannesburg and saw many interesting animals.”

“Where were you really?”

“Don’t worry about it. Go to bed and I’ll see you in a couple hours. Love you, E!”

“Love you, G.”

The next day, Ellie stared mulishly at her aunt, who was fretting over her niece’s hair .

“Don’t be nervous,” Emma said, materializing next to her.

“Any questions that veer into your personal background will be deflected by me or Colin. The only thing you really need to do is verify that you’re doing this of your own volition, and that you have your own skepticisms about it.

If you do have any skepticisms,” she added hastily. “I’m not directing you on what to say.”

They stood in a small room just off the conference room of a posh London hotel, and Ellie knew that on the other side of the door, the vultures lurked, waiting for fresh meat.

She loathed the paparazzi. Memories of them camped outside her doorstep for weeks after her breakup with Andrew danced through her mind, and she grimaced.

“For what it’s worth, she’s not new to reporters. Usually, the best response is no response at all,” Gwen said wisely, her bright red hair bouncing like she was in a commercial.

“Oh, excellent mindset, love!” Winnie exclaimed.

“How do you look as fresh as a freaking daisy, but I still have sheet lines on my face?” Ellie grumbled to Gwen.

“You look stunning,” Emma assured her. “If you didn’t, I’d be fidgeting with you.” She turned and cast a critical eye over Colin, who had just entered the room.

Ellie’s mouth went dry at the sight of him, as did Gwen’s, if her sudden stillness was any indication.

His dark navy suit was tailored perfectly, and the top two buttons of his crisp white shirt were open. His hair was casually swept to the side, all blond and dark and gorgeous, and his deep brown eyes crinkled at the sides when he smiled. A red tie hung from his hand.

“Is there a reason you’re not yet wearing the tie?” Emma asked irritably, slipping it from his fingers and placing it around his neck.

“I figured, what’s the point? You’d just retie it anyway. Plus, it gives me immense satisfaction to tell MacWilliam that your hands were around my neck.” Colin winked at Ellie, and her heart actually hurt with how handsome he was.

“Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for this sinner,” Gwen murmured, and Ellie burst out laughing.

“I tried to warn you!” Ellie whispered, attempting not to move her lips.

“Well, yeah, but…” Gwen’s eyes were huge. “He’s so…so…Reilly!”

Ellie frowned. “He’s so Reilly? Is that a saying you picked up in Africa?”

But Gwen wasn’t listening. She’d launched herself at the man who had just entered the room, and he caught her up easily, holding her in a tight bear hug, an enormous grin on his face.

“I thought you were at my house, you little minx. What are you doing here?” he asked, his Irish brogue making the words sound both happy and admonishing.

“I was there, but then Ellie needed me.”

His expression changed into one of surprise as his eyes left Gwen’s face to rest on Ellie’s. “ This is your Eleanor?”

“So that is your Reilly?” Ellie exclaimed at the same time.

“Of course!”

Colin strode forward and held out his hand. “I’m Colin O’Rourke, CEO of Celtic Connections.”

“Gwen Allen. We met a long time ago. My cousin was a Celtic Connections client years ago. I was in her wedding.”

“The Bouchement wedding,” Reilly clarified.

“Bri’s first big success,” Colin remembered.

“I was devastated to find out that she was gone,” Gwen added quietly, placing a hand on Colin’s arm. “She was wonderful.”

He nodded his appreciation, then asked, “So how do you know Ellie?”

Gwen beamed at Colin —really, did everything about her have to be so radiant? Ellie thought crossly. Immediately, she flushed with guilt. What was wrong with her? She’d never felt jealous of Gwen.

But then again, she’d never felt anything like…well, whatever this was when she was around Colin.

“Ellie and I have been friends since before grade school. Winnie has been the best at keeping us together. Wow. Such a small world, isn’t it?”

“I’d call it fate,” Reilly mused.

“All right, ladies and gentlemen. We have a couple of minutes until showtime. Reilly, why don’t you take Gwen downstairs for some tea, and meet us in the car when this is over?

” Emma smiled kindly at Ellie. “We will make this as painless as possible. Here’s how it’ll work.

You and Colin will enter together, and your aunt and I will enter second.

Once he gives his speech about Celtic Connections, he’ll open the floor for general questions. ”

Ellie forced a breath out, her nerves returning in spades. “Sounds reasonable.”

Emma patted her arm. “If you want to take any questions, then all you need to do is scratch your eyebrow when Colin looks over at you during the general question segment. If you don’t want to answer any, don’t scratch, and he’ll press on.

Again, any questions we deem too personal, we’ll give a firm no comment .

If you think a comment is too personal, simply tuck your hair behind your ear and Colin will give the no comment. Easy enough?”

“Absolutely,” Ellie choked. She glanced at her aunt. “They’ll ask about Andrew.”

“Old news,” Winnie said briskly. She softened her tone. “Eleanor, no matter how it went for you…you were but a blip on that man’s radar, and it was a decade ago. There was no scandal.”

“He’s a jackass,” Gwen said.

“Gwendolyn!” Winnie exclaimed with a tsk . “He’s an earl ! ”

“And I’m American. The only thing that impresses me is a prince. Or a king, I guess.” Gwen turned to Colin, a fierce look in her eye. “Andrew’s an ass. He’s been with tons of women since.”

“The media frenzy died down within a week of the earl appearing in public with someone new,” Winnie informed them.

Many weeks , Ellie amended silently. Once it was reported that she’d visited an obstetrician twice after the breakup, they were like dogs with a particularly tasty bone.

And though they never did receive confirmation about any of the theories bandied about, they still didn’t move on quite as quickly as her aunt remembered.

Gwen caught her eye, and Ellie pasted a smile on her face. “It’s the only bit of scandal attached to my name, I’m afraid,” she said. “I’m sure we can just gloss over it.”