Hitched! by Jessica Hart

have saved me a lot of worry about
the seating plan.’
    * * *
    ‘You don’t need to panic,’ I told George when I finally
managed to get Saffron off the phone.
    ‘You’re the one who should be panicking,’ he said, amused. ‘Now
you’ve got to take me to the wedding and persuade me to act like a lovesick
puppy!’
    ‘OK, I’m sorry about that, but it served you right for messing
around with my ringtones,’ I said. I was back in my chair, turning the phone
round and round in my hands as the implications of what I had just done began to
sink in. ‘And you won’t really have to go, of course. I’ll make some excuse to
Saffron.’
    ‘You can’t make it my fault,’ said George. ‘Remember how mad I
am about you!’
    ‘I’ll tell her I’m getting bored with you.’ I pursed my lips as
I thought. ‘I’ll drop a few hints about your performance in bed, which is
frankly a little...disappointing, shall we say? It’s going to turn out that
you’re really not man enough to satisfy me. Saffron will understand.’
    George’s eyes glinted appreciatively. ‘I’m not sure she will.
Having met your sister, I’d have thought she’d need a lot more than a lousy
lover as a reason for throwing out her seating plan.’
    Unfortunately, all too true.
    Perhaps I had got a little carried
away, I thought. I would have to ring Saffron straight back and explain that I
had been joking. Which might take some time. Saffron’s wedding was a Very
Serious Business and she wouldn’t take kindly to the idea of me making light of
it.
    My heart sank at the prospect of the conversation.
    ‘I’ll ring her tomorrow,’ I said. ‘There’s still time for her
to fix me up with this Piers person. Apparently he’s prepared to take me on as a
pity date,’ I added glumly.
    ‘It won’t be much of a pity date if Saffron tells him how
you’ve been using me as your sex toy.’
    ‘Oh, she won’t tell him that.’ I pulled down the corners of my
mouth. ‘I can hear her already: “Frith’s quite old and she’s a bit eccentric.
She actually has a career—no, I don’t know how to spell that either, it’s too
shaming—but if you could bear to be seen with her, Piers darling, I’ll make sure
you get in on the photos in Glitz ...”’ I sighed.
‘It’s pretty humiliating when your date has to be bribed to be seen with
you.’
    ‘I don’t think you should go with anyone who needs to be bribed
to be your date,’ said George firmly.
    ‘It’s better than being paired off with my father,’ I said,
‘and the alternative is to be marooned on the top table with a big sign over my
head saying “sad older sister on the shelf”. Piers might not be a prince, but
he’ll be better than telling Saffron I’m going to mess up her seating plan
completely,’ I went on. ‘I know she’s a bit bridezilla at the moment, but this
wedding is so important to her. I can put up with a bit of humiliation for a
day.’
    ‘Or you could take me, the way you told her,’ said George.
    ‘That was a joke!’
    ‘Of course it was, but it’s not a bad idea. Why not take me?’
    I looked at him in astonishment. ‘I couldn’t ask you to do
something like that!’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘The wedding’s going to be ghastly. You don’t know the meaning
of ostentation until you’ve seen Saffron’s wedding plans! My father’s spending
over a million pounds on this wedding.’ I grimaced with distaste. ‘I love my
sister, but talk about over the top...!’
    George spread his hands. ‘It won’t bother me. I can have a good
time anywhere.’
    I stopped in the middle of a laugh. ‘You’re not serious?’ I
asked.
    ‘I don’t mind,’ he said. ‘I brush up OK, and I won’t pick my
nose in public or eat my peas off my knife.’
    I could believe it. He had the assurance that would take him
anywhere. George wouldn’t be intimidated by the glossy celebrities or the
flashing cameras the way I was.
    I studied him across the desk. He had tipped his chair