Celebrity Bachelor

Which once more left Cassie alone with Joshua Cantrell.

It wasn’t quite nine o’clock by then—not late by big city standards but not early by Northbridge standards, either, so Cassie debated whether to simply usher Joshua to the chancellor’s cottage or offer to extend the evening.

In the end, she decided to leave it to him.

“Would you like to get back to the cottage or—”

“Or,” he said, jumping at the option before she’d actually given him one.

“Okay. Northbridge doesn’t have a bustling nightlife but we could take a walking tour of the town.” Which was the only thing she could come up with on the spur of the moment. It might also appease the mayor if he accused her of not doing the promotions he wanted. “How would that be?”

“I’d like it,” he said. “It seems like a small-town thing to do. Unless I’d be keeping you from someone— I asked Alyssa if she knew if playing diplomatic envoy with me was driving a wedge between you and a husband or a fiancé or a boyfriend, but she didn’t know.”

He’d asked his sister about her? Cassie thought, mentally stalling on that tidbit. Had he asked only to make sure he wasn’t interfering or because he wanted to know if there was a man in her life?

Not that it mattered, Cassie told herself.

And yet it did matter to her a little. Deep down. She couldn’t deny it.

Was it really possible that he had tried to find out if she was single? That the illustrious Joshua Cantrell, man of the world, escort of ladies extraordinaire, was even curious about whether or not the playing field was open with Cassie?

Even the possibility—slight though she was sure it was—boosted her ego.

Still, she tried not to pay too much attention to it and said simply, “You’re not keeping me from anyone, no.”

“I already know I’m keeping you from something—unpacking—but if I’m not going to have an angry man tracking me down to do me bodily harm, I’ll take you up on that walk.”

“No, no one will track you down to do bodily harm,” she assured. “There’s no husband, fiancé or boyfriend.”

Joshua Cantrell’s handsome face erupted into a wide grin that gave a second boost to her ego, because it looked nothing but pleased to hear that. “Then by all means, give me the grand tour.”

“Tour maybe, I don’t know how grand it will be,” Cassie said, working as they left the building to contain what almost felt like a hint of glee at the lingering notion that this man—of all men—had wondered if she were free.

And had been happy to learn that she was…

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