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Dougal bustled over to the lectern “Unofficial mayor,” he corrected

Josh shook his head a little Where the hell was the official mayor? Never mind

“I’,” Josh said into the mic, “that the proceeds fros the teenagers s they want more than they want to post photos online”

Dougal patted hi man A bribe Well, we do need a new computer suite at the coe of town Who knows,studio for budding artists I’m pretty sure we could cover all the interests represented by our teenagers”

Josh gave hilared at hih

“So there it is, folks—if you guys can help us out, we can do soet a boost Your kids will get a bribe What do you say? Want to help us keep our wedding private?”

There was a roar of approval Josh led Caroline back to their seats She was stiff as a board Mad at his interference

“We’re setting up roadblocks on the er walked up Caroline’s spine to the base of her neck She tried to shake hioes, and if we don’t want the press in here, then we don’t need to l

et them in The domino boys have offered to man the barricades”

“I’ll help,” shouted Betty “Lake’s been teaching ht come in handy”

When everyone turned towards Lake, he shrugged “You want her to be bored?”

“The al said

“I love this town,” Josh whispered to Caroline, who gave an unladylike snort

Josh rubbed the tense spot in Caroline’s neck She very slightly shrugged, trying to make him stop

“Stop it,” she snapped at him “We’re in public And I’ under control You didn’t need to butt in and bribe everyone People would have done the right thing, because it was the right thing to do” She gave hiht have turned him to stone—if she’d possessed any sort of power over him Instead, it made his mouth water