The Hidden Grimoire by Karla Brandenburg (pride and prejudice read TXT) 📕

register and tended to the rest of my regular closing routine. “C’mon, Ash.” The cat rose from her rug, arched her back in a trembly stretch, and jumped into her basket for the walk home.

“And speaking of not wanting to lose you,” Kyle said as we started along the footpaths. He lowered his head and looked off in the distance. “We’ve already talked about this, and I know this isn’t the most romantic way to reintroduce the topic, but I’d like to make wedding plans.”

Why did that thought continue to send chills up my spine? I did want to marry Kyle, but not because he was flexing his protective muscles. “With who?” I teased.

He blocked my path. “You.”

“This isn’t a good time to talk about weddings.”

He raised his eyebrows, holding his ground.

“It’s cold out here. Can we at least wait until we get home?” I cringed at my whiny tone.

“Yes, but we will talk about it.” His stern look indicated I wouldn’t be able to avoid the subject for longer than the short walk.

When we left the footpath, Kyle followed me into my house. I opened the lid on the basket and Ash leapt to the floor. She went straight for her food dishes, where she munched on her remaining crunchies.

“No more excuses,” he said. “I’m not asking for a wedding tomorrow, but I do want a commitment from you.”

A commitment. “Way to sweep a girl off her feet. If I wasn’t committed to you, you wouldn’t be here now.”

Undaunted, he continued. “If you want the romantic gesture, I’ll give you one.”

“What I don’t want,” I told him, slipping off my coat, “is for you to marry me because you think that’ll somehow make me safe from the big, scary world. We agreed to revisit the topic when you finished remodeling your house. Tell me your sudden sense of urgency has nothing to do with this woman who may or may not be Narcy’s sister.”

He rubbed his face with a hand and turned away. “Whether or not that’s true, I do want to marry you, and I thought you wanted to marry me.”

I slipped my arms around his waist and turned him to face me. “I do. And you know what? A romantic gesture would be nice, but going all Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson on me isn’t romantic.”

Kyle’s voice grew quiet. “He’s a lot bigger than I am.”

I laughed and looped my arms around his neck. “Do we have to do this now?”

“It’s important to me.”

I pursed my lips. After our summer break-up, I wasn’t eager for more drama in my life. I swallowed down any residual misgivings. This was the man I wanted to marry, after all. “Well, you originally said something about a six-month timeline before an official proposal after we moved in together. Considering we’re mostly living together now, if we tacked on a few more months, and then a reasonable planning period...”

Kyle looked toward the ceiling and exhaled loudly. “Bottom line?”

“June is always a good month for weddings,” I said. “Although I’m more partial to May, myself.”

He leveled his gaze on me, humor making crinkles at the corners of his eyes. “May works for me.”

“You realize it will be a small affair. My guest list consists of Nora and her husband. And Lisa and Cassandra.”

He nodded. “I’m good with that. My dad, the guys. What about your cousins?”

I shot him an are you kidding? look and he laughed.

“Which reminds me,” I said, reaching for a change of subject. “Speaking of ‘the guys,’ is there something going on between Lucas and Cassandra? When he stopped in the shop the other day, she blushed and stammered while she was talking to him. That’s not like her. He’s a school teacher, isn’t he?”

The corner of Kyle’s mouth rose in a half-grin. “Yeah. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Well, she’s so Gwen Stefani-ish, you know? Fashion forward and flashy, and he’s more bowtie and loafers.” I poked him in the chest. “And you haven’t answered my question.”

Kyle held up his hands to ward me off. “Don’t have an answer.”

“Do we need to help them along?” I asked.

“Lucas is a big boy. I’m sure he can manage on his own. We have more important things to focus on.” Reminding me my change of subject wasn’t working.

“Okay, okay. May. A small wedding, which means we don’t have to do a lot of planning until after Christmas. Agreed? Nora and Fletcher got married in the woods, and you know what? That was one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to. I’d like an outdoor wedding.”

“No objections here. How about the gazebo in the park? Oh, wait. May might be too chilly.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

He kissed my nose. “I’ll try not to be so overprotective, but I am going to stick close until we figure out what’s going on with this sister who’s stalking you.”

I did appreciate that I wasn’t alone in this, and having him flex muscle now would be a good indicator of how well I could deal with his overprotective streak in the future. “Understood. Now. What are we having for dinner?”

Chapter 9

I was mixing bath salts in the back of the shop the next morning when the bell announced a customer. I grabbed a towel to wipe my hands and walked to the front.

A petite woman with short dark-brown hair gave me a smile while she shuffled through the clothing racks.

“Let me know if I can help you find anything,” I said.

A little girl peeked from behind the woman, a girl with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes.

I smiled and crouched. “Well, hello.”

The girl shoved a thumb into her mouth and wrapped her free arm around one of the woman’s legs. A flash of light flickered in her eyes.

Ash mewed behind the counter, rose from her rug and trotted onto the display case.

“Kitty!” the little girl said, letting go and pointing.

I picked Ash up and stroked her fur. “Is she allowed to pet the