Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1) (14 page)

Rhett already had the glass up and the cubes rattling. “It’s better with some water.”

Garrett rolled his eyes.

“A few weeks passed, and I felt like that college freshman again on my way to falling in love. Gloria and I attended another charity cocktail party and ran into her friend, Kersey Weldon.”

“Those two are together here, too?”

Rhett nodded. “Gloria went off to powder her nose or something, and Kersey came over to visit. She’d had a little too much to drink and told me how glad she was Gloria and I had hooked up again. ‘Gloria has the hots for you,’ she said.”

Garrett waited what seemed an interminable length of time for Rhett to continue.

“Then Kersey laughed and said, ‘Gloria is such a scream. She told me you always were a good lay, and now that you can afford her, she thought she’d let you have her.’” He took a long slug of the watered-down scotch. “Imagine. She’d
let
me have her.”

Damnation
.

“You know what I always thought of those two little bitches,” Garrett said angrily. “You had a date planned with Lily tonight. Where were you going to take her?”

Changing the subject was all he could think of to get Rhett’s mind off that witch Gloria Conover or whoever the hell she was now. He intended to strangle the woman if he ever ran into her.

“The
liar
could have picked anywhere she wanted for dinner tonight,” Rhett slurred. “I’d have taken her to Atlanta or Miami for dinner if she wanted.” He took another pull on his scotch. “And she picked Jetty’s.”

Garrett’s head snapped up. “That doesn’t sound like someone after your money, Rhett.” He paused a moment and waited for the fallout. Getting only silence, he added hopefully, “And you’ve been different since you met Lily, happier than I’ve ever seen you.”

“She lied to me.” He raised agonized eyes to stare at Garrett. “It was all a scam to get me to fall for her, and she was only after my money. She lied just like Gloria.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding.”

“Women are all after my money. You said yourself you didn’t know how that nursery of hers stayed afloat, charging such low prices.”

“What I told you was the nursery was eccentric and looked for the right buyers for their material, people who would care for the landscaping like they did.”

Rhett waved him off. “Do you know the
liar
can’t even afford her own place? She lives in a little house at the nursery.”

“How do you know that?”

“I had her checked out.”

“In the last few hours? By whom?”

“I’m a wealthy man, my friend, and I have people at my disposal at all hours. She’s a fake and a liar. And I thought she was—” He took a good hard slug of scotch, drained the glass, then wiped his hand across his mouth and stared at the floor at his feet.

“You thought she was what?”

“Innocent,” Rhett said softly.

“Well, then why are you—”

“Pure!” he snarled at Garrett. “Don’t you get it?”

Garrett put up both hands. “I get it. I get it.”

Rhett stared out through the glassed terrace doors for several minutes. “Do you know when I asked her to go to New York, she had to stop and think about it.” He stabbed finger at Garrett. “Now that was good acting. I had to promise her her own room. Can you believe that? And she actually
used
the extra room.” He shook his head. “I must be slipping.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Me neither.”

Garrett stifled a smile.

“I could tell when I kissed her, she hadn’t . . . Or she wasn’t very good at . . . Or it had been forever . . .” The ice cubes rattled as he waved his hand. “She was just too timid.”

He turned his head and stared at Garrett. “They can’t fake timid, can they?”

Garrett shook his head. “No, not timid. Too easy to tell.”

“That’s what I thought.” Rhett said, slurring more now.

Garrett hoped the end was in sight.

“You have one job tomorrow, and that’s to get all these damn plants the hell out of my house.” Rhett set his glass on the end table and settled back in the chair. Moments later, he snored softly.

Garrett got up to lock the French doors, but the sight on the terrace made him pause in disbelief.

He opened the center doors and stepped outside. Plants lay strewn all over the terrace, potting soil spewed across the tiles. The twisted and broken shapes of a half-dozen palms lay in the bottom of the pool, illuminated by the underwater lights, and vermiculite floated on the water’s surface.

“Holy hell,” he muttered under his breath. This was worse than he ever dreamed. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to fix this.

Stepping back inside, he locked the doors and took the glasses back to the bar. One thing was for certain—there was more to this supposed charade than met the eye. Garrett had only seen Rhett drunk two other times, once in college and again a year ago, and now he knew why.

Rhett wasn’t asking too much. He deserved to have someone love him after the childhood he’d suffered with that no good uncle of his. But no woman could have convinced Rhett Buchanan of her innocence unless . . .

He straightened and headed for the front door. He had two jobs tomorrow: Get rid of these plants and straighten out this mess between Lily and Rhett. He locked the front door and closed it behind him. Tonight left him certain of one thing. Rhett Buchanan was head over heels in love with Lily Foster, and come hell or high water, Garrett intended to get them back together.

He finally had a chance to pay back his debts.

The mess at Rhett’s mansion took half the next morning to clean up, but Garrett understood why Rhett had asked him to handle the situation. Rhett didn’t want anyone to know he’d lost his temper so badly there was collateral damage, and he damn sure didn’t want to be here when Bloom & Grow came to pick up their plants.

Unlike other billionaires, Rhett didn’t keep a butler or permanent house staff underfoot. He said he’d taken care of himself his whole life, and he didn’t intend to stop now. His one concession was a housekeeper he brought in three days a week to clean and leave him a hot meal if he was in town. Ancient Edna Burkhart fit that bill perfectly though she shook her head when she let Garrett in that morning.

“He’s not himself, Garrett,” she said simply. “I’m worried about him.”

Garrett agreed and knew she wouldn’t say a word to anyone.

Edna had a soft spot for Rhett who’d stopped one day on the turnpike to help her. She’d had a flat tire and no cell phone, and no one to come help her. Out of work and getting by on unemployment, Edna supported three grandchildren left behind when her daughter ran off with a drug addict. She was returning from yet another unsuccessful employment interview when the tire blew and left her on the side of the turnpike.

Rhett took her and her wounded tire to a repair shop, got the tire fixed, and brought her back to her car. During their adventure, Rhett had hired Edna and agreed to pay her more for three days of cleaning than she could get on any other job for a whole week. He’d said she needed time to spend with those grandkids of hers. That was six years ago.

Edna would be with him until she retired, though Garrett had doubts she would ever retire, and he knew that would be just fine with Rhett.

Garrett called his office to say he wouldn’t be in until after lunch. His secretary hadn’t asked any questions. Rhett had forced four assistant VPs on Garrett in recent years, so Garrett had the freedom to wander off on tangents during projects, whenever the mood struck, and leave the daily operations to his assistant VPs. Today turned into a tangent day.

He’d called Tammy as soon as he arrived at Rhett’s mansion and asked her to send someone for the plants. She had volunteered and said she’d bring a driver and meet him at the house at ten. She hadn’t questioned his request. She must have talked to Lily.

Had Tammy been in on this scam? Was it even the scam Rhett had thought? Or had Lily been caught up in a series of events not of her own making?

Garrett liked this Lily Foster. He hoped she wasn’t too upset, but that was a pretty weak possibility. No woman liked being thrown out of a residence, or anywhere else for that matter, especially by the guy she happened to be dating. If Lily and Rhett could actually be considered
dating
, seeing as how they had only met a little over a week earlier. But if Rhett’s recent moods and attitudes were any indication, the two had certainly been a couple for that short while.

Garrett stood on the pool deck and watched Rhett’s pool-service technician haul the palms up from the pool bottom, so he could start the vacuuming process. Garrett was glad Tammy had agreed to meet him. He had liked the redhead when he first met her, and now he could sure use her help. He needed information first and then some outright scheming.

If Garrett’s instincts were right, Tammy would agree to his plan. One thing he already knew about Lily Foster—her employees weren’t just loyal, they loved their employer. That was evident in his first few trips to the nursery and in the answers he got from his questions. He just hadn’t known at the time who actually owned Bloom & Grow.

The side gate swung open and clicked back into place. A moment later, Tammy stepped onto the terrace trailed by the man Garrett knew as her shipping supervisor from his numerous trips to select plants.

“Hey,” Garrett said and extended a hand.

Tammy shook it and said, “This is Jason Graber, our shipping supervisor. Jason, this is Garrett Tucker, Vice-President of Real Estate Development for BDC.”

Graber begrudgingly took Garrett’s proffered hand and gave it one hard shake. “Your boss had no right to yell at Lily like that,” the man said with a stony stare. “He was rude, and she didn’t deserve that.”

“Agreed,” Garrett answered patiently.

“Jason, why don’t you go inside and round up the interior plants and stage them out here.” Tammy touched his arm briefly, and the man gave Garrett a final glare, then stepped in through the open French doors.

“You’ll have to forgive Jason,” Tammy said, turning to Garrett with her own chilly stare. “Lily’s employees are all protective of her. So am I.”

“Good to know,” he said matter-of-factly, “and it merely backs up my initial impression of Lily Foster.”

Tammy nodded and glanced incredulously around the terrace and pool area. “Oh my gosh! This place looks like a tornado went through here.”

“One did,” Garrett said grimly, “and you and I need to talk.”

She watched the pool service technician haul a
Chamedoria
palm from the deep end of the pool. “I doubt those palms will make it after being forced to tread water all night, and I don’t think a credit is in order here, Garrett. At least not for the pool plants.”

“You’ll be paid for all the plants delivered here. If Delia Armstead balks, send the bill to me at BDC. I’ll make sure you’re paid, one way or the other.”

“Then what do we have to talk about?” she asked warily.

“Two people we both care about very much,” he said. “Got time for lunch?”

“Oh please, Lily, it will be fun,” Tammy pleaded and followed her down the aisle between rows of palms as Lily hand-watered the needier specimens.

“No. I don’t want to. Take Rob.”

“On a date? Are you kidding me?”

Lily ignored her and kept watering.

“You know, that might not be a bad idea,” Tammy agreed suddenly.

Lily turned to see if she was kidding.

“I’m serious, Lily. Rob could be
your
date. Well not a real date, just an escort kind of a date. You always said you wondered what those black-tie charity affairs in Palm Beach were like, and now we can both find out. Please?”

Lily narrowed her eyes. “Why do I get the feeling you’re up to something?”

Tammy threw her palms out innocently. “How could I be? I’ve never been out with Garrett, but I’m dying to go, and I won’t be nervous if you come along. It was nice of him to try to find four tickets, too. Oh please, Lily?”

“There’s the rub. Why did Garrett look for four tickets? He works for Buchanan, and I don’t want to see that man ever again.” She turned her back and shifted to the next needy palm in line.

Lily had referred to him as Buchanan ever since she returned home from her delivery that awful afternoon. She hadn’t shed the first tear, not even when Tammy and Rob ran down to the cottage to comfort her. She’d merely stared straight ahead in stony silence and refused to look at either of them.

No one was allowed to mention Rhett’s name now. And Lily hadn’t smiled once since that day. She who bestowed smiles on everyone she met and saved dozens of radiant smiles each day for her friends and employees, though there was no real distinction between the two. Lily believed smiles could fix anything. And hers had all vanished in exchange for the stony expression there now—like dark, heavy storm clouds moving in to obliterate any possible ray of sunshine.

Tammy chose her words with care. “I don’t know if Buchanan will be there or not, and why should he come when he finds out Garrett is bringing me?”

She got only shrugged shoulders for an answer.

“This charity gala and auction will be fun, and you deserve to go. So what if Buchanan shows? He should hide from you, not the other way around. He was the one who was rude and didn’t let you explain.”

“I’m not hiding!” Lily said indignantly.

“You are if you won’t go with me because
he
might be there.”

Lily turned, and they locked gazes. Tammy could see the anger simmering in her friend’s eyes alongside the pain that had dulled their usual brightness.

“What if Rob won’t go?” Lily asked softly.

“He’ll go,” Tammy assured her.