Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1) (21 page)

Chapter 10

That damned Chester Armstead had called Rhett’s secretary and told her to have Rhett meet him in the finance offices at BDC to discuss a property trade, which annoyed Rhett to no end. He didn’t like Chester giving him orders, even if the old coot did hold several million dollars’ worth of construction loans for Rhett’s development properties around the state.

Chester had been getting too pushy of late and even teamed with Carstairs Whittenhurst a couple of times in direct opposition to an order given by Rhett. And then there was Chester’s recent pressure to push him together with Delia, another activity Rhett needed to curtail.

He made a mental note to begin a new search for banking partners. Not a good idea to give one facility more than minimal control. He had originally let Chester have the extra business as a favor to Delia and hadn’t taken the time to change the situation since Chester had done a good job early on in providing lucrative financing.

The elevator doors opened on the third floor, and Rhett quickly stepped into the reception area. A high-pitched yelp sounded, and everything slammed into slow motion.

A flash of movement to his immediate right.

A very tall figure.

No, a small figure—
a woman?
—on a stepladder.

The ladder wobbled and threatened to spill its rider onto the marble floor.

A very hard marble floor with skull-cracking capabilities.

At the first squeak of distress, Rhett’s body reacted. His long legs reached the ladder in two strides, and he stretched out his long arms to capture the teetering body out of mid-air. The added weight thrust him forward, and he rotated the body against his jacket front in case he lost his balance, too.

The stepladder whacked the marble tile at his feet, and the sound echoed loudly through the reception area.

Mission accomplished.

His mind reverted from emergency-default mode to coherent-thought processes, and he realized the body he had grabbed—and crushed to his chest to preserve his own balance—was indeed a very feminine body. His surroundings had blurred when he reacted to the accident in progress, and now bits and pieces began to clear.

A giant palm stood three feet away, and Garrett Tucker stood ten feet beyond the palm, frozen in place with his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

Palms . . .

Garrett with a cart of plants alongside . . .

A body on a ladder?

Who exactly had he plucked from thin air?

Who would be with Garrett and his cart of plants and standing on a ladder with the palm?

And why did he feel this strange tug and pull near his heart?

No, not strange. Familiar. As in, he’d felt it before. But when?

His mind fought him when he sought the logical answer. Maybe because he didn’t want to let the woman go. Adrenaline still pumped through him and forced a blank. He needed to let go, but the feminine body felt so good against his, a familiar kind of good.

Reluctantly, he lowered the smaller body to the ground and made no conscious effort to put space between them. He felt every sensual inch of her slide down his torso, and he fought his obvious physical response. Coherent thought eased into his mind, and what seemed like minutes since the whole ordeal had started probably flashed in one or two seconds.

As the smaller body slid down, he spotted blond hair, and he stilled. His rescuee had reached the floor, and still his hands cupped her elbows to steady her.
Who
? his mind asked, though his heart pounded so hard the organ had surely sensed the truth.

He felt the slender body hiccup loudly and then felt her take two deep breaths. He knew this because with each breath, her breasts pressed more firmly against his chest. The face tilted slowly, and two enormous blue eyes came into view. And for one brief moment, he regretted letting her go.

Lily
.

He had saved his Lily.

This woman had wedged herself under his skin from the moment he’d met her and had turned him into a lovesick schoolboy in a matter of hours. Even made him consider the possibility of love at first sight. His only inclination at this moment was to pull her back into his arms and cuddle his Lily close, try to spin time backwards to the day they met and make the day turn out differently.

Except
. . .
She’s not my Lily any longer.

He had to say something. He couldn’t just stand here like a dolt.

His gaze shot to Garrett. “What’s going on here?”

He kept his tone far milder than warranted by the jangle of anger and lust warring within him. The receptionist’s eyes went wide as she followed every move in the lobby.

“I bought plants for the building,” Garrett said evenly and stepped forward, “to doll the place up. The ladies in admin have been asking for some.”

“Why didn’t I know about that?” He frowned and kept his gaze averted from Lily.

“You don’t do plants. I do.” Garrett didn’t back down.

“I want to see you in my office after our meeting here,” Rhett said flatly.

Garrett gave him a curt nod.

The elevator dinged loudly in the now-silent reception area, and all heads turned to see who had arrived.

Delia Armstead stepped off the elevator and immediately sashayed over to Rhett. “Hello, darling.”

Lily’s heart sank. She stepped back from Rhett as the witch approached.

He stared at Delia in obvious surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I know,” she purred and sidled over to slip her arm through his. “I was on my way home from Worth Avenue and saw your car here, so I decided to stop in.”

“More like she saw the Bloom & Grow truck out front,” Garrett muttered from Lily’s left. He had eased up close when Delia appeared.

“I want to show you pictures of the centerpieces for the barbecue,” Delia said and skillfully guided Rhett back toward the elevators. “It won’t take long, darling.”

She glanced back and smirked nastily at Lily.

Feeling her cheeks burning, Lily watched Rhett hesitate in the middle of the lobby. “I was actually headed to a meeting with your father and Garrett,” he said to Delia.

Lily wanted to yell for him to get away from that witch.

“Oh, Daddy won’t mind,” the witch cooed and squeezed Rhett’s arm tight up against her breast.

Garrett shrugged and said, “Whatever,” when Rhett’s glance slid to him. “Chester and I can talk about the parcel deal till you get there.”

Rhett’s expression looked blank for a minute. “Which parcel deal?”

“Ponte Vedra,” Garrett told him. “Aidan Cross is coming in to talk to us. He knows you just locked up the deal for the Cypress Key parcel, and Aidan’s willing to trade his Ponte Vedra property for it, which you want even more. Chester is here to talk about the financing. The meeting’s been on your calendar for days.”

Rhett’s neck and cheeks flushed red. Whether from anger or embarrassment, it was hard to tell. His gaze swung back to Lily.

She pulled in a halting breath and stared back. She saw no anger, only a question held in his eyes. A question for her? Was he asking if she wanted Aidan? She wanted to yell,
No, only you
.
And even more
.

Rhett turned toward the receptionist. “I’m meeting Chester Armstead here. Whose conference room is he in?”

Lily smothered an indignant gasp. Armstead was as slippery as his daughter.

The receptionist grinned at Rhett. “Mr. Armstead said he changed his mind. I was to send you up to your office on the fourth floor when you arrived.”

Delia gave a sultry chuckle and tugged Rhett toward the elevators.

He glared at Garrett. “You coming?”

Garrett shot a sideways glance at Lily and then nodded.

Lily watched Rhett walk toward the elevators. Delia present or not, every muscle in her body yearned to chase him down and beg for a chance to explain. She had wanted to stay furious with him, but when he’d grabbed her off the toppling ladder and crushed her to his chest, she had melted. Now he was walking away. Unshed tears filled her eyes, and she swallowed her ridiculous pride.

“Thank you, Rhett,” she called after him and had the momentary joy of seeing his step falter, but he walked on toward the bank of elevators with Delia and Garrett, and they entered one that seemingly opened on cue.

Garrett trailed after Rhett as he shuffled Delia into his private conference room on the fourth floor. Chester Armstead was already seated at the massive table with a smug smile on his face. Rhett merely grunted at the banker, then stalked out to the hall and roared for Garrett.

Garrett smothered a grin as he followed Rhett into his office suite. “I’m right behind you,” he said calmly.

Rhett threw him a heated glare over his shoulder and stomped the rest of the way into his office. Garrett trailed in behind and winked at Rhett’s wide-eyed secretary, Marcy, on the way past. He motioned for her to close her gaping mouth.

Overnight, his boss had morphed into a volatile personality, and Garrett couldn’t be happier. Lord, he loved being right about something, especially when Rhett was wrong about the same something, which rarely if ever happened.

Garrett sauntered into the private office, careful to keep his best bland expression glued to his face. At least, he hoped he did. He was going to need bland, for in the next few minutes, he intended to poke this very mad bear into action. Garrett wasn’t nearly satisfied that Rhett had taken to growling whenever Lily was near. He wanted Rhett to make some kind of move before Lily gave up and disappeared from his life.

“You wanted to see me?” he asked quietly.

“Out with it!” Rhett snapped.

Garrett tried for wide-eyed innocence. “Out with what?”

“Don’t you give me that look. You’re guilty as hell, and this has
you
plastered all over it.”

Rhett threw his briefcase and jacket down in his desk chair. His briefcase bounced once and dropped with a thud to the floor. Instead of picking the case up, Rhett yanked his tie loose and spun around to face Garrett.

“Guilty of what?” Garrett extended his palms in submission and tried hard not to smile. He couldn’t ever remember seeing Rhett quite this mad.

“
She’s
back,” Rhett snarled. “Why?”

“Who’s back?”

Rhett narrowed his eyes in a deadly glare.

“Ohhh,” he said, as though suddenly understanding. “You mean Lily.”

“Of course, I mean Lily.”

“You said you were over her and didn’t care about her.”

“That’s right. I am.”

“So, why are you getting mad because she’s here?” Garrett raised his brows and waited.

“Don’t play dumb, dammit! I spilled my guts to you at the house that night. She lied to me, and I don’t want to see her.”

“Could have fooled me. You didn’t have any trouble rescuing her.”

Rhett’s icy gaze should have formed icicles on Garrett’s nose. “You better not be meddling,” he snarled.

“Are you kidding me?” Garrett exclaimed. “What do I look like, some Yenta?”

“You don’t want me to answer that, do you? Because I think you’re up to something.”

“I resent that,” he shot back with the perfect amount of righteous indignation. “I’m your chosen landscape-architect-slash-developer with a nose for the best plant stock, and Bloom & Grow has the best damn plant stock. I want the best, so naturally I will use them on my jobs. If you don’t want me using Bloom & Grow, you just say the word, and I’ll cut them loose. And you—” Garrett pointed an imperious finger. “—will no longer have the best for your projects.”

He felt gratified to watch Rhett deflate. He had just played the master like a Stradivarius violin.

Rhett stared solemnly, and Garrett gave him a few moments, then asked, “Well? What’s it going to be?”

Still Rhett stared.

Garrett waited. Had he miscalculated?

“Fine! Use them. I don’t care.”

“That it?”

“No more interior plants,” Rhett ordered. “I don’t want to see
her
delivering any more. Do you understand me?”

“Sure. Fine. I understand,” Garrett huffed. “Geez, if you two are over, what does it matter if you see her or not? Why should you care? And what about the annual Spring Fling barbecue for your employees and clients? That’s coming up this weekend.”

“What about it?” Rhett narrowed his eyes.

“You said you wanted me to
doll up the house
. You threw away the plants Delia bought, so now you don’t have any.”

“Outside plants,” Rhett snapped. “I meant flowers. It’s a barbecue, and everyone will be
outside
. Plant whatever you want, but make it flowers.” He jerked his briefcase off the floor and plunked it down on his desk, then aimed an index finger at Garrett. “No more interior plants. Nothing but annuals at my house for the barbecue and don’t try to pull anything. Got it?”

“Sure thing. Only annuals.”

Garrett gave him a mock salute and followed Rhett back to his conference room. There they found Chester whispering delightedly with his daughter on one side of the massive conference room table, and Lucas Van Dorn seated on the other side, quietly perusing financial spreadsheets.

Rhett glanced at his watch. “Where the hell is Cross?”