Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1) (23 page)

“What do you mean?”

Aidan gave her a wry smile. “I never bested him on an exam again. He never really dated anyone again in college that I’m aware of. A girl here. A girl there. No girl got two dates out of him. He got a 4.0 every quarter and took the maximum hours allowed, finishing early before both Garrett and me.”

Lily put a comforting hand on his arm.

“If I could do it all over . . .”

“So now you help him out when you can and never let him know,” she guessed.

Aidan nodded bleakly. “If I find out he’s bidding on a property, I pull out. Sometimes I don’t know he’s after a parcel, and those are the ones I’ve managed to steal from him over the years. I never set out to steal one though. I only won the Ponte Vedra parcel last year because that damn lawyer of his was operating under a temporary holding company he’d created, or I’d’ve backed out then, too.”

“You’re a good man, Aidan Cross,” Lily said.

“No, I’m not. Bitch or no, I should’ve stayed away from Gloria Conover. I’ll
never
forget the look on Rhett’s face when she pointed to his apron and laughed at him.”

Aidan shook his head, and Lily felt like crying at the image he portrayed of the young Rhett Buchanan.

“But how did the girl fool Rhett if her ploys were so obvious to you?” she wanted to know. Had to know.

“Like I said, I came from old money. My family is disgustingly rich and quite jaded when it comes to the attentions of others. We can spot gold diggers a mile away. It’s a genetic trait in our case. Rhett had to learn to spot them and only learned well after he made his fortune.”

“Rhett thinks I’m a gold digger. He accused me of being one,” Lily said suddenly.

Aidan stared in open-mouthed shock. “You jest!”

“No, I’m not.”

“Well, then the boy still has a lot to learn.”

“He certainly does,” Lily agreed.

Aidan grabbed hold of her hand. “Then help me teach him a lesson. He deserves it if he called
you
a gold digger. Go to the barbecue with me. If you let Delia win, it’s like me letting Gloria Conover win all over again.”

Lily tugged her hand free. “What is it with you and Garrett?”

“So he’s helping, too, eh? I should’ve guessed that with me coming to BDC for a meeting the same day you’re here.”

Her turn to stare open-mouthed. “Do you think—”

“Absolutely.”

“But—”

“Garrett obviously thinks you belong with Rhett, too, and he owes Rhett big time. Just like me. Garrett would have been kicked out of Princeton if it hadn’t been for Rhett who hounded the guy day and night to study instead of partying. Because of Rhett, we both graduated with honors—Garrett from being hounded to death and me from competing against Rhett in everything. We both owe the guy, but for different reasons.”

He grinned. “So, what do you say?”

Lily thought of Delia’s nasty smirk as she tugged Rhett away from the lobby. Seeing her hang on Rhett like a fiancée had broken Lily’s heart all over again. What could it hurt? Maybe, just maybe she would finally get a chance to explain her innocent deception to Rhett at the barbecue.

She grinned. “I say okay. I’ll go to the barbecue with you.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up at three on Saturday. Where do you live by the way?”

She laughed and pointed at the Bloom & Grow sign on her truck. “At the nursery, where else?”

“No kidding?”

“There’s a cottage at the back of the property.”

She started to turn for her truck when Aidan stopped her again.

“One more thing, Lily.”

“What’s that?”

“Dress sexy. For Rhett
and
for me.” He laughed hard at her open-mouthed stare and watched her primly stalk back to the nursery truck.

“Rhett’s a fool to let her get away,” he muttered to himself.

His cell phone chimed, and when he checked the readout, he almost didn’t answer, but thought better of it. Keep your friends close and all that.

“Hello, Chester,” Aidan said into the phone. “I’m on my way upstairs. Tell Buchanan to cool his jets.”

“That’s not why I’m calling,” Armstead said on the other end. “I stepped out of the meeting for some privacy. I want to ask you about that parcel on the Intracoastal in Jupiter we talked about. I think the deal is doable if you’re still interested.”

“Hell yes! I’m interested,” Aidan said and grinned as he watched Lily climb into the truck.

“Well, don’t mention the deal when you come upstairs. I’m not offering that parcel to anyone but you.”

Chapter 11

Garrett and Tammy were huddled over a new plant order when Lily entered the nursery office several hours later. “Haven’t you had enough meddling yet today?”

“Holy cow! That scene at our office was really something,” Garrett said, sounding awed.

“I know,” she mused. “I couldn’t believe it either. Rhett didn’t yell this time.”

“That
holy cow
wasn’t because he didn’t yell,” Garrett told her. “Rhett’s crazy about you.”

Lily gaped at him. “Have you lost your mind? He hates me.” She clamped her teeth down on her lower lip when she felt it tremble.

“No, he doesn’t,” Garrett insisted. “He
flew
off that elevator and grabbed you. Saved you, I might add.”

“Some story,” Tammy piped in. “Garrett told me the whole thing.”

“Rhett didn’t know it was me,” Lily rationalized. “He would have saved anybody.”

Garrett eyed her in disbelief. “Maybe not when he snatched you from thin air, but one look at me standing there with the plant cart, and he knew exactly who he held in his arms. He didn’t exactly toss you to the side then, did he? He hung on. A long damn time.”

Lily wanted to scream at the little fizzle of hope Garrett’s words had created. “So what?”

“So what? You also didn’t see his face when he was holding you.”

She just stared and waited, and God help her, hoped.

“He wants you—
bad
—and it’s making him nuts.” Garrett grinned. “I love it.”

“Then why doesn’t he talk to me? Or call me?”

“Because he’s mad as hell at you.”

“Garrett, you’re confusing me.”

“Sweetheart, he fell for you and then found out you were after his money. That hurt him. A lot.”

“She was not after his money!” Tammy cried in outrage. “Lily wished Rhett was poor when Rob told her who he was.”

“I know that, but Rhett doesn’t. Every woman he ever dated was after his money, but they were up front about it. Even in college—when they thought he was a rich Princeton student and he wasn’t—they were after money. The girls in college didn’t know better. But when they found out he was penniless, they dropped him like a hot potato. That’s why he never got past the first or second date.”

“That’s so sad,” Lily whispered, remembering Aidan’s story about Gloria Conover. She had finally admitted the truth, admitted what her heart had known all along. She had fallen head over heels in love with Rhett Buchanan, probably at first sight, just like Hank had loved her mother.

“So you see,” Garrett continued. “Now he can’t trust women. He comes from a long line of money abuse.”

“What?” Both women stared at him.

He shrugged. “Money abuse. Never being loved for oneself. Tough to get over. And then
you
came along, Lily. You pretended to be someone else who didn’t care about his money.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I’m horrible. I know.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. You really
didn’t
care about his money, right?”

She frowned. “Of course not.”

“So everything’s okay.”

“You’re confusing me again, Garrett.”

“See if you
were
after his money and you pretended to be someone else, he would and should hate you. You’d be rotten, and I’d be all for him hating you. But you
don’t
want his money, and that makes you one of a kind. We just have to find a way to convince Rhett of that.”

“I don’t think you can,” she said glumly and dropped the purchase orders she carried onto Tammy’s desk.

“Oh, I don’t know. Tammy’s and my plan has worked perfectly so far.”

Her head snapped up to see Garrett’s eyes twinkle deviously. “What do you mean
your plan
?”

“After I saw the way Rhett reacted when he saw you with a date on Saturday night—and more importantly, with Cross on Saturday night—I decided he was more hurt than mad. Hurt we can work with, so Tammy and I decided to throw you two together again to see if I read things right at the gala or if it was a fluke.” He grinned at her. “The inspection on Monday and the way Rhett threw a fit over Dylan James mostly convinced me, but the delivery today made me certain I was right about him.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You and Tammy planned this whole plant delivery as part of a scheme?”

“Well, not the whole scenario. I knew Rhett was due back at the office for a meeting with Armstead and Cross this morning, and I’d hoped you two would run into each other. But I couldn’t have planned you tumbling off the ladder, though the situation worked out perfectly, and that told me everything I needed to know.”

“I refuse to be part of some experiment,” Lily said heatedly and turned for the back door.

Garrett grabbed her arm. “Tell me you didn’t feel anything when he held you today, and I’ll butt out.”

She felt her eyes filling again with tears. “I can’t.”

“Of course you can’t. I saw it on your face,
and
on his face.”

“It’s all too late.” Lily shook her head. “Rhett’s gone back to Delia.”

“No way! Delia’s been his for the having for years, and he’s never pursued a relationship with her.”

Lily frowned.

“I mean other than to take her out to parties or events when he needed a last-minute date.”

“I don’t believe that. The two of them looked serious to me today.”

“Trust me. I know what I’m talking about. In fact, I’ll bet my next truckload of thirty-foot clear-trunk
Phoenix dactyliferas
he’s not going to get serious over Delia. Just give me a little time.”

Garrett had already tricked her once today, and she didn’t intend to let it happen again. “And why are you at the nursery now? Up to more shenanigans?”

Both Tammy and Garrett grinned at her. “Buying plants, what else?” he said.

Her hands went to her hips. “Out with it. What are you two cooking up now?”

Tammy laughed. “Come on, Garrett. We have to tell her. We won’t be able to keep her in the dark on this one.”

His gaze darted back and forth between the girls. “You’re right. I’m here to buy annuals.”

Lily raised one authoritative brow.

“For Rhett’s annual Spring Fling barbecue this weekend.”

She remembered Delia mentioning centerpieces when she showed up at Rhett's office, and Lily's sadistic side forced her to ask, “Is Delia planning it for him like she did the cocktail party?”

At the chagrined look from Garrett, Lily felt her stomach twist into a painful knot. Rhett had indeed gone back to Delia.

“Don’t look like that. It doesn’t mean anything,” Garrett insisted. “Anyway, I have a plan.”

“It means everything!” Lily cried. “A man let’s his
girlfriend
plan his parties, not some on-again, off-again date.”

“He does if she’s one hell of a party planner,” Garrett argued, “and in this case, Delia is.” He stared intently. “I mean that. She’s a pro.”

Lily felt herself wavering. She couldn’t afford to get her hopes up again. Her relationship with Rhett was really over, and she had to face that fact.

“No, I blew it by being deceitful,” she insisted. “There are no second chances for me.”

“He really does have a plan, Lily. Listen to him,” Tammy pleaded. “It’s a good plan, even for a guy.” She winked at Garrett’s appalled expression.

Lily glanced between them. “What is this plan?”

She still wanted to bolt for her cottage and lock herself in for a good cry. The thought of Rhett holding Delia like he once held her was almost too much to bear.

“Forget about Rhett and Delia for a minute,” Tammy ordered, reading her mind. “Pay attention to Garrett.”

“You are going to design the most incredible annual display you’ve ever done,” he said confidently. “I have Rhett’s original landscape design and plot plan for the mansion right here for you to use. We’ll doll up the front
and
back. Wow the guests on the way in and knock their socks off when they go out back, like a stroll through Butchart’s Garden.”

“Isn’t that like poking the bear with a stick, putting more of my plants right under his nose?”

“I prefer to think of it as putting the
girl of his dreams
under his nose.”

Lily started shaking her head before he finished. “It won’t work. He’ll suspect and stop the whole thing.”

“No, he won’t,” Garrett argued, “and for two good reasons. One, he doesn’t know you grow annuals, and he doesn’t suspect the extent of your design capabilities. He’ll think the design was mine.” He grinned devilishly. “And I’ll be happy to reel in all the adoration of his guests under false pretenses. I’ll consider it my consulting fee.”

He waggled his eyebrows, and the girls laughed.

Lily’s smile immediately faded. “What is the other reason Rhett won’t suspect?”

“Two, the man is operating in a fog and won’t even realize what’s going on around him. He has been in a fog since the day he came over here to inspect trees that very first time, and his focus didn’t improve one bit when you two broke up.”

“Really?” Lily felt that sharp twinge of hope again, and if she was honest, a twinge of satisfaction that if she was miserable, maybe he was, too. She could hope, couldn’t she?

“Who’s paying for these annuals?” she suddenly asked.

“Who cares?” Garrett and Tammy cried in unison, and they both laughed.

“Okay, okay. The annuals are on me,” Garrett said.

“So how is this annual display going to help?” Lily asked.

“While Rhett may not notice what’s going on,” Garrett said soberly, “Delia won’t miss a thing. Party planning is her forte, and she is a perfectionist. When she sees all those gorgeous annuals going in, she is going to make sure everyone notices, even Rhett, and make sure everyone thinks they were her idea. She’s sees this shindig as her job interview with Rhett, so she wants no hitches.”

Lily gasped. “Job interview!”

“
Girlfriend interview
is probably a better term. That’s what
she
thinks,” Garrett quickly reassured her, “that’s not what Rhett thinks.”

“You hope,” Lily muttered glumly.

“I know,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. “You forget I’ve been his best friend since our freshman year in college.”

“Go on with your plan,” Tammy urged.

“When Delia shows off all the flower displays, people will start asking where they can get the same stock—it’s a given, Island people hate to be outdone—and she’ll have to direct them to me.” His devilish grin resurfaced. “I’ll be standing by with dozens of Bloom & Grow business cards to hand out and proclaiming loudly to any and all who are interested that you—Lily—provided the landscape designs.”

She frowned. “Why are you trying so hard to get us together?”

He let loose a long deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “Rhett has been looking out for me since our college days. If it wasn’t for him, I would have partied myself right out of school my freshman year. He made me study, helped me prepare for exams. I got good grades because of him, made something of myself because of him.”

So Aidan hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d told her Rhett had kept Garrett in school. And Rhett was totally unaware both men felt as though they each owed him a debt.

“Anyway, I promised myself after I graduated—when I got the chance—I’d save
him
some day.” He shrugged. “I’ve spent years waiting for the opportunity to return the favor, but he’s never needed me to save him until now.”

“I doubt Rhett would agree he needs saving.”

“Neither did I my freshman year, but a friend’s got to do what a friend’s got to do. That’s the thing about saving. You never know when you need it.”

“I don’t think I like this plan,” she said, wary again. “Your little sortie today didn’t exactly strike fires.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he said, grinning again. “You just leave everything to me. All I have to do is fix you up with a date and get you to the barbecue, so you can be the belle of the ball.”

“No way.” She turned and started for the door. “No fix ups. No blind dates.”

After his trickery today, Garrett didn’t deserve to know she had already accepted a date with Aidan to the barbecue. Besides, she wanted to leave the door open in case she changed her mind about going. Or chickened out at the last minute.

“I promise he won’t be blind.”

She whirled and pointed. “Not funny, Garrett.”

“Okay fine. I’ll push your plants on my own at the barbecue,” Garrett said, before Lily could turn for the door.

Garrett acquiesced so easily, Lily eyed him warily. Tammy eyed him, too. Obviously, she and he had expected a different outcome.

Fine
.
Serves the two of them right for meddling
.

“I’ll be happy knowing that every time Rhett turns around on Saturday afternoon, people will be talking about your flowers and your designs. He won’t be able to forget you with that many folks talking about you.”

Lily shrugged and smiled. “We can always use more business.”

Tammy cut in. “If you don’t go the barbecue, you may never get a chance to explain to Rhett the reasons for your deception, or at least convince him you’re no gold digger.”

That remark hit a little too close to home, and Aidan had used the same argument to get her to go. She
did
want a chance to defend herself.

“You do make a good point,” she allowed.

Tammy looked hopeful, and Garrett jumped on the opening. “So you’ll let me fix you up with a date for the barbecue?”

“Nah, I’ll just call Aidan Cross and ask
him
to take me,” she said and laughed at the incredulous look on both their faces.

Garrett said good-bye to Tammy, then went outside and climbed in his SUV, pulled out his cellphone, and dialed.