Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1) (17 page)

She didn’t care for the sound of that, and her brows lowered once more.

“Now don’t look like that. None of his women lasted more than a couple months.”

His women?

“I don’t have a claim on Rhett,” she retorted.

He arched both his brows at her.

“I don’t,” she repeated, “and you sure know an awful lot about his night life.”

“No, just his women.” Aidan grinned devilishly. “Stopped in a few of those ports of call myself, so I know.” He sobered. “Thing is, Lily, him still hanging around means there’s more to this than meets the eye.”

She turned away. “Doesn’t matter.”

He tilted her face back with his finger once more. “Oh, I think it does. I can tell from the look in your eyes. Question is, what are you going to do about it?”

Nervous under his scrutiny, she stepped back. “If you and Rhett are such big competitors, why are you trying to help him?”

Aidan gave a long resigned sigh. “I owe him for something that happened back in college.”

She tilted her head and waited for an explanation she wasn’t going to get.

“I’d love to help you if you’ll let me, Lily,” Aidan said softly. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll give up on Rhett and give me a chance.”

“There’s nothing to—” She started to protest, and he laid a silencing finger against her lips.

“I’ll be around,” he said with a wink, and Lily watched him disappear among the milling gala attendees.

Garrett was at her side moments later. “What were you doing with Aidan Cross?” he demanded abruptly. “You’re going to ruin all my plans.”

She whirled to face him. “What plans?”

He waved her off. “Never mind. Answer the question.”

“We were just talking.”

“Well, if you wanted to make Rhett crazy, that’s the way to do it. Now that I think about it, I wish I’d come up with the idea. I thought Rhett was going to have a heart attack when he looked over here and saw you with Aidan.”

“Yeah, but Rhett left early, and with Delia,” Lily said glumly.

He grinned. “Don’t you worry about Delia. Now that we know Rhett goes crazy at the sight of you with Aidan, I’ll have something to work with.”

“Garrett, I don’t want to be a part of any more shenanigans or deceptions involving Rhett.”

He winked at her. “Let me see what I can do.”

Chapter 8

“He’s on his way over. Should be there any minute.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Garrett,” Tammy said and pulled back the curtains on her office window on Monday afternoon to peer up the entrance drive. “No sign of him yet. Did you tell him to stop at the office first?”

“I didn’t tell him anything other than he needed to do this inspection. He’s been acting like a wounded grizzly bear ever since the charity gala Saturday night, and I’m trying to stay out of his way.”

“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”

Garrett’s chuckle came through the receiver. “Are you kidding me? This was a great idea. He can’t claim to forget Lily if he keeps running into her, now can he?”

“No, but he left the charity gala with his arm around Delia, which Lily mentioned six times during the evening.”

“Doesn’t mean a thing, I hope.”

“Aw Garrett, I don’t know.”

“Would you rather let everything fall apart, and they never see each other again?”

“No, but if it’s not meant to be . . .” Tammy dropped the curtains back in place.

“It’s meant to be. I’ve never seen the guy as happy as he was when he met Lily or as cantankerous as he’s been since leaving Lily. If that doesn’t mean something, I don’t know what does. Stick with me just a little while longer, Tammy.”

She sighed. “All right. I’ll be sure to get Lily to cover the inspection for me.”

“Good girl.” He clicked off.

She paged Lily out in the nursery and crossed her fingers. When Lily dialed in, Tammy blurted, “There’s an inspection staged in the laydown yard, and I have to run to Bob’s Feed and Seed to get some extra bags of potting soil, so I need you to cover for me.”

“Why don’t I go pick up the potting soil,” Lily posed calmly, “then you can do your inspection.”

“Because I have a signature card at Bob’s, and I’m authorized to sign for the soil. You’d need to get a purchase order and a check, and that takes too long.” Tammy held her breath.

“Oh, all right. Who is it?”

Oh crap! I knew this wouldn’t work.

“Um, for an office complex in Delray Beach. I don’t have the name handy, just wing it.”

“Wing it?”

“Come on, Lil, you used to do all the inspections. You and Hank.”

“Fine. Go get your potting soil.”

Tammy clicked off, and Lily placed the house phone back in the cradle on the shadehouse wall. She stared at the receiver for a moment. Something seemed off about this inspection. She picked the phone back up and dialed Rob at the annuals greenhouse where he had scraped cuttings all morning.

“Whatcha need, Lil?” he answered.

“It’s not what I need, Rob. Did you run out of potting soil?”

“Huh? Are you kidding me? We buy soil by the truckload.”

“And you didn’t send Tammy to Bob’s Feed and Seed this afternoon for extra bags to tide us over?”

“I might if I was between loads,” he said warily, “but I just got a shipment last week. What’s going on?”

“I think Tammy’s setting me up. She asked me to do her inspection in a few minutes while she ran to Bob’s for potting soil.”

“That’s a set up all right. Who’s the customer?” Rob asked.

“She said some office complex in Delray Beach.”

“Delray, my ass,” he scoffed. “I helped pull that order. That’s Garrett Tucker’s order.”

Lily gasped. “If that’s Garrett’s order, then protocol will have Buchanan doing the inspection.”

“Unless he’s too chicken to show.”

Would he be? No, his pride would force him here to prove she didn’t matter to him.

“He’ll show,” she said dully.

“Want me to do the inspection?” he offered.

“Of course I do, but then I’ll be the chicken, and I’ll look like I let him hurt me. I’d rather die first. Besides, you might hit him.”

“That does sound like a good idea.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

Rob fell silent for a moment. “You sure you want to do this?”

“What choice do I have? I can’t let him think he won.”

“How about I keep an eye on you from a distance? If you give the ear-tug sign, I’ll tag along or take over, whatever you want. And when the inspection’s over, we’ll both kill Tammy.”

She smiled. “That’ll work.”

Rhett wheeled his Navigator into the Bloom & Grow parking lot, determined to get the inspection over as quickly as possible. Damn Garrett had bet him ten bucks he was too chicken to come do this inspection.
Chicken, my ass
. That was ten bucks Rhett intended to win. Garrett said he was to meet Tammy to check the plants. Maybe he wouldn’t even see Lily. The thought didn’t improve his mood. Hell, he’d been in a bad mood all week. His mind had been replaying the image of Cross whispering in Lily’s ear—and her smiling about it!—ever since the charity gala Saturday night. He kept hearing the bastard ask her to go someplace quiet so he could get to know her. Had she gone?

He dragged a hand through his hair and got out, keyed the remote, and gave his collar a jerk.

No problem. Get in, get out, and get on with your life.

He strode up the steps to the office porch and through the open doorway. The office was deserted. He stared at the empty chair by the desk and could see Lily in her little yellow sundress.

Dammit! Do not forget she lied to you.

He remembered where the laydown yard was and decided to hustle down there to get the whole ordeal over. If no one was there, he’d make a quick check of the plant material, grab the nearest nursery worker and give him or her a message to prove he had performed the stupid inspection, and then get in his car and leave. And he absolutely
detested
the fact his stomach had balled up in a tightly wound knot.

Back out on the porch, he glanced around for the golf cart and came up empty. Tammy must have taken the cart to the laydown yard. He took one last sweeping glance over the field at the front of the nursery and spied only container stock. He told himself he was searching for Tammy and not a blue-eyed beauty.

Get in, get out, and get back to your office
.

He stepped off the porch and jogged toward the laydown yard, his long strides swiftly eating up the distance, and he let loose a sigh of relief when he found the area deserted. He scanned the rows of containers and realized, as always, Garrett had made excellent choices. Even he could tell that. The lined-up trees and shrubs would doll up the Delray complex exactly as Rhett had envisioned when he purchased the place. He would make a quick walk down each row and be done.

His right brain, however, had other plans. As he moved toward the shrub containers in the outside row, images flashed in his head. Memories invaded—memories of another day, another inspection, and a beautiful blue-eyed girl with hair like spun silk.

“I see you’re right on time,
Mr. Buchanan
.”

Rhett stilled at the familiar female voice behind him and wondered for a brief moment if he had been set up.

“Tammy had to make an emergency run to Bob’s Feed and Seed to pick up some bags of potting soil and asked me to cover her inspection. She’s the only one on file at the store who is able to sign for the nursery. She had to go.”

The lengthy explanation meant Lily didn’t want to be here anymore than he did.

So be it.

The nervous knot unwound a bit. He turned to face her. Dammit, why did the sight of her still make his heart speed up? He clenched his jaw as though that would help.

It didn’t.

“Not a good way to run an operation this size,” he said flatly. “You’ll want a second signature on file for emergencies.”

Her blue eyes flared.
Good
. At least now, they’d gotten off on the right foot, or even footing. At least, he had. There would be no mention of their past with both of them squared off in their respective corners.

“I’m perfectly capable of running my nursery,
Mr. Buchanan
.”

He gave her a deferential nod. “And quite capable of securing new business any way you can.”

Okay, that was nasty. Why was he acting like this? He could be professional. He often operated in contentious situations and always remained calm. Why was he striking back at her?

Because he still hurt. Dammit.

Lily scowled or rather tried. That beautiful face could never accomplish more than a mild grimace, and he resiliently fought off a stab of regret.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, her tone like ice.

He casually shrugged. “Just a passing comment.”

Time to redirect. He still had an inspection to finish, and he didn’t want to have to come back. Better not run her off just yet, especially when his right brain still wanted to stare at her.

Her eyes narrowed. “Shall we get this inspection over with,
Mr. Buchanan
?”

That was the third sarcastic
Mr. Buchanan
in as many minutes and one too many for his liking.

“Mr. Buchanan?” he imitated. “Is that supposed to hurt me, Lily? You not calling me Rhett? I can assure you it doesn’t. I feel nothing at all.”

Okay, really nasty and that wasn’t even true. He suffered an immediate pang of conscience, when he delivered that last verbal parry, and she looked like he’d slapped her. Did the guilt come from hurting her feelings or because he’d just lied to her?

“Look, Lily, you may as well call me Rhett. Since Garrett Tucker has such an affinity for your nursery, I doubt this will be my last inspection.”

Her baby-blues fired again. Stronger this time. Why did his gut wrench?

“We now have a business relationship,
Mr. Buchanan
, and you may call me
Ms. Foster
.”

Why, instead of riling
her
as he had intended, did
he
feel so riled? Why did he hate the sound of
we now have a
business relationship
?

Her nostrils flared, and her cheeks flushed a rosy pink as her irritation bloomed to outright anger. The combination sent a stab of lust to his groin strong enough to steal his breath, and he felt an overwhelming urge to plunder that sensuous little mouth, now pulled tight with fury.

She betrayed you
, his mind warned,
and she’s obviously not sorry about that fact. Get in, get out, and get on with your life
.
Remember? Or at least get back to your office where it’s safe.

He took in a long, slow breath. “Fine, Ms. Foster. Why don’t we conduct this sham of an inspection, so we can both get back to our own jobs?”

With that, he had just lit the fuse. Had that been his intention? She stepped forward and held up a hand.

“Just one minute,
Mr. Buchanan
. This inspection is important and is company policy for all purchases—and I repeat,
all
purchases—of plant stock that include individual containers selected by personnel other than the actual owner.”

She was so close he could smell her hair, a mixed scent of honeysuckle and soap. He felt a ridiculous urge to step closer and bury his nose in her silky tresses.

“This is our only means of protecting the plant material we work so hard to grow,” she added testily, “by ensuring the owner knows what’s involved in proper maintenance.”

“Garrett’s given me that same speech twice,
Ms. Foster
. So, if you please…” He motioned her toward the end of the first row. “Why don’t we begin?”

Why was he being such an asshole? He’d blown her off. He could be civil and professional now. Or could he?

She turned in a huff and stomped to the first group of
Chorisia
trees and began a soliloquy on native home range mixed with temperature needs, light requirements, watering schedules, and finally cold tolerance. The only reason he knew they were
Chorisia
trees was from the little tag stuck in the soil at the base of the tree.

She repeated her performance with the adjacent pygmy date palms and each change of species as they progressed down the first row of containers, past the now-familiar
Helliconia
and
Callistemon
and back up the second row to end at the austere
Bismarchia
palms.

Rhett followed along like a recalcitrant schoolboy and paid no mind whatsoever to the abbreviated horticulture lesson he verbally received.

Instead, his mind filled with questions, or really the same question considered a dozen different ways. Lily’s horticulture knowledge amazed him, and she was obviously a consummate professional to take such detail with all her plant shipments. So why would she bother to betray
him
of all people? She had a healthy business here and happy employees who obviously thought a lot of her, so why risk all this to pull a fast one on Rhett Buchanan?

If he wanted, he could destroy her business just because he could. She had to know that. She was bound to get caught in her lie eventually—they both obviously knew too many people in Jupiter—so why perpetuate the risk and continue the betrayal as long as she had?

Lost in thought, he didn’t see Lily stop to pick a bug off a palm frond, and he walked right into the back of her and almost bowled her over. Bent almost in half with his torso folded over her back, he wrapped his arms around her middle to keep them from tumbling over and felt an electrified sizzle from his chest to the Cole Haans on his feet. Another unfortunate stab of lust tightened his groin to a painful pitch.

He straightened to pull them both upright and mumbled, “I’m sorry,” into her silken tresses where he could finally bury his nose. He felt a smile start to form.

Honeysuckle and soap all right
.

She twisted in his arms and stared up at him, eyes wide and unblinking, offering no hint at her thoughts. He had no time for concern with her thoughts. He struggled with his own single-minded pressure.