Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1) (24 page)

“Hey, Garrett,” Aidan Cross answered on the second ring. “What’s up? There’s not a problem with that Ponte Vedra trade, is there?”

“No. No. Nothing like that. I was just calling to see if you’ll be at the barbecue on Saturday.”

A long silence ensued.

“Aidan?”

“I wasn’t sure I was still invited after that little altercation with Rhett at your office today.”

“Hell yes, you’re invited. Rhett hasn’t been himself lately.”

“I could see that.”

“Listen, if you don’t have a date for the barbecue—”

Aidan cut him off, “Oh, I have a date.”

Garrett’s shoulders drooped. He should have known.

“Why do you care?” Aidan wanted to know.

“I just… Well, I thought of someone you might want to take, that’s all.”

Aidan started to laugh. “You wanted to set me up?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“The day I need
you
to set me up, Tucker, is the day I quit dating.”

“Very funny. Who are you taking?”

“I'll ask again. Why do you care?”

Garrett let out a disgusted exhale. “Forget it. I
don’t
give a shit.”

Aidan laughed again. “Take it easy, princess. I’m taking Lily Foster to the barbecue.”

Garrett gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. “Say that again?”

“You heard me.”

“Man, that’s perfect! That fits right into my plans.”

“What plans? What are you up to?”

“I got a hundred bucks says you can’t make Rhett jealous at the barbecue.”

“That’s pretty stiff money for you, Mr.
I’ll-bet-on-anything
,” Aidan teased.

“Is it a bet or not?”

“Considering that was my plan in the first place, it’s a bet.”

“You
wanted
to make Rhett jealous?” Garrett asked, incredulous. “Why? Sheer meanness?”

“No, asshole. It’s obvious Rhett’s got a thing for Lily, and she’s got one for him. I owe him—back from our college days.”

“Yeah, we both did better at Princeton because of Rhett,” Garrett said and noticed Aidan didn’t agree.

He did say, “Besides, I love taking your money, Garrett.”

“Hot damn, then a bet it is!” Garrett did a fist pump. “And it’s usually
me
taking
your
money, Aidan.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, but Garrett could hear the smile in his voice.

“Tell me something, Mr. Bet-insky,” Aidan said, suddenly sounding serious. “Why is it you’re the first one to bet on anything, but I couldn’t get you to play the casino tables or slots with me when we went on that golf junket to Vegas last winter?”

“I just like calculating odds on everyday life,” Garrett tried.

“Right, and I’m Santa Claus. Try again, Garrett. This is Aidan, whom you can’t fool, and I know you go to Vegas all the time.”

Garrett rubbed at his eyes with a thumb and forefinger, sorry the conversation had steered in this direction.

“What? You just don’t like gambling with
me
?”

Garrett sighed. Aidan had been his friend since college. He didn’t want to hurt the guy’s feelings. “My grandfather lives in Vegas. When I’m there, I visit with him.”

“The grandfather that used to spring you from boarding school for the summers and would show up at Princeton to get you at the end of spring semester?”

“That’s the one. The only grandfather I have.”

“No kidding. Why didn’t you say so? I’d have gone with you to visit him,” Aidan offered.

“He’s not doing too well. Doesn’t like company.”

“Damn. Anything I can do?”

Aidan was good man and a good friend. He didn’t ask that question to be polite. He meant it. He really wanted to help.

“Yeah, you can win that bet on Saturday. That’s a hundred bucks I’d really like to lose.”

“You’re on,” Aidan said and was still laughing when he clicked off.

Garrett smiled. Lily Foster had pulled a fast one, the little stinker. She already had a date with Aidan when she had shocked him and Tammy by threatening to call him.

Saturday was going be fun to watch.

Chapter 12

Garrett convinced Rhett his mansion would be a madhouse of preparations on Saturday, and he should spend the morning in his office, then arrive back just in time for the barbecue since Delia would take care of everything for him. Rhett hated fussy caterers and party planners underfoot, so Garrett didn’t have to try very hard.

The Bloom & Grow crew was due at the mansion at eleven, and all Garrett had to do was keep Delia out of their hair. He couldn’t risk the witch calling Rhett, or she would blow the whole plan sky-high. He had a good feeling about his plan as he strode down the path along the south side of the mansion. This scheme of his was going to work. If Lily did her part.

She had been plenty steamed about the debacle at BDC, but it was just one more chink in Rhett’s armor. Garrett fought back a grin, remembering the fury on Rhett’s face when he realized Aidan was down on the third floor with Lily that morning at BDC. No way had his friend stopped caring about her.

Garrett suspected Lily was more steamed about Delia showing up at BDC and doing her possessive girlfriend routine anyway. He’d had a hell of a time convincing Lily that Rhett wasn’t in love with Delia and Garrett’s annuals plan could actually work. Lily showing up today with Aidan Cross would seal the deal, or blow it sky-high. Now all he needed was a couple more chinks in Rhett’s armor, and the hole would be big enough to push Lily through.

Aidan Cross would provide one hell of a chink. Garrett’s work would be done, and all Rhett’s past favors repaid in one fell swoop.

He swiftly marked the landscape beds with colored flags according to Lily’s design. The woman could have been a landscape architect with her eye for spacing and switching bedding plant variety to coordinate with the evergreens and variegated shrubs in Rhett’s landscaping. The installation work would go quickly. He would have the nursery crew bury the annuals in the gardens, pot and all, then tomorrow the crew would return to pull out the pots and take them down to Garrett’s Boca job to install for the finish work there.

He smiled. Waste not. Want not.

“What are you grinning so smugly for, Garrett?” Delia asked, marching across the terrace. “Rhett said you’d be out here getting his flowers planted for the barbecue.”

“That’s right.” He stuck the last flag in the bed he’d laid out next to the terrace steps and turned to face her. “Shouldn’t you be going home and getting ready?” He couldn’t let her see the Bloom & Grow truck when it arrived.

“I’m going in just a few minutes.” She put her hands on her hips. “You better not be up to anything today,” she said, her voice turning sharp.

He played his innocent routine again. “What are you talking about?”

“Why was that
girl
at BDC last week? Rhett said you bought interior plants from her.”

“That’s right.”

She pointed her perfectly manicured finger at him. “You keep her away from Rhett or else. He’s mine.” Her eyes glittered dangerously.

“Why, Delia, are you threatening me?” he asked softly.

“You bet your ass I am. I worked too hard to get Rhett back, and I won’t give him up again. Don’t think I won’t or can’t make trouble for you, mister.”

“I don’t doubt at all that you’d
try
.”

“Good.” She smirked. “Now that we understand each other.” She spun on her expensive Italian sandals and clacked her way inside.

“The hell we do,” Garrett muttered under his breath and reached for another handful of flags. He didn’t care for Delia on a good day.

Twenty minutes later, Rob and his planting crew arrived. Without Lily.

“What do you mean you left her?” Garrett demanded. “I thought she was supervising.”

Rob shook his head. “We know what to do, and she didn’t want to risk running into Buchanan before the party. Said to tell you she’d see you at the barbecue.”

Garrett perked up. “So she’s still coming with Aidan?”

“Looks like.” Rob frowned. “But I don’t mind saying, I don’t like this.”

“You don’t want her coming to the barbecue, or you don’t like her going out with Aidan?”

“Both,” Rob grunted.

“Can’t be helped.”

An hour later, Garrett went inside to grab a shower and change his clothes in one of Rhett’s guest rooms. The Spring Fling barbecue started in one hour. He dialed Tammy.

“Lily will be there. Quit worrying,” Tammy told him. “Aidan is due here to pick her up in a half hour.

“Easy for you to say,” he muttered into the phone. “If my scheme doesn’t work out, I could be out a best friend
and
a job. When are you going to get here?”

“That’s the bad news.”

“What?”

“One of our biggest customers just called and wants to pick out a truckload of trees, and he needs them today.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Sorry. But I’ll want a full report when the barbecue’s over. How does the place look?”

“Fantastic.”

“Well, good luck and don’t let anything happen to Lily.”

“I won’t,” he said and clicked off.

He glanced back at the terrace. Lily’s floral designs did look fantastic, and the nursery installation crew had performed miracles in no time at all. He had been right about Bloom & Grow, and he loved congratulating himself. The terrace and backyard pathways were awash with color from buried pots of annuals.

Rob had the idea to pyramid-stack pots of annuals in the shape of trees, and he brought along multi-variety hanging baskets for the terrace. Vinca, impatiens, salvia, portulaca, garden mums, and gerbera daisies painted the landscape with a vivid palette of color. Lily had left nothing out, and Rhett’s barbecue guests would go crazy over the show.

Maybe, just maybe, this crazy scheme of his would work.

Rhett noticed Delia’s Jaguar behind him when he pulled into his driveway. At least she couldn’t complain if she was as late as him. He had been pleased to see the riot of color lining his driveway, so at least Garrett was on top of things, but then he always was.

This whole mess with Lily Foster had made Rhett second-guess his best friend, something he had never done in his life. Garrett knew how Rhett felt about Lily, yet she kept ending up in Rhett’s path. It seemed so intentional. He shook his head. He was just overly sensitive where Lily Foster was concerned. Guys didn’t play matchmaker and certainly not Garrett. Hell, the man had dated some of Rhett’s former model girlfriends—and with his blessing. Still, the coincidental run-ins with Lily Foster had seemed so contrived.

Yet for a split second that morning last week when he grabbed Lily off the tumbling ladder, he had reconsidered taking up with her again, only this time without any heartstrings, now that he knew she was like all the other women in his life. He had squashed the idea almost as soon as it had popped into his head, but Lily had felt so different in his arms. Hard to ignore a feeling like that.

Even after discovering her real motives, he had been amazed he still felt that way when he held Lily close. A feeling he could only describe as a sense of belonging in his arms, of coming home. He shook his head in consternation. That strange tug and pull started up near his heart again. He rubbed his chest over the spot.

Holding Lily in his arms that day had set off an explosion of desire that rocked his frame. No woman had ever . . .

He growled at the image, then jerked open the door of his Navigator and unfolded his long frame as Delia approached.

“Why the scowl, handsome?” she asked, using what she liked to call her Mae West voice. “There’s a party going on.”

She rubbed her palm lightly across his chest and dallied her fingertips right where she guessed his nipple to be. She guessed right, and Rhett felt the skin pull taut.

“No scowl,” he said and tried unsuccessfully for the mood she wished to create.

Ever since he’d booted Lily out of this house, he had tried to dredge up a shred of desire or lust for even one of his old girlfriends. And failed. Even with Delia, who had once guaranteed an earthy lust, he had failed miserably.

“Just wondering why you’re so late,” he added.

She jerked back indignantly. “
I’m
late? I pulled in behind
you
.” She tossed her hair back over her shoulders. “And besides, I was here all morning.”

He felt a wave of relief. He sure as hell didn’t have time to get the place ready. He had been hesitant to accept her offer to prepare for the barbecue, knowing he had to let her keep his key for now, which would give her unlimited snooping time. But he didn’t really have anything secret here at the house, and he had no idea how to get ready for a party. As it was, he had a half-hour to change and little time for anything after that. He’d get his locks changed later.

“The caterers?”

“Here and all set up,” she said and eased back close.  

“Looks like Garrett did the flowers.”

She paused and made a face. “He’s been underfoot all morning.”

“Good. Does the back look as great as the front?”

She shrugged. “I suppose. You need to find a new best friend, Rhett. Garrett’s irritating.”

He frowned. “Irritating? How?”

She threw up her hands. “In every way. And he’ll try to break us up, just like he always does.”

Rhett had wondered how long it would take Delia to sing this old song. She and Garrett had never gotten along.

He sighed. “Well, you better get used to him because he’s sticking around. Let’s get inside. I need to shower and change.”

He started for the back door and realized she wasn’t beside him. Impatient, he stopped and turned. “What?”

She made a rather unladylike noise. “You didn’t say one word about the way I look.”

He gave her green dress a quick once over—tight and short as usual, well above her knees. He checked her shoes. Green sandals. “You look nice,” he said and turned for the back door.

“That’s it?”

He glanced back. Her hands had gone to her hips.

“Okay, you look great.” She opened her mouth to say something, and he added, “And I’m going in.” Which he did without stopping.

Lily battled back a severe case of nerves as she stepped through the entrance arbor at the side of the mansion with Aidan Cross and out onto Rhett’s terrace for the first time since Rhett had ordered her off his property. Garrett’s newest stunt had disaster written all over it.

Aidan’s firm hand at her back pressed her forward. He no doubt felt her hesitation. “You can do this, Lily,” he murmured low enough only she could hear.

She took a deep breath. “I’m not so sure. What if Rhett causes a scene?”

“I doubt he’d do that. Too many clients here today by the looks of it.”

“Really?” She entertained a sprig of hope.

“It’s Delia you’ll have to worry about. Avoid her if possible.”

Her hope dissipated.

“She won’t have any compunctions about making a scene,” he added.

“You’re making me feel so much better,” she said dryly.

She kept her eyes straight ahead, not daring to glance around and risk eye contact yet with Rhett. No telling what the man would do when he saw her, no matter what Aidan thought. Lily on the other hand could always bolt, just like she had on her very first date with Rhett.

“Don’t worry,” Aidan whispered in her ear, “I’ll keep an eye out and protect you. I’ll even try to maneuver you into a position to get a few minutes alone with Rhett. If you’re still sure that’s what you want.”

“I’m second guessing myself now. Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Now come on, Lily. You wanted a chance to explain, and this may be your last opportunity.”

He guided her to a quiet spot at the far edge of the terrace near the garden. “This looks like a safe spot to leave you while I go get us a couple drinks.”

“Leave?” She grabbed his arm.

“Why are you so jumpy?”

“Rhett threw me out the last time I was here.”

He gave her a wry smile. “Don’t you think that’s a bit of an exaggeration? I’ve never known Rhett to be overly forceful with women.”

“He tossed my plants all over the terrace and threw my palms in the pool.”

Aidan gaped at her.

“Well? What do you have to say now?”

“Maybe you have a right to be a tad nervous, but I have to say—” He rubbed his hands together. “—this is going to be fun.”

Before she could form a retort, he patted her shoulder and headed for the portable bar set up near the pool.

Lily suddenly felt very alone and cast several furtive glances about the expansive terrace. A dozen clusters of guests milled about the large pool. Others talked and laughed in groups about the terrace. There was enough noise spilling from the open French doors to indicate a goodly number of guests had remained inside the mansion.

What was taking Aidan so long? She could use a fortifying glass of wine. This had been a colossally bad idea and regret had been a step late. All she could do now was tough it out and head for home at the first opportunity.

Her gaze scanned the crowd between the bar and her spot at the edge of the garden, searching for Aidan. Instead, her gaze found Rhett.

He was turned away, speaking to one of his guests. She couldn’t manage to pull her gaze away. He looked so handsome in dark trousers and a pale green polo shirt that hugged his thick biceps. She pulled in a halting breath when he suddenly turned and stared right at her!