The Player (36 page)

Neil’s smile fell. “You can’t promise me that. It’s not yours to give.”

Garrett took a step toward him. “Nana told me she’s giving me the farm. The entire thing.”

“She’s giving it to
you?
” He spat in disgust
.
“I
knew
it.”

Garrett held up his hands. “But I’ll give it to you. Everything except the land with the house and the barn.”

Neil’s eyes narrowed. “You would give all that up for
her?
”

Garrett took a breath, trying to hide his relief that Neil was listening. “I’m in the process of having a contract drawn up.”

Neil studied him for a moment, then laughed. “That’s a good one. You think I’m going to fall for this bullshit?”

“It’s not bullshit. My friend is working on it now.”

“How
convenient
that it’s not ready yet. You think I’m just going to cancel the wedding on your word?”

“I’m telling you the truth, Neil.”

Confusion clouded his eyes. “You’d really give up millions to keep her?”

Garrett shot him a glare of contempt. “I would ask ‘wouldn’t you?’ but the fact we’re still discussing it speaks for itself.”

Neil rubbed his forehead, then looked up at Garrett, an ugly smile spreading across his face. “Okay. I’ll do it. But . . .” He paused for long enough for hope to bloom in Garrett’s heart. “You can’t have her either.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“If you can produce a contract before my wedding, I’ll sign and call it off. But you have to agree you won’t pursue her. The two of you are over.”

Garrett shook his head in disgust. “You idiot, I can’t put something like that in a contract.”

“I know.” He waved off the issue. “But you can prevent me from releasing indiscreet photos of Blair that could cost her not only this job, but kill her career.”

The blood rushed from Garrett’s head. “What photos?”

Neil smiled, but evil filled his eyes. “I have a tape and photos of Blair. Having sex. I’m sure she would hate to have those get out.”

Horror washed over Garrett. He could barely stand the thought of them having sex, let alone having it recorded for anyone to see. “Blair agreed to film a
sex tape?
”

Neil laughed. “Agreed? God no. But it shows her in several very compromising situations. And it’s
very
clear it’s her.”

Garrett shook his head, still in shock. “You would do that to her?”

“I can’t believe you have to ask me that, cousin. You really
don
’
t
know me.” He laughed. “But don’t worry. This setup.” His hand waved a circle around the room. “This pretty much makes sure you don’t stand a chance, but just in case . . . I have my insurance.”

“You really are a prick,” he spat in disgust.

Neil smirked. “Tell you what. I’m going to continue with the plan as it stands. But if you show up with a contract before I say I do, you have a deal.”

“You’re presuming Blair will still marry you.”

He grinned. “She will. Now that she’s lost you, her job is the only thing she has left.” Neil spun around and walked down the hall. “See you at the wedding.”

Blair stood in the lobby of Garrett’s hotel, trying to piece everything together. There was no denying there had been a half-naked woman in Garrett’s room. And there was no denying the horrified look in his eyes. The real question was who was Layla and why was she there?

And then there was the inexplicable fact that Neil really expected her to still marry him. Why was he acting so calm and rational? She’d be furious in his shoes, and she didn’t even love him. He claimed to love her, and yet he was acting like sleeping with his cousin was a crime on par with purchasing the wrong toilet paper brand.

But something else was nagging her, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

She replayed their conversation in the bakery . . . and then it struck her like a bag full of bricks.

“Blair.” Neil called her name from across the lobby. She turned to face him, newly amazed by how collected he seemed after the ugly scene upstairs. But that’s what she’d wanted, right? Someone calm and rational.

Neil stopped in front of her and gently put his hand on her arm. “Are you okay, darling? I know that had to be humiliating.”

She cringed. “You have no idea.”

His face softened. “I meant what I said, Blair. I still want to marry you. I love you enough to overlook all of this.”

She shook her head. “I just don’t see how you can feel that way.”

“I’m not like you.”

“Thank God for that, right?” she asked dryly.

He placed a kiss on her mouth. “We’ll go through with the wedding to save your job. Then we’ll sort everything else out later. Okay?”

“That’s right, we’re going to save my job.” It was all she had left. Her gaze narrowed. “I want you to propose to me again.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“I’ve heard another man’s proposal and accepted it since last night, Neil. You need to propose again.”

“Okay . . .” He took her hand in his. “Blair Hansen, you are perfect for me. Will you marry me?”

She smiled and took her hand from his. “I’ll see you at the wedding.” Then she turned and started for the door.

“But you don’t have your car. Don’t you want me to take you home?”

She looked back at him. “No. I have so much to do to prepare for the wedding. I want everything to be
perfect.
”

Garrett Lowry was a desperate man. He’d spent an hour repeatedly calling and texting Blair until Megan finally answered and told him that Blair had never picked up her purse. She still didn’t have her phone.

The rest of the day was spent trying to get the contract for Neil put together, emailing documents back and forth between a law school friend who was a practicing estate law attorney in Missouri. But his heart was in his throat when he asked Nana to meet him in the hotel bar.

He sat at a table, nervously tapping his pen on the file sitting in front of him on the bistro table. As he watched her approach, hobbling toward him with her cane, he realized Neil might get his inheritance sooner than Garrett would like, and not just because he didn’t want his cousin to have possession. She was walking slower than ever. She had more wrinkles, and her eyes were deeper set than usual. She looked older than her years, and it scared him.

When she neared the table, he stood to help her with her seat, and she waved him off. “The day I can’t sit my ass in a chair is the day I’m checking into Sunnybrook Retirement Home.”

“I already told you I wouldn’t let that happen, Nana.”

She eased herself onto the chair and looked up at him as he sat across from her. “What are you going to do about it? Put me in your fancy California apartment?”

He shrugged. “I could move in with you.”

She laughed. “Claiming your inheritance before my body’s even cold.”

His eyes flew open. “No, Nana! I—”

She laughed again. “Relax, boy. I’m teasing ya. That’s not your style.” She shifted around in her chair, leaning her hand on her cane. “But from the way you look, I presume there’s still a wedding today.”

He sighed. “It’s a long story, but basically Neil tricked Blair into thinking I was about to sleep with another woman after she and I . . . had already gotten back together. She went to break things off with Neil, and he sent his girlfriend to my hotel room. She started stripping . . .”

“And Blair showed up?”

“Yeah, with Neil.”

“Aww . . . and he made sure to paint you as the devil incarnate.”

He didn’t respond. The answer was obvious.

“So did you invite me here to lick your wounds for ya? ’Cause you know that’s not
my
style.”

“No, Nana.” He swallowed. Jesus, this was hard. “I want to ask you for a favor.”

“Go on.”

“Neil is willing to be bought off.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“He’s agreed not to marry Blair if I’ll give him something in return.”

Sadness filled her eyes. “So you give him my land in exchange for canceling the wedding.”

He nodded, part of him dying inside.

“I thought that girl had some sense in her head. Why can’t she just tell him no?”

“She doesn’t know he’s been cheating on her.”

“Well, why not?”

“Uh . . .” he stammered. “It would hurt her. Badly. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.”

“The girl I met at that spectacle of a wedding shower was no wilting flower. She’s made of sterner stuff. She’s not going to fall to pieces if she finds out, so what were you thinking?”

She was right. God, he was an idiot. Ever since he’d found out, he’d danced with the idea of telling her, but the time had never seemed right, and he’d never managed to force out the words. “Obviously, I wasn’t.”

“So tell her before the wedding and be done with it. If she chooses to marry the fool, let her accept the consequences.”

“That’s not all, Nana. He has something else up his sleeve.”

“What?”

He grimaced. He hated to even think about Blair having sex with Neil, so the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it.

“Out with it, boy.”

“He has photos of them . . . in bed. He says he’ll make them public.”

“Sex photos?” She shook her head and gave him a look of disgust. “You kids these days. No sense whatsoever.” She put her hand on the table. “If she chose to take dirty pictures, then she shouldn’t be ashamed of ’em. Let her accept the consequences of that too.”

“That’s just it, Nana. She didn’t approve of the photos. She doesn’t even know they exist, and they could destroy her career.”

“So Neil is threatening to release them unless you sign over your inheritance?”

“Once he realized how far I was willing to go, yeah.”

Her eyes were blazing. “I take it you need me to sign something to make this nice and legal.”

He cringed. “Yes, ma’am.”

She sighed, looking even older. “Well, where is it?”

He slid the paper out from the file. What was he doing? He was asking his grandmother to sign her life’s work away to his maniacal cousin. And this was all his fault, because he was the one who’d spilled the beans about getting it all and setting the wheels in motion. “The document says I’m going to inherit everything except the house and the barn.”

“I told you that you’re going to get it all.”

“It’s safer this way. Give it to Kelsey. Then Neil has no chance at it.”

She peered into his face for a long moment, her gaze as penetrating and sharp as ever. “You’re really willing to give up everything for this woman?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll do anything to protect her. Even if she never forgives me.”

She picked up the paper and ripped it into two.

“Nana!”

“I raised ya right, despite your mother’s influence. We’re going to make this right, but we’re not about to reward that ferret for his bad behavior. You’re going about it all wrong, boy. Time to draw up a new set of papers.”

He looked down at his phone, and his heart started racing. It was already three o’clock, and the wedding was at five. “I don’t know if there’s time.”

“You just get the papers and show up at the church. We’ll deal with the rest there.”

“And what will these new papers say?”

She grinned. “It’s time you learned from the master.”