The Player (8 page)

There was no mistaking the fact that he didn’t sound happy about it. She wasn’t sure what to make of that, or of her own elation over the possibility that he might still care for her.

She couldn’t trust Garrett Lowry, and she could deal with that. What she
couldn
’
t
handle was that she apparently couldn’t trust herself around him. Garrett was bad news, and she needed to steer clear of the man, or she was likely to be susceptible to falling for his charms. She’d fallen for him once; she couldn’t afford to do it again. She’d never survive it. But as she stared at him now, an undeniable feeling of longing rose up within her, and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to stay away from him.

She needed a drink. And quick.

But Neil must have picked up on something too, because Garrett had Neil’s attention now. Neil stood and wrapped an arm possessively around her waist. “You know Blair?”

One of the great things about Neil was that he didn’t pry about her past. Early on, they’d agreed never to talk much about exes, and they’d both stuck to that rule, only exchanging basic information. She planned to keep it that way. “
Mr. Lowry
is the opposing counsel on the case I had depositions for today.”

“So you’re adversaries?” Neil asked, looking down at her for confirmation. Then he placed a quick kiss on her mouth. “That’s my girl.”

“I wouldn’t say adversaries,” Garrett said smoothly, his voice oozing with charm. “More like we have opposing views.”

“Semantics.” Neil waved his hand. “And I thought the only reason you were here was because Nana Ruby forced you to come.”

Garrett’s back stiffened. “When my firm found out I was going to be in town anyway, they reassigned the case to me.” He gave Blair an appreciative smile. “Your fiancée made mincemeat out of my associate during their last encounter. He didn’t fight me for it.”

Neil didn’t look impressed, and Debra released a disapproving moan. “Blair, that’s so unladylike.”

Debra’s eighteenth century attitude was almost enough to make Blair lose it, particularly on top of the rest of the sexist nonsense that had been thrown at her all day. Debra Fredrick’s insistence that Blair quit her job and devote herself to being a wife and mother was easier to dismiss when she was three hours south in McDonald County, Missouri. At least Neil firmly supported her career and didn’t want her to quit. But Blair swallowed her pride. She couldn’t afford any discord at the wedding. She needed to keep everyone happy to impress the partners and their spouses.

Garrett waved toward the table. “Please, sit down. I don’t want to keep you from eating.”

Neil pulled out a chair for her, surprising her with his uncharacteristic attentiveness . . . until she noticed Garrett watching them from the other side of the table, where he’d taken a seat next to Debra. Huh. There was some kind of competition between the men.

Neil’s mother shifted in her seat and picked up the menu. “I think I’m going to order the pulled pork.” She looked up at Blair. “What about you, dear?”

“Uh . . .” Blair’s gaze was on Garrett, who was watching her just as intently as she was watching him.

“Why do I think there’s something else going on here?” Neil asked, glancing back and forth between them.

What sucky timing for Neil to suddenly become observant.

“I think we’re just surprised to see each other in a social setting,” Garrett said, something shifting in his eyes before he picked up his menu. “Especially after our last deposition.”

“No shop talk,” Debra muttered dismissively.

Garrett made a mocking face, and Blair had to stifle a laugh. It was no surprise that Garrett didn’t like his aunt. What was surprising was that he and Neil were cousins. Now that she’d had some time to absorb the initial shock, it made sense to her that she’d never discovered the connection. While Neil never really mentioned his nemesis cousin by name, Garrett had never mentioned his cousin at all. And she purposefully steered clear of Facebook, having seen more than one attorney ruin themselves with a poorly planned photo op. One of the associates at her firm had been let go after only a few months on the job. The senior partners didn’t have a problem with the associate attorneys posting vacation photos on social media, but they weren’t so understanding of the pictures of Byron’s vacation to Mexico. While his own photos were mundane, run-of-the-mill vacation pics, his
friend
had posted photos of Byron swinging from a rope in a pair of bikini briefs. He had a bottle of tequila raised to his mouth while bikini-clad women—none of whom were his wife—stuffed money into his briefs. The caption read “Byron plays piñata before some banging of his own later.” Blair deleted her own account within the hour.

Garrett’s gaze shifted to her hand, which was currently clutching the menu. “That’s a very pretty ring,” he said. “Can I get a closer look?”

His request was odd, but she saw no reason to deny him. What she didn’t understand was why everyone else at the table tensed at his words.

She held it out to him, and he curled her fingers over his hand, leaning over for a closer look at the diamonds.

It was hard to ignore the way his touch sent tingles shooting through her body, but she made a valiant effort. “Neil says it’s a family piece.” She hoped no one else noticed how breathy her voice sounded, but the look of satisfaction in Garrett’s eyes and the way his grip tightened told her he hadn’t missed it. It only added to her agony.

Garrett turned her hand so that the diamonds sparkled in the light. “Neil is correct. It belonged to our great-grandmother. However, it wasn’t his ring to give.” His hold on her hand tightened, and something in his eyes flickered before they hardened. He turned to Neil. “It belongs to my mother, which makes it
mine
.”

“
What the hell?
” Blair asked in astonishment.

“You son of a bitch!” Neil shouted.

“I knew it! You bastard.” Debra’s chair screeched as she pushed back from the table and turned to look at him.

“About damn time.” Neil’s father’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter as he grabbed a beer bottle from a passing waitress and took a long chug.

The waitress stopped and gave him an exasperated glare. “Sir, that’s not yours!”

“It is now.” He took another long sip.

Debra looked torn between addressing her wayward husband or her derelict nephew. Her husband won out. “Gene! What the H-E double hockey sticks are you doing?”

He lifted the bottle. “Seems pretty damn obvious to me.”

She put her hands on her hips. “That’s the devil’s brew.”

“And the devil’s a-brewing, ain’t he?” He took another drink.

Neil’s mouth hung open, and Blair suspected it was because he hadn’t seen his father defy his mother for years, if ever. Garrett started to chuckle. “Uncle Gene, we should hit up a couple of breweries this week before you go home.”

Gene finished off his bottle and grabbed the sleeve of a passing waiter. “I’ll take another one of these.”

“Get me one too,” Garrett said.

The server looked confused. “I’m sorry, but I’m not your waiter.” But then he scanned the chaos at the table and patted Gene’s shoulder. “Not to worry, sir. Coming right up.”

“Gene!” Debra shouted. “Stop this nonsense right now!”

“If Garrett can drink, then so can I.”

Debra must have decided her husband was now the lesser of the evils. She picked up the plastic cat and shook it as she swung her attention to her nephew. “You had this in mind all along! You’re here to cause trouble! First you claim the ring, then you encourage my poor gullible Gene to drink.”

“You can’t blame Uncle Gene’s newfound independence on me, although I would gladly accept some of the credit, and I’m only here because of Nana. Until now, I didn’t care about the ring, but seeing it on Blair’s hand has given me second thoughts.” His gaze found Blair’s. “Now I know what I want, and I intend to fight for it.” There was no mistaking the true meaning behind his statement.

A wave of desire washed through Blair, and she fought it back into submission. There was no doubt Garrett was all fire and passion, but she’d found out firsthand how badly it burned. She’d rather take practical and sensible. Safe and reliable were exactly what she needed. So why was she struggling to convince herself?

The shock on Blair’s face matched his own surprise at his out-of-nowhere declaration.

Nana Ruby was going to kill him.

He’d had no intention of laying claim to the ring, and in truth, he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about it. But damned if he was going to stand by and let his punk cousin marry Blair, let alone with that ring.

Now, instead of defusing the situation, he’d ratcheted it up to DEFCON 1. Jesus, he had to get things under control.

“I won’t rip the ring off the bride-to-be’s hand, if that’s what you’re concerned about,” he said, dropping Blair’s hand and trying to control his racing heart. “We’ll wait for Nana to come tomorrow night. She can help make the decision.”

This brought on a new round of shouting and dismay. Whiny Neil tossed out the phrase “you’re her favorite.” While that was probably true, he doubted Nana could help him get the girl, which was his real goal. That one was all on him.

Blair looked on in confusion, making it abundantly clear they’d kept her in the dark about the questionable ownership of her ring. But soon her bewilderment turned to anger as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“It’s time for all of you to pay up,” his aunt said, shaking the plastic cat jar. “Blair, you got off easy this time. You only owe a dollar. Neil, you owe two, and you¸ Gene Neilson Fredrick, must owe at least five between the drinking and the cursing.”

Uncle Gene and Aunt Debra had a stare-off for several seconds before Gene caved. He must have decided to choose his battles because he dug out his wallet and sheepishly stuck a five-dollar bill into the jar. Neil put in his money, and Garrett handed over a dollar when Debra shoved the jar in Blair’s direction.

His aunt scowled at him. “Surprisingly, you don’t owe anything.”

Garrett tucked his money into the jar and winked at Blair. “Oh, this is for the bride. Call it an early wedding gift. But if this is for cursing, as the label suggests, you owe some money yourself, Aunt Debra.” His eyebrows rose with mock recrimination. “And I do believe I need to have a discussion with my mother about my true parentage. No one ever told me I was a bastard.”

Debra’s face turned red, although Garrett couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or anger. Probably both.

He’d earned a scowl from Blair for donating the money on her behalf, but now he could tell she was trying to hold back a grin.

“That was an unfortunate loss of self-control.” The woman’s face twisted into disgust as she jerked her wallet out of her purse and pulled out one dollar. She screwed an indignant expression on her face. “The Lowrys seem to bring out the worst in me.”

Blair tipped her head, her eyes dancing with mischief. “
Actually,
Debra, you owe
two dollars.
One for informing your nephew of his illegitimacy and the second for spelling out the home of
you know who
.”

Debra’s eyes widened in shock.

“Blair!” Neil cried out in horror.

Garrett knew the Fredricks liked to tiptoe around his aunt’s self-righteous attitude. He was glad to see Blair hadn’t kowtowed like the rest of them.

“You know who?” Garrett asked in amusement. He couldn’t help but take pleasure in riling up his aunt and irritating his cousin. Especially since Blair seemed to find Debra as obnoxious as he did. “Dare I ask who that is?”

Blair lifted her eyebrows. “Why, the prince of darkness himself.”

“Lord Voldemort?” Garrett teased, shooting his aunt an amused look.

She wasn’t so pleased. “Who is this Lord Voldemort you keep talking about? Do we need to add him to the kitty list?”

Garrett burst out into laughter. He was surprised his aunt didn’t already know about the notorious villain.

“No, Mom,” Neil said. “He’s a character from a children’s book, which explains why Garrett is so enthralled with him.”

Garrett noticed he left Blair off the naughty list, but it didn’t stop him from giving her a look of reproach. She glanced away, trying to hide her grin.

So
his
Blair was still there, lurking below the prim and proper exterior. Just like he’d found her years ago.

Their original waiter appeared with Gene and Garrett’s beers—apparently the other guy had wisely handed the task off to the poor man who’d been assigned to them. Gene gave the beer a longing look, but one glance from his furious wife was enough for him to push it to the middle of the table.

Garrett had no such qualms. Taking a drag from the bottle, Garrett wondered if he should leave. An already tense dinner would be all the more so after his bombshell and after the way he’d teased his aunt, but one look at Blair helped him decide. He had five days to win her back, and he was going to make every second count. He asked the waiter to bring him another beer.