“And the court reporter has been scheduled?”
“Before she even left the building.” Melissa hesitated. “In fact, before Mr. Lowry left the conference room.”
Something in her tone held a sound of warning.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Blair asked.
Melissa stared at her for several uncomfortable seconds. “I really like my job, Blair. I love working for you.”
Blair released a sigh. She’d tried not to obsess about the threat hanging over her head. She couldn’t do anything about it, and worrying about it was wasted effort. Still, the unknown loomed over her like a nuclear bomb’s mushroom cloud. “I promise I’m doing everything I can to make sure we both still have a job next week. And if I have to move somewhere else, I’ll try my best to bring you with me.”
Melissa’s jaw went slack. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
Oh, shit. She let out a long sigh. If anyone deserved to know, it was her assistant. “You can’t tell a soul.”
Melissa rolled her eyes. “Please.”
Blair gave her a quick version of Ben Stuart’s warning, but enough for her to convey the seriousness of the situation.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Melissa asked.
“I’m getting married on Saturday. That should take care of the issue. With any luck, you won’t have to worry about your job.”
“It’s not that.” Her mouth twisted as she looked down at her lap, then back up at Blair. “Maybe it would be best if I kept my opinion to myself.”
Blair gave her assistant her full attention as warning bells went off in her head. “Your opinion about what?”
“Mr. Lowry.”
Oh, shit. The way she’d been mooning over him had to be incredibly obvious. Melissa was a bright and perceptive woman. One of the many reasons Blair loved having her as her right-hand person. She often saw things that Blair didn’t. “Go on.”
Melissa bit her lower lip, then gave her a half smile. “Mr. Lowry was talking to his client when I went back in to schedule the reporter. He told him that he liked to sleep with quite a few women.”
Blair fought the urge to suck in a breath. So Melissa thought she was a fool . . . “I see,” she said in an icy tone.
“But in his defense—” Melissa said grudgingly, ignoring her boss’s change in demeanor, “he said it after Mr. Norfolk accused Mr. Lowry of going easy on you because he wanted to sleep with you.”
Blair cringed. “And what’s the point of any of this?”
“I’m not sure really.” Melissa clasped her hands together and fiddled with her fingers. “I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it at all.”
“Yet you did. Why?”
“I think he might have other motives.”
Now she had Blair’s attention. She leaned her forearm on the desk. “Why do you say that?”
“Because Mr. Lowry caught me in the hallway to try and make up for his attempt to weasel his way onto your schedule yesterday. I quickly shut him down, and as I walked away, Bill Hendricks ribbed him for being turned down by the Ice Princess. He also told Mr. Lowry that you’re known as the Ice Queen.”
Both women were aware of their nicknames, not that either of them cared. “So?”
“Mr. Lowry blasted him for calling us sexually degrading names.”
Blair scowled. “Was he doing it for your benefit? Thinking you’d come back and tell me like you’re doing now?”
“No,” she said quietly. “I’d already rounded the corner and was eavesdropping. Mr. Lowry’s voice was low, as if he was trying not to call attention to himself. He seemed furious.”
Blair slowly spun her chair around so she could look out her window. What was Garrett up to? He claimed he hadn’t known that she was Neil’s fiancée, and maybe she was gullible, but she believed him. So what was his angle? Did he want one last round in bed with her before she married his cousin? “Thanks for the intel. I’ll see if I can figure out how to use it to my advantage tomorrow.”
“That’s not why I told you.”
She jerked her gaze up to Melissa.
Melissa’s voiced softened. “I think he really cares about you, Blair.”
Blair’s heart skipped a beat, and she smashed down the hope that bloomed in her heart. Garrett Lowry had destroyed her. And here he was turning her life upside down mere days before her wedding. Even if she hadn’t been on the verge of getting married to another man, it would have been madness to walk down that path a second time. “Fool me once, Melissa,” she said with a bitter tone. “He had his chance, and he blew it.”
“You really don’t believe in second chances?”
“No,” she said with more force than she’d intended, perhaps to convince herself. “And what are you doing advocating that I sleep with him? I’m marrying Neil in three days.” Blair stared her down with her iciest glare.
Most people would have crawled out the door, but Melissa squared her shoulders and held her gaze. “I never said to sleep with him, Blair. Your mind went there on its own. Don’t you think it means something?” Her voice softened, and she leaned forward. “I know you were thinking about him when I walked through that door, and you have never once looked that way while dating Neil. Not even in the beginning.”
Blair shook her head, her chest tightening. Panic flooded her senses. “Our relationship isn’t based on hormones. It’s built on respect. You know that.”
“But don’t you want love, Blair?”
“I want lots of things, Melissa.” Her voice shook, but it wasn’t with anger. “I want to eat my weight in chocolate cake, but it doesn’t mean I should. In fact, it’s quite bad for me.” She waved her hand toward her assistant. “Alcoholics crave a drink, but it doesn’t mean they should have one.”
“Blair.”
“No. Wanting something doesn’t mean you should have it. In fact, it often means you shouldn’t.” Melissa didn’t respond, and Blair’s panic surged, stealing her breath. “I’m getting married in three days, Melissa,” she said again.
Understanding filled her assistant’s eyes. “I know.”
She shook her head, feeling herself lose control. “I can’t trust him. I don’t trust him. He walked out on me, and he had another woman in his apartment the very next night.”
“Maybe it wasn’t what you thought.”
“She was in her trashy underwear.” Blair’s voice rose, and her lack of control scared her more than her feelings for Garrett. What in the hell was happening to her?
Melissa was silent for a moment. “Everyone makes mistakes, Blair. Even you. Think about it.” Then she stood and walked to the door. “I’ll let you know when the car arrives.”
The door shut, and Blair sucked in deep breaths, trying to calm down. She was dangerously close to crying, and she couldn’t figure out why. She’d shed her tears over Garrett years ago, so she sure as hell didn’t want to shed new ones now. Suddenly the room was too small. Her dress was too tight. Her life too confining. She stood and began to pace, chanting a mantra in her head. “I don’t need him. It’s going to be okay.”
It was the very mantra she’d taught herself five years ago.
Tears burned her eyes, but she continued to walk her straight lines, and after several minutes passed, the numbness in her face and head slowly faded. By the time Melissa buzzed in to say her car had arrived, she was relatively calm. By the time she reached the elevator, she had convinced herself everything really was going to be okay.
That was, if she survived her wedding shower.
Chapter Eleven
Garrett hit his hotel bar as soon as he left the hospital. It was probably the least productive thing he could do, but he needed courage—not to mention inspiration—to go through with his nonexistent plan.
He was on his second beer when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Do all you lawyers waste your money on fancy beer?”
He turned and a grin spread across his face. An older woman leaned on a f
our-legged steel cane, the feet covered with neon orange tennis balls. She wore a pair of jeans with a white knit shirt. Her face was covered with the deep wrinkles and brown spots of someone who’d spent most of her life under the sun. He knew for a fact that a few scars on her face were from skin cancer removals. Late seventies or not, she was stronger than anyone he knew. Yet she’d aged quite a bit since he’d seen her last. She looked thinner and more fragile. The cane she was leaning on didn’t help. “It’s not a fancy beer, Nana. It’s Coors. Just like you taught me to drink.” He’d give her a hug, but she’d never been big on displays of affection.
A grudging grimace tightened her mouth before she said, “I bet it came with a fancy price.”
He couldn’t argue with that. “I’m surprised to see you here. I expected you to stay at a Motel 6.” Garrett’s mother had told him the wedding guests were staying at this hotel, which was why he was here, but he’d never expected his nana to stay somewhere so upscale.
“Neil insisted I stay here, and the fool paid for it,” she grumbled. “He’s trying to show me how much money he has now. I suppose you’re trying to flaunt it too.”
He laughed. “You think anything that costs more than fifty dollars a night is too much.”
“I don’t need my bathroom covered in marble. It’s a damn hotel room, not a church.”
He chuckled and lifted his bottle in a salute. “How about I get you a fancy beer to drink? I’ll waste my money.”
She pondered it for a moment and moved to the stool next to him. “Why the hell not? I’m going to a damn wedding shower for Neil’s bride-to-be. I’ve never met her, but if she’s anything like my pompous grandson, she’s bound to be a doozy. I’ll need all the help I can get.”
Garrett’s eyes widened, and several questions ran through his head at once. He latched onto the one that seemed the most important. “Wait? You’re going to a wedding shower? Tonight?”
“Ain’t that what I just said?” She climbed up on the stool and looked around. “Where’s my beer?”
Garrett flagged down the bartender and ordered her beverage.
“You and I need to have a chat.” Her tone was hard, which prepared him for what she had to say next. He was lucky she hadn’t led with it. “What the Sam Hill you been doin’, boy?”
He steeled his shoulders. “Exactly what you asked me to do, Nana.” He held out his hands. “I went to the dinner last night. I’m here like a dutiful grandson.”
“Bullshit,” she barked. “I gave you one assignment, and you blew it to kingdom come.”
“Nana, I can explain.”
“Save it.” She gave him a stern look. “Why do you want the ring?”
What should he tell her? He suspected she’d understand if he told her the truth, but then she’d try and take matters into her own hands. Nana Ruby wasn’t known for her subtlety. “I guess Mom’s rubbed off on me.”
“So how do you plan to get it?”
“I told Aunt Debra and Neil that we’d let you decide.”
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind, then started to chuckle. “I want you to take me to the shower tonight.”
“A wedding shower?” Part of him was horrified, but he also knew Blair would be there, of course. “Okay.”
Her eyebrows lifted in suspicion. “No argument?”
Garrett gave her a lazy smile. “I’ve learned it’s pointless to argue with you, Nana Ruby. Besides, I’m already in enough hot water.”
“Your mother’s gonna be there.”
His smile fell. “She said she was coming tomorrow.”
Nana shrugged. “She changed her mind.”
Well, that changed things. World War III was liable to break out at the party. He really didn’t want to be part of it, but he could only imagine how Blair would handle it. It could quickly degenerate into Armageddon, with all three Lowry women pitted against one another. “Are they serving dinner at this thing?”
She pulled an envelope out of her brown purse. “Here. This will tell you everything you need to know.”
He pulled the cream invitation out of the envelope and a rose scent hit his nose. The heavy paper was embossed with gold script and covered with flowers.
Nicole Vandemeer cordially invites you to attend a garden party wedding shower for Blair Myers Hansen on August 21 at 7:00 p.m. Light sandwiches and tea provided. Wear pastel colored clothing to fit in with the theme.
The bartender brought Nana her beer, and she took a sip. “You think it would taste better at this fancy price.”
He grinned. “It doesn’t cost that much more, Nana.” He waved the invitation. “A garden party? Light sandwiches and tea? That doesn’t seem like your kind of party.”
“I tried to get out of it, but your aunt had a conniption.”
“Why am I going?”
“Because I said so.”
Maybe this was his punishment for claiming the ring, but if so, he would take it—any excuse to spend more time around Blair. Then another thought hit him. “Wait. Are other men going to be there?”
It would be incredibly awkward if he was the only man around, but he’d live with it if he could somehow get Blair alone.
She shrugged. “Hell if I know. Your aunt and your mother are meeting us there.”
“So why didn’t you go with them?”
“You back-talkin’ me, boy?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. How did you know where to find me, anyway?”
“Your momma told me you were staying at this hotel along with the rest of the people from out of town, and where the hell else would I find you except at the bar?”
She was covering something up. Part of his job was to discern when someone was lying, and he’d studied his family to the nth degree. His nana rarely lied or dissembled, but whenever she did, her left hand clenched slightly. And right now she was making a loose fist. “I’m not one to typically hang out in bars, Nana, so that seems unlikely. Try again.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t you worry about the whys of it. Just do what I tell you.”
He grinned. “Yes, ma’am. Do you want to get something to eat before we go? Light sandwiches don’t sound too filling.”
“Hell, no. Why would you want to throw your money away when we’re about to get free food?”
He laughed. Nana Ruby was notorious for her penny-pinching. She was a practical woman who lived on several thousand acres of rolling hills and farmland in the Ozarks. She’d been widowed young and raised two girls on her own at a time when farming hadn’t been profitable. The land had been in her family for over a hundred fifty years, and as she always said, there it would stay. The only way she’d made ends meet was to become a spendthrift. And although she had more money now, and the land itself was worth a bundle, she still held her coin purse with a tight grasp.
“Do you mind if I change clothes before I go?” He was still wearing his suit and tie, although he’d lost the coat, and his loosened tie still hung around his neck. “I’m sure you don’t want to be seen with a fancy lawyer, and my suit doesn’t exactly fit with the theme.” He released a chuckle. That didn’t sound like Blair at all. He bet she was bristling at the very idea of it.
Nana Ruby frowned, but he could see the hint of a smile on her lips. “Make it quick. I want to get this thing over with.”
He hurried up to his room and changed into a pair of jeans and a light blue short-sleeved button-down shirt. Nana Ruby was bound to make some comment about how much time he’d taken with his appearance, but he was in for the fight of his life, and he needed to be prepared.
It was time to pour on the charm.
Chapter Twelve
Blair was sure she’d been dropped into the middle of hell. “Tell me—why did I agree to this again?” she whisper-hissed.
“Because you’re a nice person?” Megan teased.
Libby laughed. “More like you couldn’t figure a way out of it.”
Blair should have known better. Nicole Vand
emeer was known for taking everything to the extreme, and this wedding shower was no different. She’d decided on a garden theme, which for most hostesses might have meant purchasing a couple of pots of flowers, but Megan’s mother never did anything half-assed. And while Blair appreciated that character trait more than most people, she was currently caught up in a floral explosion.
The Vandemeers’ backyard was a magazine-worthy showcase even without the garden-themed decorations. It consisted of a two-tiered deck that led to an outdoor pool surrounded by a paver stone patio, but Knickers—as Megan and her friends called Nicole Vandemeer behind her back—had gone all out. Tall wooden poles were spaced about six feet apart around the perimeter of the patio. Organza was draped from pole to pole, and mason glass jars full of fresh-cut flowers covered tables draped with white linen. A large serving table set off to one side was covered with an assortment of small sandwiches, fresh vegetables, and crackers, with wheelbarrows on either side stuffed full of flowers. Mason jars with flickering votive candles hung from the trees around the patio, and hundreds of white and yellow daisies floated in the pool.
“I’m pretty sure those flowers are going to screw up the filter system,” Josh McMillan said from behind them as he walked out the back door and onto the deck.
Megan’s face lit up, and she turned toward him. “That’s what Dad said.”
Blair scowled as he put an arm around Megan’s waist and pulled her close.
“You weren’t supposed to come to this, Josh. It’s a girls’ shower.” Blair’s relationship with Megan’s husband had been rocky from the start. Blair had assumed that Megan, who was too trusting of people, was being taken advantage of by a predator. No one normal would volunteer to be someone’s fake fiancé, after all. The fact that Josh had turned out to be the real deal was suddenly irritating as hell. She couldn’t care less about who came to her shower, but she didn’t feel like seeing Megan and Josh together right now.
“Funny, that’s what Knickers said.” He laughed, then gave his wife a long kiss.
The Wedding Pact Box Set Page 45
