Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1)

by Petie McCarty

  “Oh.” Rob went back to sticking Ming auralia cuttings.

  “So he’s willing to go slow,” Tammy reiterated. “That’s huge, especially after you let him think you were a socialite in the beginning. I’d say he cares more than a little. Imagine that. Compassionate, sensitive and forgiving. Hallelujah!”

  “Tell her, Lil,” Rob said, forcing a cutting into potting soil with two fingers.

  “Tell me what?” Tammy asked.

  “She hasn’t told him she’s Cinderella yet,” Rob said, straightening the cutting.

  “Oh, Lily.”

  “Both of you just stop. I came here for sympathy, not censure,” Lily complained.

  “But why, Lil?” Tammy asked. “Why didn’t you tell him? And don’t tell me timing either.”

  Tears filled Lily’s eyes. “I like him so much, I don’t want to lose him.”

  “You don’t have a choice,” Tammy said flatly. “If you wait any longer, that will be a given.”

  Lily sighed. “I know.”

  “When’s he due back?”

  “A few days, I guess. Maybe I should tell him on the phone.”

  “No!” Rob and Tammy cried in unison.

  Lily tried to smile. “I’m just kidding.”

  Tammy put an arm around her. “Come on, I’ll take you to lunch, and we can figure out how you’re going to tell him.”

  They reached the shadehouse door, and Tammy paused. “Hey, hot shot!”

  Rob raised his head.

  “In all the excitement, I forgot why I walked down here. I just took the first order for your new interiors line, and the brochures aren’t even out yet. Some wealthy Jupiter socialite sashayed into my office, wanting some mansion plants, and placed the order—a few dozen aralias, chamedoria palms, birds of paradise, and spathiphyllum. She said it was a housewarming gift for a friend. I’ve got the address in my office.”

  “Booyah!” Rob cheered and pumped his fist.

  “Where the hell are you, Rhett?” Garrett groused. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day. When I called the Waldorf, the front desk said you’d checked out.”

  “I’m in London.”

  “London? What the hell are you doing there? I called the hangar looking for you, and our aviation service said the jet left New York and flew back to Florida today.”

  “I did fly to New York, but the Surrey Golf Resort contract foundered at the last minute on some technicalities involving liability the Brits couldn’t get past, so I flew across the pond to smooth the consortium’s ruffled feathers. A lot has happened in the last few days.”

  “Boy, I’ll say. And I can’t believe you blew off Grant Horning at the party like that. What were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t,” Rhett said, smiling to himself. “Besides, you were there, and everything worked out all right. I know Horning loved your specialty trees.”

  “He sure did, and Grant wants to play, so I promised him a piece of the Savannah Plantation venture, too.”

  “Piece of cake.”

  “Now hold on there. It wasn’t that simple,” Garrett grumbled. “Horning wasn’t happy you took off and never came back. He thought you were just going to retrieve Ms. Foster and return. I tap-danced as long as I could, and then I had to promise him a site trip to Savannah—with the two of us.”

  “No problem. Small price to pay.”

  Lily was well worth the price.

  “What’s got into you, Rhett? This is Garrett you’re talking to, and you can’t fool me. You don’t do site visits anymore. You said so yourself just last week. And you don’t nursemaid high rollers on project sites either. It’s like you’re a different person all of a sudden.”

  “I am,” he said confidently.

  “Different how?” Garrett sounded wary.

  “I think I may have found the girl of my dreams.”

  Garrett laughed heartily. “You sure had me going there for a minute, dude.”

  “I’m serious. When I was young and poor, I couldn’t get girls to notice me in my K-Mart jeans and tee shirts, and when I made a name for myself, women only wanted me for my money or for my celebrity status. This girl wants me for me. She’s the first one.”

  “That’s not true, Rhett,” Garrett argued. “You had plenty of dates when we were in college, and you were poor back then.”

  “No, I didn’t. I had first dates you set up for me, but the girls at Princeton were all over you and Cross. You were too busy with your own dates to notice the lack of interest in your penniless roommate, there on student loans. So I spent all my spare time studying instead. I’m not complaining. I got better grades than you did.”

  “That part’s true,” Garrett admitted.

  “I’m just saying you can’t know what it’s like, Garrett. You’ve always had money. I want a woman who only wants me for who I am, and not what I own. This one does.”

  She’s the kind of girl I’d wait forever for, the kind of girl Rhett from Indiantown dreamed of having and never thought he would.

  The silence on the phone lasted long enough Rhett checked the readout to be sure he was still connected.

  “I’ll be damned.” Garrett let loose a low whistle. “We’re talking about the girl you met at the nursery? Your date at the cocktail party?”

  “That’s right. Lily Foster. I took her to New York with me, and when I got the call from our London office, I offered to let her stay and shop on my dime. And you know what she said?”

  Garrett chuckled. “Hand over the credit card?”

  “No, smart ass,” Rhett chastised, “she said she wanted to go home since I wouldn’t be around.”

  “Well, damn.”

  “I want to get out of here pronto and get back to Jupiter,” he added. “I miss her.”

  “Man, you do have it bad. But, Rhett, you just met this girl.”

  “So what?” he snapped, then softened his tone. “When you know, you know. I feel like the real me when I’m with her. Plain old Rhett from Indiantown with his dreams, and not Buchanan Worldwide.”

  “I have to tell you, I never thought you’d settle down after all the super models and movie stars, and then you always seemed to go back to Delia. I guess I figured she’d end up being the one.”

  “Not hardly,” Rhett said flatly. “Lily’s different, and when I get back, I won’t be living at the office like I do now either. I intend to spend every spare minute I can with her.”

  “Damn, but you’re full of surprises,” Garrett said. “This may turn out to be good for you.”

  “Count on it.”

  “I’ll see you when you get back.” Garrett clicked off.

  Somehow telling Garrett how he felt about Lily made his feelings seem real rather than imagined, and for all his bluster to Garrett, his feelings scared the hell out of him.

  Rhett gazed out the window of his hotel suite at the twinkling lights of Surrey and wondered for the twentieth time that day what Lily was doing. He had no clue, and that irked him. He found he wanted to know everything about Lily Foster, and the notion ran counter to his ingrained instincts where women were concerned. Yet something about Lily felt so right.

  He had told her the first night they were together that he’d make her care about him a lot, but he’d said that just to get her to sleep with him. So who had ended up caring about whom? He had only been half-joking, when he’d told her he’d make her care about him a lot, though her archaic thoughts—about not sleeping with someone unless she cared a lot—did have some merit.

  Mostly, the merit lay in the fact that Lily had warmed very few beds unless she fell in love with every guy she dated. He cracked his knuckles as that thought simmered. The image of her sleeping with another man bothered him more than he cared to admit. Actually, the thought made h
im want to hit something. Hard.

  He yanked open the mini-bar door and snatched out two airport bottles of scotch. Dumping them both in a glass with some ice, he took a long pull. If Lily fell in love with him, he’d want it to be the real deal.

  Thunk!

  The glass hit the counter hard enough to slosh the scotch over the side.

  What the hell had put that thought in his head? Good thing he was in England where he could get his head on straight before he saw Lily again.

  Trouble was, tucking her in two nights earlier in their Manhattan hotel suite had held more sensuality than full consummation with other women he had known. Damned if he wasn’t ready and willing to wait for Lily to be sure, too. He’d wait forever if he had to—for making love to her would be spectacular. Just kissing her was off the charts, and when she let her passion go that night in their suite, he had almost come apart at the seams.

  Get my head on straight, my ass!

  This whole scenario had rocked him to the core. He’d never taken a woman with him on a business trip before, but now that he had, he couldn’t imagine leaving Lily home. How had that happened in such a short period of time? Why had it happened? He didn’t believe in love at first sight, especially since he’d stopping believing in love years ago.

  Why now? Why Lily?

  He reached for the phone to call Lily and immediately set it back in its cradle. Insanity had struck—that must be his problem. He should run for the hills while he had a chance. This was not like him. He didn’t wait around for any woman. Pickings were far too plentiful, and if the woman didn’t climb into bed when he was ready, he moved on. End of story. No attachments. Never, ever had he wondered how any woman had spent her day, let alone wanted to hear about it. He was far too busy for such nonsense.

  No, it was incredibly lucky for him the London office had needed him this week, considering his present run of thoughts. He needed this time away. Distance would force some perspective into his situation and force him to think clearly. Lily had bedazzled him. That was all.

  He had shared very few pieces of his personal life with anyone, even Garrett. Rhett had never felt comfortable relating particular pain-filled parts of his past. Bringing them to light always hurt, even after all these years. Yet he’d been ready to share them with Lily. Better to keep them all hidden, and get his head back on straight.

  He had to face facts. He’d operated in a blur since he first laid eyes on Lily, and he found he liked the feeling and wanted the feeling to continue. How crazy was that? His gut instinct told him Lily was as pure and innocent of female wiles as she seemed, and his gut had never been wrong. Going with his gut had made him a billionaire. So why stop and question his gut now?

  Because his Lily was too good to be true, that’s why.

  She only appeared to be a love-at-first-sight sort of girl, and he knew from experience that no such girl existed. She had an all-American aura she worked to perfection. Another day in London, and he would be thinking clearly again. No perfect girl existed for Rhett Buchanan. He made too much money for that to be possible, and no woman could want him solely for himself. Too many variables eked into the scenario.

  If he opted for his tried-and-true cynical outlook on women—expecting all of them to have an ulterior, usually-after-his-money motive—then he’d have to give up Lily. He let loose a disgusted sigh and moved away from the window.

  Why had being with Lily felt so right, and so soon? Why couldn’t he just let himself run with it?

  Aw, maybe he could just this once . . .

  As president of Jupiter Savings and Loan, the town’s oldest and most prestigious bank, Chester Armstead could be solicitous about whom he granted appointments for his valuable time. Developers and investors waited days or even weeks for an appointment with the great grandson of the bank’s founder. Chester’s influence extended well beyond the bank, due in no small part to the secrets investors were willing to share when they desperately needed Chester’s financial or political support. Chester’s position on the city council allowed him to publicly wield a modicum of the total power he enjoyed, and only one person had free rein to the inner sanctum of Chester’s private office.

  On Tuesday morning, Delia sailed right past the secretary’s desk and sashayed into her father’s office, barely able to contain her excitement. “You have news for me, Daddy?” she said and hurried across the room.

  “Yes, pumpkin, I do.” Chester grinned at his only child and rose to his feet to wrap her up in a hug.

  Delia allowed the hug, but air-kissed Chester to prevent redrawing her perfect lip lines. “So tell me everything,” she said and took a seat in a leather wing chair in front of his massive mahogany desk.

  “All right, sweetheart.” He smiled and moved to the matching chair a couple feet away. “You’ll be pleased to know this woman you’re so worried about is neither wealthy nor a Jupiter Island resident. Her name is Lily Foster, and she’s a landscaper.” He wrinkled his nose. “She owns a nursery if you can believe that. Hardly a woman Rhett Buchanan would dally with for long.”

  She waved him off. “I already know that, Daddy, and dallying is exactly what Rhett is doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the little slut thinks she’s some kind of Cinderella with her secret identity, but I intend to make sure she knows Rhett is my Prince Charming.”

  He frowned. “How did you find out about the woman so fast?”

  She pursed her generous lips into a practiced pout. “Did you think I was incapable of doing any investigating on my own?”

  “Why, my smart little girl!” He grinned lovingly at her. “How did you figure it out?”

  “Garrett told me Rhett met the Foster woman on the afternoon of my party for Horning. Rhett met her at a nursery called Bloom & Grow, so I went back to the nursery to find out who she was and where she lived. I told some grubby gardener there that I had her scarf and wanted to return it, and he told me everything I wanted to know.”

  “My smart little girl,” he repeated. “Anything else?”

  She sighed. “No, other than she lives in a tiny house at the back of the nursery. She’s not Rhett’s type, and I’m betting he doesn’t even know what she does for a living. I’m also betting she is after his money and intends to run some kind of scam.”

  Chester leaned back, looking very pleased. “Agreed. But here’s another tidbit about the fair Ms. Foster that you don’t know.”

  “Don’t keep me in suspense, Daddy.”

  “Well, it seems her little nursery is the last chunk of prime real estate in Jupiter between U.S. 1 and the Intracoastal Waterway capable of supporting a sizable golf course resort or community.”

  “So?”

  “So, Buchanan’s lawyers are after the parcel.”

  “No!” Delia clapped her hands gleefully. “Maybe she’ll move away after she sells.”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that, my dear.” He grinned deviously. “You see, Rhett lets his real estate team and attorneys make initial site selections since he’s too busy with all his globe-trotting and other investment ventures. He doesn’t become involved, other than assisting with the choice of general locations, until the closing when the site is ready to go to design and construction. Often parcels are purchased as investments and then sold off later without ever being developed, so he needn’t concern himself with them.”

  “So what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying his attorneys are pursuing that nursery property, and Rhett doesn’t even know to whom the parcel belongs or exactly where the parcel is located.”

  Delia felt her jaw start to sag and quickly snapped it closed. “But she’s already told him, I’m sure.”

  Chester shook his head slowly.

  “No?”

  His grin widened. “The fair Ms. Foster isn’t even aware.” />
  “You’ve lost me again.”

  “She hasn’t put her land on the market. The attorneys found the parcel, the attorneys want the land, and they’re jockeying with the Code Enforcement Board on recent zoning changes to squeeze her out.”

  “Can they do that?”

  “Good attorneys can do anything, and Carstairs Whittenhurst is superb. Carstairs has a legal brief ready to go to Tallahassee to the Department of Community Affairs arguing Ms. Foster’s ability to use her grandfathered-status exemption to live on-site. That exemption is her only argument against recent Jupiter zoning regulation changes, which preclude residents from living within commercial property boundaries inside city limits. He expects his legal brief to be accepted and her grandfather-status exemption to be summarily denied, or rather revoked.”

  Delia stared wide-eyed. “And she will want to sell, or have to sell, if she is forced to move?”

  He grinned wickedly. “That’s what Carstairs is counting on. If not, then he has code violations at the nursery property he is ready to pursue, which will tie up even more of her funds.”

  “Oh, this is choice. Rhett is going to run his little sweetheart out of town, and he doesn’t even know it.”

  Her father nodded slowly.

  “She’ll hate him for it.”

  “One can only hope. But I’m sure you’ll be there to pick up the pieces. Won’t you, my dear?”

  “Of course.” She gave him a delicious smile. “Did you help Carstairs with this, Daddy?”

  “I might have given him the proper direction to proceed to accomplish his directive. But not a word of this to anyone,” he admonished, “or I might have to recuse myself from any votes the City Council may take in the matter on the advice of the Code Enforcement Board.”

  “Never.”

  Tuesday afternoon, Lily busied herself steering the ancient nursery tractor toward the laydown yard while dragging a string of carts loaded with bedding plant containers to be staged for shipment the following day. Her cell phone vibrated, so she pulled the unwieldy train off the nursery drive and shut off the engine in order to hear.