Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1)

by Petie McCarty

  Garrett stood on the pool deck and watched Rhett’s pool-service technician haul the palms up from the pool bottom, so he could start the vacuuming process. Garrett was glad Tammy had agreed to meet him. He had liked the redhead when he first met her, and now he could sure use her help. He needed information first and then some outright scheming.

  If Garrett’s instincts were right, Tammy would agree to his plan. One thing he already knew about Lily Foster—her employees weren’t just loyal, they loved their employer. That was evident in his first few trips to the nursery and in the answers he got from his questions. He just hadn’t known at the time who actually owned Bloom & Grow.

  The side gate swung open and clicked back into place. A moment later, Tammy stepped onto the terrace trailed by the man Garrett knew as her shipping supervisor from his numerous trips to select plants.

  “Hey,” Garrett said and extended a hand.

  Tammy shook it and said, “This is Jason Graber, our shipping supervisor. Jason, this is Garrett Tucker, Vice-President of Real Estate Development for BDC.”

  Graber begrudgingly took Garrett’s proffered hand and gave it one hard shake. “Your boss had no right to yell at Lily like that,” the man said with a stony stare. “He was rude, and she didn’t deserve that.”

  “Agreed,” Garrett answered patiently.

  “Jason, why don’t you go inside and round up the interior plants and stage them out here.” Tammy touched his arm briefly, and the man gave Garrett a final glare, then stepped in through the open French doors.

  “You’ll have to forgive Jason,” Tammy said, turning to Garrett with her own chilly stare. “Lily’s employees are all protective of her. So am I.”

  “Good to know,” he said matter-of-factly, “and it merely backs up my initial impression of Lily Foster.”

  Tammy nodded and glanced incredulously around the terrace and pool area. “Oh my gosh! This place looks like a tornado went through here.”

  “One did,” Garrett said grimly, “and you and I need to talk.”

  She watched the pool service technician haul a Chamedoria palm from the deep end of the pool. “I doubt those palms will make it after being forced to tread water all night, and I don’t think a credit is in order here, Garrett. At least not for the pool plants.”

  “You’ll be paid for all the plants delivered here. If Delia Armstead balks, send the bill to me at BDC. I’ll make sure you’re paid, one way or the other.”

  “Then what do we have to talk about?” she asked warily.

  “Two people we both care about very much,” he said. “Got time for lunch?”

  “Oh please, Lily, it will be fun,” Tammy pleaded and followed her down the aisle between rows of palms as Lily hand-watered the needier specimens.

  “No. I don’t want to. Take Rob.”

  “On a date? Are you kidding me?”

  Lily ignored her and kept watering.

  “You know, that might not be a bad idea,” Tammy agreed suddenly.

  Lily turned to see if she was kidding.

  “I’m serious, Lily. Rob could be your date. Well not a real date, just an escort kind of a date. You always said you wondered what those black-tie charity affairs in Palm Beach were like, and now we can both find out. Please?”

  Lily narrowed her eyes. “Why do I get the feeling you’re up to something?”

  Tammy threw her palms out innocently. “How could I be? I’ve never been out with Garrett, but I’m dying to go, and I won’t be nervous if you come along. It was nice of him to try to find four tickets, too. Oh please, Lily?”

  “There’s the rub. Why did Garrett look for four tickets? He works for Buchanan, and I don’t want to see that man ever again.” She turned her back and shifted to the next needy palm in line.

  Lily had referred to him as Buchanan ever since she returned home from her delivery that awful afternoon. She hadn’t shed the first tear, not even when Tammy and Rob ran down to the cottage to comfort her. She’d merely stared straight ahead in stony silence and refused to look at either of them.

  No one was allowed to mention Rhett’s name now. And Lily hadn’t smiled once since that day. She who bestowed smiles on everyone she met and saved dozens of radiant smiles each day for her friends and employees, though there was no real distinction between the two. Lily believed smiles could fix anything. And hers had all vanished in exchange for the stony expression there now—like dark, heavy storm clouds moving in to obliterate any possible ray of sunshine.

  Tammy chose her words with care. “I don’t know if Buchanan will be there or not, and why should he come when he finds out Garrett is bringing me?”

  She got only shrugged shoulders for an answer.

  “This charity gala and auction will be fun, and you deserve to go. So what if Buchanan shows? He should hide from you, not the other way around. He was the one who was rude and didn’t let you explain.”

  “I’m not hiding!” Lily said indignantly.

  “You are if you won’t go with me because he might be there.”

  Lily turned, and they locked gazes. Tammy could see the anger simmering in her friend’s eyes alongside the pain that had dulled their usual brightness.

  “What if Rob won’t go?” Lily asked softly.

  “He’ll go,” Tammy assured her.

  “Where will I go?” Rob asked, squeezing between heavy sable palms from the next aisle over.

  “To the black-tie charity gala with Lily this Saturday night?” Tammy prodded hopefully.

  Rob smiled at Lily. “I have a tux in my closet.”

  With a wink and a nod, Garrett strode right past Rhett’s secretary, Marcy James, and into Rhett’s office without slowing his step. He’d called from downstairs to be sure Rhett was alone rather than storm the gates unannounced. This visit would require some finesse.

  Rhett stood at the battery of windows forming the back wall of his office and stared out over Palm Beach Island. He had acquired this exclusive address at the business end of famed Worth Avenue for the prestige rather than the spotlight. Everything the man did in life was carefully planned and calculated like a formal risk assessment.

  Everything except Lily.

  Garrett had never once wondered why Rhett, who could afford to live anywhere he wanted, chose to live forty minutes away on Jupiter Island rather than in one of the nearby Palm Beach mansions. He already knew the answer. Rhett liked his privacy, away from the glare of the social circle, and liked being tucked away at the far end of Jupiter Island by that state park. Garrett suspected Rhett had subconsciously focused on quiet, unassuming Lily Foster for the same reason.

  “Are you going to say something or just stare at me?” Rhett asked without turning.

  “I got the plants out and the pool cleaned up. Thought you’d want to know.”

  “Good. Thanks. I owe you.”

  “No, you don’t,” Garrett said, feeling a stab of guilt over what he was about to do. “That’s what friends are for.”

  “Still, my behavior last night was inexcus—”

  “Forget it!” he interrupted. “I just called the girl, and she met me over there and picked up the plants.”

  Rhett stiffened at the window. “She met you at my house?”

  Garrett winced at the menace in his tone, but cheerfully pressed forward. “Yeah, we loaded everything up while the pool tech was there. He helped me with a couple of the bigger palms. House looks good as new.”

  “And the girl?” If anything, Rhett’s tone grew even more ominous.

  “Gladly took the plants back. I was happy to get a chance to talk with her for a while. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked her to the black-tie charity gala and auction at Palm Isles next Saturday night.”

  Rhett whipped around so fast Garrett almost took a s
tep back, but he’d steeled himself for a volatile response, and he had no fear of Rhett Buchanan. The two had been best friends for over fifteen years. Each was an only child, so their closeness had evolved to a relationship of brothers over the years, which was why Garrett felt so comfortable poking his nose into Rhett’s private life.

  Rhett’s eyes glittered dangerously. “You asked Lily out?” he roared.

  Bingo.

  Garrett had guessed right. Rhett looked ready to kill him, madder than Garrett had seen him in over fifteen years. Rhett hadn’t forgotten Lily Foster or given her up. He was still madly in love with her as evidenced by his insanely jealous display at the moment.

  Garrett kept his expression skillfully blank for a brief moment. “Lily? Oh hell no,” he protested innocently. “I asked Tammy to go with me.”

  Rhett glared and waited.

  “Tammy’s the sales manager, the redhead? I’ve seen her several times over at Bloom & Grow when I selected plant lists, and I thought she was hot. Your cleanup this morning gave me the chance to ask her out. If that bothers you, I can call and cancel.”

  Rhett continued his intense stare, the one Garrett hated, the one where he seemed to look into your soul. Garrett fought to keep what he hoped looked like an innocent expression.

  “What do I care if you take her out,” Rhett growled finally and turned back to the window.

  “I didn’t think you would,” he muttered casually. “Are you going? To the charity gala I mean.”

  Rhett spun back around. “Why?”

  Garrett shrugged. “Just curious. If you are, I can keep Tammy away from you if you like. You know, if she reminds you of Lily or something.”

  Something flashed in Rhett’s eye. “Careful, Garrett,” he said ominously.

  Garrett threw both hands up, palms out. “Just asking.”

  He had crossed the line, exactly as he had intended, and now he needed to back off to let his well-stirred pot simmer.

  “Do whatever you want,” Rhett snapped.

  Garrett turned and headed for the door. He paused, his hand on the knob. “I’ve ordered another shipment of those weeping orchids and rare gray palms and a handful of pygmy date palms for that revamped office complex we’re flipping in Del Ray Beach. The plants will sell the place in a week.” He slipped through the door without waiting for a response.

  Rhett glared at Garrett’s retreating form and clenched his jaw in anger. More Bloom & Grow palms meant another inspection. He’d never wanted to slug Garrett before, but he did right at that moment. He felt his fingers ball into a fist of their own accord. How could Garrett force him to go back there for another inspection? Because he loved his damned specialty trees, that’s why. And he thought Rhett was tough enough to man up and get the job done.

  Damn it, he was tough enough. He would show the lying little gold-digger she didn’t mean a thing to him. He would go in and inspect the trees without a backward glance.

  An image of Lily formed in his imagination, her enormous blue eyes and silky blond hair. If she didn’t mean a thing, then why did his stomach muscles tighten at the mere image in his mind?

  He stared at the closing door.

  What the hell was Garrett up to?

  Chapter 7

  Rob strode into the nursery office and glanced all around. “Where’s the newspaper?”

  Tammy reached behind her desk. “Over here, and good morning to you, too.”

  Rob grinned as he leafed through the sections. “Sorry, my mom called. She and my dad are in a picture on the society page, and she didn’t want me to miss it.”

  “She’s been calling you more lately.”

  He grinned wider. “Yeah, she’s finally grown accustomed to her son’s odd line of work.”

  “And your dad?”

  His grin faded slightly. “Not a chance. But Mom has an agenda. She’s mentioned grandchildren more than once.”

  Tammy hooted with laughter.

  “Hey, it’s not that funny.”

  “The thought of you with kids is hilarious,” she said.

  He looked up from the paper. “Where’s the Local section?”

  Tammy stopped laughing instantly and put a finger up to her lips. “Shhh. I pulled it out.”

  “For me?”

  “No, to hide it.”

  “Hide? Why?”

  Tammy grimaced. “You’ll see.” She handed the section over.

  Rob took only a minute to locate the picture in question. He gave a low whistle. “You’re hiding this from Lily?”

  He held the paper up and for the second time that morning, Tammy stared at a picture taken of billionaire Rhett Buchanan and the supermodel Hennessy at a political fundraiser in Miami on Saturday night.

  “Of course I am,” she said curtly. “Now look quick so I can stuff it back in my desk drawer.”

  Rob frowned. “So what do we do?”

  “The story after this is that someone must have taken the newspaper section or misplaced it.”

  “No, I mean about Buchanan.”

  Tammy sighed. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Lily is strong enough to decide what to do on her own.”

  “No, she’s not, or you wouldn’t be hiding the newspaper from her.”

  “I’m protecting her from further hurt. And you’re taking her to the charity gala this weekend.”

  He shook his head and ambled to the door. “I sure hope we know what we’re doing,” he muttered.

  Lily stared at her reflection in the mirrored wall of the Palm Isles ballroom and wondered who the curmudgeon was who stared back. The body was draped in a clingy black silk gown, accented only by her mother’s diamond pendant and matching dangly earrings. The body appeared to be hers, but the face was all wrong, huddled in an unfamiliar scowl.

  “You look stunning,” Rob whispered in her ear, “especially with your hair done up like that. Now stop fidgeting and scowling. People will think you don’t like your date.”

  Her reflection immediately returned to normal as a smile spread across her face. Satisfied finally with her appearance, she turned to Rob. “I love my date, and you look gorgeous tonight.”

  He did look handsome in his tailored tuxedo, and Lily felt a spark of pride that he’d agreed to escort her to this soiree. If that rotten Buchanan showed up, he could see what he so callously threw away.

  A lump suddenly made a desperate attempt to lodge in her throat, and she forced it back down as she had the thousand other times the lump had attacked since she ran from Buchanan’s terrace that awful afternoon. She refused to grieve over a relationship with a man who was that mean and nasty. She was far better off without him.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” Rob complained, “don’t bring that scowl back out. You’re scaring the patrons away, and this is a charity event.”

  She actually chuckled at that, her first this week. “You’re wonderful, Rob.”

  “I know. Let’s go find Tammy and the bar and not in that order. We need champagne to celebrate.”

  “Celebrate what?”

  “You escaping the doldrums.” He smiled down at her. “And the end of the second and enormously successful week of our new interiors line.”

  He skillfully maneuvered her through the crowd of gowned and tuxedoed couples, and Lily tried not to gape at the opulence surrounding her. She owed Tammy for talking her into this. She would never get another chance to rub shoulders with the crème de la crème of Jupiter Island society. Rob seemed to know half the people here and stopped a half dozen times on the way to the bar to introduce her to those who had waylaid him.

  “Why do you complain about these society folks so much,” she whispered, as they neared the bar. “They’re all rather exciting.”

  “Not when you get to know them and see w
hat’s under the veneer,” he muttered.

  “Surely, not all of them,” she said.

  He stopped suddenly and glanced around at the people crowding the ballroom and then stared down at her for a long moment. “You’re right. A majority of them are nice. It’s people like the Armsteads who give the rest of them a bad name.”

  “I see Tammy,” Lily said and nodded to a large group of people on the other side of the bar. Rob eased her that direction, and seconds later, she was at Tammy’s side.

  “You look breathtaking in that emerald gown,” Lily said and hugged her friend.

  “I’ll second that,” Garrett said and handed one of the two glasses of wine he carried to Tammy.

  “Have you two actually met?” Tammy asked, looking from Garrett to Lily and back.

  Garrett looked momentarily chagrined. “Yes, we did. At a cocktail party not too long ago.”

  Lily extended a hand, which he took. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Tucker.”

  He winced and shook her hand. “Call me Garrett, please.”

  “All right, Garrett.” She turned. “This is Rob Shaw, my dear friend and head grower at Bloom & Grow.”

  Rob gave him a stilted smile.

  “Your plant lines are amazing,” Garrett said sincerely, and Lily watched Rob’s expression soften.

  “You grow things I can’t get anywhere else, and the stock is healthy, too. The combination is nothing short of a miracle.”

  “We love compliments like that. Don’t we, Rob?” She tugged on Rob’s arm, and his expression loosened a bit more.

  “I notice you have another order in,” Rob said. “Where’ll this one be going?”

  “To a commercial property we’re flipping down south, and those gray Bismarchia palms will be perfect with the façade.”

  “We’re still short two,” Tammy cut in, “but Rob’s searching for them. He needs a few weeks to clean them up after he gets them.”