Chapter Seven
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 muttered on his way to the door, “I sure hope we know what we’re doing.”
~ ~ ~ ~
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 drag 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 what’s under the veneer,” he muttered under his breath.
“Surely, not all of them.”
Rob 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 Bismarckia palms will be perfect with the facade.”
“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.”
“No problem.”
“Is there big money in flipping commercial properties?” Rob wanted to know.
“Oh yeah, if you dress them up just right. We do a lot of that type work in between going on location for larger projects, and several small jobs can bring in almost as much money as one of the really big developments.”
“Any big stuff on the horizon?” Lily asked, telling herself she was only making idle conversation. What did she care if Buchanan had to leave town to manage a large-scale development?
“Actually, our attorneys have a parcel picked out and ready to go—some waterfront property near Jupiter. Just some last-minute stumbling blocks to remove first.”
“Where is it?” Lily asked.
“I don’t even know.” Garrett smiled. “The real estate procurement team locates and sets up the properties for sale, then Rhett swoops in to approve and sign the final papers. After that, he drags me out to the site with the conceptual plans and shows me what he wants.”
“How nice to be so busy,” she murmured, hating that a simple discussion about Buchanan made her heart race.
The man had humiliated her, and she hated him for it. She felt her cheeks growing warm, and she hated that too.
Garrett noticed. “Sorry, Lily. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Let’s get that drink we came over here for,” Rob said and took Lily’s elbow.
As they turned toward the mobile bar, Lily heard Tammy whisper, “Is he coming tonight?”
“I asked him, but he wouldn’t say if he was or not,” Garrett said.
“Will he bring a date?” Tammy asked.
Her voice was low, but Lily still heard, and her heart suffered a reflexive stab of pain.
She stuck close to Rob and refused to look back.
She didn’t want to know Buchanan’s plans.
As Rob eased into the line at the bar, Lily heard a hiss coming from Tammy’s direction.
She turned to see Tammy and Garrett staring wide-eyed at the ballroom entrance.
Lily didn’t have to look to know Rhett Buchanan had just appeared at the event with a date.
She suddenly felt cold from head to toe, and she fought the scowl trying to reform on her face.
Why should she give a fig if Buchanan showed up tonight with a date?
She was so over him. But in that moment, she just couldn’t help herself, and she tracked Tammy’s gaze to the ballroom entrance to see the woman Rhett had escorted here tonight.
Lily promised herself—insisted—his date’s identity did not matter. Her gaze fell on Rhett’s broad-shouldered outline silhouetted in the doorway, and she stilled at the sight of the woman on his arm.
Unless Delia Armstead was his date.
“Damnation,” Garrett hissed. “What was he thinking?”
“You mean what was he thinking with,” Tammy said dryly.
Lily turned back to face forward with Rob. He gave no sign of having heard Garrett and Tammy, but his arm swept protectively around her shoulders, and she felt grateful. She had known if Garrett was here, there was a chance Buchanan would show.
So why had she come? To prove how brave she was?
How unhurt she was? She didn’t feel very brave right now, and seeing Buchanan with Delia made her heart hurt so bad there was a stabbing pain in her chest. She could convince herself she was over Rhett as long as she didn’t have to actually see Rhett.
She had convinced herself she didn’t care anymore, but seeing him with Delia made a liar out of her.
Rob let go her shoulder long enough to reach for the two glasses of champagne the bartender placed on the counter. He handed one glass to Lily and took her elbow to guide her away from the bar.
Stopping several yards away, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I want you to give as good as you get. He dared to show up here with Delia, after what she did, so we will make him pay. If you promise to look like you’re having the time of your life, I’ll get you out of here as soon as I can.
” He leaned back to look in her eyes. “Deal?”