The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,138

no,” she scoffed, wobbling on her stool. “He’s too practical for that.”

“So what does he do?”

Her eyebrows lowered, and she spent several seconds deep in thought. To his alarm, tears filled her eyes. “He programed my remote.”

He shook his head in mock appreciation. “An admirable gift.”

Her attention drifted over his shoulder, and he turned to see a hotel employee walking toward them.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” The skittish woman looked like she was about to bolt. “There aren’t any rooms available here at the hotel or any other hotel in a twenty-mile radius. We checked.” She cringed. “Twice.”

Blair blinked, and her eyes struggled to focus on the woman. “There are no rooms anywhere?” The sentence ended in a shout.

The employee jumped. “No, ma’am. I’m sorry.”

“Ma’am?” Blair jumped off her stool and nearly fell over as she pointed her finger at the poor woman. “I’m not a ma’am! I could sue you for that!”

Garrett slid off his stool and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back to his stomach. “Whoa, down there, tiger.”

She looked over her shoulder and up at him, horror in her eyes. “She called me ma’am. How could she do that?”

Garrett gave her a sympathetic look. “Clearly the poor woman needs glasses, but I hardly think it’s worth suing over.”

Blair twisted in his arms until her chest was pressed against his, and she looked up at him. “There’s no room for me in the inn, Garrett.”

The seriousness on her face made him chuckle. “I’ll find you a stable somewhere, Blazer. Not to worry.” His old nickname for her slipped out before he could reel it back in, but thankfully she didn’t seem to notice.

“I hate horses,” she grumbled, resting her cheek on his chest.

“I know. I’ll make sure there aren’t any horses.”

The poor employee watched them in confusion, then lifted her gaze to Garrett. He winked. “She was joking about suing.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Blair mumbled.

The employee’s eyes widened, and Garrett mouthed run.

The woman took off, and Garrett helped Blair back onto her stool. The bartender returned with Blair’s drink, but Garrett pushed it away before she could see it. “Can you bring a couple of waters and a couple of cheeseburgers, one with extra pickles?”

Blair laid her head down on the bar. “I like pickles.”

“I know.” He was glad she was too drunk to hear the sorrow in his voice.

Her head jerked up, and her eyes widened. “I have to find somewhere to stay tonight.”

“Blair, I’ve already figured it out. Let’s eat, and then we’ll talk about it.”

She laid her head down on her arm. “Okay.”

He watched her for several seconds, wondering what had made her so upset. He’d only seen her this drunk once before—the night she’d learned that her mother was moving from Kansas City to Des Moines. He had been her anchor then.

Now she was a mess, and she literally had nowhere to go. He wasn’t about to leave her here. He could spend the rest of his life beating himself up over something that was already done, or he could try to make things right. And other than Blair, Garrett wasn’t a man to live in the past and dwell on mistakes. Now was the time to act.

He asked the bartender to have the food sent to his room, and then he helped Blair off her stool. “Come on, Blazer. They found you a room.”

She lifted her head slightly. “They did?”

“Yeah, your attorney skills must be top notch. All that talk about suing convinced them to find you one.” He reached for her. “Let me help you find it.”

She sat up and fumbled as she batted his hands away. “I don’t need any help. Especially not from you.”

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Of course you don’t. But they asked me to escort you. So there’s no further lawsuit-worthy issues.”

Her nose scrunched. She was clearly confused, but drunk enough to believe him. She slid off the stool and reached for her overnight bag, nearly tripping when she tugged it off the ground.

He grabbed the bag and slung her purse over his shoulder too.

She shook her head and nearly fell over. “I don’t think that bag goes with your outfit.”

He grabbed her elbow to steady her. The bag was made of off-white, uber-shiny patent leather with a shiny gold clasp. It had probably cost a fortune. When he compared it to his jeans and pale blue button-up shirt covered in red stains from the Bloody Mary the passenger next to him had spilled during the