The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,163

the armrest. “Not in so many words, but I can read between the lines.”

“We’re cousins all right. We used to spend two weeks together every summer at Nana’s farm. Neil hated it.”

“I can imagine. And you loved it.”

He glanced at her. “What makes you say that?”

“You like the outdoors.” She paused. “Or at least you used to.”

Her last statement gave him hope after the comment she’d made in the restaurant about people never changing. “Still do. I just don’t get out very much anymore. You know how it is to be an associate attorney, always trying to prove your worth, hoping to make partner. You spend most of your time enclosed in glass and metal.”

Her easygoing attitude dissolved. “Yeah.”

So his earlier assessment had been spot on. Something else was going on with her, something to do with her firm. “How long have you been at Sisco, Sisco, and Reece? You never answered me before.”

“Since law school. I did a summer internship there and was offered a position.” She tensed. “What about you? Divorce law. I never would have expected it.”

He shrugged. “I kind of fell into it. I started out practicing entertainment law, then switched soon after moving out to L.A. With all the high-profile people, not to mention all the alcohol and quickie weddings, there can be some pretty profitable cases.”

“And plenty of skinny actresses,” Blair said, disgust in her voice.

There was no use denying it. It was one of the reasons he’d moved to the West Coast. But now he was stuck with an awkward silence and no clue how to fill it without saying something else to piss her off. Then an idea hit him. The reason he was here.

“Have you met Nana Ruby yet?” he asked.

“No.” Her tone let him know she had no desire to meet her. “I hear she’s a tyrant. Debra’s bad enough.”

“Aunt Debra’s something all right, but I think you’ll like Nana Ruby.”

“I doubt it. She forced you into the wedding party, didn’t she? She sounds like a bully.”

“Some people might accuse you of the same thing.”

Her brow lowered. “I’ll never know why men are threatened by powerful women.”

“Not just men,” Garrett said. “And I know she sounds like a bully, but she usually has a reason for the things she does.”

“And what’s her reason for doing this?”

“My mother and Aunt Debra have fought over the ring on your hand off and on for over two decades. It used to belong to their grandmother, who left it to her granddaughter. Only no one can definitively prove which granddaughter. Aunt Debra claimed ownership because she’s had it in her possession most of that time, but my mother threw an epic fit when she found out Neil gave it to you. So Nana Ruby insisted I come and . . .” She was never going to believe him after he’d laid claim to the ring so publicly. But he’d promised himself to be truthful with her.

“And stir up trouble? So your grandmother’s an instigator?”

“Believe it or not, she sent me here to keep the peace.”

“By announcing that the ring is yours?” she asked in disbelief as she glanced down at the ring on her hand.

“I don’t want the ring, Blair,” he said quietly.

“Then why the hell did you say that you did? Especially if your grandmother wanted you to smooth things over.”

He turned and looked at her. This was what he’d been waiting for—this was the time for him to amp up his campaign. The words I want you were on the tip of his tongue, but in this moment of truth, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. What if she was really happy with Neil? As hard as it was to accept, he didn’t want to be the one to screw that up for her. He gave her a lazy grin. “You’d never believe me if I told you.”

“Still the same,” she said, shaking her head in disgust. “Still the player.”

Was he? There was no denying that he’d dated more women than he could count, probably a dozen in the past year alone, but that didn’t mean it was what he wanted.

She gave him directions the rest of the way to her condo in Lee’s Summit, a suburb on the Missouri side of the city.

“I thought you were a city girl,” he teased as he pulled into the parking lot in front of her building. The brick cookie-cutter condos didn’t look like her at all. Back in law school, Blair had always