Free Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts Page A

simple games with pretty prizes for the winners.”
    “I don’t want to hand out anything tacky or foolish. I’d want something in keeping with the ambiance.”
    And gee, Parker thought, I was going to get the glow-in-the-dark dildos. “Absolutely. Leave it to me. We’ll have it all arranged for after lunch. Please, go enjoy yourself. Don’t worry about a thing.”
    She waited until she’d slipped inside. “Laurel, I need you to take over outside,” she said into her headset. “The BTB wants games and prizes. I need fifteen minutes to set it up.”
    “Got it.”
    “Emma, I need a small prize table set up.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake—”
    “I know, I know. Whatever you can do. You’ve got forty minutes.”
    She charged up the back steps, all the way to the gift room, a space designed for gift wrapping, present storage. Inside one of the cabinets she had labeled, prewrapped gifts. She scanned, debated, and after choosing three, slipped them into white embossed gift bags, tucked in black tissue. From another cabinet she grabbed a stack of notepads, pencils, pulled other supplies.
    She dashed back down, set the bags and the box of supplies on the dining room table, then zipped through the kitchen and into the old butler’s pantry to choose the proper tray for the display.
    “What are you after?” Mrs. Grady asked from behind her.
    “The BTB wants games, which the hostess vetoed during the planning stages. I don’t think white bags on a white tray, and we don’t have an appropriate black one. I think silver. Or glass. Maybe glass.”
    “Try both.”
    “Good idea. Can you come, give me an opinion?”
    Mrs. Grady walked along with her. “Oh, your car’s back.”
    “Back where?”
    “Here.”
    Parker stopped, frowned. “My car’s here?”
    “Delivered about twenty minutes ago.Washed and waxed, too. I put the bill up on your desk.”
    “Oh. But I didn’t ask him to deliver it. I was going to—”
    “Saves you time, doesn’t it?” Which, in Mrs. Grady’s opinion, made Malcolm Kavanaugh a very shrewd customer.
    Parker said nothing, only continued to frown as she arranged the bags on the silver tray.“I think the glass one’s better.The silver makes too much of a statement, and Emma could sprinkle some white rose petals on the glass, and with the little black vases . . . Who delivered the car?”
    Mrs. Grady smothered a smile. “Didn’t catch his name. Well, theirs, as the one had another following him in a tow truck.”
    “Oh. Um . . . The glass?”
    “I’d say. It’s classy, but more subtle than the silver.”
    “Yes, that’s what I’m after.” She stepped back. “I’ll leave this here, go see if I can help Emma set up the table.”
    She started out. “Really, I could’ve picked up the car.”
    “No doubt.What do you say when someone does you a favor?”
    Parker heaved out a breath at the implied tsk in the tone.“You say thank you. I will.When I get a chance.”
    She didn’t have one, or so she told herself.The event required her focus, and with the additional time for the unscheduled games ran about thirty minutes over.Which cut back on the time to prep for the evening’s rehearsal.
    “The games were a hit,” Mac commented.
    “They generally are.”
    “Nice prizes. I really liked the travel jewelry caddy, the green leather? Somebody who’s going to Tuscany for her honeymoon could really use one of them.”
    “Maybe somebody’ll get lucky.” Parker chugged from a bottle of water. “We seriously pulled that off. And our hostess didn’t bat an eye at the additional invoice for the prizes, especially since I gave her the extra half hour on the house.”
    She took a last scan of the terrace.They’d broken down all the tables, but had left the pergola and urns dressed.They had only to set up the refreshment table, and they were good to go.
    She probably had five minutes now to call in her thanks, but really, she had to check the invoice first. For all she knew he’d