Free Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1) by Petie McCarty

taking you to dinner and then on a carriage ride in Central Park.”
    “A carriage ride?” she said and stopped short of a squeal. “Just like—”
    Whoa, girl! You say Cinderella and the jig is up.
    He grinned. “Just like what?”
    “Just like I was hoping we could. Carriage rides are so romantic.” Would she never stop feeling like Cinderella? The name echoed with a fresh twinge of guilt.
    “I’ve never taken one, but I imagine taking one with you would be romantic,” Rhett said, then leaned over and kissed her.
    Delia wheeled her Jaguar into the Bloom & Grow parking lot on Sunday afternoon. Her father had promised to find out what he could about the mysterious Lily, specifically any available dirt, and she knew Chester Armstead would come through. He wanted Delia married to Rhett Buchanan more than Delia did.
    Too impatient to wait for her father to pry, she decided to take matters into her own hands and investigate the nursery where Rhett had met his slutty blonde. Someone there might know something about the slut. If she bought plants regularly, they should have her address, and Delia could make a covert run past her house. Delia prided herself on being able to determine someone’s net worth just by driving past their house, and she was rarely, if ever, wrong.
    She intended to fight the blonde for Rhett, and if she had to, she would fight dirty. Rhett Buchanan fit all her husband requirements—richer than anyone on the eastern seaboard, capable of supporting Delia’s spending habits, and sex with him was better than any other man she’d met, except Raoul who listed toward mild perversion.
    Thinking of Raoul made her frown. The Argentinean polo player had dumped her two months earlier when he left for South America at the end of polo season. Had a girl back home he loved , or so he said. Damned if Delia would lose both of her favorite sex partners to other women.
    She chose to ignore the fact she hadn’t slept with Rhett for a long time before she tumbled into Raoul’s bed. Rhett had started backpedaling on her long ago, but she had given up the chase when her Argentinean lover appeared on the scene. Rhett had flitted in and out of her life a half-dozen times already, and she had always let him go because she loved playing the field and knew he did, too.
    Rhett Buchanan would never settle down.
    For the first time—Delia bit her lower lip—she didn’t feel so sure of herself. Rhett hadn’t been able to take his eyes off the blond slut Friday night, and Delia hadn’t liked the hungry look in his eyes. She had never made a concerted effort to corral Rhett in the past, but she intended to accomplish that feat now.
    She climbed out of her Jaguar and gazed in disgust at the gravel entrance drive and mulch path to the nursery office. She could ruin her Manolo Blahniks here. With a grimace, she trudged toward the little office building. When this was all over, she would see to it Rhett bought her another pair. No, make that two.
    One glance through the open doorway showed the office to be deserted. Delia started back toward the parking area and spotted a gardener in the adjacent field of container trees, a watering wand in his hand.
    He glanced up as she approached. “Can I help you?”
    She stifled the urge to wrinkle up her nose and advanced toward the man. His hair was shaggy, damp sweat spots peppered his shirt, and the oldest sneakers in the world hugged his feet. She stopped well short of aroma range and put up a hand to shield her eyes.
    “Yes, you can,” she said, squinting. “I’m trying to locate a client of yours. She left a scarf at my party last night, but I don’t know where she lives, and I don’t have her phone number. I just wanted to return her scarf.”
    He accepted the story—hook, line, and sinker. But then, why shouldn’t he?
    “That’s nice of you,” he said, “but we have hundreds of people come through here month to month.”
    “I know that.” She waved him off. “But