If The Shoe Fits (26 page)

Bella’s lips clamped shut and if he weren’t
mistaken she had to blink back a few tears. “Don’t worry,
Madeleine. There’s no way in the world I’ll ever forget
it.”

“
See that you don’t.”

With a last-minute almost-gracious smile
tossed his way, Madeleine sashayed out of the
restaurant.

“
Don’t let her get to you,
Bella.”

Okay, perhaps that was overstepping his bounds
as a neighborhood shopkeeper, but as her Guardian, Jonathan
couldn’t stand to see Bella lose that sparkle in her
eye.

“
Madeleine wants to sell the
restaurant.”

“
No!” The woman couldn’t give up
that easily; it wasn’t in her character. At least, not unless
someone with a big bank account came along—and Giovanni definitely
wasn’t that someone.

“
She’s been threatening to, and
now she actually brought someone, a Mr. Fiorello, in to look at the
place.”

“
Ah.” Jonathan would love to tell
her the truth, but Guardians weren’t permitted to reveal either the
Grand Scheme or another Guardian’s identity. Still, he tried to do
the best he could within the confines of his position. “I’m sure
it’s nothing, Bella. She likes her position as the Widow
Casteleoni. She’s not going to sell out.” At least, not to
Giovanni. Which was the reason he was pretending to be so
interested; if Madeleine thought he was on the hook, she wouldn’t
be looking for another buyer. Jonathan just hoped another buyer
didn’t come along. That pesky Free Will The Boss was such a big
proponent of could screw up many a plan.

She cleared her throat. “I hope you’re right,
Mr. Griff.”

“
I am. You’ll see. Everything will
be all right in the end.”

It was the getting there that was going to be
the problem.

Still, he was glad to see the light return to
her eyes.

The Boss knew, she and Reese were going to
need that light because it was always darkest just before the
dawn.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Bella’s finger hovered over Reese’s number.
She didn’t want to make this call. She ought to stand up to
Madeleine. Tell her no.

If it weren’t for Sophia, she would. She would
cut her losses and start over somewhere new, out from under the
woman’s tyrannical thumb. But she just couldn’t leave her
sister.

She took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to
be as bad as she was imagining. As long as Reese had a caterer,
he’d be happy, right? And Jolie had worked for her; it wasn’t as if
Bella was leaving him in a lurch.

But what was she going to tell him? He’d want
to know why.

She couldn’t tell him the truth. That her
stepmother wanted to ruin his event so his mother wouldn’t get on
the Board and Madeleine could.

It was all so pathetic.
Madeleine
was
pathetic. But what did that make
her
for going along with
it?

Desperate.

Out of options.

God, Bella hated this feeling. She’d been
drowning in it for the past ten years and it wasn’t showing any
signs of going away. And, now, by cancelling the job, she was
guaranteeing it never would because no one would ever hire
Casteleoni’s for an event like this once word got out.

Which meant she was going to have to put up
with Madeleine’s machinations until Sophia came of age.

Ah, well, she’d been dealing with it for ten
years, what was another eight?

A lifetime, that’s what.

Hers.

***

Reese was having a devil of a time. The
destination management company he’d hired for the conference had
sent incompetents. Two of the Meet-and-Greet staff looked like they
were just out of high school and the woman running registration had
left her alphabetical knowledge at home that morning. Consequently,
the conference attendees were five deep in the registration lines
and backing up quickly. To top it all off, the civic association’s
president, the man who’d hired him, was a huge football fan and
kept demanding Reese’s presence at one gathering or
another.

It was an odd time to think of
Bella.

Or maybe not. The hotel conference planner
did
have the same shade of hair. That the planner was a guy
was irrelevant. And he’d swear the maitre d’s name was Isabella. It
didn’t matter that the woman was fifty years old, African-American,
and shorter than that little old man who’s spilled his money at the
park. She made him think of Bella.
Everything
made him think
of Bella.

And the fact that she’d turned him
down.

He looked around at the chaos he was managing
in the “war room” at the hotel, where the members of his temporary
staff gathered to get their assignments, check in, drop off
supplies, and generally touch base with him and each other. Where
everything was coming together without his client being aware of
any glitches. At least something in his life was working
out.

“
Matt got the VIPs in,” Debra, the
tour operator, informed him as she ran into the room.

Reese checked that item off his list. He’d had
his doubts about Matt—especially when he’d seen Jennifer hopping
into the limo to “assist” with the pick-up. But a last-minute
switch in the reception venue required everyone to pitch in and
re-do the set-up in the new location, so he’d had to put that one
in the hands of Fate and pray for the best.

From the little smile on Jennifer’s face, it
looked as if it’d worked out… for her.

He just hoped it did for him because he knew
all about on-location romances. They didn’t always work out for the
best.

Okay, so maybe Bella had been smart to put an
end to whatever he’d wanted to start between them before it’d
begun. But they were going to talk when this auction was over. He
hadn’t gotten to where he’d been in his career by letting other
people decide his life for him and even though he was seriously
thinking about wanting to share his life with her, he wasn’t going
to sit back now. She better have a damn good reason for calling it
quits between them.

His phone rang. “Charmant.”

“
Reese? It’s Bella.”

Talk about serendipity.

“
Hang on a sec.” He gave Debra a
few last minute instructions, then headed out to the hallway to
take the call. “Hey, what’s up? Everything on target for next
week?”

“
About that.”

Her tone caused his stomach to bottom out.
“What?”

“
There’s been… That is, there’s a
problem.”

His stomach headed to his knees. “What kind of
problem?”

“
I… That is, Casteleoni’s…
We…”

“
What, Bella? What’s going on? Did
the place burn down? Are you injured? What?” He could only imagine
what’d put that defeatist tone in her voice, and he had a vivid
imagination.

“
We can’t do the
event.”

But he hadn’t imagined
that
.

“
What do you mean you
can’t
? We’re a week and a half out. The food’s ordered. Why
can’t you?”

“
There’s a conflict.”

There sure was. “What is it? How can we
resolve it?”

“
We can’t. I have to back out of
the event. I’m sorry. I know it’s not the best timing, but I’ve got
someone else lined up for you. She used to work with me. She’s
good. Everything will be fine. I promise.”

“
You also promised to handle the
event, so excuse me if I’m not all that excited about your
promise.” He bit back a curse. “Does this have anything to do with
me kissing you?” He should have stuck to his fucking rule and kept
his goddamn paws—and lips—to himself. “Because, seriously, I
promise it won’t happen again. You were right; I was wrong. Can’t
we just go forward?”

“
Reese, it doesn’t have anything
to do with that. It’s just… I just can’t. Like I said, there’s a
conflict and this is the best way I know to resolve it.”

“
Tell me what that conflict is. I
can help.”

“
I’m sorry. In this, you really
can’t.”

She took a breath and Reese could swear it
quivered. If that were the case, what in the hell was so wrong that
she couldn’t do the job? That she couldn’t even tell
him?

“
I’ll have Jolie get in touch with
you soon. She’s really good, Reese. You won’t even know the
difference.”

The hell he wouldn’t.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

“
I still don’t understand why
you’re letting Madeleine get away with this.” Jolie Gardener took
the menu cards Bella had set on the bar top and stacked them neatly
on the spot she’d just wiped down on her latest clients’ pool bar.
“You have to take a stand.”

Bella slid onto the stool. It’d been less than
twelve hours since she’d quit and her stomach was in knots.
Quitting went against every professional ethic she had, not to
mention every grain of hope in her soul. “Don’t you think I know
that? But she’s serious about Sophia this time. I can’t risk
it.”

“
That’s why you should. Can’t you
see? She does this to you all the time. If there’s something she
wants or doesn’t like or needs, she threatens Sophia and you jump.
What if, just once, you didn’t?” Jolie stopped wiping the granite
and pointed her cloth-covered finger at her. “What if she actually
had to go through with it? Do you really think she will? She’ll
lose her bargaining chip.”

“
There’s no bargaining going
on.”

“
Exactly my point. She’s got you
running scared. But now you have something she wants. You have the
opportunity to help out a charity, do a good job for an
up-and-coming firm in the city, and make a name for yourself. Not
to mention his name. Does she really think Reese isn’t going to do
whatever it takes to get someone to pull this off? She’s delusional
if she thinks he’s going to let it fail just because you back out.
He’s got too much to lose, and I don’t mean his mother getting the
Board position.” She tucked her cloth into her chef coat and took
the crystal glasses out of the box on the bar and began washing
them for the afternoon luncheon Mrs. Kellan was hosting. “No,
whatever Madeleine’s convoluted rationalization for her idiotic
demand,
you’re
the one in control now.”

Bella grabbed a dishtowel and started drying.
“Don’t you think I’ve run this through my mind a zillion times?
It’s all I can think about.” Well, that and Reese. There was
something between them and, dammit, she wanted to explore
it.

So did he, but because of Madeleine, they
couldn’t. It was so tempting to listen to Jolie and throw
Madeleine’s plan back in her face. If it were just the bakery at
stake, maybe she would. But they were bargaining with Sophia. She
couldn’t take that risk.

Or maybe she could…

She set a champagne flute down. “Okay, how
about this? What if I tell Madeleine you’re handling it, but I
still do it? I’ll take Casteleoni’s name off everything so she
won’t know, but behind the scenes, I’ll still be working the event.
That way I won’t have to let Reese down and I can buy myself more
time.”

Jolie took the flute and put it in the
glass-fronted cabinets on the wall behind her. “I guess, but you
have to take credit the night of the event. You want to get your
name out, this is
the
event of the season, and seriously…
Does she
really
think that Reese’s event is going to seal
the deal as far as his mother getting that Board position is
concerned? I mean, there’s already talk of naming a park after the
woman. She
is
Hollywood royalty after all. Local girl done
really really good. The whole world’s in love with Carolyn
Charmant. The only place Madeleine is any competition to her is in
her own mind.”

“
You know that and I know that,
but Madeleine will never admit it. She’ll take it out on Sophia.
That’s why I have to be discreet.”

“
She’s not going to do anything to
Sophia, Bella. Think about it.” Jolie wagged one of the wine
glasses at her. “There’s no way Madeleine’s going to get the Board
position. None. No matter what you do. Everyone can see through her
and even if Carolyn weren’t in the running, do you really think
those people couldn’t find someone else to offer that position to?
Madeleine’s deluding herself.”

“
But she’ll blame it on me and
Sophia will suffer.”

“
For how long? She said herself
that she won’t be able to hold her head up in this town. That
she’ll move away. She’s not going to want to drag a stepdaughter
along with her. My money’s on you getting custody of Sophia without
a battle.”

“
You think so?”

“
Trust me. I’ve been through the
court system. With you, Sophia has a family member who loves her,
wants her, and with all the jobs you’ll get from the auction, will
able to afford her. The courts will never deny you custody.” Jolie
scooped up the menu cards and handed them back to Bella. “I can
guarantee it.”