The Begonia Bribe Read Free Page A

or a euphemism—there was no way to know.
    “Wonderful to meet you, Ms. Benchly. We’re having cocktails up in the drawing room.” Cam gestured toward the stairs, then had to turn back to the door as guests began to arrive in earnest: Nell Norton and her husband, Byron; Telly Stevens and his wife, Judith Towers-Stevens—the executive producer who’d insisted her husband judge, Annette DiFlor of Anna Banana’s Tween Fashions; Holden Hobbes and several more.
    Cam had a headache. She’d been a part of a lot of formal festivities, but this one seemed to have a higher ratio of important people and fewer allies to help her when things went wrong. She wished her boyfriend, Rob, hadn’t had a dinner scheduled with his editor at the
Roanoke Tribune
, as it would have been nice if he could have been here for her. She felt like squealing when her dad and Annie finally arrived, though she knew Annie was only looking at this as a job. Her camera was draped over her neck to document the party.
    After another half hour of greeting, Cam finally felt she was OK to join the guests upstairs.
    Instead of air conditioning the grand, garden-view drawing room, the Patricks had thrown open the wall of windows and glass doors and had a half-dozen ceiling fans circulating the summer air. The delicious floral scent from the garden drifted in. Cam was glad the temperature was lower than they expected the rest of the week, which made this possible. It was warm but worth it. And the room provided the ideal angle to view the elaborate garden.
    As she stood in one of the French doorways that led to the balcony, Clancy Huggins and Jessica Benchly climbed the balcony stairs from strolling the garden. Cam had been right that the mosaic effect of the garden below was that of an iris. There was a vast array of purple blazing star, iris, and gladiolus, shot through with yellow foxglove and white calla lilies. Nearest the fountain at the center was a delightful cluster of sunflowers, perfect for the stamen at the center of the flower. The bit of conversation she heard from Clancy and Jessica was about the specific strains of oleander and the variety of lilies Clancy admired, while Jessica favored the hibiscus.
    As they passed her, Cam heard an ominous feminine growl from inside. “What is
she
doing here?” Cam looked for the source. Judith Towers-Stevens glared at Clancy and Jessica, then stormed away from her husband and caught Nell Norton’s hand. She changed faces like a chameleon as she began to ask recommendations for keeping a floral garden through August, which could be challenging in the Virginia heat.
    Cam felt guilty for her relief that Judith Towers-Stevens could take care of herself, as a look to another French door and the hungry look of Telly Stevens explained why she was so angry. Her husband definitely lusted after his fellow judge’s date. She wished she could smack him upside the head, but it wasn’t like they didn’t know about his personality. And it was Judith’s fault Telly was involved—she’d insisted.
    Cam tried to evaluate if there were other problems, though a romantic triangle among judges was problem enough.
    She looked at her watch for comfort but didn’t find it. She wandered over to Annie with her new concern. “It’s not like Petunia to be late.” Petunia and Nick, Cam’s sister and brother-in-law, ran a small restaurant called Spoons, and Cam liked to hire them whenever RGS had catering needs, so they were expected at any minute.
    Annie looked at her own watch and raised an eyebrow.
    “Okay, technically, they aren’t late, though they’re pushing it. And Petunia is usually a little early.”
    She walked out onto the stairway landing and realized the Spoons van was sitting on the street waiting for one of the guests to park so Nick could pull past and get close to the house. When the car had finally cleared, he pulled up near the front door. Cam ran down to greet them.
    “Everything all right?” she