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‘It’s going well.’
Her glance seemed only to calculate the empty shelf area. But her cheeks held a hint of pink that couldn’t be attributed to their brief walk.
Was she feeling this, too? This interest and curiosity that felt fresh and new and oh-so-tempting to pursue?
‘At the moment we’re keeping our stock orders tight.’ She waved a hand in the general direction of the shelves, and then shoved it into the front pocket of her cut-offs.
She’s as aware of it as you are.
Maybe, but that didn’t mean she wanted to pursue it any more than he did, Linc reminded himself belatedly.
‘Any special reason?’ He cleared his throat. ‘For keeping the stock orders tight?’
She tipped her head on one side and seemed to consider him for a moment before she responded. ‘It’s because Valentine’s Day is very close and we’ll need the space for all the cut roses.’
‘Right. It’s good that you’ve thought ahead to make as much of that day as possible.’ His voice was so deep it might have come from his boots. ‘I should have thought of that straight away.’
‘It’s a very special day.’ The pink in her cheeks deepened. ‘For—for the customers, and very much for the nursery.’
And most of all for lovers.
She didn’t say that. Instead, she drew a deep breath, as though to try to compose herself.
In Linc’s experience women seemed to expect a very emotional expression of love on that particular day of the year. To show a love that encapsulated exactly the kind of commitment that would never be part of Linc’s own life.
He was grateful his brothers had found such love—that their lives had turned out okay in the end. However, Linc would never deserve—
‘We’ll be getting in red roses, predominantly.’
Cecilia’s words drew him back from the dark thoughts as she led the way out of the cold storage area and, once he’d joined her outside, secured it.
‘We’ll stock other colours of roses, too. There’s a growing percentage of buyers who will purchase something other than the classic red—particularly when purchasing for friends or family rather than—’
‘The romantic loves of their lives?’
There. He’d said it and the sky hadn’t fallen in.
‘Yes.’ She glanced at him and quickly away again. Her chin tipped up. ‘Roses are lovely at any time of the year. My favourites are the creamy white ones. They have a beautiful, subtle scent.’
She led the way through a section of potted seedlings and, as he came to her side, gave him the benefit of a determinedly work-focused gaze.
‘Hopefully this year’s sales of roses will prove to be as lucrative as last—if not more so.’
The words made Cecilia sound as unromantic as they came, and she was a great businesswoman. But one who’d managed to bring romance right to the heart of her working life through her instigation of this year’s masked-ball event. Not to mention all the flowers she stocked for Valentine’s Day, and the flowering maze she had designed and nurtured to fruition.
‘Given your track record over the last six years, I have no doubt that the Valentine’s Day trade will exceed all expectations.’ He made the comment matter-of-fact, but his thoughts were not pragmatic.
She’d been in a relationship a few months ago. His brother Brent had mentioned that it had ended.
So she’s single.
Why would Linc even consider her availability?
She may be hurting and still love the guy.
‘Thank you.’
For a moment Linc didn’t know what she was thanking him for, and then he remembered. He’d paid her a compliment. A business one, about her ability to do a great job as plant-nursery manager.
Which was true.
‘You’re welcome.’
They moved between rows of gardening supplies, through arrays of flowering plants and herbs, potting mix and foliage. Linc began to find his focus again, and the colour in Cecilia’s cheeks returned to normal.
So it was fine. He’d been foolishly carried away—imagining things, nothing more. Flights of fancy weren’t Linc’s style. He would make sure it didn’t happen again.
Cecilia’s love of her work shone through more and more as she talked avidly, explaining the progress and plans that related to each area.
‘What’s happening in that shed?’
He asked the question as they walked towards a shady path, far into the back section of the nursery. Access to the shed was gained through a locked gate. There were no customers to be seen or heard, and it truly felt secluded and private.
In fact, it was the perfect setting for a man to steal a kiss. Assuming that a man would choose to do something so unprofessional.
So much for him returning his thoughts to nothing but business.
‘I’ll show you.’ Cecilia led the way to this final shed on the property and unlocked and opened the door. The tour with Linc had proved productive so far, but she had been oh-so-conscious of him the entire time.
This sharpened interest towards Linc needed to stop.
She felt a moment of nervous anticipation as she prepared to reveal this part of the business. It was working well, and she was proud of it, but what would Linc think of the concept?
‘I hope you’ll approve of this aspect of the nursery.’ She tried to imbue nothing but confidence into her tone as she went on. ‘This is where I work on my repurposing projects. I get some of my best ideas for the future direction of the business when I’m working here, too.’
With this statement carefully delivered, and avoiding the thought that she also came here when she missed her sister the most, Cecilia glanced about the area.
Sunlight streamed through skylights in the roof into a large open-plan area that housed projects in various stages of completion. Old boots with creepers growing out of them...a rocking chair that had been painted orange and black, its seat area filled with a large planter of pumpkin vine... Demand for this kind of repurposed item was growing.
‘I didn’t know about this.’ Linc’s gaze moved about the area before it returned to her. ‘How long have you been doing this work? Where did you get all these items?’
He wouldn’t realise it, but the sun coming through the skylight above had cast his profile into sharp relief. Every strong feature and every subtle nuance was there for her to see. Right down to the length of his dark eyelashes and the way they curled slightly at the ends. And the shape of his lips...
Cecilia struggled to remember his question. He’d asked something about where she got the items for refurbishment. It was one of her favourite aspects of the plant nursery, which showed how easily being around Linc could throw her completely off her guard.
‘I find items in all sorts of places.’
She took a step to the side, to break that particular view of him. It was as though she’d jumped back through time six years and all her past awareness of him as a man had returned.
Actually, it hadn’t—because she saw him now with a history of working in his employ for six years. She saw him with more maturity. With more certainty in her interest in him...
‘I started this operation about four months ago.’
Soon after she’d realised she needed a distraction and a way of letting out her emotions, thanks to the implosions going on in her personal life.
She simply couldn’t feel a renewed attraction to Linc, let alone a deeper one. Because— because business and that sort of pleasure didn’t mix. Because she had enough to deal with in her life without trying to take on a romance. Because she’d learned the hard way, when Hugh had disappeared from her life without a backward glance, that you just couldn’t trust romantic attachments once ‘real life’ interfered with them!
Most of all because Linc had rejected her overtures all those years ago. Remember? There was no earthly reason why he’d feel any differently now.
‘Any time I’m out and about I visit garage sales and junk shops...thrift stores and car boot sales.’
Perhaps if she made herself sound like a lonely single girl with a craft obsession, she would embarrass herself out of being so conscious of him.
‘All the items are ridiculously cheap to buy,’ she continued, ‘and people leap at the chance to purchase the end product—the repurposed item. There’s good profit to be made, and the items appeal to the style of visitor who comes here to tour the maze. Jemmie features them online, as well.’
His strong hands lifted a pottery urn from the bench. It had a chunk missing from one side. ‘So a buyer will pay top dollar for this?’
‘Once the urn has herbs growing in it, or maybe some flowering cacti, you’ll be surprised how quickly it will be snapped up.’
She took the urn from his hands, held it up to the light. She ignored her fanciful thoughts and how it felt to stand so close to him, to measure her smaller frame against his taller, stronger one.
Get over it, Cee. Get over it right now!
Cecilia went on to tell Linc about her repurposing timetable, and then led the way back through the nursery acreage to the maze, quickly showing Linc the upgrades she’d had done to the fruticetum at the centre of it. Its circular arrangement combined colourful blooming potted shrubs with evergreen native species.
‘Clever work.’ He made the declaration the moment they stepped into the central area. ‘Those shrubs grouped all around the edges of the circular space will add to the air of mystery for the masked ball.’
She gestured to the picnic tables dotted around the central area as well as the edges.
‘Currently, when folks finish touring the maze, they can sit for a while, enjoy the quiet and utilise the screens embedded in the tabletops to scroll through our available stock lists and place orders. They can either take them with them, collect later or have them sent to any address they choose. The night of the ball there’ll be a raised dais for dancing. The central picnic tables will be shifted out to the edges of the area and the canopied dais will be assembled on-site the day before the event.’
Something she had told herself was mostly about commerce and exposure for the business suddenly felt quite personal to Cecilia. She could imagine herself on that dais, dancing with a handsome partner.
Well, a girl could buy into a romantic idea, couldn’t she? Even if it was an idea she had germinated to increase the popularity of her business.
As for that vision of herself on the dais... The man who appeared in it with her looked remarkably like Linc.
Heat warmed the back of her neck. The middle of a working tour was not the time for such flights of fancifulness. Hadn’t she allowed herself to be distracted enough by him this morning?
‘Will it be an old-fashioned ball?’ he queried. ‘With waltzing and so on?’
Was his voice deeper than usual? Cecilia glanced at his face but couldn’t read his expression.
‘There will be waltzes and other simpler dance tunes. I want people at all levels of dancing ability to be able to participate,’ she murmured, and then had to clear her throat and strive for a stronger tone. ‘I hope to create a night to remember.’
His gaze met hers and, for one breathless moment, electricity seemed to charge the air between them.
‘I’m sure you’ll achieve that.’
Oh, Linc, do you feel this too?
‘I hope you’ll be there.’ The words came unthinkingly, and the warmth that had started at the back of her neck now rushed into her cheeks.
Had she not learned the last time?
She rushed on. ‘What I mean is, it would look good to have the owner here. For business. But I understand you may be busy. It’s not an expectation.’
Cecilia had asked the question with business in mind. She had!
‘I’ll have to consider—’ He broke off as his cell phone started to ring.
Yet not before Cecilia sensed the hesitation in him.
So there. That answered her unspoken question.
Of course he wouldn’t want to involve himself in a masked ball. She had never asked him to do anything like that before. Why should she start now?
Mortification threatened, because she did not want him to see her request as an overture. It didn’t matter what she might or might not have felt towards him since his arrival to undertake this review of the business.
Her request had been about business, and she needed Linc to know that.
Cecilia ignored the little voice that suggested it had been a little bit about the man himself, as well...
A moment later he’d responded briefly to the caller. He turned to Cecilia. ‘I’m sorry. That was the call I’ve been waiting on. I need to go.’
‘You’re fine. Go do what you need to do.’ Cecilia waved him away as though she had some claim to granting him permission or not. ‘And don’t worry about my invitation. I understand if you can’t make it or don’t want to attend. It was a marketing-related thought. That’s all.’
Another thought encroached. What if he did attend the masked ball and arrived with some beautiful woman on his arm?
Not her business—and she wouldn’t care one way or the other!
Linc gave a quick nod and strode off.
Cecilia did not watch his departure until he was out of sight, nor did she stand there daydreaming, incapable of remembering what she should do next even though she’d just given herself a stern internal talking-to.
She merely took a moment to gather herself for her next job. Yes. That was what she did.
And that job needed to be a last-minute check of the maze before the flower-show committee arrived.
Cecilia forced her attention to her work. And it was as she inspected the perfect flowerbeds that Cecilia admitted to herself that she really did hope Linc would attend the masked ball.
But only for business purposes.
* * *
‘You can go ahead and sell off two of the three apartment complexes as whole lots to those investors. It’s a good time to do it, and you know the profit margin I’ll be looking for.’
Linc gave his agreement over his cell phone to his property broker as he strode from his car to the entrance of Cecilia’s plant nursery the following morning.
