Jenna held out her hand. To Faith's credit, she hesitated only a moment before accepting it. "Lovely to meet you," Faith said.
Jenna smiled, and he could see her brain working overtime, trying to work out if there was something going on between them. She was far too insightful. "Would you like a drink before you set out?"
Faith shook her head, and he wanted to get moving and focused on work again before Jenna could corner him with awkward questions. "We're fine."
"Do you mind if we come with you? Bonnie is still napping, and our housekeeper can keep an ear out for her. I haven't been outside the house all day, and I'd like Meg to get some fresh air and see something other than me."
"That would be great." And it would keep him on his best behavior. None of those intimate moments they'd accidentally had at the beach.
Five minutes later, they were walking out the back door.
"It's huge," Faith said, looking out across the fields of brightly colored blooms. "Do you use them all?"
"The main purpose is to stock our own shops," he said as he opened the small gate that marked the edge of Liam's yard, "but we sell the excess to other stores at the flower markets."
They followed a paved path to a building off to the side-Liam's pride and joy. The Hawke's Blooms research facility.
When they went through the sliding doors, Jenna lifted Meg from the stroller and carried her in her arms, and Dylan spoke to a woman at the front desk. "Can you let Liam know that I'm here to see him, please?"
She put a call through, and then looked back to him. "He's on his way down."
Dylan dug his hands into his pockets and glanced over at Faith as she made baby talk with Meg. He had another plan in mind to help her career, and this time he'd be sure to take it slow and check that she was on board first. But despite his caution, he had a very good feeling about this particular plan. And that made him happier than he should have been comfortable with.
Five
Faith was aware that Princess Jensine of Larsland was studying her, and she had to resist squirming. It seemed almost surreal that a small-town girl who'd spent her entire childhood being shunted from one relative to another should find herself face-to-face with a member of royalty.
"You look familiar," Jenna eventually said. "Have we met before?"
Dylan cleared his throat. "You might have seen her at the auction," he admitted. "Faith had the winning bid on a date with me."
Jenna's eyes widened. "This is a date? You brought a date to a research lab?"
"It's not like that," Faith said quickly. "Besides, even if we wanted to, we couldn't have a real date because of company policy."
She covered her mouth with two fingers. Had she just admitted she would have liked to date Dylan if the situation had been different? No one else seemed to have taken it that way. But she needed to stay on her guard because, deep down, there wasn't much in the world she would want more than for Dylan to kiss her again, and she didn't want anyone-especially Dylan-guessing that.
"Ah, yes," Jenna said. One corner of her mouth turned up. "That old fraternization policy. I know it well."
Liam pushed through the door into the waiting room and beamed when he saw his fiancée. He took Meg from her, swung her around onto his hip and kissed Jenna softly. "Hi," he said.
"Hi, yourself," she said back and kissed him again.
Dylan coughed loudly. "Hey, other people present."
Liam looked up but pulled Jenna under his arm. It was only then that he seemed to register there was a stranger in the room. He released Jenna and stuck out a hand. "I'm Liam Hawke, since it seems my brother isn't going to introduce us."
"I'm Faith Crawford," she said, straightening her spine as she shook his hand. "I work for you."
"You do?" Liam asked, his head cocked to the side.
Dylan took a step closer to her elbow. She could feel his body heat. "Faith is a florist at the Santa Monica store."
"Okay, good to meet you," Liam said.
Jenna looked up at her man, her eyes full of mischief. "Faith won Dylan at the auction."
Dylan held up a hand. "She didn't win me." His gaze darted to Faith before turning back to his brother. "She had the winning bid on some time with me."
"Three dates," Jenna supplied helpfully.
"They're not dates, just time," Dylan clarified. "In fact, this is some of that time now. Faith has a lot of creativity in her designs, and we've identified her as someone with potential. So I wanted to show her around the building."
"Sure," Liam said casually, holding Dylan's gaze. "The public areas?"
"Up to you," Dylan said just as casually.
Faith looked from one to the other, trying to work out what they were really saying. It was obvious something else was being discussed, but what?
"You'll vouch for her discretion?" Liam asked.
Dylan nodded. "I'm willing to bet on it."
"Then you're about to." Liam looked up at Faith and smiled. "Welcome to my world. Let me show you around."
It seemed she'd passed some kind of test on Dylan's say-so, but she had no idea what it had been for. They spent the next twenty minutes walking through the research rooms, and Faith was enthralled with all the projects they had going on. Crossbreeding for stronger scent or bigger flowers, rooms full of benches with lines of pots containing grafted plants. Excitement buzzed through her blood at seeing the powerhouse behind the business.
Then they reached a locked door. Liam caught her gaze. "Past this door is my personal project. Very few people know what's in here, and even fewer have seen it. If we go inside, I need your word that you won't leak the information."
"You have my word," she said without hesitation.
Liam looked to Dylan, who nodded, and opened the door.
The room was like many of the others in that it had benches with rows of pots, each containing plants at different stages of growth. But the flower that many of the pots had was like nothing in the other rooms. Or anything she'd seen before. Faith knew flowers. She knew the conditions they preferred and their shelf lives. She knew which flowers were in season at any given time in which area of the country. She knew what colors each variety came in. But she'd never seen anything like the flower in those pots.
She stepped closer. It was an iris, but it was a rich red. She wanted to touch it but was unsure, so she looked up at Liam. "May I?"
He nodded his permission. With her fingertip, she touched the petal of one of the more advanced flowers. "It's beautiful," she breathed.
"Thank you," Liam said.
Dylan moved to her elbow. "How do you think it will go with the customers?"
She lifted her head and found his deep green gaze. "I think we'll be stampeded." She meant it. There was nothing like this flower on the market, and it was stunning. Already she could imagine how perfect it would look in a bridal bouquet or dramatic table decoration. Its crimson bloom would be the center of attention.
"Tell me, Faith," Dylan said, crossing his arms over his broad chest, "what would you put with it to showcase it?"
"The design would need to be simple. It's so beautiful, it doesn't need much adornment. Perhaps something with soft white petals, like old-fashioned roses. Maybe a touch of silver foliage."
Dylan gave her an indulgent smile and dug his hands in his pockets. "Do you want a chance to try?"
"Make an arrangement with one of these?" she asked, her heart racing with excitement. "Now?"
Dylan lifted an eyebrow at Liam, who nodded. "Yep, now. We'll wait here while you go out to the farm. Collect whatever you want. Then come back and make us an arrangement."
Chest almost bursting, Faith nodded and threaded her way back to the door.
* * *
As soon as Faith was gone, Dylan looked to his brother. "Thanks."
"If you believe in her, then that's enough for me. But," he said, his voice becoming serious, "do you know what you're doing? She's an employee."
Dylan arched an eyebrow. "That didn't stop the two of you."
"It did for a little while," Jenna said, grinning up at Liam.
Liam returned the grin and then said, "It was different for us. Jenna was working for me personally, not the company."
Dylan leaned back on the bench. He'd had enough of this topic of conversation. The last thing he needed was for them to discover he'd crossed the line in a spectacular fashion on the very first night by kissing her.