Spellbound By The Single Dad. Lynne Marshall
did.
They passed through a set of double doors into the area where he worked. Usually he was the only one in these rooms unless he called on an assistant to lend a hand. His heart rate felt uneven and he realized he was uneasy, waiting for Jenna’s reaction.
Jenna stood in the middle of the first room, Bonnie in her arms, and turned around in a full circle. “This is where you work, isn’t it?”
His attention snapped to her. “How did you know?”
“It...” Her voice trailed off as she looked from the surroundings back to him. “This is going to sound crazy, but it feels like you in here.”
“Feels like me,” he repeated dubiously. He narrowed his gaze as he took in the rows and rows of seedlings that he hoped would grow up to be something special, the whiteboards covered in diagrams of the generations of the cultivars, the computers and microscopes. “I’m not sure how it ‘feels’ any different in this room from the other rooms we passed along the way.”
“That’s the crazy part.” She grinned at him. “Maybe—” She leaned in and sniffed his shoulder, and Meg made a grab for her hair. “No. I was thinking maybe it smelled like your cologne in here and my subconscious picked it up, but you’re not wearing any.”
He tried to get his lungs working again after she’d leaned so close. “None of the staff wear cologne to work,” he said, hoping his voice was normal. “We often need to smell fragrances from a flower, so we don’t want outside influences floating around.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know what it is then. I’ll keep thinking about it.” She wandered over and peeked through the glass panels in the door to the next room. “What’s through here?”
A small swell of pride filled his chest—this project had been his greatest success so far. “Something I’ve been working on.”
Watching her face so he didn’t miss her reaction, he opened the door and waved her through.
As Jenna stepped through the doorway of Liam’s laboratory, her breath caught in her throat. The windowless room had artificial lighting beaming down on rows of benches covered in small black pots that were bursting with glossy green leaves, each with the same flower on long stalks rising elegantly. It was a single, curved petal of a lily, but this bloom was darkest blue. It was stunning.
“Liam, you created this?” she asked once she’d found her voice.
He nodded. “Well, it was a joint project with Mother Nature.”
“It’s amazing.” She walked along the benches, looking at flower after flower, each as perfect as the last. “Has anyone else seen them?”
“Just the staff here. And Adam and Dylan, so they’re ready for when we release it to the public.”
She couldn’t stop looking at the lilies. She’d never seen anything like them. “This will create a sensation.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I’m hoping so.”
Unable to resist, she reached out and ran a fingertip over a thick, waxy petal. “What sort of launch are you planning for it?”
“I leave that to my brothers, but Dylan’s office usually has window signs made up for all the Hawke’s Blooms stores when we release a new flower, and Adam’s office will probably put out a press release. Gardening magazines and TV shows usually pick up on it, and occasionally we get lucky and the mainstream media mentions it.”
This flower deserved more than a poster and a press release. This flower deserved fanfare and fame. “Have you ever done anything more to promote your creations?”
“What more is there?” he asked, frowning.
Her mind kicked into gear, suddenly full of possibilities. “Maybe an event. Something to really make a splash. Something that would get you a lot of publicity and make the blue lily the most sought-after flower in the state.”
Liam handed Meg a rubber stress ball from his desk as he asked, “What are you thinking?”
If there was one thing Jenna knew about, it was events. She’d been attending large-scale occasions since she was a child. “It could be almost anything, like a media stunt, or maybe a snazzy release, like the way a bottle of champagne is smashed against the bow of a boat.” She’d christened her first ship when she was sixteen. It was more fun than cutting a ribbon, but there was always the danger of splashing her dress. “Perhaps something elegant. How about a ball?”
“For a flower?” he asked dubiously. “People would go to that?”
“Sure they would if you promise them a good time. Make it the party of the year.”
Meg reached up and grabbed a fistful of his dark, wavy hair, but Liam barely flinched. “What exactly constitutes a ‘party of the year’?”
She thought back over the successful events she’d attended. “Location, guest list, entertainment, food. Just the basics, but done really well.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing.”
“I’ve attended a few in the past. I had a boyfriend who was often invited to big parties and events.” Which was true. In her previous life, whichever guy she’d been seeing had been invited to the events she attended as her plus one.
Apparently accepting her explanation at face value, he sank into a chair in front of a messy desk and leaned back, Meg on his lap. “What else would you do?”
Good question. To start with, they’d need a theme. “Have you named the flower?”
“I was planning on calling it Midnight.”
“That’s perfect,” she said, feeling a little buzz of adrenalin. “You could make midnight the theme of the ball. The decorations would all be in midnight blue, and maybe the official launch would be at the stroke of midnight, perhaps someone cutting a ribbon, and every guest could be given a gift and a cut Midnight Lily. Naturally, you’d make sure there was press coverage, perhaps some influential bloggers, anyone who would talk it up beforehand and afterward.”
He made some notes on a jotter on his desk, then turned to her as Meg tried to grab his pen. “I’ll run it past Adam and Dylan, but I think it’s a great idea. Thanks.”
“My pleasure.” She smiled. It had been a while since she’d used her brain in that way and it was fun. “I’m sure you’ll make it a success.”
He ran a hand over his chin, then tapped a finger against his jaw. “Would you consider overseeing the event? You have your hands full with Bonnie and Meg, but my admin staff can put all your plans into action. It would be more about being the ideas person and giving advice about the whole thing.”
Jenna chewed the inside of her cheek. The very last place she could be was a party covered by the media. If a single photo of her leaked back to her homeland, her whole plan would come crashing down around her and she’d have to return before she was ready.
“The thing is,” she began, thinking on her feet, “I hate being in front of people, talking to the media, that sort of thing. And crowds. So I’m not the best person to organize it.”
He shook his head, obviously not seeing her objection as an obstacle. “Adam or Dylan would do all the public speaking, and Dylan’s office, which oversees the Hawke’s Blooms stores, has a PR person. She can be the liaison with the media. And if you’re worried about the crowds, you wouldn’t even have to attend. You can be as behind the scenes as you want to be. It’s your ideas I want.”
A bubble of excitement filled her chest just thinking about it, and she held her breath for a beat as if that could contain it. She had heaps of accumulated knowledge about