Chesapeake Blue
Page 8

"I admire your work," she told him.
"Thanks. I admire yours. And I'm probably keeping you from it. I'm going to make it worth your while. I've got some ladies to impress. You can help me out."
"Ladies? Plural?"
"Yeah. Three, no four," he corrected, thinking of Aubrey.
"It's a wonder you have time to paint, Mr. Quinn."
"Seth. I manage."
"I bet you do." Certain types of men always managed. "Cut flowers, arrangements or plants?"
"Ah… cut flowers, in a nice box. More romantic, right? Let me think." He calculated route and time, and decided he'd drop by to see Sybill first. "Number one is sophisticated, chic, intellectual and practical-minded, with a soft-gooey center. Roses, I guess."
"If you want to be predictable."
He looked back at Dru. "Let's be unpredictable."
"Just a moment. I have something in the back you should like." Something out here I like, he thought as she turned toward the rear door. He gave his heart a little pat.
Phillip, Seth thought as he wandered the shop, would approve of the classic, clean lines of that ripening, peach-colored suit she wore. Ethan, he imagined, would wonder how to give her a hand with all the work that must go into running the place. And Cam… well, Cam would take one long look at her and grin. Seth supposed he had bits of all three of them inside him. She came back carrying an armload of streamlined and exotic flowers with waxy blooms the color of eggplant.
"Calla lilies," she told him. "Elegant, simple, classy and in this color spectacular."
"You nailed her."
She set them in a cone-shaped holding vase. "Next?"
"Warm, old-fashioned in the best possible way." Just thinking of Grace made him smile. "Simple in the same way. Sweet but not sappy, and with a spine of steel."
"Tulips," she said and walked to a clear-fronted, refrigerated cabinet. "In this rather tender pink. A quiet flower that's sturdier than it looks," she added as she brought them over for him to see.
"Bingo. You're good."
"Yes, I am." She was enjoying herself now—not just for the sale, but for the game of it. This was the reason she'd opened the shop. "Number three?"
Aubrey, he thought. How to describe Aubrey. "Young, fresh, fun. Tough and unstintingly loyal."
"Hold on." With the image in mind, Dru breezed into the back again. And came out with a clutch of sunflowers with faces as wide as a dessert plate.
"Jesus, they're perfect. You're in the right business, Drusilla." It was, she thought, the finest of compliments. "No point in being in the wrong one. And since you're about to break my record for single walk-in sales, it's Dru."
"Nice."
"And the fourth lucky woman?"
"Bold, beautiful, smart and sexy. With a heart like…" Anna's heart, he thought. "With a heart beyond description. The most amazing woman I've ever known."
"And apparently you know quite a few. One minute." Again, she went into the back. He was admiring the sunflowers when Dru came back with Asiatic lilies in triumphant scarlet.
"Oh man. They're so Anna." He reached out to touch one of the vivid red petals. "So completely Anna. You've just made me a hero."
"Happy to oblige. I'll box them, and tie ribbons on each that coordinate with the color of the flowers inside. Can you keep them straight?"
"I think I can handle it."
"Cards are included. You can pick what you like from the rack on the counter."
"I won't need cards." He watched her fit water-filled ni**les on the end of the stems. No wedding ring, he noted. He'd have painted her regardless, but if she'd been married it would have put an end to the rest of his plans.
"What flower are you?"
She flicked him a glance as she arranged the first flowers in a tissue-lined white box. "All of them. I like variety." She tied a deep purple ribbon around the first box. "As it appears you do."
"I kind of hate to shatter the illusion that I've got a harem going here. Sisters," he said, gesturing toward the flowers. "Though the sunflowers are niece, cousin, sister. The exact relationship's a little murky."
"Um-hm."
"My brothers' wives," he explained. "And one of my brothers' oldest daughter. I figured I should clear that up since I'm going to paint you."
"Are you?" She tied the second box with pink ribbon edged with white lace. "Are you really?" He took out his credit card, laid it on the counter while she went to work on the sunflowers. "You're thinking I'm just looking to get you naked, and I wouldn't have any objection to that." She drew gold ribbon from its loop. "Why would you?"
"Exactly. But why don't we start with your face? It's a good face. I really like the shape of your head." For the first time, her fingers fumbled a bit. With a half laugh, she stopped and really looked at him again.
"The shape of my head?"
"Sure. You like it, too, or you wouldn't wear your hair that way. Makes a powerful statement with a minimum of fuss."
She tied off the bow. "You're clever at defining a woman with a few pithy phrases."
"I like women."
"I figured that out." As she finished up the red lilies, a pair of customers came in and began to browse. A good thing, Dru thought. It was time to move the artistic Mr. Quinn along.
"I'm flattered you admire the shape of my head." She picked up his credit card to ring up the sale. "And that someone of your talent and reputation would like to paint me. But the business keeps me very busy, and without a great deal of free time. What free time I do have, I'm extremely selfish with." She gave him his total, slid the sales slip over for his signature.
"You close at six daily and don't open on Sundays."
She should've been annoyed, she thought, but instead she was intrigued. "You don't miss much, do you?"
"Every detail matters." After signing the receipt, he plucked out one of her gift cards, turned it over to the blank back.
He drew a quick study of her face as the blossom of a long stemmed flower, then added the phone number at home before he signed it. "In case you change your mind," he said, offering it. She studied the card, found her lips quirking. "I could probably sell this on eBay for a tidy little sum."