Full Bloom

had all assumed the worst. They had also assumed that she was nothing but a helpless pawn of Morrell's.
    Emily sighed as she arranged fresh yellow tulips and chrysanthemums in the front window of the shop. The embarrassing truth was that if she had been serious about Morrell, she might, indeed, have found herself in a real disaster of a situation.
    It was infuriating to realize that after all her efforts to stand on her own two feet and resist the intrusiveness of her family, she could have come so close to making such a major mistake.
    Not that the Ravenscrofts would ever have allowed her to actually marry Morrell, Emily thought wryly. Somehow or other, her family would have found a way to put a stop to such a plan, just as a way had been found to get rid of Brad Carlton two years ago. It was highly doubtful that any man who did not fit the Ravenscroft image of a perfect son-in-law would be allowed to marry her. And Emily did not, offhand, know of any man who would have the courage to marry her if her family decided to object. Ravenscrofts could be very persuasive.
    And when persuasion did not work, her family sent in the heavy artillery: Jacob Stone.
    The memory of Jacob's kiss intruded at that moment, and Emily's fingers tightened around the delicate stems of the tulips. For a moment she stared out the shop window at the sidewalk full of people on their way downtown to shop in the rain. One thought filled her mind. Jacob wanted her.
    The door opened and Diane Ames, Emily's assistant, sauntered in, dripping cheerfully. She was a couple of years younger than Emily and tended toward the slightly outrageous in clothing and hairstyles, but she was an intelligent young woman with a genuine flair for flowers and design. Emily considered her a prize and often told herself that her judgment of human nature could not be totally faulty or she would never have had the sense to hire Diane.
    "What in the world are you doing here?" Diane demanded as she set a Styrofoam cup of coffee on the counter and shook out her umbrella. "It's Saturday. I thought you were spending the weekend in sunny Portland." She shrugged out of the shiny taxi-yellow rain slicker she was wearing.
    "Portland wasn't very sunny, after all."
    Diane peered at her from eyes that were outlined by vivid makeup. "Uh-oh, what happened? The family wasn't interested in loaning you the money to open the new shop on Fourth?"
    "The subject never came up," Emily explained grimly as she went behind the counter to open the cash register for the day. "My family had something else on their collective brain."
    "Something else?" Diane hung up the raincoat and reached for her coffee. "Like what?"
    "Like my love life."
    Diane choked on her first sip. "Your
what
?'
    "You heard me." Emily glared at her assistant's overdone expression of astonishment and grinned in spite of her bad mood. "I know. What love life? You don't have to look so stunned. I do have the occasional date now and then."
    Diane looked dubious. "The only man you've been dating recently is that good-looking Damon Morrell, and I recall you telling me distinctly he was just a 'friend.' "
    "My family thought it might amount to more than that."
    "So? Where's the problem if it did? Morrell's got everything most mothers would kill for in a son-in-law. He's making a fortune in that construction company he inherited from his father, he knows how to dress for success and he works out four times a week at a health club. What more could a parent ask?"
    "They would prefer that he did not happen to own a company that's in direct competition with Ravenscroft International," Emily said succinctly. "You have to understand that where my family is concerned, business always comes first. They assume everyone else operates under the same premise. They, therefore, came to the conclusion that there's only one reason Damon Morrell might be seeing me on a regular basis."
    Diane stared at her and then realization dawned in her blue eyes. "Good grief, you don't mean they're afraid he's got his eyes on you because of your position at RI?"
    "Bingo," Emily said with mock approval. "Go to the head of the class."
    "And that's what they wanted to talk to you about this weekend?"
    "They invited me down for the weekend to talk business," Emily said. "I, of course, naively assumed they meant they were finally willing to listen to my proposal about a loan for the new shop. As you can imagine, there was a slight communication problem."
    "Oh, Emily,