“They bloom at different times. It gives us color all year round. I like to provide that for customers if possible.”
Blaise sank back on his heels and sent her a quick grin. “They’re both doing great. These two really don’t need anyone watching over them. Although this isn’t Etienne’s dream job, he does excellent work.”
Rory was very interested in the landscaping business. Like Flambé, he liked the plants and the soil. He enjoyed figuring out designs and what looked good where. He was genuinely trying to learn from her. Etienne did the work, but he wanted to build things. The minute she needed something that required construction, he was the first to volunteer. He never shirked work, but it was clear his love was in wood. Flambé hoped Sevastyan would find him a job with whoever was going to transform the massive garages into their indoor gardens.
Both men flashed Blaise a quick smile. Etienne shrugged, not bothering to deny Blaise’s assessment of him. After all, it was the truth.
“I’ve been studying all the different plants, trying to learn about them,” Rory confessed. “There are so many. You’re like a walking computer program.”
She laughed. “I have to look them up all the time. I might have an idea of what I want but can’t remember the name. It’s easier when you’re working with local plants rather than exotics. You get so you know all the locals not only by sight, but by name.”
Rory sat back on his heels and wiped his gloved hand across his forehead, smearing dirt, making Blaise, Etienne and Flambé laugh even more. He just grinned and shrugged, in no way perturbed. They were used to having dirt all over them by the end of the day.
“When is the newcomer being brought in?” Blaise asked.
“She’s supposed to get in next week,” Flambé said. “Her name’s Shanty. She has three young ones. The team managed to get them out as well. That was a miracle because the cameras picked them up and they were seen on the national news. Poachers went after them immediately. I couldn’t go, although at first, she wouldn’t leave South Africa because I wasn’t there. She said she didn’t trust anyone but me.”
“Had she ever met you?” Rory asked.
“No, I saw those pictures of her for the first time the same as everyone else, when the news reported her. Clearly, she came from a different region. No one recognized her or knew her.” Flambé pulled her gloves off. Her hands were beginning to itch. She rubbed at her skin, finding the sensation disturbing. “That was the first time I realized there might be strawberry leopards anywhere besides where our lair was. I wanted to get to her first if for no other reason than to get a few answers—like where did she come from? Is her lair large? That sort of thing.”
She sank down between Rory and Etienne, pulling her legs up tailor fashion. Blaise frowned and moved close in front of her to form a tight circle, his gaze moving over her, inspecting her carefully. “Are you all right? You look very flushed. You did wear sun protection, didn’t you?”
She was hot. “Yes. I always do.” Her skin burned easily. And marked easily. She wiped at the sweat forming on her forehead.
She’d been a little out of sorts since yesterday evening when Sevastyan had come to take her home. No, it was even before that. She felt moody and on edge. She really wanted to jump all over him, thinking that might help her strange mood, but when they got in the close confines of the car, his scent was very off-putting. She couldn’t get that out of her mind, no matter how much she tried.
They hadn’t been together but a few weeks and already Sevastyan was back at the club. Cheating. Lying. Showing that he was just exactly like every other shifter male. She knew he was going to be like that, but it still hurt. Did he think she wouldn’t smell it all over him? She’d know the smell of sex and sin anywhere. She worked at the club all the time. He was such a lying bastard, just like all of them. Exactly like them. Following the pattern of every shifter male she had ever known. Her skin burned and something moved through her, hot like a furnace, something she couldn’t control. She tried to sit very still, breathing, hoping she wouldn’t cry. Hoping it would go away and she could just talk normally.
“Why would this Shanty insist on only meeting with you, Flambé?” Etienne persisted suspiciously. “That makes no sense when she’d never met you. I don’t like the sound of that.”
“You sound like Sevastyan,” Flambé accused. “She’s scared and alone. I have a certain reputation. My name is fairly well known in that region, you have to admit that. Unfortunately, I had to send word that it was impossible for me to make it. If she wanted to be rescued with her children, she needed to allow my team to extract her. I had to call in a lot of favors for this one.”
Etienne and Rory exchanged a look over her head and then looked to Blaise. “What does your man think?” Rory asked.
“He’s been in security a long time,” Blaise pointed out. “He’s got to have gut reactions.”
She scowled at the three of them since they seemed to be in agreement. “Since when do you care what Sevastyan Amurov thinks? This is my business, what I do. He’s got his hands full dealing with his cousin. Believe me, Mitya Amurov is difficult to say the least.”
She was very uncomfortable in Mitya’s presence. She had the feeling Mitya didn’t like her very much—not that she liked him. Sevastyan preferred her to work there when she was drawing up her designs. She was very aware that it was for two reasons. He didn’t want her out of his sight because he worried Franco might try to have her kidnapped. That was probably the number one reason. Or it was just because he really liked sex. He wanted sex several times a day. She didn’t mind that reason at all or she would have objected strenuously. Now, with his latest cheating development, she didn’t quite know what she was going to do. She couldn’t leave until Shanty was safe. Flambé had to personally interview her and make certain she was set before Flambé could disappear.
Flambé did like Ania and would regret not really getting to know her. She’d never really had the chance to form any friendships, and Ania was the same. Working at the Amurov estate had allowed Flambé to see Ania often and she was beginning to think of her as a genuine friend. Ania popped in with tea or she would call her on the intercom, asking her to come out to the garage where she was working. Ania was designing a car, working on an engine and building it herself. They would sit together, Ania talking excitedly about some new breakthrough while Flambé listened, happy for her.
Flambé was grateful Ania didn’t ask her questions about Sevastyan. She didn’t know how she felt about him and their relationship. It was complicated. Sevastyan was in charge inside the bedroom or outside of it, no matter what he had said. He was the one in charge and that was very clear. She was used to being her own boss, used to a tremendous amount of alone time. Now she had very little, and truthfully, she found that difficult. She had thought to consult Ania, who seemed happy with Mitya, but now it wouldn’t matter.
“Is Mitya Amurov more difficult than Sevastyan?” Rory asked, his eyebrows going up.
“I never said Sevastyan was difficult,” Flambé denied. “I said this is my business and he works for Mitya. Don’t try to put words in my mouth.”
Etienne gave an undignified snort. “Sevastyan Amurov has a reputation, honey. Even you can’t pretend he doesn’t. I can’t imagine that if he thought Little Miss Strawberry and her children were some kind of setup to harm you he wouldn’t be cutting them off and putting them in some interrogation room none of us know about.”
A chill went down her spine because she had a feeling that might be just a little too close to the truth. “Fortunately, she isn’t a plant and there wouldn’t be a reason for her to set me up. He has no interrogation room. I know because I’ve thoroughly searched the house for hidden passageways, and in any case, she isn’t his business.”
She had searched the house for hidden passageways. There were many. She hadn’t found an interrogation room but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. That was one of the things about Sevastyan that worried her. He could be very cold. She had seen him that way at the Amurov estate more than once. She’d seen him that way at the club. That was scary to her. She was an emotional person. People mattered to her. They mattered a lot. She risked her life helping them. On the other hand, she knew that side of him appealed to her leopard. It was such a two-edged sword being a shifter.
Her arms itched and she rubbed her skin, glancing up at the sun. Sometimes if she was in the sun too long, she could burn fast and the itch was horrendous. Her legs itched as well and she rubbed her thighs, trying not to squirm. Blaise watched her closely. Not only Blaise, but his leopard, as if both were worried.
“You should probably go up to the house,” he suggested.