Love in the Vineyard (The Tavonesi Series Book 7) (29 page)

“Wouldn’t miss the Fandango,” Enrique said, drawing Natasha back from her thoughts. “That is
if
I can get the time off.” He winked at Natasha. “We might be working double shifts, huh, boss?” From the shelf near her door, he lifted the tray of salvia starts she’d repotted earlier in the day.

“You know what they say about all work and no play,” Natasha said. The business of managing people came easily to her. All she had to do was put herself in the other person’s shoes. “Of course you can go.”

“Then I’d better hustle.” His slow smile was aimed at Tammy. “Those salvias we ordered won’t come in until Tuesday and the gift shop needs these for their retail orders.”

Under her breath, Natasha said a silent prayer for Enrique. Without his help she would’ve already failed. An angel from heaven couldn’t have been any more welcome.

After Tammy and Enrique left, Natasha checked the voice messages on her cellphone. She tried to pretend that she was happy that there wasn’t another message from Adrian, but that’d be an outright lie. One message was from the attorney Mary had recommended. The woman said she was booked and didn’t give any suggestions or other recommendations.

Natasha clicked off her phone. Evidently finding an affordable attorney was not a quick process. It didn’t help that her funds were so tight. If she had more money, she could hire the best. But she didn’t.

Guilt nagged, sapping her energy. That her future—worse,
Tyler’s
future—pivoted on her limited income rattled her. How many mothers felt just like her? Measured their success as a parent by what they could provide? Even though deep down she knew that it was love and attention that mattered—that and good guidance—she couldn’t help but be angry about the injustice in the world. And staggered by the powers of chance and coincidence. She sure didn’t want to think of the twists and turns in her life as fate. Or destiny. But her mother’s voice from her dreams taunted her.

Bet on the number seventeen, it will lead to your destiny.

Yeah, well, look where that landed her.

But a new thought cracked through—the bet had landed her at Casa.

The job had
forced
her to deal with her disability head-on.

The part about the whole thing that she didn’t want to face was that the bet and its repercussions had also landed her in Adrian’s arms. Had shown her what love felt like. What a kind, thoughtful—
right
, Natasha—kind and thoughtful
and
sinfully handsome, sexy… and, unfortunately, ridiculously rich man. She wished she could believe the rich part didn’t matter, but this was life, not some children’s tale. She needed to get a grip and keep her future firmly in her own hands. She couldn’t rely on Adrian or his money to solve her problems.

She scraped a hand across her face and sat up in the chair. Placing her palms on her knees, she took a deep breath just like the counselor had shown her during the second night of class.
Breathe in. Relax. Breathe out and imagine all negative forces known and unknown dissolving away. Breathe in and
—

The phone on her desk rang, startling her.

“Natasha?”

Eddie
.

“I told you
I’d
call you,” she said as firmly as she could.

“I was headed up your way, and I hoped that maybe I could meet Tyler and—”

“No, Eddie. I need more time.”

“Two days, then.”

“Another couple of weeks.”

He could get an order from the court to see Tyler; Mary had looked into the particulars of the issue for her. But she wanted to stall him as long as possible, needed time to get help. Time to think. Time to improve her skills so that her job would never be in jeopardy.

Her stomach lurched as she hung up the phone. How had he found out where she worked? And why was he in such a god-awful hurry to meet Tyler?

Eddie’s anxious tone made her more nervous than a bossy, confident tone would have. Maybe he really did want a family? Maybe he was truly serious about wanting to be part of their lives? But if that were true, why the rush? Why wouldn’t he do everything he could to ease his way gently into their lives—to earn their trust? It didn’t add up.

She turned to the computer screen and tried to focus. The one task she’d kept for herself was reconciling the orders and inventory—it would look darned suspicious if she foisted too much of her work off on Enrique. But her nerves wouldn’t settle, and her anxiety made reading impossible. And no amount of mediation was going to change that right then. But maybe a change of focus would.

Eddie’s voice rang in her ears as she walked into the greenhouse to check on the starts she and Enrique had transplanted the prior week.

Thirty flats of young plants lined the state-of-the-art facility. The monkey flowers looked worse for the transplant, but they would be hardy once they took hold. The false indigo had perked up and put out new leaves, and most would be ready for sale in a week or two.

She didn’t like to sell starts until the root hairs had grown out and the plants were hardy enough for even a less-than-careful gardener to transplant.

For a couple of hours she tended the plants, immersed herself in the feel of the soil in her hands and tried to force her fears about Eddie out of her mind. And she only thought about Adrian maybe a hundred times a minute.

Later that afternoon, Natasha and Enrique took a badly needed break from the heat of the greenhouse. They sat under the shade of a nearby oak and split the iced tea that Tammy had left for Natasha.

“Something’s eating you, boss.”

“I have a lot on my mind.”

He took a swig from his cup and eyed her over the rim. “Can I help?”

Eddie’s call had seared desperation into her. “I need to find an attorney,” she heard herself saying. “A really, really good one who will work for next to nothing.”

“You’ve come to the right guy,” Enrique said. “I know a good attorney—and he owes me a favor.”

Natasha must’ve looked surprised, because he quickly added, “Any immigrant dealing with the Feds knows attorneys. Ones who’ll work for reduced fees. What’s your problem?”

Hope shot into her and to her surprise, she told him about Eddie, about her fears regarding losing Tyler. She was on the verge of telling him the extent of her disability, but her instincts for self-preservation kicked in. No matter how much she might like and trust and appreciate Enrique, she couldn’t risk word getting out that she was basically unsuited for her position. She couldn’t risk losing her job, not now, not with a possible custody hearing looming.

If the instructor and counselors were right, with another few weeks of classes she’d be able to handle the accounts and the orders with only a little help. She was surprised that she’d actually learned some techniques that worked and dared to hope they were right. Until then she’d just let Enrique think she was too busy—that she’d delegated the financial accounting and ordering as part of her management plan.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “My guy can help you. He’s good at getting people out of legal scrapes.”

Legal scrapes. Her life with Tyler was on the line. What she faced felt like a helluva lot more than a legal scrape.

Enrique leaned close and patted her arm. “Hey, I know how loving someone can make you feel desperate, make you do desperate things.”

“Am I interrupting?” The hard edge in Adrian’s voice sent shock waves of pins and needles through Natasha. Sitting behind the trunk of the old oak, she hadn’t seen him approaching.

Enrique released her arm and jumped up.

“We were just taking a break from the heat.” Natasha heard the defensiveness in her voice, but the fiery look in Adrian’s eyes had set her on edge.

“I should check on the new irrigation lines we put in,” Enrique said smoothly. He tapped two fingers to his forehead. “Welcome home, Mr. Tavonesi.”

She knew nothing was wrong with the irrigation lines but was glad for Enrique’s quick response. Adrian watched Enrique depart with a narrow stare. When he looked back at her with slitted eyes, the judgment she saw riled her.

And then it occurred to her—he was jealous! If only he knew that when she wasn’t trying to find a way to deal with Eddie and to figure out how in the heck she was going to do the job Adrian had foisted on her, that her every other thought was of him.

The muscles around his eyes softened. “You look like you haven’t been sleeping well.”

“I’m okay. Fine.” She’d admitted to enough for one day. Maybe too much.

He glanced around and then drew her into his arms. She had no defense against his kiss. His hands pressed up the small of her back. Her body trumped her mind and her defenses, and she melted into the kiss she’d craved for the past two weeks.

When Adrian eventually broke off the kiss, he stepped away from her. She followed his gaze. Several of the vineyard crewmembers were walking toward the supply shed next to the greenhouse.

Adrian held out a hand. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”

The gift shop at the Casa was buzzing with excited voices when Natasha and Adrian entered.

Coco, Zoe and Alana stood next to an easel covered with a bright blue cloth.

Coco swept out her hand and whisked the cloth away. “The logo for your new business!”

The colors nearly jumped off the small canvas. The painting was exquisite. Perfect. Vines twined around bees and butterflies and wildflowers set against a backdrop of the Sonoma hills and a setting sun.

“Coco did the photo montage and then I painted it,” Alana said. She squinted at Adrian. “He didn’t tell you, did he? We wanted to surprise you.”

He’d surprised her all right. His kiss had twisted what little good sense she’d held on to and sent her senses scrambling into full-on want. But seeing his family gathered—with a surprise they’d created just for her—brought tears to her eyes.

“It’s… it’s beautiful.” There was no way she was going to bawl. If she let even one tear loose, the emotions that threatened to engulf her would drown her.

“I’m going to make a poster from this that we can sell at the Fandango,” Coco said. “And we’ll auction off the painting. Of course, all the funds will go to Inspire.” She crossed her arms and shot a pointed glance at Adrian. “It’ll have to do until my brother helps me corral the men I need for the calendar.”

A frisson of embarrassment riddled through Natasha. It was likely that by now, all the Tavonesi women knew her background. Who knew what sort of secrets sisters and cousins shared among themselves? And yet here they were, celebrating her. If only the future could be as rosy as they imagined.

Alana took Coco by the arm. “
No
sibling fights; this is a celebration.” She pulled a bottle of champagne from a galvanized bucket sitting on the table next to the easel and popped the cork. “A sound I’ll never tire of,” she said with a laugh. But her smile faded. “Glasses. I forgot the glasses.”

Zoe darted behind the counter and returned brandishing a stack of Dixie Cups. “These will have to do.”

“To our new native garden business,” Adrian said, tapping the paper cup he held to Natasha’s. “And to the Casa’s newest manager.”

She touched her cup in turn to those held out by his sisters and cousin. But she was feeling anything but celebratory.

“We’ve started a book group,” Alana said. “We’re going to focus on books about the local region. And Coco’s going to work on her English.”

Coco took a playful swat at Alana. “I believe my English may be more fluent than yours.”

“We want you to join us, Natasha. We’ll meet here so it’s easy,” Zoe added.

Natasha felt like she’d been dropped onto the stage of a vaudeville farce and felt laughter threatening. What other impossible challenges could the universe throw at her?

“And to celebrate the success of our new endeavor, I’m taking you and Tyler to the Giants game on Sunday,” Adrian said in his matter-of-fact tone that told her he assumed she’d have no objection. “Alex got us special tickets.”

No. No. No. She couldn’t have Tyler falling for Adrian too. Tyler would get attached. He’d already said he wished he had a dad like Adrian. One member of the family obsessed with a Tavonesi was enough for one lifetime. Her mind began to fire excuses even as her body and her heart threw water on every single one.