The Best Man's Guarded Heart Read Online Free PDF

have its attractions.’
    Lightning bolts of lust fired through her body. He noted her wide-eyed reaction and his smirk grew even larger. She twisted around and fled next door. She could have sworn she heard him chuckle.
    When she returned with the filled buckets he was gone.
    Andreas returned time and time again with the long rectangular flower boxes, and each time Grace heard his footsteps approach she hightailed it into the adjoining room. Only when she realised that he had moved on to carrying in the assortment of different-sized boxes that contained the other essentials did she speak. But despite her assurances that it wasn’t necessary for him to bring them in, he continued to do so.
    The buckets filled and flower food added, she went about stripping and trimming the stems. With bated breath she opened the first box of peonies and found light pink Sarah Bernhardt, and in the next box the ivory-white Duchesse de Nemours. Both were as big and utterly beautiful as she had hoped, and on track to open to their full blowsy glory for Saturday.
    At last something was going right for her.
    For a moment she leaned down and inhaled the sweet scent of the flowers, closing her eyes in pleasure. She might have to stay up all night to get the prep work done, but she would manage. The flowers had to be perfect for Sofia.
    She had the first box completed when Andreas brought the final boxes in. Unfairly, apart from a faint sheen of perspiration on his tanned skin, he didn’t appear the least bit ruffled by all the dragging and hauling.
    Hitting the timer on her smartphone, she twisted it around to show him the display. ‘Thirty-six minutes, fourteen seconds.’
    His mouth twitched for a few seconds before he flashed his watch at her and tapped one of the dials. ‘Nineteen minutes and forty-three seconds to carry in the flowers, which was all you specified. So I win.’
    â€˜I didn’t know we were competing.’
    Those green eyes flashed with way too much smugness for her liking. ‘Why did you time me then?’
    â€˜Oh, just curiosity.’ Keen to change the subject, she added, ‘I’m really grateful for your help—thank you.’
    He shrugged in response and turned his attention to the remaining stack of flower boxes, and then to the already trimmed peonies, sitting in their buckets of water. ‘Why so many roses?’
    â€˜They’re not roses.’
    He contemplated the flowers dubiously.
    She twisted the stem she was working on and held it out towards him. ‘They’re peonies. I thought you would have known, being Greek, as apparently they are called after Paean, who healed Hades’s wounds. It’s thought that they have healing properties. It’s also believed that they represent a happy life...and a happy marriage.’
    To that he raised a sceptical eyebrow.
    With her floral shears, Grace snipped an inch diagonally off the end of the stem. ‘Let me guess...you’re not the type to buy flowers?’
    â€˜On occasion I have.’ A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth in reaction to her quizzical glance. ‘Okay, I admit that I let my PA organise the details.’
    She tried to ignore how good it was to see those eyes sparkle with humour. ‘Now, that’s just cheating...I hope you at least specify what type of flowers you want to send?’
    He seemed baffled at the idea. ‘No—why should I?’
    â€˜Because each flower represents something. When you send a flower you are sending a message with it.’
    He looked horrified at that prospect. ‘Like what?’
    Amused, she decided to make the most of him being on the back foot in this conversation. ‘Well, new beginnings are symbolised by daffodils...a secret love is represented by gardenias...’ She paused for effect before continuing, ‘True love is shown by forget-me-nots, and sensuality by jasmine.’
    Their eyes met and tension pulsed in the