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Being summoned to the boss's office on a Monday afternoon might scare some people, but it took a lot to spook Travis Yardley. Standing in front of Spencer Thomas didn't do it.
With the early June sun beating through his T-shirt and into his back, Travis jogged up the small hill leading from the greenhouse behind Thomas Nurseries' main building, with its buzz of traffic and customers, to the three-story farmhouse less than a hundred feet away. The top two levels served as private residences for the Thomas brothers, but the call came from the office phone on the main floor.
As nursery foreman, Travis dealt with Spence and his brother, Austin, almost every day. Throw in the third partner, Mitch Anders, and Travis viewed any get-together more as reason to eat than panic. Not that they weren't good businessmen. They were in every way, taking the small plant nursery Spence and Austin's father built and turning it into a multi-state thriving business that included everything from sales to landscaping to tree inspections. But they all had different priorities now.
Travis credited the women in their lives for the positive changes, especially Spence's fianc e of a little more than a month, Lila Payne. With her around, Spence went from 'round-the-clock worker to a guy who insisted on having dinner at home every night. He now handled even the biggest work blow-up without yelling. Which was why everyone at the nursery—hell, everyone in the small town of Holloway, West Virginia, and the surrounding county—loved Lila.
She took Spence from wary to almost stupid with happiness, and Travis didn't blame the guy. Lila was smart and sexy. Only an idiot would pass up that combination. With his off-the-charts IQ, Spence wasn't dumb. And at the moment he was busy laughing. Another new thing in Spence's life, but Travis heard the low sound as he shut the house's front door and stepped into the open entryway.
After a quick glance up the staircase in front of him, he rounded the corner to his left and stepped into the office area...and got an eyeful of Lila sitting on Spence's lap. Long brown hair, khaki shorts and her arms wrapped around his neck. Nothing unusual about that, except that this clinch was happening in the middle of the office. Made Travis wonder what Spence did to get his woman alone and clear out the rest of the staff who usually sat at those empty desks.
Rather than ask about that, Travis went with the call. "What's up?"
Lila jumped at the sound of his voice. Her openmouthed surprise broke into a big smile when she glanced his way. "Travis."
The woman sure knew how to make a guy feel welcome. "Ma'am."
"I love when you get all southern and proper." She tugged on Spence's hand, breaking his hold and standing up. "You whip out that accent of yours and the ladies in the nursery go cross-eyed. Then sales go up, so it's a win-win."
Lila was petite and pretty with a round face and big brown eyes. And she managed to take the hundred-seventy-pound man she was engaged to and reduce him to a puddle of goo. Pretty impressive talent.
So was the thing where she always knew the right thing to throw out there to keep Travis a bit off balance. "I'm not really sure what to say to all that."
Spence stretched as he stood, but he stayed plastered to Lila's side. "Probably best to accept it as a compliment."
"It was," she said. "And I need to ask a favor."
"Fine." And by that Travis meant the answer to whatever she wanted was yes.
