The Millionaire's Proposal Read Free

use the excess blooms in the basket arrangements and centerpieces she made up on Mondays for Whitaker Country Club’s standing weekly order.
    Amazed that she’d sold out of the expensive roses, she shook her head and pushed through the low swinging gate that separated the work area from the gift part of the boutique, where she displayed gift baskets, figurines, cards, and other specialty items. She set a white bag on a side counter along the back wall—lunch from Marie’s Cafe for the both of them, another Saturday routine Grace had established.
    “You’ve been busy this morning,” Grace commented, though it was obvious by the excess foliage, cut stems, and unusable flowers littering the work bench that Darcy had been going crazy with orders. Not that Grace was going to complain about the extra sales. At seventy-five dollars a dozen, the cost of those roses alone could practically cover her month’s rent.
    “Umm, very.” Darcy clipped the end of a calla lily and pushed the stem into the floral arrangement she was creating. “I’ve been going non-stop since I opened the doors this morning. In fact, this is the first chance I’ve had to start on the centerpiece Mrs. Thorne ordered for her dinner party tonight.”
    Grace headed toward the small office in the back to put her purse and briefcase away, along with the brochures she’d picked up from the printers. “I’ll deliver it on my way home this afternoon.” She opened the door, stepped inside her office, and came to an abrupt halt.
    Dozens of long-stemmed roses, in every shade she’d had available, were displayed in the most elegant, crystal cut vases she offered her customers—at a substantial extra charge. The mild warmth of the room coaxed the tight buds to open and bloom and release their rich, intoxicating fragrance.
    Grace’s hand fluttered to her chest in dismay. Darcy knew to keep arrangements—especially roses!—in the refrigerator until the customers picked them up. Within a few hours the roses would be completely open, but the unfurling process was for the customer to enjoy. She was looking at hundreds of dollars in merchandise that should have been in the cooler—and that thought was enough to give her a mild heart attack.
    Setting her armload of items down on her desk chair—which was the only space that wasn’t occupied by a vase of flowers—she retraced her steps back to the front of the shop.
    “Darcy, what are all those roses doing in my office?”
    The young girl glanced up from sorting through stalks of pale purple delphiniums, a huge grin spreading across her face. “They’re for you.”
    “Excuse me?” Grace was certain she’d misunderstood.
    Efficiently clipping the stem of a delphinium, Darcy poked it into the arrangement. “It’s true. Every single one of those roses is yours. Bought and paid for by the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen in Whitaker Falls.”
    Confused, Grace slowly rounded the work bench and stood across from Darcy. Who in the world would do something so outrageously extravagant for her? She’d dated a few men since her divorce five years ago, but there had never been anyone serious enough to inspire such a lavish, romantic gesture.
    And none of those men would qualify as gorgeous status.
    She frowned. “Was it someone I know?”
    “Oh, I sure do hope so,” Darcy said on a dreamy sigh. “Though I have to admit I’ve never seen him around town. He left a card in one of the arrangements. Why don’t you go see for yourself who they’re from?”
    “I’ll do that.” Intrigued, she headed back to her office, once again overwhelmed by the display of flowers, and the lush, seductive fragrance teasing her senses. It was strange, she thought as she searched each vase for a note. For as much as she loved brightening other people’s lives with flowers, no one had ever sent her a bouquet before, let alone dozens of roses.
    It was a heady, thrilling experience.
    Finally finding a tiny white envelope