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another branch. Who knows?
    Maybe Damon Morrell will offer to make me the loan I was planning to ask my father for. I can always use my connection to Ravenscroft International as collateral."
    Halfway toward the door, Jacob swung around in astonishment. There was a thunderous look on his stark face. "You little cat, you wouldn't dare!
    Your whole family would hit the roof."
    "An interesting thought," she said sweetly. She gave him a firm push that, surprisingly enough, got him over the threshold. "For the last time, good night, Jacob." This time she succeeded in closing the door and locking it behind him.

    Outside in the empty hall, Jacob stood glaring at the paneled door. The fluffy little kitten had turned into a tigress with very sharp claws. Amazing how a woman could change in two years. Obviously her family was badly underestimating her.
    But somehow, Jacob Stone was finding Emily more interesting than ever.
    His chief victory for the evening, he decided as he stepped into the elevator, was a minor one, but under the circumstances he would take what he could get.
    She had kissed him with all the passion she had shown two years ago and more. She still wanted him.
    Jacob savored that simple fact as he walked out into the damp night.

    Emily had stopped seething by the time she opened Emily's Garden early the next morning, but she was still aware of a lingering residue of humiliation and dismay. She did not plan to admit it to her family or to Jacob, but the unfortunate truth was that Damon Morrell had completely fooled her. She had never once guessed that he was interested in her because of her relationship to Ravenscroft International.
    The only thing she could say in her favor was that she had never planned on marrying the man. As far as Emily was concerned, he was a pleasant companion and an interesting and amusing date. That was all.
    Not one of her family or Jacob had bothered to inquire as to how serious she actually was about Damon, of course. With typical Ravenscroft-Stone arrogance, they had all assumed the worst. They had also assumed that she was nothing but a helpless pawn of Morrell's.
    Emily sighed as she arranged fresh yellow tulips and chrysanthemums in the front window of the shop. The embarrassing truth was that if she had been serious about Morrell, she might, indeed, have found herself in a real disaster of a situation.
    It was infuriating to realize that after all her efforts to stand on her own two feet and resist the intrusiveness of her family, she could have come so close to making such a major mistake.
    Not that the Ravenscrofts would ever have allowed her to actually marry Morrell, Emily thought wryly. Somehow or other, her family would have found a way to put a stop to such a plan, just as a way had been found to get rid of Brad Carlton two years ago. It was highly doubtful that any man who did not fit the Ravenscroft image of a perfect son-in-law would be allowed to marry her. And Emily did not, offhand, know of any man who would have the courage to marry her if her family decided to object.
    Ravenscrofts could be very persuasive.
    And when persuasion did not work, her family sent in the heavy artillery: Jacob Stone.
    The memory of Jacob's kiss intruded at that moment, and Emily's fingers tightened around the delicate stems of the tulips. For a moment she stared out the shop window at the sidewalk full of people on their way downtown to shop in the rain. One thought filled her mind. Jacob wanted her.
    The door opened and Diane Ames, Emily's assistant, sauntered in, dripping cheerfully. She was a couple of years younger than Emily and tended toward the slightly outrageous in clothing and hairstyles, but she was an intelligent young woman with a genuine flair for flowers and design. Emily considered her a prize and often told herself that her judgment of human nature could not be totally faulty or she would never have had the sense to hire Diane.
    "What in the world are you doing here?" Diane