Claiming Emma by Kelly Lucille

potential beauty old pieces add to a garden, and its free advertisement for both of us.  She can send people antique shopping to the garden center for old ironwork that she doesn’t have the room for in her shop, and gardeners from out of the area will find out there’s an antique shop in town worth stopping for.  Win win."
    Since Noah, who she was learning was not gregarious, made no comment to this it compelled her to ramble on just a bit more.  Not that she needed an excuse to talk about her farm.  She loved what she had built here, and had no problem waxing on about the way she ran it.
    "The retail shop sells potted flowers, vegetables and herbs we grow ourselves, compost and soil conditioner we make ourselves, plus I have a few local artists and craftspeople’s work that I sell here as well. As long as it is herb or garden related and I like it, I sell it here.  For instance, we have a local lady who makes the soaps, sachets and lotions that my grandmother used to make.  As well as a lovely woman who mixes custom teas.  I supply them both with what they need and they make them.  What we don't sell retail, we sell wholesale to shops all over California, and in the last year we’ve branched out to Oregon and Washington as well."
    "Impressive," Noah finally said.  And Emma looked over to see his eyes on the old barn that housed the garden center.
    The single word should not have had her practically preening under his approval but there it was, for some reason his opinion mattered a great deal to her, when he was practically a stranger and it shouldn't matter at all.  She was in so much trouble.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Emma knew Margo was already here because she had seen her manager’s SUV pull up when she had been feeding Lucy first thing this morning.  Since Paige was her daughter and they came in together most days, that meant she could introduce them to Noah together, then leave Lucy while Paige watched the baby, answered phones and worked on the on-line orders.
    Margo had already opened the office and Paige started the coffee when Emma, Lucy and Noah arrived.  Paige was seventeen, a senior in high school with long coltish legs and absolutely no idea how pretty she was, with her shy hazel eyes and glossy hair.  She was great with Lucy and way better on the phone and through e-mail then she ever would have been on the sales floor.
    Since she had known the girl since her mother came to work for her nearly the day she opened the shop, it was a good fit.  Margo had just lost the job she hated in town to cutbacks and since she was raising a teenager without help, had a mortgage and a need to eat, she’d really needed the job.  Emma had hired her.  She hadn’t needed the help, nor could she afford it at the time, but she’d hired her anyway and never regretted it for a moment.  Now she could not imagine being without her.  Especially now that so much of Emma's time not spent in the gardens was spent with Lucy, or visiting Hannah.
    Margo Reynolds was six years older than Emma with the same brown hair and eyes as her daughter.  Hers came to just below her shoulder with a natural curl, unlike her daughter that wore hers straight and long to the waist.  Margo had the kind of good looks and curves that drew a man’s attention.  She carried an extra fifteen pounds but she wore it well on her five nine body.  Unfortunately for the male populace, like Emma, Margo had no interest in companionship, having had her heart broken in a bad way long ago.
    Unlike Emma though, who just ignored any interest coming her way like she was deaf and blind, Margo was abrasive and sarcastic and might as well have worn a sign that read.  "Be it on your head if you annoy me."  She did not suffer fools kindly, and she had been known to give crushing set downs to even the most benign flattery.  And if you were a good looking man, watch out.
    Since the second floor hay loft had been transformed into both the office and the break