Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts Page A

She’s neither. She had a tough break, Logan, losing her man at such a young age. I know what that’s like. She hasn’t broken under it, or gone brittle. So yes, I like her.”
    “Then I’ll tolerate her, but only for you.”
    “Sweet talker.” With a laugh, Roz leaned over to kiss his cheek.
    “Only because I’m crazy about you.”
    Stella came to the door in time to see Logan take Roz’s hand in his, and thought, Oh, shit.
    She’d gone head-to-head, argued with, insulted, and complained about her boss’s lover.
    With a sick dread in her stomach, she nudged her boys forward. She stepped inside, plastered on a smile. “Hope we’re not late,” she said cheerily. “There was a small homework crisis. Hello, Mr. Kitridge. I’d like you to meet my sons. This is Gavin, and this is Luke.”
    “How’s it going?” They looked like normal kids to him rather than the pod-children he’d expected someone like Stella to produce.
    “I have a loose tooth,” Luke told him.
    “Yeah? Let’s have a look, then.” Logan set down his beer to take a serious study of the tooth Luke wiggled with his tongue. “Cool. You know, I’ve got me some pliers in my toolbox. One yank and we’d have that out of there.”
    At the small horrified sound from behind him, Logan turned to smile thinly at Stella.
    “Mr. Kitridge is just joking,” Stella told a fascinated Luke. “Your tooth will come out when it’s ready.”
    “When it does, the Tooth Fairy comes, and I get a buck. ”
    Logan pursed his lips. “A buck, huh? Good deal.”
    “It makes blood when it comes out, but I’m not scared.”
    “Miss Roz? Can we go see David in the kitchen?” Gavin shot a look at his mother. “Mom said we had to ask you.”
    “Sure. You go right on.”
    “No sweets,” Stella called out as they dashed out.
    “Logan, why don’t you pour Stella a glass of wine?”
    “I’ll get it. Don’t get up,” Stella told him.
    He didn’t look quite as much like an overbearing jerk, she decided. He cleaned up well enough, and she could see why Roz was attracted. If you went for the über virile sort.
    “Did you say Harper was coming?” Stella asked her.
    “He’ll be along.” Roz gestured with her beer. “Let’s see if we can all play nice. Let’s get this business out of the way so we can have an enjoyable meal without ruining our digestion. Stella’s in charge of sales and production, of managing the day-to-day business. She and I will, for now anyway, share personnel management while Harper and I head up propagation.”
    She sipped her beer, waited, though she knew her own power and didn’t expect an interruption. “Logan leads the landscaping design, both on- and off-site. As such, he has first choice of stock and is authorized to put in for special orders, or arrange trades or purchases or rentals of necessary equipment, material or specimens for outside designs. The changes Stella has already implemented or proposed—and which have been approved by me—will stay or be put in place. Until such time as I decide they don’t work. Or if I just don’t like them. Clear so far?”
    “Perfectly,” Stella said coolly.
    Logan shrugged.
    “Which means you’ll cooperate with each other, do what’s necessary to work together in such a way for both of you to function in the areas you oversee. I built In the Garden from the ground up, and I can run it myself if I have to. But I don’t choose to. I choose to have the two of you, and Harper, shoulder the responsibilities you’ve been given. Squabble all you want. I don’t mind squabbles. But get the job done.”
    She finished off her beer. “Questions? Comments?” After a beat of silence, she rose. “Well, then, let’s eat.”

five

    IT WAS, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, A PLEASANT EVENING. Neither of her kids threw any food or made audible gagging noises. Always a plus, in Stella’s book. Conversation was polite, even lively—particularly when the boys learned Logan’s first name—the