A warm-hearted rich man's son, Richard Gardener needs to overcome three obstacles: find a way the family business can run without him, help his mother cope with grief, and stop butting heads -- and other parts of his anatomy -- with the gardener.<br><br>Ethan Fields has worked for the Gardener family for many years. He’s struggling with debt and the desire to leave, and has loved Richard far longer than the man would believe. Ethan can cope with most things, but his anger with Richard’s mother won’t fade. Until that and his feelings for Richard are resolved, he feels trapped and, alas, the idea that sex will get Richard out of his system isn’t working.<br><br>To make the situation worse, both men assume too much and don’t say the right words, and Ethan’s offer of ‘just sex’ grows more complicated by the day. Can Richard and Ethan stop getting their wires crossed before their paths diverge?

Flowers for the Gardener

“See.” Dan pointed and Ethan held back a curse word. This wasn’t Dan’s fault.


“Brown rot.” Spotted earlier in the season, he’d forgotten. Wasn’t only the leaves. Brown rot affected stems, flowers, and fruit. Apart from a few sharp days, they still experienced mild spells andso not all the leaves had fallen but those on the ground and on the plants, were all covered and the fruit had mummified.


Holes in the leaves, new shoots. Ethan took hold of a branch and it snapped off. “Bacterial canker, usually more common in stone fruits and after frost.”


Ethan snorted with derision. At the sight of Dan’s frown, he fell into an explanation. “This spot’s pretty sheltered and it’s not cold enough. This is through lack of care, mostly. And we don’t get winters the way we used to.”


“We had a dumping of snow a couple of years ago.”


Chapter 39