“Oh good.” She’d seen how great Benji was with the younger Junior Beekeepers—he’d be a huge help today. “What do you think of starting a young beekeeper apprenticeship? Felix and Benji and Kerrielynn, of course. They want experience and these hours would count toward their certification tests.”
“I say yes. I mean, we could use the help and they could use the hours. Seems like a win-win, to me.” Astrid smiled. “See, this whole Junior Beekeepers thing wasn’t such a mess, after all.”
Except for the whole Dane part.But Tansy didn’t argue with Astrid. At least Dane wouldn’t be helping out today. The two of them were at different stations—Tansy’s focus needed to be on the bees and honey. Their talk would wait. For now.
Her luck held out until one. Dane showed up—in what looked like his tightest shirt ever—to stand and watch her with Leif and the teachers along the edge of the tent. Even though she was determined to pretend he didn’t exist, he seemed to take up a whole lot of her field of vision. Big and muscle-y, with his man-bun and his crooked smile and...Oh, stop it. She stared, blindly, at the graph projected on the screen behind her.
“As you can see, even if we don’t harvest the honey the bees are still working for us.” She pointed at the colorful slide on the screen. “Bees are the ones flying around pollinating things we need to keep healthy. Things like apples, cranberries and melons. Evenbroccoli.” She wrinkled her nose. “Anyone here like broccoli?” A few hands shot up. “That’s good. It’s good for you. My aunts would be proud of you.” Before she’d outgrown her aversion to the stuff, she’d stayed late at the dinner table until she’d eaten her greens. That’s what Poppa Tom had called them. She’d called them “gross alien trees.” The memory made her smile. “All of those foods rely on the bees. Cherries and blueberries are 90 percent pollinized by bees.” She paused, using her laser pointer to circle food items. “Can any of you guess the one thing we eat that relies entirely on bees?”
Dane raised his hand but Tansy ignored him.
“Anyone?” she asked, looking everywhere but him.
Dane crouched next to a little girl and whispered in her ear. Seconds later, the little girl’s hand flew up.
Tansy scanned the crowd again but no one else was raising their hand. “Yes?” Tansy asked, pretending she didn’t see Dane’s ear-to-ear grin while he continued to crouch by the girl.
“Almonds?” The little girl smiled up at Dane.
“That’s correct.” Tansy nodded.
The little girl gave Dane a high five and Tansy smiled before she could catch herself.
“Great job. You’re the first student to get that right.” She stepped back. “Now, Benji and Felix, who are Junior Beekeepers, will show you how to make honey butter.” She did a quick scan of the pavilion but there was no place to hide.
Dane casually sauntered up to her—but there was nothing casual about the intensity of his gaze. “Miss Hill.”
“Mr. Knudson.” She stepped away from him and crossed her arms over her chest, watching as the students crowded around the table where Benji and Felix were setting up.
“That was an exceptionally informative presentation.” He crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her.
“Thank you,” she murmured, impressed that his shirtsleeves hadn’t split at the seams.
There was a pause.
“So...” He didn’t sound nearly as jovial now. “You said you wanted to talk?” He sounded worried.
Tansy glanced at him. “You did see those messages?”
“Yeah. ‘We need to talk’ isn’t something a man likes to hear. Or read. I guess I was delaying the inevitable.” He uncrossed his arms, his brow creasing. “Woke up and saw things differently?”
“Dane.” She glanced around them, lowering her voice as two teachers came forward to help the students. “What happened between us was...nice but it’s a—a waste of time.” She hadn’t meant to sound so harsh but it was true.“We want very different things.”
“I want you.” He shrugged, as loud and confident as ever. “I’m pretty sure you want me too.”
One of the teachers heard Dane, gave him a head-to-toe once-over and looked at Tansy.Lucky you, the woman mouthed out—giving Tansy two thumbs-up.
Tansy’s cheeks were on fire. “There are people around. Keep your voice down,” she whispered.
“I hadn’t noticed.” His voice was deep and husky, demanding her complete attention. The way he was studying her made it hard to breathe. It did seem like he was uncaring of anyone or anything happening around him.
“We want different things in business,” she murmured.
“That has nothing to do with us.” He was frowning now, those blue eyes of his locked with hers. “It shouldn’t anyway.”
Don’t let your guard down. But she could remember the way his arms felt around her and the fire in his kiss. It would be one thing if this was about physical attraction. But it wasn’t. Tansy had to face the hard truth that, somewhere along the line, her heart had made its choice.
“I scare you, don’t I?” He stepped closer. “You’re scared of what’s happening between us.”
