Beauty and the Feast (5 page)

* * * *

Gabe worked late into the night. He’d sent Marsha home hours ago. Fridays and Mondays were always the worst. Mondays were littered with the leftovers from the previous week and Fridays were clogged with projects that were supposed to have been finished on the previous Monday. At least the website was up and running and he’d been able to show Father Green the results before his friend and mentor headed back to
Chicago
. The Father’s school for troubled youth would get Gabe’s undivided attention when it came to scholarship applications.

Gabe heard his cell phone ringing. It took him a moment to locate the sound. He realized he’d left his phone in the pocket of his leather jacket. He reached the chair where he’d tossed it in two strides.

“Gabriel Abbott.”

“Gabriel,” purred a female voice. “So there you are. I was hoping to find you at the Curran tonight.”

Stephanie. Christ. He’d meant to call her earlier to make sure they were still on for tomorrow.

“No darling, sorry,” he said. “It’s been a long day and it’s looking as if it may not be over for a while yet.”

“I’d be happy to swing by and help out. Maybe lift your spirits.”

“That would be nice,” Gabe laughed, catching the obvious double entendre, “and I appreciate the thought, but as I recall, we have plans for tomorrow and I don’t want anything weighing on me, aside from you that is.”

“I like the sound of that,” came Stephanie’s voice. “What time shall I be ready?”

“I’ll pick you up around six,” said Gabe.

“I’m looking forward to it. Goodnight Gabriel.”

“Goodnight Stephanie.”

Gabe switched off and hesitated for a moment. He glanced at the time. It was late. He really had been preoccupied this past week. He’d forgotten to talk with his caterer to make certain everything would be ready. Well, Gabe shrugged, it was a Friday night. She was probably still awake. He was paying her well. She could take his call. He scrolled through his address book and found her name,
E. Raines
. Gabe pressed the key. Five rings later, he heard a click.

“Mmmmm…hello?”

God. The woman had obviously been asleep and his call had awakened her. He could tell by the warm, soft, smoky curl of her voice. The temperature in his office abruptly felt as if it had risen a few degrees.

“Miss Raines, I’m sorry to wake you. This is Gabriel Abbott.”

“Um-hmm?”

Gabriel found himself uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

“I just… I wanted… I was wondering if everything was going well. For the dinner tomorrow. Is there anything you need?”

The woman was silent for a moment. Gabe could hear her breathing. Finally, she seemed to come fully awake.

“Oh, Mr. Abbott… I’m sorry, I didn’t realize who you were for a second.”

“Gabe.”

“Yes… Gabe, everything is fine. There’s no problem. Everything will be ready and I’ll be gone by six.”

“Is there anything I should know? Any special instructions?”

“I’ll leave you written instructions on the island in the kitchen, but it’s really quite simple. Think of your dinner as an engineering project. Your courses will be in the refrigerator, layered from bottom to top, like a pyramid. I suggest you serve one course at a time. Your dessert will be on the top shelf in the very back. Plus you’ll find a few extras in the…well, you’ll see what I mean.”

Gabe felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. “And the wines?”

“I think you’ll be pleased with my selections. The wines are yours except for one. That one will be in the, uh, it will be with the extras I plan to provide.”

Gabe knew she wanted to say—it’s in the bedroom, but she couldn’t bring herself to utter the word. He grinned and closed his eyes and concentrated. He pictured a faceless Eva Raines, in bed, burrowed beneath the covers, warm and snug and satiny, and he felt himself grow hard. He didn’t want to hang up. He tried to think of something else appropriate to discuss.

He cleared his throat. “Has the house been adequate? The kitchen, I mean?”

“Oh yes,” she said immediately. “I think ‘adequate’ would be an understatement. Lavish would be more descriptive. Your home is lovely. The kitchen is perfect. I’ve only brought a few items and I can pick those up Sunday afternoon, if that will be all right. Would you…” she stammered a bit, “Would you prefer that I return Monday to clean up?”

Gabe thought for a moment. Monday might be better, but then he wouldn’t get to meet the enigmatic Miss Raines. Yet if she came on Sunday, he’d be occupied with Stephanie Lindstrom and for some reason, Gabe found the idea of both women in the same house at the same time disconcerting.

“Monday,” he replied.

“Of course,” he heard Eva say. Did he detect disappointment in her voice?

“Well,” Gabe tried to make his tone apologetic, “I’m sorry to have awakened you. Goodnight Miss Raines.”

“Eva.”

“Goodnight, Eva.”

“Night, Gabe.”

Gabe closed his phone.
Interesting
, he thought with a grin.
I’ve never even seen the woman and just the idea of her in a bed somewhere gives me a hard-on.
He wondered again what she looked like. Something about her sounded like a redhead, or a brunet. He flipped open his phone and dialed Luis’ number. Luis picked up after seven rings.

“Hola, Señor Abbott.
What can I do for you this time of night?”

“Sorry to call so late Luis, but I wanted to make sure things are going well with the caterer I’ve hired for this weekend.”

“Oh yes,
Señor Abbott
, Eva. Yes, very well. Very well.”

Luis sounded enthusiastic. He wasn’t a particularly outgoing man. It was one of the reasons he and Gabe got along so well. They both appreciated silence and solitude.

“So you’ve met her?”

“Oh yes,
Señor
. She’s been here twice. She was here at six this morning.”

No wonder his call had awakened her.

“How does she seem, Luis?”
Is she as lovely as she sounds?
“I mean, is she competent?”

“From what I can tell, she seems quite competent.”

Gabe wanted to ask more about the mysterious Miss Raines, but he feared Luis would get the wrong impression. Or maybe the right impression.

“Is there anything else,
Señor
Abbott?”

“Did she… did she have any problems finding the place?”

“Oh, she rode past the house a few times, but she found the private lane quickly enough. It was a long, hard ride on a warm day.”

Gabe blinked. “Eva rides a motorcycle?”

“No,
Señor,
she rode her mountain bike up here the first time. I believe she had ridden up to Calistoga and she was on her way back to
Napa
. Today she drove her car.”

“All right. Thanks Luis. Sorry to bother you. Please apologize to your sister for me if I woke her up. Goodnight.”

“Buenos noches, Señor Abbott.”

Well, well, well…she rides a mountain bike
, thought Gabe.
Luis is absolutely right, the hill is long and steep, a hard ride even for me.
His little chef must be in very good shape. Miss Eva Raines was becoming more intriguing by the minute. The words
a long, hard ride
evoked an altogether different image in his mind. Gabe stifled a groan as he adjusted his trousers. He found his desire to bring Stephanie Lindstrom to his cottage diminishing in direct proportion to the increasing size of his erection. Gabe glanced at his watch. It probably wasn’t too late to call her back, but it was definitely too late to come up with a reasonable excuse to cancel. He toyed with the notion of taking an early morning drive into
Napa
. Eva would probably be working in his kitchen most of the day. He could meet her and still make it back to the city in time to pick up Stephanie.

Crap. Gabe remembered he’d scheduled a
ten o’clock
breakfast meeting with his accountant. That would take at least a couple of hours and he’d been hoping to get in a bike ride before he had to get home, pack a few items of clothing, and clean up for dinner. Getting a look at his little chef would have to wait. Now he was left wondering exactly how far he wanted to take things with Stephanie.

Eva put in her ear buds and clicked on her iPod. She cranked the volume way up. The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore. Jimmy Hendrix. Eric Clapton. Tom Petty. B.B. King. She’d thrown in some Eagles and Credence so she could sing along. Eva preferred to listen to the old guitarists when she was cooking. It kept her energized. She flipped the play list to random and began the task of putting together everything she’d prepped the previous day. She planned the menu to be the essence of simplicity. She wanted to keep the flavors of the food light and clean.

It seemed pretty clear to Eva that Mr. Abbott intended this to be a seduction dinner. During her visit on Friday, she’d taken the liberty of exploring the loft that doubled as his bedroom. She told herself that she was just doing her job, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but give in to the curiosity she felt about the man—the curiosity that had only been increased by his late phone call. After she’d said goodnight, Eva had tossed and turned. For the first time in a long, long time, she’d felt, well, aroused. She’d wondered what the man looked like. His voice had the same rich tone as deep, dark maple syrup, and it was just as smooth. The sound of the man had actually given her an idea about an addition to the treats she planned to leave in his bedroom. She’d already wondered how often he slept in the cottage and she’d been concerned that his bedding might be a little musty. If it was she Gabriel Abbott intended to seduce, she’d want to be made love to on crisp, clean, fresh-smelling sheets.

Gabriel Abbott’s bedroom was quintessentially masculine. The walls were painted a taupe, almost a mushroom, plain, stark, clean, like the rest of the cottage. His dresser was black, the hardware brushed steel. In the corner near a floor to ceiling window, sat a desk with a computer, a few pencils and a pad of paper, nothing else. At the foot of the bed was a large chest. Eva lifted the lid slightly and inhaled. Her nose was assailed by the scents of leather and wool. She lifted the lid higher and leaned over the chest for a moment. In her mind’s eye, she watched a tall, faceless man with a hard muscled frame, pull on a favorite wool sweater and toss a worn soft, brown, leather jacket over one shoulder. The idea made Eva shiver. She quietly closed the lid.

The bed, a wrought iron, four-poster queen-sized bed, looked scrumptious. After checking to make sure Luis wasn’t in the vicinity, Eva threw herself across the mahogany-colored duvet. She wiggled deep into the quilt, hoping to catch the man’s scent, but it didn’t seem as if anyone had slept there recently. His housekeeper, if he had one, had probably washed the bedding after his last visit.

Gabriel Abbott certainly appreciated comfort. Eva figured his mattress must be top of the line. No matter which position she lay in, it felt as if the bed hugged her, supported her every curve. It was an utterly delicious sensation. She lay there a long time, imagining the man who would be using the bed this weekend. It was with great reluctance that she climbed down and stripped the linens.

Eva tried to view her work dispassionately, yet she couldn’t help but picture herself as the recipient of what she imagined would be Gabriel Abbott’s undivided attention. Eva wondered what, exactly, Gabriel Abbott’s undivided attention would involve, and she felt a tingle slide up and down the length of her spine. She stood still for just a moment, the sheets bunched in her arms, before she decided she’d better get a move on. She tossed the sheets in his washing machine and hung the remainder of the bedding in the sun that shone on the patio. Eva hoped Mr. Abbott, and whoever his guest was, would appreciate her extra effort, but she wasn’t counting on it. She was quite certain they’d have other things on their minds.

Now, working in the kitchen, she remembered remaking his bed, smoothing the sheets, turning down the quilts, plumping the pillows to make the bed even more inviting. She’d already set up a small table at his bedside. She’d covered it with a linen cloth and placed a galvanized tin bucket on top, ready to be filled with ice for the sparkling wine she’d brought. She hadn’t found exactly what she had in mind among Mr. Abbott’s wines, so she’d looked through her own collection and pulled out a bottle of one of her favorite French champagnes made from Rose grapes. Its color was indeed a lovely rose, the color of love, the color, when you got right down to it, of a woman. Eva thought it would be perfect. The wine was crisp, not too sweet, not too dry, with a nice, long, smooth finish. She’d already carried up two champagne flutes and she’d left room on the table for the dessert Gabriel would serve his guest.

Music blasting in her ears, Eva headed into the garden to pick the herbs she needed while the air was still cool. She spotted Luis cleaning the pool and she gave him a smile and a wave. He waved back. She watched his mouth moving and she realized he was speaking to her. Eva couldn’t hear a word he said. She pulled the ear buds out and approached him.

“
Buenos días
, Eva,” Luis said.