The Secret Ingredient (12 page)

Her breath caught in her throat as he slowly and carefully lifted the fondant lace onto a sheet of baking parchment and then painstakingly placed the complete panel onto the sides of a round cake.

She dared not make a sound in case it disturbed him as he lifted away the paper. It was like watching a great artist at work.

‘Behold one super-light sandwich cake. Four layers. Fresh lemon curd and pastry cream filling for the vanilla sponges at the top. My own special recipe Black Forest chocolate ganache for the two chocolate sponges on the bottom. Gold icing to cover. As ordered,’ he said and stood back to check that the fondant was not moving.

‘Lily prefers plain cake but Harry is a chocolate man,’ she whispered through a throat that was tingling with emotion. ‘It’s wonderful, Rob. I love what you’ve done with the gold fondant. That lace design is gorgeous.’

Rob smiled back at her. ‘No problem. All I did was follow the order you had pinned to the clip rail and checked the burnt cakes to make sure that you were going for two flavours. Gold lace seemed about right for a golden wedding cake. How are you feeling?’

Lottie took a few steps into the kitchen and sat down on the bar stool with her elbow on the bench.

‘You mean apart from inadequate? Much better. I cannot believe that I slept for four hours. That’s a first for me. But at least my headache has gone.’

‘If it is my mum’s cold you will be back to normal tomorrow. But in the meantime, take it easy. I’ve got this for you.’

‘Now you’re making me feel really guilty.’ Lottie groaned. ‘I have to do something to help.’

He walked up and down a few steps, then nodded. ‘How about some gold ribbon around the pedestal? Think you can manage that? I want to finish the centrepiece before the fondant hardens up too much.’

‘Got it.’ She grinned and was about to slide off the stool when she blinked up at Rob, who was wiping away cornflour and icing sugar from what looked like an immaculate kitchen surface. ‘What centrepiece?’

‘Every wedding cake needs a centrepiece, doesn’t it? And I needed something to do while the cakes were cooling besides checking up on you.’

‘You checked up on me?’ Lottie blushed and self-consciously pulled the front edges of her pyjama top a little closer together.

The reply was a completely over-the-top wink. ‘You snore beautifully. Has anyone ever told you that?’

‘Must be my cold,’ she replied and narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Unfair. I’m not exactly dressed for visitors.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that. You look okay to me.’

His voice was molten chocolate, which, combined with the heat going on behind those eyes, made Lottie squirm on her chair. It was the same look he had given her last night at the apartment.

How did he do it? It was as if he had an internal dial behind his eyes that went from calm, cold appraisal to steaming-hot mentally undressing in two seconds flat. And, boy, was it effective.

She was surprised that steam was not billowing out from the front of her jacket.

‘Um. Cake. Let’s focus on the cake. What are you doing for the...centrepiece? Oh, those are perfect.’

Lottie slid her bottom off the stool and stepped up to Rob so that she could look at the contents of the platter he had taken out of the refrigerator. She inhaled a long, slow breath and her right arm draped around the top of his jeans so that she could lean in closer.

Rob the master chef had shaped creamy gold-coloured fondant into three perfect calla lilies. The central stamen and stem were made from green crystallised angelica.

‘Lilies for Lily. Why didn’t I think of that?’ she breathed, then held still as he laid them in a spiral pattern on the top of the icing-sugar dusting that covered the top sponge.

‘One final touch. Crystallised violets. Just makes the gold pop.’

The two of them stood in silence for a second just staring at the cake with its golden crown before Lottie sniffed.

‘I knew that you were good, but I had no idea how good.’

His reply was a low chuckle followed by a cheeky grin. ‘Don’t sound so surprised.’

But what mattered more than the words was the way his arm wrapped around her shoulder, drawing her to him, and then slid down the sleeve of her jacket, sending delicious shivers of pleasure up her arm.

He was overpowering. Too intense, too tempting.

Stupid cold.
It was making her all weepy and sentimental.

He had made a cake that was far more nicely decorated than the one she had been planning. She had not asked him to do it. He simply had. Because he’d wanted to. Because he was caring and compassionate and right at that moment it was all a bit too much.

She was going to have to work extra hard to keep focused on why a fling with Rob would be a terrible idea.

The barriers between them had not gone away. Far from it. They were staring her in the face every time she looked at him.

She could do this. She could freeze him out to protect herself. She just had to.

Lottie made a dramatic gesture of checking her watch, and then slowly stepped out of the arc of his arms. ‘Help! We’re going to miss the tea party unless I get dressed in the next five minutes. And after all that work, you’re definitely coming with me.’

Then, without thinking or hesitating, she stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips for a fraction of a second against the side of his cheek.

‘Thank you for making such a beautiful cake. Lily is going to love it.’

Rob watched her shuffle back to the stairs in stunned silence, amazed by what she had just done. ‘You’re welcome. Any time at all.’

TEN

‘Laurel Court Residential
Home. Second turning on the left. You can’t miss it. Big stone house with a gorgeous conservatory dining room. The teas will be set up inside and then served on the lawn if the weather is warm.’

Rob flashed Lottie a quick glance from the driver’s seat. ‘Do you go and visit your friend very often?’

‘First Sunday of the month when I can. I missed last week. Too much on with Dee being away. But Lily knows that I’ll be there today.’ Lottie looked at her watch and sucked in a sharp hiss. ‘If we get there in time. Rotten cold. I hate being late.’

‘With you on that. What? Don’t give me that look. My life might be tabloid fodder but I keep my promises to people that matter. I do feel semi responsible for foisting my mother onto you in the first place, so if you want someone to blame for that cold, I am right here.’

‘I can see that. Why else would I allow you to drive my precious delivery van? This is definitely a one-off in more ways than one. I’m not used to having a guest baker around the place. But it was good of you to offer to deliver the cake for me.’

Rob shuffled his bottom in the low seat and tried to get more comfortable but his gaze focused on the busy London street. He had already pushed the seat as far back as it would go but his knees almost touched the steering wheel. ‘How do you drive this thing?’

Lottie laughed out loud and immediately started a coughing fit, which had her reaching for her water bottle. ‘Oh, please don’t make me laugh,’ she replied with her hand on her throat. ‘If you must know the van came from one of Dee’s pals and was such a good price it was hard to turn down. It does the job. Oh. Here we are. Laurel Court. Just turn into the drive. The car park is on the left.’

Rob gritted his teeth in exasperation as he crunched the gears and slowed down to park in a narrow bay at the very end of the drive close to the house.

He sat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel for a few seconds and pushed out his lips before speaking. ‘And you are sure that they know that I am just delivering the cake, right? Nothing else.’

‘Absolutely.’ Lottie nodded. ‘I am a walking biohazard. The last thing I want is for Lily and her young-at-heart pals to go down with a twenty-four-hour head cold. Not at their age. Bad idea. It would slow them down, which is totally unacceptable. They are having far too much fun.’

Then she looked out through the windscreen and pressed her lips together. ‘Too late to run away now. They’ve spotted the van. We would never get out of here alive if we tried to escape without delivering that cake.’

Then before Rob could protest, she rolled down the window and started waving like mad. ‘Lily! We’re over here. Come and meet Rob. He’s my...sous-chef for the day. And he cannot wait to show you the fantastic cake he made, especially for you. Can you, Rob?’

* * *

Two hours later Lottie was driving down the side streets of London, her fingers wrapped around the steering wheel, grateful that it was late on a Sunday afternoon and the traffic was remarkably light.

Her headache was gone, her sore throat was already feeling a lot better, and the cotton wool that had clogged her brain was slowly easing away.

Which was just as well seeing as Rob was in no fit state to drive the van back to the bakery.

She slowed the van at the next set of traffic lights and grinned across at Rob, who was lying in the passenger seat with his head back and eyes closed.

‘How are your toes doing? Any sign of movement yet? Or do I need to drive to the accident department?’

One eye creaked open and he slowly raised his head and glared at her. ‘Did you know that they had hired a dance band? And every single lady in the place expected a samba and a foxtrot before we got to the waltzes. Even the gals with the walking frames. And forget my toes. They are so numb I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they were all broken. Oh, no, it’s my rear end that got the most damage. Those gals need more medication!’

‘Ah. Perhaps I should have warned you about the bottom pinchers. Don’t worry. The bruising will fade away in a few days. But you have to understand, that was the best entertainment those girls have seen for a long time. Lily and her husband had the best time. You were a
total
superstar!’

‘So you were watching me through the conservatory windows. I suspected as much. I hope you enjoyed the show.’

Enjoyed? Lottie had simply brought her knees up to her chest and watched in awe as this amazing man who she had only just met charmed and laughed and danced and at one point even sang along with the residents of the home as if they were old friends having a great party.

He had been remarkable. He
was
remarkable.

But it would only make his ego swell larger if she shared just how much she had enjoyed watching him having fun and being himself.

There was no bravado or false arrogance about this version of Rob Beresford. Just the opposite.

She had been granted a glimpse of the man behind the celebrity mask and she liked what she had seen. She liked it more than was good for her.

‘I did enjoy it.’ She grinned. ‘But to be fair I think the wine served at the special lunch may have contributed to the merriment. That stuff is pretty lethal combined with the artificial colours in the jelly and ice cream they usually have for dessert.’

‘Jelly and ice cream?’ Rob repeated in disbelief. ‘That explains why they liked the cake so much. In fact, they demolished the cake and asked me to pass on the message that it was so nice that could you please bring more next time you visit? And more chocolate. The chocolate sponge was a hit.’

‘There you go. Praise indeed. Lily knows her cakes. And there are some advantages to being so tall. At least the cake made it to the buffet table in one piece before the girls saw it. They’ve been making cakes all of their lives. Any supermarket factory-made baking would go straight in the bin.’

His reply was a slow shake of the head. ‘Last time I faced a crowd like that was at the international bake-off challenge in Paris. It was a battle but I survived.’ Then he paused and tapped one finger against his lower lip. ‘Actually, that’s not such a bad idea.’

‘What is?’ Lottie asked as she set off again.

‘Beresford hotels probably have six trainee pastry chefs at any one time. Boys and girls. It would be interesting to set up a contest and ask those ladies and gentlemen to pick the winner.’

‘Interesting? It would be brutal.’ Then she added with a grin, ‘And Lily would love it. Great idea—go for it. Although I think an idea like that is worth a small favour.’

Rob groaned out loud. ‘Go on. Am I going to like this?’

‘The recipe for your chocolate cake, of course—and the icing. I think that would be a fair trade. And I would hate to let the residents down after they made a special request.’

‘Mmm. Not sure. That’s one of my specials. I think you would have to throw in an extra incentive to make me divulge something like that,’ Rob replied with a low husky tone in his voice that set the hairs on the back of Lottie’s neck standing up straight.

She dared to glance quickly at his face and immediately had to calm her racing heart and focus on turning into the lane behind her bakery.

The adrenaline-pumping heat of instant attraction coursed through her veins.

This was it. If she wanted to show Rob how attracted she was to him it was now or never.

Could she do it? Could she open up her heart, let him into her life, and not regret it?

Rob made the decision for her by calmly walking around the front of the van the moment she turned off the ignition, opening the driver’s door, and taking both of her hands to help her to her feet, taking her whole weight and pressing her body against his.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked as his gaze drilled holes into her forehead and messed around with her brain.

‘Better. Would you like to come inside for some coffee?’ she managed to reply in a throat that suddenly seemed full of sand. ‘Cakes on the house.’

Her reward was a smile that would defrost large ice sculptures at thirty paces. ‘I’ve been waiting all day to hear you say those words. Lead the way.’

At catering college there had been plenty of late-night drunken clinches in dark corners of bars and sofa cuddling, but whenever it had started to get more serious she had ducked out at the last minute. Sexual stage fright. She wasn’t a prude, just cautious.

To the world she was Lottie the brave, Lottie the entrepreneur, Lottie the baker. But never Lottie the woman who was afraid to show how scared and vulnerable she was.

Always putting her own sexual needs and desires into second place. Waiting until she found someone who would not trample her into the ground. Waiting for the right man to share her bed with.

Well, tonight she was determined to throw all of her common-sense caution to the wind. She turned to Rob.

She wanted this gorgeous man with his wavy dark brown hair, blue eyes, and a body that was a work of art. She wanted to feel that sexy stubble on her skin and know what it was like to be the subject of his adoration. Then seduce him right back.

Okay, so he had seen her without make-up with the head cold from Hades, but her body was not too bad and she still shaved her legs. Now and then. He wouldn’t be totally repelled.

So what if he was Sean’s brother and she was bound to see him again?

She liked him. More than liked him. They were adults. They could handle it, couldn’t they?

A shiver ran down her back. This was going to happen; she had to make it happen. No second best. This was her selfish-indulgence and for once in her life she was going to put herself first and enjoy life to the full.

Jogging into the kitchen, Lottie flicked on the CD player and turned up the volume as the lively saxophone music filled the air.

‘So you do like jazz?’

She turned to find Rob leaning on the doorjamb. Watching her swing her hips from side to side in time with the music.

‘Care to dance?’ he asked, and held out his hand. ‘I have been in training recently.’

She glided into his arms, his hands sliding along her slender waist until they rested lightly on her hips. Instinct rather than technique or practice made her lift her arms high and cup the sides of his neck.

The music and the sensation of his hot breath on her forehead acted like a hypnotic dream where their bodies automatically knew how to move in perfect harmony.

Her heart rate and breathing moved up another notch the second her forehead dropped forward onto his chest and again he matched her, heartbeat for heartbeat, his hands tightening on her waist and holding her closer and closer by the second.

A faint smile quivered across her lips as his hands slowly slid lower until they were smoothing down the fabric of the silk shirt dress that had been in the first garment bag she had come to in the loft. Just the pressure of the slippery fabric and the heat of his fingers cupping her bottom were enough to make her catch her breath in her throat and for a second his hands stilled.

Then she broke the moment by giving a very girly giggle and pulling her head back just far enough to look at him. It meant unlocking her hands from behind his neck but it was worth it to feel the hard planes of his chest beneath her fingers.

His smiling eyes were half open and focused totally on her face, hazy with promise and desire. Any doubt she might have had that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him were instantly swept away in that one look.

Heartbeat for heartbeat. Strong and fierce and hot and sweet.

‘Rob. Do you have any of that chocolate icing left? Because I have a very ticklish spot just here—’ and she pointed to the corner of her mouth next to her upper lip ‘—which needs a large dose of licking. Think you can help with that?’

He pulled her so quickly towards him that she almost toppled over as they took one step backwards until her back pressed against the wall of her kitchen. Out of sight of the street, she did not feel exposed when one of his hands shot up to cradle the back of her head.

Trapped between the hard wall and the harder length of his body, Lottie only had time for one sharp breath before his warm, full lips crushed down onto hers in a kiss so fast and intense that breathing took second place to keeping up.

His teeth nibbled her upper lip, sending shock waves of desire and wet heat surging through her body, making her beg for more and more. It was almost unbearable when that stubble grazed her throat and started making its way down to her collarbone.

‘I have wanted to do that since I first saw you in the gallery.’

In a minute that mouth would be on her breast and it would be game over for any kind of sensible thought.

The silk dress was already a crumpled wreck with the writhing, but her brain caught up with the rest of her body just long enough to realise that ripping it off here might not be such a good idea.

‘I’m probably still infectious, you know,’ Lottie whispered, her eyes fluttering half closed in the heady, sensuous movement of his mouth on her throat.

‘How are you feeling now? There is some colour back in your cheeks.’

‘A lot better. But what about you? I could be contagious. I would hate to be the reason why the mighty Rob goes down with a shocking head cold.’

‘I’ll take the risk. My mum gave it to me first. Generous as always.’ It was more of a mumbled murmur.

Lottie’s mouth went dry. She should be embarrassed. This was what she wanted, wasn’t it?

‘Oh, right, I see.’

‘Hey. Don’t look so worried. This is meant to be fun.’

‘I know. It’s just that I had this vision of meeting you at one of Sean and Dee’s parties and having to go through the embarrassed silence and awkward first kissy thing which always make me cringe.’

‘Ah. The social etiquette of the former lovers who may or may not have parted as friends. That’s the advanced course, but somehow I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for us.’

He tapped his middle fingers several times against his forehead. ‘Smart. And we get on. Right?’ His grin had the power to illuminate the kitchen.
Oh, yeah, we get on.