When Only Cupcakes Will Do (19 page)

Ed drove them swiftly to where she'd abandoned the van, filled up the tank and handed her the empty can.

‘My gift to you! Think you can manage to keep it replenished for the next time?' He slid into the driver's seat and turned the key. The engine started straightaway. He pointed to the dial on the dashboard. ‘Know what this is for?'

‘Very funny.'

Lucie rolled her eyes at him but she was so wet and miserable that she had no energy left to voice her opinions on women's emancipation. When she gathered the courage to turn her head towards him she saw he was smirking, but he had every right to be. She smiled at him and they both simultaneously burst into laughter. It felt wonderful to relieve the tension that had been mounting.

‘Got anything to eat in this overblown candy floss on wheels? Fighting the elements really builds up an appetite.'

‘I can offer you a fish, a crab or a whale?'

‘A whale?'

Lucie climbed into the back of the van and grabbed a plastic box with the remaining cake pops that hadn't been sold. She peeled back the lid and offered him one. Ed wrinkled his nose and selected one of Jess's nautical-themed delicacies.

‘What is it?'

‘It's a crab. This is the whale…' She held up a cellophane-wrapped cake pop in a shape more akin to a shark with its teeth bared. ‘And this is a goldfish.'

‘With a sailor's hat on?'

‘Why not?'

Ed shook his head but hunger won over objection. He unwrapped the goldfish and bit off the hat. Lucie had never seen a more incongruous sight than the famously cool Ed Cartolli, food critic extraordinaire, lounging in the driver's seat of a vintage ice-cream van eating a fish made from cake from the end of a stick. His curls flopped against his eyelashes as he ran his tongue along his lips to collect any stray crumbs.

She wished she had her phone. She would have been sorely tempted to end her abstinence from Twitter.

‘
Delizioso
! Come on, I'll drive you home. There's never a dull moment when you're around, Lucie Bradshaw, is there? Being with you is like adding another extreme sport to my list! I wouldn't say no to an espresso as someone interrupted my last one.'

‘No date tonight, then?' she asked, injecting as much nonchalance into the question as she could. Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she waited for his answer.

‘I've not had much time to date since I arrived in London.' The amusement in his eyes caused Lucie to blush, but now that she'd grasped her courage she intended to roll with it.

‘What about before you left Sicily?' Ah, that had hit a nerve.

‘Marisa and I agreed to go our separate ways. She was focused on pursuing her career. She had little time to spend nursing my emotional turmoil after the accident. I accept I was difficult to live with. I really threw myself into my extreme sports addiction, trying to prove to myself that I could still do everything that I did before the accident. Giorgio and I even climbed Kilimanjaro for charity! Taking it in turns to carry a Sicilian flag! Then we cycled from Rome to Nice, camping wherever we wanted, foraging for our food. It was an amazing, Boy's Own adventure. Marisa had hoped our brush with death would convince us to cut down on the adrenalin-junkie behaviour, but instead we craved it even more. Well, who can blame her for ending our relationship when I told her I was leaving for a few months in the UK? I think she was relieved when I went. We've stayed in touch. In fact, she's recently announced her engagement to a fellow architect in her practice.'

Ed hesitated as he tried to decide whether to jump in with his next sentence. ‘I know you had your own proposal of marriage turned down.' Now it was her turn to take her place under the relationship spotlight.

‘I haven't spoken to Alex since that night. He still hasn't explained his reasons for rejecting me but he did send me a text asking if I was okay after my brush with fame as an internet sensation which Steph and Hollie ordered me to ignore. Alex is a lawyer at a law firm in London,' she added, as if that was an excuse for his lack of empathy with her desire to understand what she had done wrong.

‘You mean he's never told you why he turned down your proposal of marriage?'

‘Yes. I mean, no.'

Talking about Alex to Ed felt uncomfortable. The look of disbelief on his face brought home to her that she and Alex still had unfinished business. Did she still love him? Maybe. Whenever his face danced across her eyelids in the moments between wakefulness and the oblivion sleep offered, her heart would warn her that she was not over him. She had to try calling him again or, as a last resort, ask Steph to intervene. She would never be able to move on with her life until she understood why he didn't want to marry her. The least he could do was have the decency to free her from her torment. Sometimes a judicious word of explanation could be more welcome than a carefully crafted text. She knew that once she had the facts, no matter how hurtful, there was a possibility she could work on dissecting her emotions, tying up that episode of her life in a big red ribbon and starting over again.

She made a decision. She was going to call Alex and ask him to meet her. It had been three months since the incident. They'd both had plenty of time to analyse what had gone wrong and what they needed to do to move on in their lives. In fact, she was looking forward to it, because what better incentive to start afresh than the person she was sitting next to?

A concentrated blast of his aftershave caused her senses to swirl, and when she turned to smile at him she felt the echo of her heartbeat quicken. Edmundo Cartolli was extraordinarily attractive, especially with dampened curls flopping into his eyes. As he drove, she took the opportunity to scrutinise every detail of his face – every blemish, every wrinkle, every scar – and came to the conclusion that, to her inexpert eye, he was the most handsome man she'd ever had the good fortune to call a friend. She noticed the ripple of ebony hairs running up his forearm as he reached out to change gears and a flash of heat erupted in her abdomen like a miniature firework. No, he wasn't handsome – he was hot!

Hollie's words floated back to her, telling her to take a chance on the Italian stallion, and she had to stifle a giggle. She decided to concentrate on the road as they chatted about a French bistro Ed had reviewed the previous weekend, as every time her eyes strayed to his she lost her chain of thought. She had never noticed before how cute his earlobes were and she was shocked to find herself wondering what it would be like to nibble them.

There was no doubt about it. Despite Jess's belief that Ed was the perfect diversion after the Alex fiasco, her reconnection with her old culinary rival had awakened passions within her she'd never known existed outside the field of gastronomy.

Could she be falling for Edmundo Cartolli?

Chapter Twenty-One

‘Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?' asked Jess as she watched Lucie lower the final confectionery box into the boot of her Mini Cooper with the delicacy of a mother laying her sleeping baby to rest.

‘No, I'll be fine. Everything's perfect. The bride and groom won't arrive at the hotel until two so that gives me over an hour to set up the pyramid for the cupcakes, sort out the vases and the jam jars for the cake pops and drape the bunting. The wedding planner will be on hand to direct the operations so once I've done my bit I can leave everything in her capable hands. I'm meeting Steph for a drink at Bart's and then, when Hollie finishes work at the salon, we're all going to a new Lebanese restaurant she's been raving about so she can fill us in on her burgeoning romance with Elliott. Anyway, haven't you and the boys got a train to catch? It's not every weekend you get to take a trip to Cornwall! It should be me offering to help you!'

‘Oh, the boys have been packed since last week. And to be honest, so have I! A couple of days at the seaside are just what we all need to recharge our flagging batteries. Are you sure you don't want to join us? You could catch a later train? Will you be okay here on your own?'

‘Jess, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a grown-up.' Lucie giggled and hugged her sister a little longer than usual. ‘Have fun and I'll see you when you get back on Sunday night.'

Lucie jumped into the driver's seat, tooted an au revoir and manoeuvred the little car carefully along the London streets so as not to dislodge the five-tiered wedding cake and the highly decorated cupcakes she had stored in the boot for Tom and Georgina's wedding, which was being held at the Berkeley. It was her most challenging commission yet, but when she'd added the final touches to the top tier, she knew it was the culmination of everything she had been training to achieve. It was a stunning piece of culinary art and she wasn't ashamed to say she had shed a few tears of relief when Georgina had declared it to be every bit as perfect as she had hoped.

She had also baked over three hundred cupcakes – which she'd iced with champagne buttercream and tiny edible silver horseshoes – to slot into the conical stand, and had hand-crafted over fifty wedding-themed cake pops, from a miniature bride and groom with features resembling Tom and Georgina's to entwined golden rings and love-hearts.

She was exhausted but it had all been worth it. She had a batch of business cards that she intended to leave on the table and she hoped this wouldn't be the last wedding she was asked to cater for. Now all she needed was for her favourite London store – Fortnum & Mason – to knock at her door requesting a supply of her cocktail-inspired cupcakes and her life would be complete – well, her professional life at least.

She drew up in a bay next to the kitchen door and began the delicate task of unloading her precious cargo. Nerves swirled through her veins as one slip would have spelt disaster, not only for the Travelling Cupcake Company but for the bride and groom's big day. She needn't have worried as Dulcie, the wedding planner, had everything under military control, shouting orders into her headset as she ticked off each task on her clipboard, her face a picture of efficiency.

When Lucie had finished setting up the wedding cake and the old-fashioned, white-painted street barrow with her cupcakes, cake pops and a selection of vintage confectionery for the children – Black Jacks, fruit salads, pineapple cubes, powdery bonbons, chewy milk bottles – she and Dulcie stood back to admire the confectionery monument.

‘Fabulous,' declared Dulcie, flicking her pen over her list. ‘Thanks, Lucie. By the way, I might have a new client for you. I'm doing a wedding in July at the Dorchester and they want the same sort of thing. I'll pass on your details.'

‘Great, thanks!' Lucie smiled.

She took one last look at the cake, brushed away a stray ball of icing and heaved a sigh of satisfaction. She pushed open the heavy oak door to the foyer, a smile of achievement lingering around her lips as she dug into her handbag searching for her car keys and ran headlong into a sturdy torso.

‘Oh, I'm so sorry…'

‘Hey…'

She looked up and her heart performed a mini somersault before bouncing up into her throat. Those mahogany eyes that had infiltrated her dreams every night since their drama in the rain were delving straight down into her soul. She felt the heat rising to her face and cavorting around her lower abdomen.

‘Lucie! What are you doing here?'

‘I've just dropped off my first wedding cake commission for Tom and Georgina. And you?' She could hear a slight tremble in her voice. Why did Ed have to look at her with such intensity? And why did his presence always have to send her emotions flying around like bats in a belfry? She had never felt like that when she had bumped into Alex unexpectedly.

‘I've just reviewed their lunch menu for
Anon. Appetit
. Exquisite!' Ed kissed his fingertips. ‘You'll be pleased to know that I will be bestowing this fine establishment with a well-deserved five stars.'

‘Well, I'm sure Tom and Georgina will be relieved their wedding reception is in safe hands.'

‘Jess not around?'

‘No, she's taken the boys away for the weekend down to Cornwall.'

‘Ah…'

‘What?'

‘So, does that mean you have the house to yourself?'

Lucie felt the earlier surge of warmth pulsate around her veins. What exactly did he have in mind, she wondered.

Ed saw the expression on her face and laughed.

‘Actually, what I should have asked was – does that mean the kitchen is available? Remember I promised to show you how to make one of my grandmother's famous
Torta della Nonna
? I'm free now if you are?'

‘Oh, yes, that sounds great.'

‘Come on, then.'

Ed slotted his arm through hers and guided her to the front door. As her heels click-clacked on the polished floor she saw the envious look the pretty receptionist shot in her direction. This day was turning out to be one of the best she'd had in a long time.

‘Are you sure your sister doesn't mind if we trash her kitchen?' chuckled Ed as they emptied several brown paper carrier bags of all the goodies they had bought from the delicatessen and artisan shops they'd passed on their way home. Ed had also produced a plastic crate containing his own must-have cooking utensils for the family recipe from the boot of his car. Jess's usually orderly kitchen already looked like a scene from the Richmond Culinary Massacre!

‘Who said we were going to trash her kitchen?'

‘Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect that you cook like you live – with passionate abandon!'

She laughed at his wildly inaccurate analysis of her personality. But then, he'd seen no evidence of her preference for calm and order in the kitchen. All he had to judge her on was her fiery meltdown in the dining room of Francesca's when she'd realised he was trashing her desserts to a virtual audience.