Her voice was muffled against his shoulder. ‘One more thing. There might be a puppy to throw into the mix of things we have to consider.’
He groaned. ‘You’ve been talking to my mother.’
Lizzie pulled away from him so she could look up at his face but stayed in the protective circle of his arms. ‘How did you guess?’
‘Her house is full of foster dogs and she’s always on the lookout for homes for them.’
‘Amy would love a puppy. So would I. My father would never allow us to have pets. I always wanted one.’
‘Needless to say, we always had dogs when I was growing up. How could I not love them? I admire Mum for her commitment to rescues.’
‘I hear a “however” there,’ she said. These days, she picked up on the slightest nuances in his voice.
‘Some of the parts of the world I’ve worked in, children live worse lives than our pampered pooches. It’s charities for kids I support.’
Was Jesse saying the things he knew she wanted to hear? She shook her head to rid herself of the thought. She had decided to trust him.
‘Are you too good to be true, Jesse Morgan?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘I’m just me, Lizzie—take me as you find me. I didn’t tell you that looking for praise,’ he said. ‘But it’s a good way to segue into the fund-raising dinner the dog shelter my mother supports is having on Saturday night.’
‘Maura did mention it, so did Sandy. But I said no. I can’t afford a late night when I’ll have such an early start next day. I’m expecting Sunday to be one of our busiest days at the café.’
‘What if you made it an early night?’ he coaxed. ‘Just come for the dinner and then I take you straight home?’
Her smile was teasing, mischievous. ‘Are you asking me on a date, Jesse?’
‘I guess I am. Surely it can’t be all work and no play for you.’
‘No, but—’
‘Where’s the “but”, Lizzie? You can’t use the “just friends” argument any more.’
‘I...I don’t want everyone in Dolphin Bay knowing our business.’ She would never forget that dreadful moment at the wedding when that raucous crowd had discovered her and Jesse kissing on the balcony.
‘I understand. And feel the same way. So we keep it private,’ he said.
‘Even from my sister and your brother?’ Sandy was the last person she’d want to know about the change in status of her relationship with Jesse. She didn’t want any more warnings or disapproval. Not when she’d decided to switch off her own inner warning system when it came to Jesse.
‘If that’s what you want,’ he said. ‘I’ve never confided in Ben about my relationships.’
‘And Amy too, when she gets here on Wednesday. Until...until we know for sure where we’re going.’ If Jesse were to be a part of her life, they would have to introduce the idea to her daughter with great care.
‘Fine by me,’ he said.
He cradled her face in his hands. Kissed her briefly, tenderly. Even on that level of kiss, he was a master.
‘I’ll come to the fund-raiser with you,’ she said. ‘To everyone there we’ll just be friends, but to us—’
‘We’ll be finding out if we can be so much more.’
‘Yes,’ she said.
CHAPTER TEN
SATURDAY MORNING WAS so busy at Bay Bites that Lizzie had to call in a casual waitress for extra help. It wasn’t just for help with table service; the phone was also ringing off the hook with advance bookings. She was elated and also somewhat surprised that the word had spread so quickly. Don’t jinx it, she reminded herself.
She was in the kitchen checking a new batch of the rhubarb and strawberry muffins that had just come out of the oven when Sandy burst in the back door, fizzing with excitement. She grabbed Lizzie by the arm. ‘Forget those—they look perfect, smell divine and will probably be gone in ten minutes. Come outside, will you.’
Bemused, Lizzie let herself be dragged outside by her sister. Sandy waved the Saturday edition of Sydney’s major newspaper in her face. ‘Check this out in the Lifestyle section. Bay Bites has been included in an article about the foodie scene on the south coast.’
Lizzie felt her stomach plummet to below the level of her clogs. There had already been positive reviews from customers on the internet review sites. But to be reviewed by this newspaper was something different altogether. The review would go on its website too and find its way into prominent positions on search engines. A bad review could seriously damage them at this baby steps stage of the business.
She took hold of the newspaper with shaking hands and focused on the page with some difficulty. The headline was bold and black: Take the South Coast Gourmet Food Trail.
She scanned the first paragraphs. They talked about ‘the ever-growing food and wine scene’, mentioning the lush soil, mild climate, and singling out for praise some of her newly sourced suppliers.
Then there was a list of ‘Six Foodie Hotspots’ on the south coast. The television chef’s restaurant was included. But high on the list was also, to her heart-pounding excitement, Bay Bites.
‘Read it out—I’ve read it ten times already but I want to hear it again,’ urged Sandy.
‘I...I don’t think my voice will work,’ Lizzie said.
‘Sure it will; come on—read.’
Lizzie cleared her throat and started to read in a voice that started off shaky but gained in strength and confidence as she read:
‘“France’s loss is the south coast’s gain. Talented Aussie chef Lizzie Dumont has returned home to Oz from stints in top restaurants in Lyon and Paris to bring her particular flair to must-visit café Bay Bites in the charming coastal town of Dolphin Bay. The menu is a clever blend of perfectly executed café favourites and more innovative specials that showcase locally sourced ingredients. Don’t miss: sublime scrambled eggs; rhubarb and strawberry muffins; slow-cooked lamb with beetroot relish. Then there’s the excellent coffee served by the most swoon-worthy barista you’ll see this side of Hollywood.”’
The review was accompanied by a photograph of the café interior looking bright and fashionable and another close-up of a muffin broken open with crumbs scattered artfully alongside. Jesse was there beside the coffee machine but his image was blurred, as if in motion, so you couldn’t readily identify him.
Lizzie sagged with relief. She looked at the by-line of the journalist who had written such a gratifying review. Adele Hudson. She peered closer at the small photo that accompanied it. She blinked then looked again to make sure she hadn’t got it wrong. ‘I don’t believe it. It’s Dell. Adele Hudson is Dell.’
‘Who is Dell and how do you know her?’ said Sandy.
‘She’s a friend of Evie from the dairy farm. She was here for the taste-test and then again on our opening day.’
‘The redhead flirting with Jesse?’
‘Turns out she was interviewing him, in a subtle way,’ Lizzie said slowly. She’d thought Dell had been flirting with Jesse too. She felt sick at the memory of the jealousy that had speared her. The review could have gone completely the other way if she’d acted on it.
‘Wait. There’s more,’ she said. ‘Adele Hudson is also a well-known food blogger with tens of thousands of followers.’
‘Not so well known to us,’ said Sandy. She pulled out her e-tablet from her handbag, scrolled through. ‘Her blog is called “Dell Dishes”. Look, she’s written about Bay Bites here, too.’
Lizzie read it out.
‘“Good food and good books—two of my greatest loves. I got a taste of both with the newly opened Bay Bites café that’s an extension of my favourite south coast bookshop Bay Books.”’
She looked up, her excitement rising. ‘And there’s so much more about how good the food is. She’s picked up
on the link between the café and the Hotel Harbourside too and called the hotel restaurant “pub grub at its best”.’
‘We’re on the map now,’ said Sandy with a great sigh of satisfaction. ‘Along with those five-star ratings on the user review websites, I think we’re on our way.’ Lizzie laughed as her sister danced her around in a little jig of joy.
‘I wondered how word of mouth spread so quickly; we’ve got a truckload of advance bookings,’ said Lizzie. The glowing review certainly took some of the sting out of her demotion in status from fine dining to café cook.
Just then the door from the café opened and the man who had been taking up so much of her thoughts emerged. ‘I’m on the hunt for our missing boss,’ said Jesse with great exaggeration. He looked from Lizzie to Sandy and back again. His expression grew serious. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘It’s very, very right,’ said Lizzie exultantly. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and share with him her excitement and relief.
Sandy rolled her eyes heavenward. ‘Better show the review to the “most swoon-worthy barista you’ll see this side of Hollywood”.’
‘What are you talking about?’ said Jesse as he grabbed the newspaper. He scanned the pages then groaned loudly and theatrically. ‘This will do wonders for my reputation. Please let’s hope my mates don’t see it.’
‘Your handsome face is doing wonders for butts on seats in our café,’ said Sandy. ‘Would you consider a full-time career change?’
Jesse laughed. ‘It’s nothing to do with the barista and everything to do with this one.’ He swept Lizzie up in his arms and twirled her around. ‘Congratulations, boss. You deserve this.’
Now Lizzie felt really elated but as Jesse swung her to a halt she noticed her sister’s narrowed, appraising eyes. Sandy’s words came back: ‘Jesse is so not for you.’
She caught Jesse’s eye and, in one of those silent moments of communication they were having more often, he got the message. Keep Sandy in the dark about us.
Jesse immediately swung Sandy up and twirled her around too. ‘The incredible Adam sisters triumph.’
‘I’m a Morgan,’ corrected Sandy.
‘Dumont for me,’ added Lizzie.
Both she and Sandy had been glad to kiss goodbye to their father’s name when they’d married. She’d thought of reverting to her maiden name when she’d divorced Philippe but had decided against it for Amy’s sake. It had been disruptive enough for her without Mummy having a different name. Morgan was a nice name.
She refused to let the thought go further. Anyway, that would be weird. Two sisters marrying a pair of brothers? Never going to happen.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE STAR OF the fund-raiser for Dolphin Bay Dogs, the shelter Jesse’s mother Maura was involved with, was the cast of dogs, ranging from cute puppies to venerable senior citizens with grey around their muzzles.
They sat in a row along the raised platform that acted as a stage for the ballroom of the Hotel Harbourside. The volunteer carers who kept the dogs in check were busy either soothing the nervous ones or calming the excitable ones who just wanted to be part of the action.
It was clever marketing on his mother’s part, Jesse thought. He was sure people would be more inclined to open their wallets when they saw those pleading canine eyes.
But, appealing as the puppies were, Jesse’s eyes were only for Lizzie. They’d agreed she’d arrive with Sandy and Ben so as not to draw attention to the way their ‘friendship’ had escalated into something so much more.
And now she was here. As she made her way across the room to him he was literally lost for words. His heart thudded into overdrive and his mouth went dry.
Last time he’d seen her she’d been wearing her chef’s jacket and black pants, her hair pulled tightly back from her face and her cheeks all flushed from the heat of the kitchen. He’d thought she’d looked lovely then. But the transformation from chef to seductress was nothing short of sensational.
Her dress clung to her slender shape and left her shoulders bare, with a tantalising suggestion of cleavage, and its colour was a tint of aqua that glistened like the underside of a wave on Silver Gull beach. Her hair puzzled him for a moment until he realised it looked so different because her wild curls had been tamed into a style that was straight and sleek and falling around her face. She looked sophisticated. Elegant. And sexy as all get-out.
‘Lizzie,’ he said in the most casual just-friends voice he could muster, ‘you’re looking very lovely.’
‘Thank you,’ she said in the tone she used to accept a compliment about the food from a customer, but lit by a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. ‘So glad you approve.’
‘I approve, all right,’ he said, his voice more the hoarse whisper of a lover than the light tone of a pal, no matter how he tried to keep it casual.
The silver high heeled shoes that strapped around her ankles brought her to easy kissing height. She kissed him lightly, first on one cheek and then the other. ‘Just friends, remember,’ she murmured into his ear.
It was an effort not to clamp her possessively to his side. To beat away anyone who came near her. She aroused caveman instincts he hadn’t known he possessed.
‘You look so beautiful,’ he murmured back. ‘No man would want to stop at just being friends.’
She laughed as she pulled away from him to normal conversation level. He had better try and mask the hunger in his eyes.
‘I bought this dress in Paris years ago. It’s so long since I dressed up I could hardly remember how. I thought it was going to be a big fail.’
‘Count it as a first class honours pass,’ he said.
She wore make-up too, dark stuff around her eyes that brought out a purple ring around her iris. And deep pink lipstick on her sweet, seductive mouth. It only made him want to kiss it off.
‘This is the same room where Sandy and Ben’s wedding reception was held, isn’t it?’ Lizzie asked in a low murmur. ‘Do you get a feeling of déjà vu?’
‘In a way,’ he said. ‘You’re the loveliest woman in the room again.’
‘I bet you say that to all the girls,’ she said in mock flirtation, but he saw a touch of wariness in her eyes.
‘No, I don’t, and that’s the truth,’ he said. He bent to whisper in her ear. ‘You have to learn to trust me, Lizzie.’ As he had to trust her.
She nodded. ‘I know.’
He wanted to kiss her to reassure her, but of course he couldn’t. Not with the eyes of a sizable number of his family and friends upon them.
‘One thing is for sure,’ she said, as if she’d read his mind. ‘Nothing could take me out onto that balcony again.’
He didn’t want to share her. Wanted her all to himself somewhere very private. But she was right—that place wasn’t the balcony. No matter how beautiful the view of the full moon over the bay.
He was about to tell her that when Ben came up beside them. He slapped his brother on the shoulder in greeting. ‘It’s not you I’ve come to talk to,’ Ben said. ‘It’s Lizzie.’
‘Okay,’ said Lizzie. Did she feel as annoyed as he did at being interrupted?
‘Mum wants to show you something special,’ Ben said to Lizzie. ‘She’s over there near the stage. Please don’t be surprised if it’s a dog.’
Lizzie laughed. ‘I don’t mind at all if it’s a dog. Isn’t that what we’re here for?’
She casually brushed her hand against Jesse’s arm as she left—he got the message she would rather stay with him and it pleased him.
‘I actually do want to talk to you,’ said Ben. He went from smiling to serious, as he did when money and investment was concerned.
Jesse’s interest was sparked. When he was younger, he’d trusted Ben with financial advice that had paid off very handsomely. A generous inher
itance plus business savvy and wise investment meant that at his age he was very well off. Well off enough to be able to take the weight right off Lizzie’s feet if that was what she wanted; maybe into a job that wasn’t so physically demanding. It concerned him to see her so exhausted and in pain at the end of a long day in the kitchen.
‘I want to talk to you about a business proposition,’ Ben said.
‘If you want to hire me as a full-time barista, forget it,’ Jesse said with a grin.
‘Sandy would sign you up in a moment,’ Ben said. ‘But that’s not the money-making proposal I have for you.’
* * *
As Lizzie walked away from Jesse, she was surprised to realise how much she was enjoying herself. She couldn’t help but contrast the last time she’d been in this room for Sandy’s wedding.
Then she’d been the bride’s sister who didn’t know anyone. Now, even after only a few weeks in Dolphin Bay, she recognised lots of faces and they were all very complimentary about Bay Bites. Several people told her they’d put in bids for the prize of lunch for two she’d donated to the silent auction.
Maura came bustling up and swept her up into a hug. ‘Gorgeous, gorgeous dress,’ she said. ‘So glad to see you having a night out.’
‘We had another busy day in the café today,’ Lizzie told her. ‘The fish pie I made from your recipe was a sell-out. And we’ve already got customers asking us to put your strawberry sponge cake on the regular menu.’
‘Only serve that cake when strawberries are at their finest,’ Maura advised. ‘It’s at its best with the freshest, sweetest strawberries. Anything else is a compromise and the flavour will suffer.’
Lizzie smiled. Maura truly was a woman after her own heart when it came to food. ‘I’ll keep that advice in mind,’ she said.
‘I’m pleased about that, dear. But we’re not here to talk about cooking. There’s someone I want you to meet.’
Lizzie followed Maura up onto the platform where the dogs were waiting to play their roles for the evening with varying degrees of good behaviour.
A Diamond in Her Stocking Page 12
