He beamed and her stomach did a few heart-stopping somersaults.
‘Happy to be of assistance,’ he declared and started rifling through cupboards. Maggie followed suit. No luck of course. That would’ve been too easy and nothing in her life was ever simple. Maggie ran into the store cupboard and stared in vain at the rows of canisters, huge bags of potatoes and industrial sized bottles of ketchup. One of the main reasons Fiona chose to have her reception here at Polvennor House was because she’d had the option of using the usual hotel staff or bringing in her own caterers. Taking over a kitchen for a day was a huge challenge, not the least of which was the fact that Maggie’s habit of knowing exactly where everything was didn’t apply.
‘Eureka!’
She glanced over her shoulder and stared at Chad now grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat and waving a jam jar in the air.
‘Serving food in small jars is the latest craze in Nashville. All the hip restaurants are taking what we call Mason Jars that areused for canning, and either baking in them or layering the stuff in unique ways. They charge a ridiculous amount and everyone thinks they’re cool.’
She hated to put a damper on his enthusiasm, but being the realistic one was her slot in life. ‘That’s great, but I doubt they’ve got a hundred of those things and that’s how many I need.’
‘Use glass tumblers as well.’ He suggested. ‘You don’t strike me as a givin’ up sort of gal. Use your imagination. Part of the supposed charm is that they don’t have to all match.’
His challenge hit a nerve. Maggie prided herself on always finding a solution to whatever problem threatened to trip her up. ‘I did tell Emily to describe them as deconstructed cupcakes and you can’t get much more taken apart than cramming what’s left into a glass.’
‘Right. How about I try to rustle up enough containers while you get on with the main cake? You can give me instructions when I’m ready.’ His smooth drawl sharpened and stopped Maggie in her tracks. Appearances certainly could be deceptive. People would no doubt mark this man down as laid-back and easygoing, but she’d guess that was a million miles from the truth.
‘Sounds good. Let’s get busy.’ She gave him a shy smile. ‘Thanks. I’m not sure why you’re doing all this for me but for now I’ll consider you my guardian angel and leave it at that.’
* * *
For the second time today Chad was struck dumb. No one had ever called him their guardian angel before; his clients used far pithier names if he failed to get the deal they thought they were entitled to. Even his family considered him to be a typical self-serving attorney, while still loving him. So why did smart, funny Maggie think differently of him?
He managed to nod and bent down to pick up the box of jars he’d found. Luckily by the time he stood back up she’d disappeared back into the kitchen. Chad took a few slow, deep breaths and headed back in to get busy. No way was he letting Maggie down.
Chapter Four
‘What’shedoing?’ Emily’s shrill voice broke Maggie’s concentration. ‘Are you so desperate you went out there and dragged him into the kitchen?’
Chad held his breath and mentally counted to ten. If he didn’t control his rising temper Miss Emily would be wearing the tub of icing in his hand, and that would be the least of her problems. The back of Maggie’s neck turned a violent shade of scarlet and he hadn’t felt as sorry for anyone in a very long time.
‘Icame to see Maggie and offered my help, no coercion needed,’ Chad explained. And to think he’d envied their apparent closeness earlier.
‘Why?’
He raised an eyebrow and put on his best unreadable legal face. ‘Why not?’Always throw a question right back at them.A mentor told him that at his first internship out of law school and it’d never let him down yet.
‘Please get on with serving the main courses, Emily.’ Maggie’s icy tone sent shivers through Chad, but her sister only snorted and flounced off. Bending her head Maggie clutched at the edge of the table and waves of unadulterated fury shimmered in the air around her. He hurried over and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently easing her around to face him. A film of tears glazed her pretty eyes.
‘That was the meanest thing I’ve heard in a while.’ He rubbed a finger slowly down her cheek, briefly registering that her skin was as soft as he’d expected. ‘You don’t deserve being spoken to that way.’
‘How would you know?’ A deep vein of sadness ran through her voice and he dropped his hands away. ‘I need to get back to work.’
‘That’s it?’
Maggie stiffened. ‘Yes.’
‘Fine, if that’s the way you want it.’
‘It is.’ Turning away from him she picked up an icing bag.
For now he’d let her get away with it, but they weren’t done discussing what was going on between the two sisters by a long chalk.
* * *
The swirl of noise and chatter coming from the other end of the kitchen where Emily and the rest of their staff were busy was in complete contrast to the throbbing silence filling the air between her and Chad. She didn’t intend to explain herself to a complete stranger, even a handsome one who’d done nothing but be kind to her.
She needed to push everything from her mind apart from the task in hand, but it wasn’t easy. Maggie started to smooth out the icing she’d put on the small cake and concentrated on getting the sides right. An earlier dig through the freezer had unearthed a bag of frozen raspberries and she’d shaken them out into a colander to thaw while she worked. Now she dried them off and took her time arranging them around the base of the cake. Luckily when they’d arrived this morning she’d put the flowers for the top in the fridge so they’d escaped the carnage. Maggie sensed Chad’s eyes boring through her back as she retrieved the small arrangement of deep pink roses and set it down in the centre before standing back to see how it looked.
