‘Mmm,’ she said.
Tad grabbing her hand and heading for the door. She pulled away and he turned, confused, to see her selecting a clean wooden spoon.
‘In case you need to be kept in line, Taddeo,’ she said, grinning as she led him towards the stairs.
* * *
Nanna Gold’s Chocolate Mousse Cake
300g dark chocolate (70 per cent or similar)
50g milk chocolate
175g unsalted butter
8 large eggs, separated
100g light muscovado sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C and put the kettle on to boil. You’ll need a 23cm springform tin and extra strong foil. It’s vital to line the tin carefully to prevent water getting into the cake when it cooks.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl above a pan of water, let it cool. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugars until very thick and creamy like mayonnaise. Stir in the vanilla and salt, and then the cooled chocolate mixture.
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg white mixed in quickly. Then fold the rest of the egg whites in more carefully.
Amy had to concentrate on her breathing when she watched Tad do this bit of the recipe. Crazy to think a man mixing egg whites into chocolate could do that to her, but she wasn’t going to complain about it.
Pour the cake mix into the springform tin, stand it in a deep roasting tray and pour hot water around it, about 2.5cm up the cake tin, then load it all into the oven.
Cook for 50 mins to 1 hour. And what you do in that time is completely up to you… When it comes out of the oven, the cake will be damp and moussy, but the top should be cooked and dry. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack before you try to take it out. Then also be careful when you take off the foil – go gently.
Dust with icing sugar and serve with crème fraiche, or ice cream, or cream, maybe some fruit – whatever you like. Enjoy!
31
Tad had no idea how he managed to peel himself away from Amy’s warm body the following morning. He’d left her room only briefly the previous evening to extract the chocolate mousse cake from the oven, shoving it onto a cooling rack before heading back upstairs, and that time spent away from her had been difficult enough.
In the darkest hours of the night, they’d made promises to one another, determined to make something real out of their intense attraction, but it was as though Tad needed to commit every inch of her to his memory, too. Maybe it was his attempt to push the thought of her leaving as far away as he could. He’d only just found her, and now she was going, but they’d made the most of those hours.
Tad had fallen into an exhausted sleep as the keenest of the local birds began to chirrup, waking suddenly a couple of hours later, opening his eyes to her golden hair across the pillow and a lazy smile enveloping her face as he wrapped his arm across her body and leant over to kiss her shoulder.
‘I should get up – say my goodbyes to everyone,’ he’d said, not wanting her to agree that he should. But agree she did, even though she couldn’t hide her frown as he finally slid away from her touch, forced himself to shower and dress.
‘I’ll be down soon,’ she’d said as he cracked her door and slipped through it.
Getting through his farewell to Clare hadn’t been easy, even though her joy was infectious, as was her promise to meet up again soon. As James led her away, her hand in his, he had reiterated his promise of legal help, should things with Billie Forsythe-Rogers remain negative. Meanwhile, thriller writer, Ron, asked if he could take an extra cookery school apron with him, an action that had Kathleen tutting.
Hugh was back at Casa in good time that morning, and while he was rather cowed by the drama of the previous day, Tad didn’t think it would be long before it would be amalgamated into one of Hugh’s life stories.
They settled at a table in the breakfast room, Hugh and Kathleen, Tad and Amy, cradling cups of coffee and pretending they still had all the time in the world together.
Hugh insisted on sampling the cake, ignoring Kathleen’s protestations as he suggested it could do with a dribble of cream and Tad headed for the fridges to oblige.
