She pursed her lips.Was he making fun of her?
“None of those will go with chocolate, except the cake, my lord.”
“Perhaps chocolate would go beautifully with a potato, Miss Rare-Foure. Or perhaps on a green bean or over peas. And how would it be on a crispy piece of pork?”
Her stomach turned over again, this time with a sick feeling as if she might lose her last cup of hot chocolate all over his shiny boots. Then he cocked his head, eyes sparkling, and she knew he was only speaking in jest.
“I’m sorry, my lord, but I will not be a party to such monstrosities. If you wish to eat chocolate on your pork, you may melt a Fry’s or Cadbury’s chocolate bar upon it and dig in.”
The duke shrugged, not minding her saucebox mouth, but he did look a little doubtful.
“I cannot see how you will make anything special if you use similar recipes and ingredients.”
Amity knew her jaw had tightened when her teeth squeaked together. The difference between one of her chocolates with a hint of raspberry essence compared to a raspberry-flavored Fry’s Cream Stick were like night and day.
“How can one horse be any better than another when they all have a mane, a tail, and four legs?” she asked.
“That’s different,” the duke protested. “Some are bred for speed, some for strength. And some simply have a special spirit for being a great horse.”
“Exactly.” She opened a cupboard at the back of the room and drew out a medium-sized tray followed by another one, both of which she placed on the marble surface in front of the duke. He examined the chocolates in various shapes and sizes.
“This one,” she said, pointing to a small, flat disc of pale chocolate about the size of a shilling in which she’d added the merest hint of cinnamon. “This one is for speed.”
He looked up at her with questioning eyes.
“Go on,” she encouraged him. “You may pick it up and pop it into your mouth.”
The duke did as directed, and she watched him take it with clean fingers and equally clean nails. She scrunched her own hands into her apron, knowing she had chocolate under her nails as well as on her fingers.
He barely hesitated to examine the coin-sized sweet before slipping it between his lips. Personally, she would have eyed it, sniffed it, and probably licked it once or twice ahead of actually eating it. Only if she were alone, though, and tasting something for the first time.
His eyes widened, and he smiled. “It melted on my tongue so quickly. It was a burst of flavor, and then it was gone.”
“As I said, that one is made for speed.” She looked over the tray and pointed to a thicker chocolate containing walnuts and her sister’s treacle toffee chips. “Try this one. Be careful, give it time on your tongue. And for heaven’s sake, don’t crunch it too quickly or you’re liable to crack a tooth.”
“I didn’t know there was danger of injury involved,” the duke said with a teasing tone before picking up the larger piece of confectionery and putting it into his mouth.
And what an attractive mouth it was, she thought.
“Mm,” he murmured around the chunky chocolate in his mouth. “Mm, mm.”
Meanwhile, she turned around to pour him a glass of water from the pitcher she kept for cleaning her palate.
He took it from her but hesitated. “I hate to wash away the flavors in my mouth. That was astonishingly good.”
She enjoyed his compliment down to her toes. Then he sipped the water and set the glass down.
“That chocolate, if you follow our analogy, was bred for strength. It didn’t melt quickly on your tongue. It allowed you to work for it, chewy and crunchy. It’s one of our bestsellers. Some people eat a couple as a snack between meals. You’ll find it gives you a boost of energy, a veritable zing to your step.”
“Miss Rare-Foure, I don’t see how you can cap that climax, but I have a feeling the thoroughbred with spirit awaits me.”
“Indubitably,” she said. Instead of the cupboard, she turned to the shelf where a glass dome sat upon another plate of confection. “These are best at room temperature, but not any warmer, nor, for that matter, any colder.”
Lifting the glass, Amity let him look at eight round balls, dusted with the finest pure cocoa powder. He eyed them and looked at her.
“These are soft and buttery, guaranteed to make your fingers dirty, I’m afraid.”
“I know they shall be worth it,” he said. Without any further hesitation, he picked one up and popped it between his lips. After an instant, he closed his eyes, and she could look at him unobserved.
