The duke sighed. “I am simply happy to see you, Miss Rare-Foure. I’ve missed you.”
She managed to refrain from taking a step backward out of sheer surprise. But barely. That was an entirely improper way to start their conversation. Be that as it may, she could be truthful, as well.
“I enjoyed our meetings over chocolate tastings, too,” she confessed, carefully choosing her words.
The duke smiled, and her insides flipped. Such a lovely smile on such a handsome man.Stop it!she scolded herself.
“The chocolates!” he suddenly exclaimed. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you for the ones you made specially for me.”
The ones that had caused all the trouble.
Despite that, she had to ask him. “Did you like them?”
“No,” he said quickly. “I loved them! Absolutely adored them. The coffee flavor was brilliant. It was exactly as delicious as anything I could have imagined. How did you do it? I kept expecting to find coffee grounds in the fondant center, but it was smooth and creamy. I thought I was imagining the touch of orange, so subtle. Who would think it would go well with chocolate and coffee? Yet it did. I ate all twelve that night and made myself feel a little ill, but it was worth it. I didn’t share a single one. Except for the one Lady Madeleine bit into by mistake.”
Amity smiled, unable to contain her joy at making the duke so happy he’d indulged his way to queasiness. After eating chocolates and coffee with him, she’d decided to try incorporating the two flavors into one. First, she’d made regular coffee and stirred it in by the teaspoonful, but the flavor was too bland. It had taken many attempts until she’d figured out the coffee would work best as a liqueur.
“I tried boiling off the coffee to make it thicker, but the flavor was scalded and not pleasant. I knew you wouldn’t approve. Next, I brewed very strong coffee, added a sugar syrup and the mildest brandy. It worked perfectly.”
“You are brilliant. Will you sell them in the store?”
“I might.” She suddenly considered her change in status after she married. She had all but agreed to temporarily giving up chocolate-making, maybe only for a few weeks, while she settled into her new life and set up house with her husband.
The duke frowned. “You don’t think it will be popular?”
“I do. Probably more so than a lavender chocolate. Did Lady Madeleine really like it, by the way?”
“She did. I would not lie to you. Everyone did although I could see the men didn’t take to it as well as the women.”
She nodded. “That might be the case with thePelham, too, with more men than women enjoying the strong coffee flavor. We certainly know Lady Madeleine didn’t care for it one whit, especially not with orange, too.”
“ThePelham?” The duke looked delighted, and she felt her cheeks warm.
Amity shrugged slightly. “In my head, that’s what I named your chocolate.”
He laughed at that. “I am honored.”
“They are a little more difficult to make. I suppose I could teach one of my sisters.”
Cocking his head, he asked, “Why wouldn’t you make them yourself?”
“I shall be married in a few months,” she reminded him.
He made a face, which looked like displeasure.Why would it matter to him whether she married?
“So, what of it?” he asked brusquely.
That didn’t concern him and was not his business. However, after the long talks they’d had in her workroom and their incredible kiss, it seemed petty not to discuss something slightly personal with him.
“I may take some time off,” she confessed, “particularly around my wedding date.”
“Naturally,” he said gruffly. “No one would expect you in the shop on that particular day.”
“And Mr. Cole thinks I might want to do something else with my life,” she added with a tilt of her chin, not liking His Grace’s assumption she would have exactly a single day off to get married before returning to work, like any good servant.
“What?” the duke exclaimed so loudly Amity feared her family would hear him down the hallway. “That’s preposterous!”
She blinked at him. “I don’t live in the back room of Rare Confectionery, you know. Soon, I will have the new duties of being a wife, and someday, perhaps, a mother.”
