Read Online Chocolate Kisses by Judith Arnold - Free Book Online

shouldn’t he bring this relationship to the next
level? No matter how anxiously she was avoiding his gaze right now, he knew she
was as interested as he was in taking things further.
    “I
don’t want you spending your money on me,” she muttered, lifting the tray
carefully.
    “All
right. We’ll keep it cheap. I’ll rent the DVD, you make the popcorn.” At her
skeptical stare, he shrugged. “Hey, I can do a low-rent date just like you.”
    “Right.
And you can also peel carrots.” She handed him a bag of them, and holding her
head high she carried her magnificent cake out of the kitchen.
    Ned
was lost in a reverie. A bowl of popcorn, his toasty wool afghan spread over
them, a 1950’s thriller about mutated insects on the TV in the background…and
afterward, they could discuss making a formal announcement and setting a date.
    An
average night with the most extraordinary woman he’d ever met, he thought with
a smile. It could be the most exciting night in his life….
    He
heard a scream, and another, and a loud thump. This might be the most exciting
night, after all, he thought as he bolted from the kitchen. But he was no
longer smiling.
    ***
    “WELL,
IT WAS TOO PINK! ” Edie ranted. “The color startled me! In all my days,
I’ve never seen a cake that color pink!”
    It
wasn’t a cake any more. It was a mess of smeared frosting and crumbs strewn
across the marble floor of the ballroom.
    Claudia
wanted to weep. She sat on the hard, shiny floor, less than an inch from where
she’d been standing when Edie had noticed the cake, shrieked and dropped her
dry mop at Claudia’s feet where she would trip over it. Two stories above her
loomed the ornately corniced ceiling of the ballroom. Chairs and settees stood
along the room’s perimeter, along with tables festooned with flowers and the
elegant dessert table where the cakes were supposed to be displayed. An arching
stairway that looked as if it had been designed just for debutantes soared to a
balcony along the inner wall.
    It
was so opulent, Claudia thought, wondering what kind of picture she made seated
cross-legged on the polished floor with frosting spattered on her jeans.
    “It’s
all right,” Ned was saying. She tilted her head only enough to see him ushering
Edie away. A good idea, too. Claudia was ready to strangle the old hag. There
had been something suspiciously deliberate in the way Edie had tossed down her
dry mop in front of Claudia’s foot. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
    “Everything’s not going to be all right,” Claudia snapped. “We’re down one cake.”
    “So
you’ll make another. Look, Edie will oversee the cleanup. We can get whatever
you need from your house and you can bake the cake here. I’ll be right by your
side, doing whatever has to be done. Come on, Claudia—we can do it.”
    “You’re
not going to let her make another cake like that, are you?” Edie sputtered. “It
looked horrible. Repulsive! Much too pink.”
    “Edie,
please,” Ned silenced her, evidently aware of the homicidal turn Claudia’s
thoughts were once again taking. “Just clean the floor, all right? Come on,
Claudia,” he said brightly, extending his hand to her and hoisting her to her
feet. “If we work really fast—”
    Claudia
yanked her hands from his. If he touched her, they wouldn’t work really fast.
They’d get sidetracked. He’d dip his fingers into the next batch of cake batter
and he’d slide his arms around her…and they’d be lost.
    “Don’t
help me,” she grumbled. “Just keep the official Wyatt cook away from me. She
tripped me on purpose, Ned.”
    “Of
course she didn’t.” He turned to Edie, seeking corroboration.
    The
plump white-haired witch shrugged innocently. “I couldn’t help myself. It was a
ghastly looking cake. I would never serve a cake like that.”
    “Well,
I’ve got news for you,” Claudia declared. “I’m going to serve two cakes
like that. Out of my way,” she said, brushing past