Betting on a Fortune by Nancy Robards Thompson

Author:Nancy Robards Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-02-13T03:40:51+00:00

* * *

Over the days leading up to the recipe contest judging, there came a point when Ashley questioned her tendency to be a masochist.

As if re-launching Provisions after the fire system mishap hadn’t been enough of a challenge, she’d focused on the recipe project, which had been met with more enthusiasm than she could have imagined.

It gave her the opportunity to work very closely with Rodrigo. That brought its own particular brand of frustration to the table, but she had decided to file it under hurts so good because the only other option was to distance herself from him completely and why would she want to do that? Not when her Land Your Man plan was in full swing. She’d already resigned herself to the fact that nothing was going to happen between them until his contract was up, in another two weeks.

She had decided to think of this as extended foreplay.

Or masochism.

Her cheeks heated at the thought and she had to bite her bottom lip and take a good long, deep breath to get her hormones under control.

That man... Oh, that man and the things he did to her.

But today she had to channel her hunger into something more...tangible...and get in the mindset of local recipes and food, because there would be a lot of it in every shape and form. Today they’d pick the winner of the contest. Open to any Rambling Rose resident, the recipe contest had drawn more entries than she’d ever imagined.

The judging panel consisted of Rodrigo, Ashley and her sisters, Rosemary, Ellie Hernandez Fortune, the mayor of Rambling Rose, and three townspeople. They had been chosen from a random drawing of people who hadn’t entered the recipe contest.

The Rambling Rose representatives were treated as special guests of honor.

The judging table was set up on the Provisions’ patio and the event was open to anyone who wanted to stop by.

The prepared recipes had been arriving since noon, with the judging set to start promptly at 2:30 p.m. When Ashley set out the judges’ name tags, she’d taken special care to seat herself next to Rodrigo.

They had Provisions’ staff members on duty to man stations where drinks and light hors d’oeuvres were for sale. They also had other waitstaff to serve each of the judges portions of the prepared recipes in the designated order they appeared on the master list.

In the three categories they’d arranged, there were fifteen appetizers, twenty-two entrées, and thirty-four dessert offerings. In a blind tasting, the judges would assign scores for taste, presentation and how easily the recipe could be adapted to fit Provisions’ menu.

Rodrigo sighed and closed his eyes as he tasted the banana split pie. “This is delicious.”

When he opened his eyes again, he had a small spot of whipped cream on the top of his lip. Without even thinking about it, Ashley reached out and wiped it away with the pad of her thumb.

His gaze snared hers and before she could second-guess herself, she licked the whip cream off her thumb.

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