My Fine Fellow by Jennieke Cohen

Author:Jennieke Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

It Has Begun

“Monstrous monkfish, Helena, I don’t think I’ve ever been so worried in my life!” Penelope exclaimed as they walked onto the great lawn of Hampton Court Palace, where the first day of the Royal Culinary Exhibition would soon begin. Thankfully, the weather seemed ready to comply with royal wishes, for the sun peeked out from behind a smattering of white clouds. Only a slight breeze filled the air with the scents of early summer blooms and freshly prepared food from the tents laid out facing each other upon the wide paths extending out through the Great Fountain Garden.

“What about before our final exam on Culinary Chemistry last year?” Helena asked as she scanned the lawn for Elijah’s tent.

Penelope had removed her gloves in the carriage and now wrung them in her hands. “Not even then. Though I grant you that was a different test. But we were prepared. There’s so much more we could have taught Elijah. Why didn’t we—”

“Pen.” Helena stopped in the middle of the path to look at her. “For one thing, you had better stop calling him ‘Elijah’ in public. I am not at all certain when you adopted the habit—”

Penelope played with the pendant hanging from her neck. “Well, I—”

“—but,” Helena continued, not really interested in the answer, “recall that, for the sake of the experiment, Lady Rutland has stipulated that no one must know of Mr. Little’s connection to either of us. He must succeed on his own merits.”

“Yes, I do recall,” Penelope said. “I shall take care to be formal in mixed company. Just as I did at the faire.”

Helena nodded once. “And secondly, we have spent the last weeks working with him eighteen hours a day. Unless you wished to prepare him for twenty hours a day, or wanted to forego sleep altogether, I do not see what more we could have done. I barely saw you work on your own project in the last week or so.” Helena raised her brows at her friend and started walking again.

“I did do a little,” Penelope replied as they passed the tent of a Russian count decked out in his full military regalia. “I just . . . it was far more important that Elijah be as ready as he was able.”

Helena arched a brow. If Penelope wasn’t careful, she’d end up falling short of her usual second place in the class come graduation. She could even end up below Mabel Pilkington, what with the new opportunities Lady Rutland had given her. And how would Penelope ever be able to live down such ignominy? “Lady Rutland will want our final reports by the end of the month, you know.” Helena walked purposely past the other English gentleman chef preparing his tent. He and Elijah had nearly tied for their number of tokens at the culinary faire. Helena had tasted his food, and as far as she was concerned, this Curtis Loewe had more style than culinary talent, which definitely gave Elijah an advantage.

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