“Ha! Alex, you better start teaching her, or that lovely sketch isn’t going to belong to you anymore.”
“Fine.” He leaned forward and pointed at the menu. “This is the word for stuffed. What do you think would be good stuffed?” His eyes twinkled at me in the candlelight. I could think of something I’d like to stuff, all right. And who I’d like to do the stuffing.
“Chicken? Lamb? Some kind of pasta?” I ignored the innuendo, though it was hard to do.
“Chicken. So, this is the word for chicken, this is stuffed, and see how these words are in the front? They tell you what the chicken is stuffed with. Here.” He turned the menu so that it was facing me. “See if you can figure out any of the other dishes with these words.”
“What is this? Advanced classes? What happened to starting with the alphabet?” I let my eyes run over the menu and tried to pick out words that seemed familiar. There were a few words I remembered from my high school French class.
“Go over there and help her! She’s starving and Luca will be back any minute.” Cathy shoved his shoulder.
He looked at me and I could see the hesitation in his eyes, but he slid out of the booth and in beside me. Leaning close, he pointed out some of the words that would help me most. After a minute I’d found a dish that sounded great and we were ready to order. Luca came over, blocking Alex’s exit from my side of the booth, and started pouring wine.
“This is one of my favorites. A celebration to the duchess coming home!” Luca smiled at me and I lifted my cup before taking a sip. I wasn’t much of a drinker, so had no idea if it was a good vintage or not. It also struck me as odd every time someone welcomed me home. I understood why they said it, but home would always be in the States where I had grown up.
“To the Rousseau family.” Cathy lifted her glass.
“To Samantha.” Alex looked at me over his glass of wine.
The food was delicious and I was completely satisfied by the time Luca brought several bowls of chocolate mousse.
“I don’t have room!” I groaned.
“Make room! You don’t turn down Luca’s mousse. It’s amazing.” Cathy dove into her bowl with relish and I looked at Alex. He had finally relaxed next to me and stayed there through the dinner. His arm lay on the back of the booth and his long legs stretched out under the table.
“Where does she put it all?”
“No idea, but if you want to try it, you better do it before she finishes hers.”
“You only live once, Sam! Try it!” Cathy nudged my bowl with her finger and I realized that was the first time she had called me by my nickname. A little piece of me relaxed and I picked up my spoon.
The dessert melted in my mouth and it was like I had swallowed a little piece of heaven. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the flavors. There was a hint of raspberry from the sauce that made me consider pouring the rest of the bowl in my mouth. Forget the spoon. When I opened my eyes, Cathy was nodding her head in agreement, but Alex was watching my mouth with a stony expression.
“Told you! It’s like crack. Or, I think it’s like crack. What drug is it that only takes one time?” Cathy tilted her head thoughtfully. I was struck in that moment by her youthful eyes and guarded upbringing. No wonder she didn’t see Kyle for what he truly was.
“That would be it.” I took another bite but tried to keep my reaction sedate. “And this is definitely addicting.”
“Don’t tell the head chef at the palace, but his chocolate mousse doesn’t even compare.” Cathy sighed.
“My lips are sealed.”
As we were finishing up, there was a commotion at the door. I looked over the booth to see Luca talking angrily to a man at another table. The man tried to calm him down but eventually stood up and pointed a camera at our table. A large chef and waiter joined Luca as they tried to push the man out the front door. Luca was hollering in Lilarian, but from his tone I could tell it wasn’t very pleasant. Becca and Duvall showed up at the table, blocking our view of the scene. Or, more importantly, blocking the camera’s view of us.
I tried to calm my racing heart. There were a lot of people in the little restaurant who wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. I just couldn’t believe the trouble the photographers were going through for a picture.
“Oh, poor Luca.” Cathy sighed and set down her spoon.
“Duvall, make sure we take care of that man’s dinner. I don’t want Luca losing money just because someone was trying to take our picture.” Alex leaned toward the people standing outside our booth.
“Of course, sir.”
“Why are they so focused on us? Is it like this all the time?” I frowned at them. What had I gotten into that I couldn’t go enjoy dinner with friends?
“I haven’t seen them this rabid since…” Cathy trailed off at a quick look from Alex. “I’m sure it’ll calm down, Sam. They just want pictures of the new duchess.”
“Did they do this with the other guy? The duke that was reinstated?” I had feeling what she had been about to reference.
“No.” Alex shook his head. “But you’re younger, so they feel like you’re more interesting.”
“Not to mention beautiful.” Cathy smiled at me. “All that dark hair and your dark eyes.”
“That too, of course.” Alex gave me a small smile.
“There’s also a lot of press about you and Alex. They love to drum up romance stories.” Cathy leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table. “They’d just love it if you two were an item.”