Shadowed Heart by Laura Florand Read Free Book Online Page A

he’d been working in kitchens all his life. He did know that. He just…went out onto the tiny terrace of the restaurant. Pacing between pots of lavender, he called Sylvain Marquis, a top chocolatier in Paris who had been sufficiently confused about his priorities in life to marry the heir to and vice president of the world’s largest producer of mass market crap, otherwise known as Corey Chocolate. Cade Corey Marquis, Summer’s second cousin. “I need to talk to Cade.”
    “Sorry,” the chocolatier said cheerfully. “She’s only allowed to talk to handsome chefs by prior appointment between 3:14 and 3:15 in the afternoon. What is it? Is it about one of the apprentices? How are they working out for you anyway?”
    “Fine,” Luc said blankly.
    “Are Cade and Jaime sending you the easy ones?” Sylvain asked suspiciously. “Because a couple of the kids I’ve gotten...” He let his voice trail off in a way that spoke volumes.
    “They don’t act that differently than some of my foster brothers.” Luc shrugged. Or sometimes that differently than he himself had once acted. Sylvain came from a happy family, that was his problem. Or rather his lack of a problem. Luc, on the other hand, just trained whatever kids he got and dealt with whatever he had to deal with. And Summer mothered them and patiently taught them letters when they were illiterate, and as far as he could tell, the kids were as happy as bees in honey. They still needed to relax and accept no one was threatening the honey, but from Luc’s personal experience, that might take years.
    Decades.
    A lifetime, at the rate he himself was going.
    A vision of Summer’s face, the patience and warmth as she sat there with those kids.
    He grabbed the image and fed it to the insane him he was keeping locked in a padded cell. She’s maternal, you fucked-up idiot. She loves kids. She would never, ever run out on her baby.
    What do you know? Insane Him asked. Maybe your mother was maternal, too. Before she had you. And then you were so damned difficult, you ruined that for her.
    He slammed the cell door back on the bastard.
    “Listen, is Cade there? I have an American question.” Maybe he should have called Jaime. She and Dom had been together for over a year now, and Dom was starting to act mildly sane about her. It gave a man hope for his own case.
    Sylvain laughed. “All right, but you only get one minute. I’m timing you!”
    “Ignore him,” Cade said as she came on the phone. “It’s the only thing to do. What do you need?”
    “Pickles,” Luc said.
    A tiny silence on the other end of the connection. Possibly a choked sound. “Pickles?”
    “Whatever kind of American pickles that you and Jaime and Summer would have been eating as kids, I assume. Can’t you eat normal pickles like the rest of us?”
    More amusement on the other end. “Well, one person’s idea of normal, Luc, is another person’s crazy.”
    When they were talking about food, he was pretty sure the French got to decide what was good and what was crazy. For God’s sake, her country had invented peanut butter! And then put it with chocolate! But he needed a favor, so he resisted rubbing it in. She got touchy about those ghastly Corey products sometimes. “Whatever you consider normal pickles. I think that’s what I need.” And, realizing that required some explanation: “Summer’s pregnant.”
    At the startled gasp and then the squeal of excitement, he suddenly realized he should have let Summer break that news. “No way!” Cade was exclaiming. “Is she really? That was fast! You guys just got married! Oh, man, wait until I tell Jamie! When’s it due? Is it a boy or a girl? Do you need a—”
    Luc held the phone away from his ear and stared at it. Cade knew how to squeal? Cade Corey? Damn, he really should have let Summer be the one to receive that first burst of delighted enthusiasm from her cousin. Shit, he just hadn’t realized. The news had hit him with terror. “I