Passionate Chef, Ice Queen Boss / Rescued in a Wedding Dress: Passionate Chef, Ice Queen Boss / Rescued in a Wedding Dress

‘Scarlett, good morning.’ Her cousin Isabella approached as Scarlett put her hand on the office door. ‘All set for your first day on the job?’

Scarlett stopped, and regrouped. And smiled, because this was Izzie and they had grown up together. They’d had a lot of girlish fun together before she and Scarlett had done something incredibly silly. The ramifications of which were only now settling. Scarlett had punished herself and had moved to Australia, away from her Italian family and friends to get to know her father and his side of her family.

‘Hi, Izzie. Yes, I’m ready for my first day. I didn’t expect to see you in here today. You look glowing. How’s your prince?’

‘Princely as ever.’ Isabella blushed a little, but she also smiled and held out her arms. ‘I’m rather pleased that I’ve found him.’

‘He’s made you happy, so I’m pleased too.’ Scarlett stepped into Izzie’s hug.

There was an ache in the middle of her chest when she let go.

Coming back here always tugged at her emotions. This time she was here to try to help the family out, with a hope of reconnection hiding some place deep inside her that was perhaps unrealistic.

If it was going to make her feel all mushy whenever she came across a family member, Scarlett had better get that reaction right under control, and fast. ‘I have Lorenzo coming in for a meeting. Since you’re here, I’d like to speak with you after that, if possible.’ Her full lips tightened before she went on. ‘I’ll probably have questions for you after I’ve grilled him.’

‘Grilled? You won’t upset—?’ Isabella cut herself off and forced a smile back to her face. ‘You’re the boss. Of course you should manage things here however you feel is right.’ Isabella drew a breath. ‘I’m here to put together a batch of Papa’s special sauce, so I’ll be around for a while. I can speak with you when you’re ready.’

‘Let’s say in about half an hour, then.’ Luca’s secret recipe sauce was a mainstay of the Rosa restaurant’s authentic Italian cuisine. Scarlett wondered what kind of reception she would get when she wanted an accounting of the ingredients list so she could cost-base it.

A hands-off we’re-not-telling reception, she imagined, from both Luca and Isabella. Well, perhaps they could tell her the costs, but not the ingredients?

‘It’s nice to have you back in Italy, Scarlett, and I really appreciate all you’re going to do for Rosa.’ Her cousin’s expression tightened. ‘The money issues are worrying. Max was prepared to invest a cash injection to get Rosa back in a strong financial position, but of course that would have offended Papa and it wouldn’t have really solved anything in the long term. I couldn’t have let Max do that, either, much as I love him for wanting to.’

‘Quite right.’ Simply throwing money at things wasn’t the answer. But with the right changes and improvements, success could be grasped. That was what Scarlett believed, and had proved in her own career path as she climbed the ranks to a highly successful financial advisor in Australia, advising some very respectable companies. She wanted the same for Rosa. She wanted the restaurant to run at a profit and be self-sufficient and successful.

Isabella disappeared and Scarlett stepped into Luca’s office. It would be her headquarters for the time being, though she didn’t intend to be the kind of manager who sat behind her desk all day and didn’t watch what was going on around her. Despite her hope to not need much to do with him, she might have to watch Lorenzo Nesta very closely. Particularly if he thought he could get away with stunts like ignoring her summons when she sent it!

‘Scarlett—’

And speaking of her nemesis, there he was, standing in the doorway of the office looking a little prickly beneath the surface though she could see he was trying hard to mask that. And, she supposed, somewhat attractive.

Not that he appealed to Scarlett any more in any particular way. He’d killed that reaction in her five years ago. Her heart rate had jumped a little just now, but that was as a result of preparing to do battle if necessary.

‘Lorenzo.’ She gestured to the visitor’s chair on the other side of the desk. And really, wasn’t she the one to have the right to some prickliness? She’d only just started here, and already he’d put her morning’s schedule off centre. ‘Please be seated. I want to speak with you about how things have been running here at the restaurant, and how they’ll need to be run from now on. But perhaps you’d care to start by explaining why you ignored my request for this meeting.’

‘I didn’t ignore the request, I just couldn’t drop everything and come to you immediately.’ His chest expanded beneath the black shirt before he carefully exhaled. Scarlett caught sight of a glint of gold around his neck. Was it the chain that he’d had when they first met?

Not that you care, Scarlett.

‘Why couldn’t you leave your staff for a few minutes?’

‘It’s not always possible to walk out of a busy restaurant kitchen without consequences.’ His words were respectful, but also firm. ‘You gave me no notice, just a message that my presence was immediately required.’

‘At this early hour of the day I would have thought you’d be able to spare some time.’ Scarlett tried to keep her gaze locked on his eyes, yet it wandered to the curve of his lips, the strong nose, the very old, small scar over his left eyebrow and despite her determination, a memory stirred.

He’d held her in his arms one day after they’d made love, and had made up outrageous stories about how he got the scar as a child. Each one had been sillier than the last until Scarlett had needed to hold her sides to try to contain her mirth. The truth was that he’d fallen, not very far or excitingly, off a piece of play equipment at school.

That day, Lorenzo had said something strange to her. Sometimes the scars you see are better. I’m happy to wear this one. At least it bears no shame. His gaze had sobered and for a moment Scarlett had felt as though he’d pushed her away, even though she still lay snuggled in his arms. She’d opened her mouth to ask, she hadn’t been sure what, but he’d kissed her again and the moment had passed…

Well, that was then, and what was she doing thinking about this now anyway?

Scarlett wasn’t laughing now. Nor did she want to reminisce about the far distant past of her life. She couldn’t afford to be distracted!

‘We’re very busy in the kitchen today. It’s good that Isabella came in. I’ve asked her to supervise until I can get back.’ Lorenzo drew a deep breath. ‘At least that’s something.’

Did he say that as though Isabella wouldn’t know what she was doing in there?

‘My cousin has worked in the kitchen of Rosa for a long time.’ Isabella could do a just fine job of supervising the staff, or making the meals for that matter. ‘Whether she has a whole lot of bits of paper to say so or not, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s a more qualified cook than you are.’

Lorenzo made a sound in the back of his throat. ‘Of course I trust Isabella in the kitchen. That’s not what I meant.’

‘Whatever you meant, we’re wasting time.’ Scarlett glared at him across Luca’s desk. If her anger was somewhat of a shield, she wasn’t about to admit it.

Lorenzo stared back and whatever thoughts he had disappeared in his eyes. ‘By all means, please go on with what you need to say.’

‘I will.’ Another curl of Scarlett’s hair slid from its moorings and lay against her cheek. Scarlett gritted her teeth and asked herself how a few minutes in his company could get her so worked up so easily. She’d just finished telling herself she would treat this in a calm, professional manner.

Lorenzo’s gaze clung to her hair for a moment before he raised it to meet her eyes.

Dark brown to sherry brown.

Five years older to aeons wiser.

He’d be thirty-two now. Scarlett was twenty-eight. That extra layer of maturity…flattered him.

‘Do you understand the reason for my presence at Rosa?’ Scarlett didn’t know what Isabella had told him. She doubted Luca would have said much. Her uncle had hidden the state of Rosa’s finances even from Isabella for as long as he could. It had taken effort to get Luca to the point where he was willing to have Scarlett come in to try to clean things up here.

Lorenzo made a ‘Who knows?’ gesture with his hands. ‘You’re here as Financial Manager for the time being. Isabella has relinquished her management to you, though she’ll still be actively involved in the restaurant in other ways. In other words, you answer only to Luca himself, though he’s been quite scarce here of late.’

‘Good. You understand, then.’ In fact he had a better grip on his knowledge of events than Scarlett had imagined.

Lorenzo examined her face. Maybe he was searching for her response to him? Or maybe he saw a different woman five years on from the one he had known? Well, he’d helped Scarlett to become that woman. Self-contained, determined, career-focused and beyond guarded in some ways. She’d been halfway there before she even met Lorenzo.

‘As Head Chef and Assistant Manager you will answer directly to me. Everything you do will be under my scrutiny, and I expect your full co-operation with any changes I decide to make to improve the financial bottom line of the restaurant.’ This was what needed to be said.

‘I run a good kitchen and do my best with the resources Luca has allowed me.’ He spoke the words and then clamped his lips together before he added, ‘All of us have had to work within the framework of Luca’s feelings about employing and buying locally and treating the staff in some ways as a big family.’

And Luca loved to be generous and giving. This was something Isabella had brought up and, though her cousin hadn’t gone into much detail, Scarlett had wondered whether this had caused problems for Isabella in her management efforts. Scarlett would look into it.

‘I’m accustomed to co-operation, Lorenzo. This morning, by your actions, you communicated to other members of the staff here that I can wait until it suits you if I request a meeting.’ She drew a breath. ‘I don’t want to have to make changes to the staffing here, but I also will not work with a head chef who doesn’t respect my authority.’

Scarlett’s message was clear, and clearly received if the tightening of Lorenzo’s expressive mouth was any indication.

‘We received a special order—’ He cut the words off and shook his head. ‘My apologies for not attending you immediately. It would be great if in future you could give me a little notice so I can leave the kitchen without any negative impact on the work there, but if you can’t, you can’t. I will still co-operate with you to the fullest.’

He held her gaze with a level one of his own. ‘I value this job. Every step I take is aimed at making the best of Rosa that I possibly can.’

‘Then I’m sure we understand each other and will get along just fine.’ Scarlett’s fingers closed over a typed list on Luca’s desk. ‘I’d like to discuss the current staffing policies with you. I understand from Isabella that you’ve been given a fairly free rein to make decisions about the number of kitchen hands employed at any given time, how you roster them, that sort of thing.’