Undercover Cook

This was his way of manning up? Proving he wasn’t a dweeb? Nick could live with that—he just didn’t know if Eden could.

“I thought I might be able to come up with a way to get at her computers personally, review the information, and save you the trouble of trying to hack in and download,” the accountant added.

Nick’s eyebrows rose. How had Marcus planned to do that? Maybe while Eden was in bed asleep, after an invigorating romp?

His mouth went flat. “I can see, though, that I’m not her type.”

“Yeah?” Nick asked. “How can you see that?”

“Because she was ogling you.”

Nick snorted. Ogling? Somehow he had missed that, and he didn’t miss much. But it had been a while since his woman radar had been up. Two years this past January.

“Therefore,” Marcus said smugly, “the obvious solution is for you to get to know her better. And I can help.”

“Please don’t help,” Nick said instantly.

“Too late.” He gave one of his superior smiles. “I’ve already laid the groundwork.”

“What groundwork?” Nick growled.

Marcus simply smirked and then started for his car without giving an answer, leaving Nick staring after him.

Groundwork… He hadn’t had time to lay any, whatever the hell he had in mind. Nick had been within a few feet of Marcus the entire night, and other than a couple quick conversations with Eden… The guy was delusional.

And a pain. “Hey!” Nick shouted. Marcus turned back. “How’d you hook up with Lenny?”

His colleague shrugged. “I stopped by Candlewood and asked the woman if I could put in some community service hours. Told her I worked for Reno PD, and showed her my credentials.”

“Well…it worked.”

“I know,” Marcus said smugly, before turning back toward his car.

GABE STOOD NEXT to the van, between the vehicle and the sidewalk, not exactly eager to settle himself in one of the uncomfortable seats, and heartily wishing that Lois would hurry up already. But he could see her through the kitchen window, still talking to Eden Tremont, the cute teacher who’d been watching Nick all night. Just as Nick had been watching her.

Gabe felt a stirring of hope. As far as he knew, Nick hadn’t shown any kind of interest in a woman since Miri, and he’d definitely been focused on the teacher tonight.

Gabe smiled a little as he recalled Nick telling him he wasn’t taking the class because of the teacher. Ha. So much for that. This was a good beginning and Gabe was going to see to it that Nick and the teacher got some alone time.

But right now he was tired and wanted to go home.

He resisted the urge to knock on the window to hurry Lois along and instead started up the steps into the van. Once he got into the van and took his seat beside Lenny, he could see that Nick hadn’t left yet. He was on the far side of the parking lot talking to that dark haired guy who’d attached himself to Lenny.

“So who was your little helper?” Gabe asked.

“Damned if I know,” Lenny said, half turning in his seat. He reached up to stroke the edge of his mustache, as if he was a detective solving a case in an old movie. Drove Gabe crazy when he did that. “Marcus somebody. He just showed up and told Lois he wanted to help out.”

“And adopted you.”

“Guess he knew talent when he saw it.”

Gabe snorted.

“You know what I think?” Lenny asked in his gravelly voice.

“No way of knowing,” Gabe replied sharply.

One last stroke of the mustache. “I think he’s hot on the teacher. Couldn’t take his eyes offa her. Probably doing this to get to know her better.” Lenny smiled. “Clever.”

“Oh, give me a break,” Gabe muttered. “That’s not clever. It’s so obvious that…well…it’s just obvious.”

“Nick was watching her, too.”

Gabe sucked a short breath in between his teeth. He didn’t want his grandson to be as obvious as that Marcus kid.

“You’d have to be blind not to watch her,” Gabe said. “In case you didn’t notice, she’s an eyeful.” And exactly what his Nick needed to ease back into life—a spunky, beautiful girl, who knew how to cook.

Even though he thought Nick had a much better shot at catching her eye than Marcus did, he was now feeling a whole lot better about setting things up so that the two of them had a chance to talk again—without eight other guys and hawkeyed Lois there to watch them.

“YOU WERE WONDERFUL with them,” Lois said after the last guy had taken off his apron and headed out to the Candlewood van. As near as Eden could tell after two meetings, Lois didn’t smile much, but she was smiling now. “I think this program could really take off.”

Eden’s eyes must have gone wide because Lois quickly added, “No, we won’t take advantage of you. But this could be just what we need to talk the shareholders into building a decent-size cafeteria on the premises.” She reached out and patted Eden on the shoulder. “I’ll be in contact about next week’s meal.”

Eden went with her to the door, pausing at the window to watch Nick walking back toward his black SUV, while Marcus got into his sports car. Odd pair. Marcus had chatted her up while he’d cooked his second pan of eggs, explaining that he was an accounts analyst and that his friend Nick was in home security. Both of them worked long hours and this was a great opportunity to spend time with their elderly relatives.

It had been a lot of information crammed into a very short conversation.

And now Marcus didn’t seem to be getting along too well with his friend. Obviously they’d had a discussion, and not a happy one from the look on Nick’s face. He glanced up as he approached his vehicle, and his eyes met hers through the glass. There was a frozen moment of connection before he looked away and opened the car door, his expression taut. Businesslike.

Feeling oddly unsettled, she turned as he got in his SUV, and went to finish closing down the kitchen.

“IT’S GOING TO be a surprise!” Tina Ballard said, leaning on the counter in the Tremont kitchen reception area, her gold bracelets rattling on the granite surface. Her younger son, Jed, stood behind her, jangling his car keys and generally looking bored as only a teenage kid could.

Eden jotted down the word surprise and drew a circle around it. Tina beamed. She was trim and tanned from playing tennis, her dark hair perfectly cut. “His birthday is on the fifteenth. It’s a Tuesday, so that should really make it a surprise. Who has a party on a Tuesday?”

In addition to cooking for the Ballards every week, Eden had catered many of their parties, but never on a Tuesday. “Not many people do that,” she agreed.

Jed rolled his eyes. The Ballard boys were just a touch spoiled. Their father worked as entertainment director of several hotels in the Cassandra chain, including the Tahoe Summit. He pulled in one heck of a salary, but he’d always been down-to-earth and personable. As was Tina.

“I’ll work up some menus and be in contact,” Eden said.

“Good.” Her client patted the counter. “Oh, I heard that Justin finally got the Firebird going.”

“Yes, he did,” Eden said. And she hated it, because he drove too fast.

“Michael will be pleased. He only sold it to Justin because of you, you know.”

Eden smiled. “I thought it was because of all that begging.”