Heat in the Kitchen (12 page)

'Ella,' he gently shook her shoulder, 'wake up sleepyhead.'

'Ella!' He shook her a little harder. All she did was turn over and sigh. Matt didn't know what she was dreaming about but he sincerely hoped it was him.

He reached down and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes opened. 'So, it isn't just in fairy tales that a kiss will wake the sleeping princess.'

'Matt,' Ella smiled sleepily. 'I missed you on the flight.' She took his hand in hers and closed her eyes again. Matt was glad she'd missed him, but he was running out of time here.

'Ella, Prince Azzam wishes to meet with you in thirty minutes.'

'Mmm hmm,' was her only response.

'Ella, I'm going to strip you just now and put you in the bath.' He went to take the hem of her dress.

'No!' Ella shot up.

Matt grinned at her. 'I guess that's you awake now then.'

Ella coloured. She blinked at him. 'What are you doing here?'

'That's a popular question with you,' he observed, remembering the only time she'd stayed at his apartment.

Ella just looked at him in a daze which caused him to laugh.

'Hmm, eyes are open but there's no-one home. Stay there. I'll get you a drink of water.'

He came back with a glass in his hand. 'Here, drink this, it might wake you up a bit.'

Ella obediently drank, realised just how thirsty she was and downed the glassful.

'Thank you.' She put her hand up to her head. 'I feel groggy. How long have I been asleep? What time is it?'

'It's just gone six. Azzam has a time slot to meet with you at half past.'

Ella jumped off the bed. 'Oh lord Matt, why didn't you wake me!'

Matt inwardly laughed and rolled his eyes. 'I've been trying to! You, Miss Sleepyhead didn't even wake fully when I kissed you. I must be losing my touch.'

Ella felt her face grow warmer. 'Sorry. The bed's too comfy and I haven't slept much in the last few days.'

Matt took her into his arms and tucked her hair behind her ear. 'It's okay Ella. I was kidding. And I'm sorry you haven't been sleeping.' He kissed her on the lips, keeping it light.

'We will have plenty time to catch up but just now, you cannot keep a prince waiting!' He turned her round and pushed her in the direction of the bathroom. 'Go! Do whatever you need to do to make yourself presentable. I'll be back in fifteen minutes to take you to his quarters.'

*

'Ella, I am delighted that you are here at last. How was your trip? Are you settled in alright? Is your suite to your liking? Do you like the piano?'

Prince Azzam took her hand in his and swept it up to his lips.

She wondered whether Azzam had learnt that multi-question thing from Matt, or if Matt had learnt it from him
,
as she gave a slight curtsy. 'Your Highness. Thank you for inviting me. The journey was very good and the suite sheer luxury. I settled in so well I fell asleep. It's all far more than I expected Your Highness.'

Keeping hold of her hand, he brushed away her comments. 'You are my guest, where else would I put you? Now, enough of the curtsying and 'Your Highness' when we are in private. I am just Azzam to my friends and I think we will become very good friends, will we not? Come, tell me what musical pieces you think my guests would enjoy.' With that, he placed his arm around her shoulder and drew her towards a sofa.

Ella felt slightly overwhelmed by the prince's behaviour as she hesitated to walk with him.

'Ahem.' Azzam and Ella turned to where Matt was still standing, clearly amused by his friend's behaviour.

He pointed towards Azzam's arm and indicated that he remove it.

'You object, my friend?'

Matt gave him a confirmatory look. 'I think I'll stay in case Ella needs a hand fighting you off.' He clapped Azzam on the shoulders as he walked past him, took Ella's hand in his and walked her himself over to the sofa.

Azzam laughed out loud. 'I get the message my friend!'

Ella looked from one to the other, clearly bemused by their antics. 'Is there some kind of chest beating going on here?'

Matt grinned at her. 'No sweetheart. Just making sure he remembers his place.'

'Matt! You're his guest!'

'No, I'm his slave for the next few days. One he tries to bury under his whims and fancies as he tries to change the menu every five minutes. I'm just crawling back up the social ladder for a while and getting Azzam to come off the top for a bit.'

Azzam was loving this. 'You love the challenges I present to you my friend. That is why you so eagerly come out here to take over my kitchen.'

'No, I come over here for the great wad of money you pay me Azzam.'

'You wound me deeply!' Azzam placed his right hand across his heart. 'And here was I believing that we were close friends.'

'Yeah? What gave you that idea? Was it the time I gave up my bed for you and slept on a sofa too short for me? Or was it the time I hauled your sorry ass out of the strip club before the press caught up with you? Or was it the endless times I've bowed and scraped to your last minute menu requests and the faces you pull when you try my food?' If Matt hadn't got a big smile on his face Ella would have thought he was serious.

'All those times, and many more, my friend. You and Zander are two of the most genuine and honest people I have the honour of calling a friend.' He turned to Ella. 'You have a good man here, look after him.'

'Oh, no, we're not….' Ella was flustered. Azzam was reading far more into Matt's reaction than was really there.

'Stop embarrassing her Azzam and get to the point of this meeting!'

Matt seemed impervious to the signals his behaviour was sending out. It never occurred to him to wonder why he was so much more protective of Ella than any other woman he'd ever had a relationship with.

*

'Where are we going?'

They had just left Azzam's suite and Matt was leading her down corridors she hadn't yet been along. At least, she didn't think she had. She was sure she could be here a month and not have a clue what part of the palace she was in.

'I'm taking you to dinner.'

Before Ella could harbour any romantic notions, Matt continued. 'I'm killing two birds with one stone. We need to eat and you can give me a second opinion on some of the dishes I'm planning on serving over the weekend.' He turned back to her and gave her one of his killer smiles.

She really had to stop thinking she meant anything to him. They were both over here to work, and even though it had to be one of the most romantic places she'd ever been to, she had to remember that.

'Please sit, milady.' Matt made a sweeping motion, as he pulled a chair out for her at a small table set in an alcove slightly away from the hustle and bustle of the kitchen.

Ella looked around her as she sat. 'This kitchen is enormous! I've never thought about how big a kitchen would have to be to cater for a place this size. And you're in charge of all of this?'

Matt sat in his own chair and looked around with pride. 'Yep! For the duration of Azzam's banquet and all the entertaining he's doing around it, this is all my domain. The usual Executive Chef is away on a well-deserved holiday.'

Ella's mouth was open. 'But there seems to be such a lot going on and so many staff here. How do you have time to sit and eat just now?'

'They're all good at what they do - Azzam employs the best. Besides, many of them are just dealing with, what is for them, a normal evening service. Though, there are a few here concentrating on the dishes we'll be serving over the weekend.' Matt looked out over the kitchen to where six senior chefs were working on the menu for the forthcoming weekend and then across at the hustle and bustle of the rest of the kitchen, where two more chefs supervised staff preparing the evening meal for the royal household. With all the support staff and the frantic toing and froing taking place as service time approached Matt saw the kitchen through Ella's eyes and felt a great sense of pride in his work and achievements.

'Doesn't it ever faze you? Working somewhere like this, I mean.'

'Nope! Though if I was being honest, it did the first time I came here. I didn't have a huge amount of experience in large kitchens back then but I was beginning to earn a reputation for creative dishes. Azzam had invited us all over for the summer holidays - to give the girls their first holiday in three years; and to give Zander and I a break from the stress and worry of bringing them up, keeping a roof over our heads and trying to build a stable future. Once we got here he set me to work in the kitchen!'

Ella looked as if she thought that had been unfair. Matt dismissed the notion.

'He and Zander were holed up doing business-y things and the girls were off with Azzam's sisters, so I was very happy to be kept busy with a busman's holiday. I did get time most days to chill out but to be honest, I learnt such a lot under his Executive Chef during those six weeks, I just wanted to stay in the kitchen.' Matt's voice changed as he remembered the end of that first visit.

'On our final night here, I got to run the kitchen and deliver a menu I'd designed from start to finish.' He still sounded pretty proud of that achievement even though he'd since gone on to achieve so much more. 'Since that night, Azzam has invited me here every year when he hosts his summer extravaganza.'

'That's why you know so much Arabic.'

Matt smiled. 'I'm pretty good at French and Spanish too 'cos I worked a lot in France and Spain in the early days.'

Ella shook her head in a 'is there anything you can't do' gesture.

Matt interpreted her look. 'Nah! But if there is something I can't do I just don't waste energy on it.' He got back to his early days in Quinaard. 'Anyway, early on, I mostly worked under the stewardship of Azzam's own chef, but for the last few years I've had free reign. That first summer opened a lot of doors to me amongst the echelons of high society. In my spare time I was already offering intimate dinners in the diners' own home and had started Two's Company earlier that year as a part time business. Within six months of being out here, I'd given up working for other restaurants and hired a couple of chefs myself to keep up with demand. And the rest….' Matt threw his hands out. There was no need for him to finish the sentence.

Ella was impressed. 'Wow. I'd wondered how you got started.'

*

A waiter presented small portions of a couple of dishes to them and poured some wine.

'Thank you Kasib.' Matt acknowledged the waiter and turned his attention to Ella and the food. 'Now, here's a couple of the starters. I was thinking tortellini of lobster on Saturday and this is tomato minestrone with a basil pesto that I thought I would serve Friday. On Sunday I'm serving a tried and tested dish of linguine with shaved truffles, which is very simple to do and the chefs here can't go wrong with.'

As Ella tasted the food, she returned to their conversation. 'How did you get to know Azzam in the first place?'

'He went to university with Zander. Azzam had been ordered by his father to keep a low profile from the press and Zander was living at home rather than the halls of residence so neither of them was getting caught up with the normal student social life. I think Azzam saw Zander as a good influence and someone he could use to get away from uni, the press and all the other students who wanted to suck up to a wealthy prince.'

'That's horrible that he used Zander.'

'Hmm, maybe, but in my experience that's pretty common. It didn't take many visits to our humble abode though before he actually started to enjoy the normalcy of family life. Hah! Not that you could call two eighteen year olds looking after two twelve year old girls - without any clue as to what they were doing - normal. Four youngsters who were still grieving for the loss of their parents and their old life, who were muddling along together. I think the one thing that Azzam found with us was love - no matter what we'd been through and how we struggled in the early days to establish a family routine, there was always a lot of love in the house. I think Azzam envied us that.'

Wistfully, she said, 'I'm sure many people would.' Before Matt could call her on that remark, she continued. 'You lived on the school grounds, didn't you? You couldn't call that humble surely?'

Matt stared at her. 'You obviously never explored the complete grounds! Didn't the girls ever talk about our home life once they'd stopped boarding?'

Ella shook her head as she started on the lobster dish. 'Mmm, this is divine. Is that lemongrass I can taste?'

'Aha. The velouté has lemongrass and chervil in it. You've either got good taste buds or there's too much lemongrass in it.'

'Mmm no, it's perfect as it is.' She went on to answer his question about his sisters at school. 'Tess and Ronnie kept to themselves a lot more after your parents died. We'd had great fun in the six years we'd roomed together but once that stopped, I only really saw them at break times. They kept everything surface, never let anyone get close, not even me. That hurt a bit.' Before she could take a trip down memory lane, she changed tack. 'The properties that were on the school grounds were all quite big weren't they? I remember some of the staff lived in them and Mr Brown's was lovely.'

'Ah, but he was the Head, you'd expect his house to be nice. We'll forever be indebted to him for giving us somewhere to live so we could stay together, but the place we lived in was a small, two bedroom cottage at the north edge of the grounds, which had lain empty for about three years. Eugh, I can still see the peeling wallpaper and smell the damp! Downstairs had a small kitchen, a living room and a tiny box room that Zander used to study in. Upstairs we had the two bedrooms and a bathroom. I can see the look on Azzam's face even now, the first time he saw it. I think his words were 'we wouldn't let an animal live in these conditions in my country!' One weekend he sent his security detail over to us with a load of paint pots and ordered them not to return until the whole place had been decorated.' Matt laughed at the memory.

'He didn't go and help himself?'

'Lord no! You've met him now - does he strike you as someone who would get down and dirty?'