When Chocolate Is Not Enough.... Nina Harrington
lots of extra cooking to do.’ She licked her lips and put down her cup. ‘But that doesn’t mean that I am not passionate about chocolate. I’m just busy.’
Max laid his hand over hers just as she started to stand, startling her with the gentleness of his touch and the pressure of unfamiliar skin against hers.
‘That’s good to hear,’ he said. ‘Because I haven’t got to the really good bit yet. This is a conference with a difference.’ He slid his hand away before she had a chance to say anything.
Daisy breathed out in exasperation and frowned at him, only to be met with a smile of such total confidence that she finally surrendered to her curiosity and slid back into her chair.
‘Five minutes,’ she replied, and made a thing of looking at her watch.
Almost instinctively she sensed Max move forward, just enough to make her want to shuffle back, but she fought it to finish off her coffee and lower the cup back into the saucer with a clatter.
‘I don’t want to be rude, but either you’re on commission for the hotel chain or I’m missing something here. Last time I checked St Lucia was a Caribbean island with pretty spectacular scenery and a lovely coastline of its own. Has the wonderful world of the internet not reached your plantation yet? I’m sure it is much more economical to do business over the web these days. I certainly wouldn’t want to waste my time at parties when I could be working.’
‘You’re quite right.’ He nodded in acknowledgement. ‘But I wasn’t joking about having a business proposition. You are clearly just as passionate about your business as I am about mine. That is why I have an idea which could be of benefit to both of us.’
His fingers tapped for a few seconds on the table.
‘Let me start by telling you why I have travelled thousands of miles to be here, Ms Flynn. Firstly, I have my daughter’s birthday coming up—but you already know that.’ He paused for a second to flash a laser beam smile which made her choke slightly on the dregs in her cup. ‘What you may not know is that for the last twenty years or so every sack of cocoa beans leaving the Treveleyn Estate has been snapped up at market prices by one of the largest confectionery companies in Japan.’
He raised one hand and then the other as he spoke, so that each word seemed to be punctuated by the waggle or curve of his fingers.
‘They want top-quality cocoa beans which they roast and process in-house, and they come to me to make that happen—which is good news for them and good news for me … as far as it goes.’
His hands dropped back down to the table. ‘The problem is that even with premium pricing there is still not enough money coming into the estate to give the farmers who work there a decent income and provide a future for their families.’
He sat back and stretched out his long legs, but she could see the tension in the multiple creases on his forehead and in the muscles in his neck.
‘When I bought the estate I made a commitment to the families who work for me that I would make it my business to trade the amazing product we grow for the best price. Since then I’ve been working to make that happen. With something new. And that is why I am back in England.’ Max reached down inside his rucksack and pulled out a zipped plastic bag containing a large white plastic ice cream container. ‘Two years ago we started roasting and processing some of the cocoa on the estate. It has taken a lot of hard work, but I finally think we are there.’
He waved the box and carefully undid the lid a little. The delicious, powerful aroma of freshly ground chocolate filled the space between them.
‘This is only a small sample of the cocoa paste I made last week. My plantation specialises in rare and amazing varieties of cocoa bean—the kind of fine flavour which would give unique characteristics to any chocolate. Now I am looking for new buyers who can truly appreciate what fine chocolate from a single estate in the West Indies can taste like, smell like—feel like on your tongue when you eat it.’
His mouth twisted into a smile of pleasure and delight as he spoke the words, and Daisy sat mesmerised, tempted to take a closer look at the raw chocolate and yet holding back, just in case it truly was as remarkable as Max believed it to be.
‘But there is a problem.’ He bowed slightly in her direction. ‘I want to sell this pure cocoa direct to chefs. And to me the best way of doing that is by showing the master chocolatiers at this conference just how terrific my cocoa can be in the hands of someone who has a passion for chocolate. In short, I need someone like you, Miss Flynn.’
Daisy blinked several times and stared at Max across the table. ‘Why me? There are lots of dessert chefs in London who would love to try your chocolate if it is as good as you say it is.’
‘I have just tasted a sample of your work. Believe me—my cocoa would be perfect for desserts like the one I have just eaten. Silken, perfumed and delicious. With just a hint of spice. I know that my chocolate and your recipes would be an amazing combination. In exchange you would, of course, be the first chef in the world to use artisan single-estate cocoa from the Treveleyn Estate. And all you have to do is agree to use my chocolate. What do you say? Are you willing to give it a try?’
Daisy’s heart started thumping as the impact of what Max was suggesting hit home.
A new organic chocolate supplier from the West Indies was offering her a single-estate fine chocolate. This could be the final magical ingredient she had been looking for—that unique final piece of the huge jigsaw puzzle.
It had taken her three years to recover from her disappointment in Paris, and there was not a day that had gone by without her thinking about how she could take that final step. Her very own signature chocolate. If there was any chance at all of her opening a chocolate shop with her name above the door, then she needed something remarkable to give her a unique edge over the other competitors.
She had worked hard, studied hard, and she had spent month after month working on recipes she knew would succeed. And yet she still had not felt quite ready to make the leap to her own business—not without that very special extra factor that would make her stand out from the crowd.
She had been disappointed before, but this could be it—she had to give him a chance.
Otherwise she might never be able to open her own chocolate shop.
Perhaps this scruffy man who loved her chocolate cake was the very person who could make her dream come true?
Suddenly her brain caught up with her heart.
This all sounded too good to be true. Perfect strangers did not come up to you in restaurants and offer you luxury cocoa. She was doing it again—she was allowing her enthusiasm and desperation to take over.
Business head on. Business head on.
‘Forgive me for asking, but before I answer that question I would like to know more about your cocoa plantation. There are some horror stories out there about chefs who have been let down by wonderful suppliers after they have spent months working on recipes. I need to know that you would be able to continue supplying the same quality product month after month, year after year. I hope that doesn’t sound too insulting, but chefs have to rely on their suppliers, and I wouldn’t want to put my name on the line and make a commitment only to be let down,’ she said firmly.
His reply was an intense stare, followed by a thin-lipped smile in which both sides of his mouth lifted at the same time, creating deep folds either side of his cheekbones. It was an all-embracing smile that a girl might fall into and be lost. Strange how she could not look away.
‘Okay,’ he drawled in that odd, lilting half-American accent of his. ‘I suppose that could happen. But this is not some passing fad. Far from it. I bought the estate a few years ago, but it has been in my family for as long as I can remember. In fact I spent the first half of my life on that estate on St Lucia. My parents fell in love with the place, and the people, and so have I.’
Max paused and looked out of the window for a few seconds before chuckling