Delicious Desires (11 page)

Chapter Ten

Adam rang her every evening the first week he was away. He sounded bright and confident that everything was going well with his deal. There were a few minor problems that would need to be worked out but he was hoping to sort out the negotiations quickly. He asked after her business and she was able to tell him that the first three days had been a wonderful success.

Her voice was filled with enthusiasm.

“You’ll never believe it Adam, but the figures are already better than at the shop. I can’t believe we didn’t do this in the first place. I must have been blind not to spot the opportunity before.” She gushed as he listened to her obvious excitement.

He laughed into the phone.

“Hey!
Don’t get too big for your boots. It’s early days yet.” He warned, trying to calm her down as he digested the figures she quoted to him.

It was true, Caroline and Cathy had made the van ready in three days. They had a test run to make sure everything stayed put and then after
the van was inspected for safety and they had made just a couple of adjustments, they had their first full day of selling.

They had chosen three areas to target and they decided to split the day three ways and test each area at different times. So far, it had been a fantastic success with people coming up from the beach nearly the whole time. They had been surprised at how many olde
r customers there were and Caroline made a mental note to check her licensing agreement and make sure she could visit some of the gardens and parks in the area too.

A couple of days later
Adam had still been interested and gave her some tips on who to talk to at the council if she had any problems. He sounded relaxed as he spoke to her about her business, but his voice had tightened considerably when she asked how his work was faring. His tone darkened.

“Not as well as I’d hoped. There are
a lot of unexpected and frustrating difficulties to overcome. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do exactly as I’d hoped. I have another meeting tomorrow so maybe I’ll know more then, otherwise I’m going to have to make a huge compromise and I really don’t want to do that.” There was a short pause before he spoke again quietly, “I don’t want to be here Caroline. I wish I was at home with you.” His voice was a ragged whisper.

She sighed. She wished he was with her too.

Every night she had fallen into bed and held onto the pillow that she refused to wash and that still held the merest hint of his scent. It was just enough for her to be able to sleep each night.

“Don’t worry
Adam, just focus on this deal, get it out of the way and come back soon. I want to see you too you know.” She replied, her pulse rate rising as she spoke.

Adam gave an odd grunt. “I’m going to be tied up all day tomorrow and I’m going to be stay
ing on site until the day after with a load of the workers. It’s just a huge sand pile at the moment and I’m pretty sure that I won’t get a decent mobile signal out there so I probably won’t be able to call you for a couple of nights. If I can get to anywhere with a decent internet connection I’ll email. Okay?” His relaxed tone sounded slightly forced and Caroline wondered if he was as fine as he made out.

“Are you alright
Adam? You sound a bit odd.” She asked as she thought she heard a slight groan somewhere in the background at his end.

Adam gave a small cough and cleared his throat.

“Must be just the signal, I’m fine, just bored with it all. Look, there’s no way I’m going to be able to get hold of you tomorrow so I’ll speak to you in a couple of days.” The phone clicked dead and Caroline looked startled at his abrupt end to their call. She sighed and hoped it wasn’t going to be like this for much longer.

They took the van out every day and Caroline almost immediately realized that she was going to need to re-employ her old staff. She made some phone calls and was delighted with the response. Georgie and Lucy leapt at the chance. They hadn’t been able to find anything else that suited and Gemma said she could fill in at any time so long as it didn’t interfere with the pub shifts. It was as though the shop had never been closed. They were now busier than ever before.

Caroline
was so occupied and so tired at the end of each day that she only noticed that another two weeks had passed when she received an unexpected text message from Adam.

‘Sorry can’t get away. Impossible to receive a decent signal on site or anywhere else in the vicinity. I’m only hoping that you will get this. Will call you next week when I’m back in the city. Things not going well. I may have to stay an extra week.’

Caroline sat down in the back of the van feeling horribly guilty. She had not called Adam once

The work had become exhausting. She’d been shattered
every evening and had thrown herself straight into bed each night. She had been doing extra shifts as Cathy had taken on some of the cake making from home and Lucy was compiling an inventory of wedding cake designs for the website. She immediately rang Adam’s number, just in case she could get through.

The phone rang at his end for a few seconds and then died but then
bleeped and picked up again as someone answered.

“Yes?
Can I help you?” The voice was unforgettable. It was the warm, sultry tones of the woman Caroline had heard once before. Her heart stopped beating for a long moment and then sped up to an alarming rate.

“Is Adam there?
It’s Caroline Masters speaking.” She could barely speak and her voice came out in a hollow whisper.

The woman answered hesitantly.

“No, he’s err… he’s unavailable at the moment, but hold on, I’ll see if I can contact him.” The woman stopped speaking to her and put her hand over the receiver but Caroline could still hear quite clearly the words she spoke to someone else in the vicinity.

“It’s
that woman. Yes, the one with the van you said you liked. Don’t you think we should tell her about us? I mean, it’s not like it’s a secret. Surely everyone knows about it by now.” Then there was a response in a muffled but clearly male tone. Caroline heard almost every word.

“
I told you not to answer any private calls until everything was sorted out.” There was a short pause and then the male voice faded in and out of her hearing. She heard a few more words. “There’s too much riding on this to make it public… and I don’t need the hassle what with the way I’m feeling. No, don’t say... Just get rid…until we can talk…” the deep voice petered out.

The
re were some muffled moans and then woman took her hand away from the receiver again and spoke directly to Caroline.

“Sorry, I thought I may be able to transfer you, but that’s not possible at the moment.” She laughed the deep
sultry laugh again. “If I speak to Adam I’ll let him know you called.” And the phone clicked dead again.

Caroline was in shock. She sat dumbstruck staring at the phone. It couldn’t be possible, but it was. She had heard it with her own ears.

That woman was in Dubai with Adam!

She began
to feel sick as she tried to stand up. This couldn’t be happening to her. She loved him and she thought that he loved her. Her sound of her heart pounded in her ears as she stumbled weakly from the van.

Caroline stood limply against the side of the van as
Cathy drove up with more boxes of cakes.

Cathy took one look at Caroline’s paler than pale face and leapt from her car.

“What is it? What’s happened?” Her voice was frantic as she took Caroline’s shoulders and steered her towards some seats by the sea.

Caroline’s breaths came in deep rattling gasps.
She was almost incoherent with misery.

“I rang him. I rang Adam
. He texted me and I phoned him back, and that woman… the one from before… She’s out there with him in Dubai. She just answered his phone.” Caroline sounded hollow. She was shaking so much that she didn’t even feel Cathy pushing her down onto the bench seat on the promenade. She was completely numb as the blood drained from her face and her whole body went cold. “He was there with her. I heard him in the background Cathy. He’s right there with her and he didn’t want to speak to me. He said she shouldn’t have answered the call.”

Cathy stared down at her friend with her hands on her hips.

“What! He’s still with her, after you two… after, well you know.” She trailed off and then gasped. “Why, the low-down pig! We should have known he couldn’t keep it in his pants. Men like that have women chucking themselves at them all the time. You’d think he would have learned some restraint by now. He’s old enough to have done.” Her eyes were narrow as she berated Adam, but Caroline just sank lower in the seat.

“Don’t Cathy, that’s not helping. Please, I love him.” Her voice was tortured as she felt her stomach flipping repeatedly. “I thought he loved me too. Oh God! He used me!” Caroline shuddered. “He just wanted a one night stand before he left here. I bet his girlfriend was just unavailable for the night! No wonder he sounded so strange last week. He was trying to avoid speaking to me while she was there. Oh Cathy! What am I going to do?” Her sob was heart
- rending and Cathy dropped onto the seat beside her.

“I have no idea what you’re going to do about him. I don’t suppose there is much you can do right at this moment
but I do know that this van doesn’t sell cakes by itself, so you’re going to get back in there and start selling.” Cathy took Caroline’s hand and started to pull her up from the bench. “Right now, you don’t have time to consider Adam-bloody-Cavendish. I’ve made another batch of the chocolate fudge cake that needs cutting and there’s a line of customers to serve it to. You need to get this enterprise making some real money, so get up and stop moping over someone who is obviously not worth it.” She took Caroline firmly by the shoulders and walked her back to the van. There was a queue of eager people waiting and Caroline was suddenly all business as she served her hungry customers.

By the time everything was sold or packed away for the next
day there was nobody on the seafront and her misery had grown into something else.

Sh
e was furious. Furious that she had been duped by him, taken in by his slick words and traitorous tongue. She was even more furious with herself for giving in to his shallow charms so easily. He must have laughed himself stupid at how simple it had been to dupe her, climb into bed with her and take everything she gave him. He must have been grinning to himself all the way to Dubai.

What an idiot she had been!  

She had put every bit of herself into that night, given herself so willingly. It had been so good, she could almost feel his kisses, hear his whispered words and feel his heated body even now.

She had fooled herself into thinking that he loved her and he’d just treated her as another scalp on his belt. Well, no way was that ever going to happen again. She should have known as soon as she saw him in the nightclub
, surrounded by his female entourage, that he was a player.

Sh
e should have realized when she had heard and seen the woman the first time, that the blond bombshell was always going to take first place.

With those endless
legs and all that fabulous hair no man would be able to resist. Why! He even let her drive his car! No man ever let that happen unless the woman was someone really close, or if he was drunk at the time, and he had definitely not been drunk.

Caro
line arrived home that evening still fuming, hurting too but ready to gouge out his mesmerizing grey eyes if he ever came near her again.

That night, however, when she eventually dragged herself to bed, she curled into a tight ball, re
calling how he had touched and kissed her body so tenderly, filled her so completely.

Her whole being ached
as she realized that she had lost him. She had never even stood a chance with him. She felt so lonely and desolate in her bed. The chilled covers imitated her chilled heart and she let out a huge sob of despair crying until there were no tears left inside her.

Chapter Eleven

It took a whole week before she found the courage to delete his telephone number from her mobile. Her emotions were all over the place and it had taken her seven more days of his silence to make her realize that he really wasn’t interested.

It had obviously all been about the sex for him. She was an easy target and he’d exploited her weakness. He had taken exactly what he’d wanted. All those tender words were just a ploy to keep her hanging on to him and how well they had worked. He had worked his well-practiced magic on her and by the following morning she would have done anything he had asked and he damn well knew it.

She wo
uld never try to ring him again. The pain would be too overwhelming if she heard that woman’s voice one more time. She put a call bar on his mobile number and wept in despair as she realized how much this relationship had cost her emotionally.

The days flew by as she put all her efforts into new ideas for the business, desperate not to think of Adam for a second longer than possible.

One of the best new lines was cookie-making, and now every morning she was up at the crack of dawn, oven on and spoon in hand. All the cooking was putting her off food and she couldn’t bear the thick, sugary smell of the baking. She didn’t think she would have to put up with it for long though. At the rate they were selling she would have to expand into bigger premises. There was no way that their home kitchens could cope much longer. The council had advised her on her set up and she would have to move soon. It was all very exciting.

A
t the same time though it all felt so hollow. This wasn’t the way she had wanted things to be. It was all moving so fast that she could barely keep up. She didn’t want to run an empire, just a small shop with enough money coming in to pay off her mortgage and buy her the little luxuries she loved. Right now everything seemed to be running her, not her running everything.

The worst of it was that she felt so alone. More alone than before because back then she hadn’t known what it was like to be without the person she loved. She didn’t know if thi
s emptiness she felt inside her felt like a bereavement.

Caroline had been glad to delegate a few of the more mundane tasks. Gemma was in charge of the web design
and was updating the images, helping with the wedding cake designs and portfolio. Lucy and Georgie looked after the internet orders, spending their days packaging and delivering to the hundreds of offices in the vicinity.

It was working well and apart from having to block seemingly hundreds of emails from completely irrelevant foreign companies
; everything was running smoothly.

Caroline knew that Cathy must have told the
girls about her relationship with Adam. They never mentioned men, dates or sex, and if any of their boyfriends telephoned the conversation was kept very neutral and to a minimum. Caroline didn’t worry about it; men were the last thing on her mind. She was so tired with all the work and early mornings that she couldn’t have cared less what they all talked about.

It was only when she was in bed alone at night that she let herself think of him. His gentle kisses on her lips
skimming over her heated skin and how they had made love, his completely glorious body worshipping hers with his. She could almost feel the way he’d touched her so tenderly, almost afraid that he might hurt her at first as he held her in his steely arms and fulfilled her every desire. He had seemed so genuine, so real that she sometimes woke up in the night gasping at the memories and hoping irrationally that he was with her again.

The tears dried up about five weeks after he’d left her, when she knew he must be back in England. He hadn’t bothered to try and contact her and she had no plans to try and conta
ct him ever again. She refused to think of their night of passion any more, her heart raced too quickly and she felt faint if she did. Perhaps she thought of it more often than she realized as she felt faint quite often.

A week later, Caroline had a wonderful surprise. As she arrived home with the van she noticed a man waiting on the pavement outside her flat. Her heart leapt wildly for a second, but stopped again as she thought rationally. There was no way that this was Adam; the man was way too small.

She jum
ped from the van as she recognized her brother David’s face, and threw herself at him.

“
Ooff!” He staggered back a little at her enthusiastic embrace. “Well I’m glad you’re pleased to see me.” He put his arms around his sister and gave her a big squeeze while he recovered his breath while she exclaimed over him.

“Davi
d, this is super! Have you been waiting long? How are Natalie and the kids? Are they here too? How do you like your van? I’ve been dying to show you it,” she said in a great rush, her voice the happiest it had sounded in weeks.

He ruffled her hair.

“Slow down a moment. Give me chance to breathe. The van looks great. I hear the plans have been going well.” He looked over to see what his money had bought. “So how soon can I expect a return on my investment?”

Caroline grinned.

“Right now if you like. You can have a free cookie.” She laughed and grabbed hold of his hand. “How long have you been waiting here?”

David shrugged
, suddenly a little uncomfortable.

“Not long, I took a cab from the station about an hour ago and then when I realized that you weren’t here, I went to the pub up the road. Chap up there told me what time to expect you. He sees your van every day. He says he’s interested in having some cakes to go with his coffees.”

“Really? That’s an avenue I hadn’t thought of. Perhaps I’ll go and see him later in the week.” She looked up the road as she spoke. A black taxi was swerving away from the kerb, hiding the pub David had mentioned.

She turned back to him. “Come on,
I don’t want to think about selling anything else today, let’s go and have a cup of tea and I’ll tell you all my news.”  David hesitated for a second, his face suddenly becoming serious.

“Caroline, I’m sorry about this. I probably should have rung you first but I haven’t had time to book a hotel. Is it a
ll right if I sleep on your sofa?” He looked a little crestfallen.

Caroline didn’t hesitate.

“Yes of course, if you can find a space on it. The business seems to have taken over everywhere, including my lounge.” She looked across at her brother again, slightly concerned now at his somber tone. “David, is everything okay?”

His bottom lip protruded slightly as he
cleared his throat before he spoke.

“No, not really. Natalie’s thrown me out. Says I’m not a good enough husband or father. She says I spend to
o much time with my mates and if I like them that much I can go and live with them.” He let out a great huff. “They’re great for a few nights out but I can’t think of anything worse than living with that lot, so I’ve come to pester you.” He sounded a little aggrieved.

Caroline laughed.

“Well she’s right. You do spend too much time away from your family. All that football and the time you waste on the golf course, I would have chucked you out years ago so I’m not surprised she’s finally seen sense and told you to get lost.” Caroline wasn’t at all sympathetic to his plight. She gave him a small smile. “But I’m very pleased to see you all the same.” She looked at his miserable face and gave him a sisterly shove on his shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry. It’ll all blow over. Give her a call tonight so she knows that you’re with me and then we’ll take it from there. She loves you David, you’ll see, by the end of the week she’ll be begging you to come home.”

David smiled at her optimism and Caroline opened the front door. The
strong aroma of cookie dough wafted out through the open door.

“Hmm…
That smells good.” David breathed in deeply and put his hands on his flat stomach rubbing it hungrily. It was deeply upsetting to Caroline that people that ate the most fattening things always seemed to remain as thin as a stick, while if she even popped one single chocolate in her mouth she was doomed to be half a stone overweigh
t
for the next three months.

She groaned miserably as the rich, sickly scent of baking wafted from the flat.

“You wait until you’ve lived with it for six, or is it seven, weeks. I think it’s vile. I swear I’ll never eat another biscuit as long as I live.” Caroline shoved through the door to the kitchen and ran fresh water into the kettle she flicked the switch to turn it on and then reached for the mugs.

T
he smell of baking was overpowering in the small space, sickly and cloying in her throat, and suddenly her stomach lurched. Heaving as she ran to the bathroom, hand over mouth, she made it just in time and retched violently into the toilet bowl, her face covered in sweat and her legs shaking. After a moment’s surprised hesitation, David followed her with a glass of water. He passed it to her as she leaned over the toilet bowl and then picked up a flannel, rinsed it in cold water and wiped her sweating brow.

“Are you okay Caroline?” His face was
filled with concern. “You look green.” He rinsed the flannel again.

She stood upright. Her head was spinning slightly but she felt steadier now.

“Yes I think I’m alright now. I don’t know what came over me… It’s just that damned smell of baking. I can’t get away from it and it’s making me feel sick all the time.” David watched her carefully as she rinsed her mouth and brushed her teeth. She felt a little better. “I’m going to have to get another place where I can do all the cooking. I’ve been trying to look but I’ve scarcely had a moment to think let alone anything else, but it’s obvious that I can’t carry on here for much longer.” She glanced at her brother’s worried face.

David frowned and washed out the flannel, folding it over the edge of the sink before he spoke again.

“Come and sit down for a moment. I’ll make the tea.” He led her to the settee, holding her arm all the time. He shoved some boxes onto the floor and pushed her into the seat. She sat down and leaned back, suddenly feeling more than exhausted. It wasn’t until she felt someone sit beside her that she realized she had drifted off to sleep. David proffered her the mug of tea.

“You look all in
Caroline.” He looked at her face critically. “Have you eaten anything today?”

“Not much, but I couldn’t touch a cookie at the moment, even the tho
ught of them makes me ill. No, it’s just the amount of hours we’re putting into all of this. It’s gone from virtually nothing to a mini empire in just six or seven weeks. Do you know, I don’t actually remember how many weeks it is and now we’re getting loads of wedding cake orders too. We can barely keep up with it all.” She yawned, “I just need a good night’s sleep.”

David was quiet for a moment. He sipped at his own tea. The
colour was returning to her face at last.

“Look, why don’t we go to the pub
up the road for something to eat. It looked as though the food was alright. You can have a word with the proprietor about taking on some stuff and then you can come back and get an early night. If you’ve got a spare key, I can have a game of darts with the blokes and you can get some sleep.” His look brightened at the prospect.

“Hmm.” Caroline frowned at him. “I think I’m on Natalie’s side. You do spend too much time out of the house.” She sipped the tea
and then eyed it critically.
Did the milk taste sour?
She wasn’t sure but she wrinkled her nose and put the mug down on the floor.  “Actually I really don’t think I can eat anything at the moment. And I don’t feel like talking business either. I’m just too tired David. Tell him I’ll be up later in the week. We can discuss any requirements then. You go and enjoy yourself… take my keys for tonight. I’ll find the spare set in the morning.” She stood up, wandered through to the bedroom and then after searching in a cupboard for a moment, pulled out a duvet and pillow. “Will this do for tonight?” She asked David, stifling yet another yawn as she passed them to him.

“Yes.” He frowned
at her again. “Anything will be fine. Go to bed, I can sort myself out.”

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Okay, I’m going, see you in the morning.” She closed the bedroom door behind her and fell into bed fully dressed.