Shadowed Heart (26 page)
And she sank down on her butt, right there in the cooling room, between the trolleys full of trayed chocolate and the marble island, in the slanting light from the casement window, and cried.
Just cried and cried and cried.
It sure as hell put a damper on chocolate production for a while, but for as long as she needed it, people did leave her alone.
***
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Snow Queen Duology
Snow-Kissed
(a novella)
Sun-Kissed
(also part of the Amour et Chocolat series)
Amour et Chocolat Series
All’s Fair in Love and Chocolate
, a novella in
Kiss the Bride
The Chocolate Rose
(also part of La Vie en Roses series)
Sun-Kissed
(also a sequel to
Snow-Kissed
)
Shadowed Heart
(a sequel to
The Chocolate Heart
)
La Vie en Roses Series
Turning Up the Heat
(a novella)
The Chocolate Rose
(also part of the Amour et Chocolat series)
A Rose in Winter
, a novella in
No Place Like Home
Once Upon a Rose
(upcoming)
Memoir
I am deeply grateful, as always, to Laurent Jeannin, executive pastry chef of Michelin three-star L’Épicure, at Le Bristol, Paris, and to Éric Frechon, executive head chef, for allowing me to research in their kitchens.
While deciding what to do with this unusual story—a sequel to a happily ever after story—many, many writers and readers came forward to offer to beta read for me and encouraged me to publish it. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart all of those who offered, and particularly Stephanie Burgis, Barbara Morgenroth, April White, Lynn Latimer, Mercy and Dale Anderson, Sydney Nolan, and Shannon O’Shea Schmeig. Their feedback was invaluable. A special thank you goes also to Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra, and Elyssa Patrick for all their kindness and support.
And a huge thank you, of course, goes to all my readers for your investment in these books and these characters. I’m so glad that they speak to you.
Laura Florand burst on the contemporary romance scene in 2012 with her award-winning Amour et Chocolat series. Her international bestselling books have been translated into eight languages, been named among the Best Books of the Year by
Romantic Times
and Barnes & Noble, received the RT Seal of Excellence and starred reviews from
Publishers Weekly
,
Library Journal,
and
Booklist,
and been recommended by NPR,
USA Today
, and
The Wall Street Journal
, among others.
After a Fulbright year in Tahiti and backpacking everywhere from New Zealand to Greece, and several years living in Madrid and Paris, Laura now teaches Romance Studies at Duke University. Contrary to what the “Romance Studies” may imply, this means she primarily teaches French language and culture and does a great deal of research on French gastronomy, particularly chocolate.
Copyright 2014, Laura Florand
Cover by Sebastien Florand
ISBN-13: 978-0-9885065-7-2
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author, excepting brief quotes used in reviews. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at
[email protected]
.
The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
www.lauraflorand.com