The Cowboy's Baby(40)

The rancher declined several offers of additional security from a man in dark glasses who Esme assumed must be the very purveyor of such things and led her out on the city by himself. Though she knew he was a Texas native, he knew the town well, and after a fantastic lunch at an elegantly decorated seafood place, he took her Pierre’s – the restaurant at which she’d been promised an interview.

Almost immediately, the young woman was intimidated by the sheer size of the place. It was a two hundred seat restaurant, impeccably run by the very knowledgeable and very French Pierre. The European management made her nervous at first; she’d encountered it so much in the restaurant business, with disastrous results, that her first impulse was to run the other way. However, unlike the other Frenchmen she’d met, Pierre was unerringly nice to her.

Perhaps it was Daniel’s intimidating presence – everyone in the establishment bowed and scraped to him as if their lives depended on it – or perhaps it was just because the man was different, but he seemed more interested in running a top notch establishment than hogging all of the glory. Additionally, he paid no mind to the fact that she was a woman, or her pregnancy.

He greeted both she and Daniel warmly, they had a cup of very strong coffee, and then she was provided with a chef’s coat and ushered into the kitchen. Her interview, Pierre informed her, would be a working one. She’d be required to direct the kitchen in preparing a meal for a party of ten of the corporation board members that afternoon.

For a moment, the young woman had been so utterly floored by the sudden task that she’d panicked somewhat. However, when she’d caught Daniel’s bright blue eyes fixed on her reassuringly, she’d managed to take a deep breath and swallow her fears. He’d told her that while it was in his power to provide the interview, he would have no say whatsoever in her actually getting hired, and he deferred in all decisions to Pierre - an extremely choosy and professional individual.

This had been the opportunity she’d been waiting for her entire life. Now, what was she going to do with it?

She’d quickly decided upon which recipes she wanted to serve from her immense mental encyclopedia and scribbled down some notes before working with the sous chefs to show them exactly how she wanted things prepared. Having been a sous chef for most of her life, she was careful not to belittle them or insult them. Sous chefs were the heart of a kitchen, and working well with them was a sign of a capable head chef.

For three hours, she mixed, stirred, sautéed, and braised until she had prepared for the ten board members a comparable feast: Roasted Duck Breast Confit with mango chutney, accompanied by white wine glazed carrots and new potatoes. For an appetizer, there was a habanero gazpacho with mint and desert was a rich caramel cream custard with chocolate caramel glaze. Pierre’s expression when he tasted the fair was unreadable, and he consulted with the other sous chefs while Esme waited on pins and needles for his feedback.

An elegantly plated serving was provided for both him and Daniel before the rest of the kitchen got the leavings, which quickly disappeared. The food was then sent out to the waiting board members while butterflies took over Esme’s stomach.

When Pierre finally came back to speak to her, the little bean’s anxious writhing had added to her own and she had to sit down, slightly lightheaded.

The manager asked if she was classically trained, to which she truthfully replied that her cooking was an amalgamation of different styles, from what her mother had taught her to things she had picked up over her years in the kitchen. She felt the man assess her, looking over her from head to toe with piercing gray eyes before he finally gave his reply.

They needed her to begin as soon as possible; would she be able to considering that she must be expecting soon?

Happiness exploded through her. Despite her round belly, Esme hopped from her seat, whooping like a teenager as she felt tears of joy pricking at the corners of her eyes. From his seat next to her, Daniel watched her with an irrepressible grin.

Could she start as soon as possible? She wished she could have started yesterday! The young woman was slightly worried about how Daniel would feel about her working while pregnant. He was, after all, the one who had pulled her from her original job for worries about her health. However, this matter appeared to be completely different.

As long as she promised to stop working for the last month of her pregnancy, Daniel didn’t have any qualms whatsoever with her working four days a week in the restaurant, and would happily provide her with transportation if she didn’t want to drive her own car.

For the rest of the day, Esme was floating on air.