The Vampire's Valentine Surprise(4)

He scowled. “Yes, that too. I suppose someday I’ll discover a solution but I’m damned tired of every experiment failing.”

She patted his chest, feeling his own amulet beneath his shirt. “I’m just happy we have them or neither one of us would be standing here.”

The amulets, supplied to everyone in the Ellingham family by Alice Bishop, Elenora Ellingham’s personal secretary and all-around powerful witch, were a great source of consternation for Hugh and his two brothers, Sebastian and Julian. Their grandmother used the amulets to occasionally bend the men to her will. But then, Elenora liked to do that to just about everyone. The amulets just gave her leverage where her grandsons were concerned.

“As am I. Doesn’t mean I have to like them.” He kissed her once more. “I should let you get to it. I’m sure you have a thousand things to do.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” She smiled. “The rules say I can’t start baking anything yet, but I do have a list of prep to take care of.”

“All right. I’ll be home until it’s time for the judging. Unless you’ve changed your mind and you want me to stay?”

“No. You being here would only make me more nervous. Go home and work on the UV problem. I’ll call if something comes up.”

“Very good. Or call me if you need anything. I’ll run it right over. Best of luck now. Love you.”

“Thanks. Love you, too.” She gave him a little wave, not bothering to tell him that if she had forgotten something, she was out of luck. The contest rules stated that contestants had to have everything with them at the time of check-in. The most an assistant could do was help with the baking or decorating.

He nodded and headed out of the tent, leaving her to work. She moved the coffee to her main worktable, enjoying the smell of it even if she wasn’t going to drink it, then flipped open her notebook and looked at her prep list.

According to the rules, chopping chocolate ahead of the contest’s start time was allowed. Delaney needed white chocolate for the buttercream and dark chocolate for the truffles. She pulled out the two massive blocks of high-end foil-wrapped chocolate she’d brought from her shop and laid them on one of the tables. They were about four times the amount she needed, so no chance of running out.

In fact, based on the contents of the two coolers of supplies she’d let Stanhill help pack, he’d doubled everything on her list.

She crouched down to sort through the plastic bin of tools she’d brought, in search of her chef’s knife and cutting board.

“Cheating already, Ellingham?”

The familiar voice brought her back to her feet, knife in hand. She looked straight into the eyes of Vicky Keller. The woman’s personal vendetta against Hugh and his family went back for years but it had grown noticeably worse after Delaney had opened her shop.

Vicky was the owner of Keller’s Sweets-n-Treats, which had been the only candy store in town until Delaney’s shop had opened. Vicky considered Delaney direct competition, that much was clear, but in Delaney’s mind there was a huge difference between what the two stores sold. Everything in Delaney’s was handmade. Everything in Vicky’s was purchased somewhere else, and while some of it was old-fashioned candy impossible to get in most shops, the rest of it was pretty ordinary fare.

Delaney couldn’t quite bring herself to smile. “Don’t tell me you’re competing.”

Vicky glanced at the knife in Delaney’s hand like it was some kind of unspoken threat. “I’m not, but Mary is.”

“Well, good luck to her.” Mary was Vicky’s very sweet teenage daughter. Delaney liked the girl. So much so, she’d taught her how to make truffles one day when the teenager had stopped in after school. Delaney doubted Mary had told her mother about that or any of the other visits she’d made to Delaney’s shop.

“She’s going to have a hard time winning if this contest is filled with cheaters.”

“Isn’t Mary competing in the junior division?”

Vicky frowned. “So?”

“So I’m in the adult division.” Delaney put the knife down and sighed, trying to find some patience. “And I’m also not cheating, Vicky. I’m prepping. The rules clearly state what kind of prep is allowed and chopping chocolate is fine. I’m not weighing it, I’m not melting it, I’m not making anything early. I’m just chopping. Cool? Or do you want me to call a judge over?”

Vicky sniffed. “I have to go see how Mary’s doing.”

“That’s what I thought.” Delaney turned back to her table. The last thing she needed this morning was to let Vicky get to her.