26 #5
Dani washed her hands idly in the basin and looked at herself in the mirror.
She looked flushed and her eyes were sparkling.
Stop crushing on him! He’s your boss and he’s married!
She scorned herself, shook her head and took in a cleansing breath.
It had only been a month and a half since she’d been devastated and walked out on Jez and here she was wishing for someone who was out of reach and out of her league.
It was sobering to realise that her feelings had shifted so far in a relatively short time.
Maybe she wasn’t as in love with Jez as she’d thought.
Dani checked herself in the mirror one more time, then headed back out to the marquee.
As she exited the rest rooms she saw Cosimo approaching and he smiled warmly at her. He was such a gentleman and was always so courteous.
“What a nice surprise to see you Dani.” He held out his hand for her to shake.
“Thank you. It’s nice to see you too Cosimo.”
“You look ravishing in that dress.” His comment was genuine and with no sexual overtones.
“Thank you. I think maybe it’s a bit much for this kind of event.” Dani wrinkled her nose.
“Nonsense. You’ve brought some glamour to an otherwise very unglamorous event. Most of the women here haven’t got a clue. You’ve definitely upped the bar,” he whispered checking over his shoulder in a conspiratorial manner, making Dani chuckle.
She really liked him, he was so different from both his brothers. He was calm and gentle, yet not a pushover. He had a quality that made you trust him. Dani smirked to herself, well he was an accountant after all, you’d have to trust him.
“Well you most certainly made an impression on my young brother,” he added softly eyeing Dani.
“He was just being polite and asked me to dance,” blushed Dani. Cosimo frowned a little. “Seni didn’t mean anything by it.” Dani felt she needed to defend him. Both his older brothers were obviously displeased with the attention he’d given her.
Cosimo’s eyebrows shot up at her comment and he smiled at her wryly.
“Ah yes Seni, um. Well I better not keep you any longer otherwise your brother-in-law will be sending out a search party. It was lovely to see you Dani.” He patted her arm gently.
Dani laughed at his comment. “Likewise Cosimo. See you soon.” Then she walked back into the main marquee.
Cosimo smiled to himself realising that she’d mistaken the comment he’d made about Jerome for Arsenio. He glanced over to his table and caught Jerome watching Dani walk back to her table. Oh dear, he thought, this was going to end up in tears.
Dani continued to make small talk with the client’s dull wife who had squeezed herself into a peach creation that reminded Dani of curtain material.
Her thoughts drifted back to Cosimo’s comment about the dress sense of the guests, as she continued to listen to her drone on about their holiday arrangements, wishing someone would distract her.
The wife stopped suddenly and her eyes looked over Dani’s head.
Dani turned around to see what had made her table companion stop mid-sentence.
There standing behind her was a waiter holding a large dinner plate.
The whole table stopped what they were doing, intrigued.
“I’ve been asked to bring you a selection of our dessert menu.
” The waiter placed a large plate down in front of Dani along with a spoon and fork.
Dani’s stomach clenched. She knew exactly who’d sent them.
She tried hard to stifle the grin that was forcing itself onto her face, and failed miserably.
“Oh, thank you.” Dani blushed as the whole table looked on.
Adam took one look at Dani, then turned to the waiter. “Who sent them over?”
“The Ferretti table sent them, Sir.”
Adam nodded and smirked. The waiter left and Dani stared down at the plate.
There was a mille-feuille of vanilla shortbread with strawberries and clotted cream, a glazed raspberry and lemon tart served with mascarpone, a caramelised rhubarb crème br?lée served with ginger snaps, a sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate Delice with hazelnut cream and crystallised nuts.
All in mini portions. They looked divine.
“Well they obviously know you very well,” Adam chuckled. “Dani loves desserts. It’s the highlight of her meal,” he explained to the rest of the table. The guests at the table laughed as Dani shrugged her apology, still embarrassed.
“Well you don’t look like you eat so many,” added the peach dressed wife, in good humour. “I’d get stuck in before the ice cream melts dear.”
Dani looked up and offered them to the rest of the table.
To her relief, all of them declined. She picked up her spoon and took a spoonful of the dark chocolate Delice and placed it in her mouth.
It was delicious. Her eyes looked over to the Ferretti table and caught Jerome staring at her.
She mouthed thank you and he winked back, then reluctantly dragged his eyes away from her.
Dani’s stomach fluttered. He’d sent her over these desserts.
The very thought made her whole body tingle.