Authors: Joanne Pence

Too Many Cooks (26 page)

Joyful astonishment at his words flashed through her for a moment, but she forced the feeling aside. Without a word, she got in the Jaguar and slammed the door shut. Paavo just managed to pull his fingers away in time. Joey blanched, then ran around to the driver's side and got in.

“Angie, listen to me. Don't go with him. I love you,” Paavo said softly.

A warm giddiness came over her. She would have heard those words if he'd only whispered them. So perhaps the one-and-only time he'd said them before wasn't a fluke. This time, though, she wanted to be sure.

Joey turned on the ignition. “You what?” she called over the noise of the engine.

“I love you.”

“What?”

“
I said I love you, goddamn it!
”

She jumped out of the car and waved toward the house. “Did you hear that, mamma?”

“
Si! Fa bene
, Angelina!” Paavo glanced over to see a grinning Serefina shoo a worried-looking Sal back into the house and shut the door.

His gaze turned to Angie.

She took a step toward him. “Did you really rent the place in Bodega Bay for us?” she asked, her voice soft and wondering.

He stepped closer to her. “I did.”

“Without asking what my plans were?” She repeated the words he'd said to her in what seemed a lifetime ago.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he admitted, admiring the creaminess of her skin, the long lashes that cast shadows on her cheeks whenever she gazed downward, the fullness of her lips.

Her brown eyes were glowing. “Why?”

He stared. “Why?”

She nodded.

He dropped his gaze. His big black Florsheims pointed at her small red designer high heels. Raising his eyes once more, he took in every special, loving inch of her. “Because I wanted to do something you might enjoy. Because I'm sorry for the way I treated you. Because it
isn't
wrong to care, or to love, or to show your feelings the way you do. In fact, it's wonderful. I never wanted to hurt you. And I
do
love you back, as you put it, even if I haven't really learned how to show it.”

She placed her hands on his chest, feeling the steady pounding of his heart. Not only had this big tough strong man made the arrangements for them to be together but he'd shouted his feelings loud enough for all the world to hear. “Inspector,” she said, “I think you're learning.”

He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close, and kissed her as if he never wanted to let her go.

“Ah, excuse me! Excuse me, Angelina!” Joey Marcuccio leaned across the white leather seats of his XJS and peered up at them through an open window. “Does this mean you don't want to go out with me tonight?”

About the Author

JOANNE PENCE
was born and raised in San Francisco. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a master's degree in journalism, Joanne has taught school in Japan, written for magazines, and worked for the federal government. She now lives in Idaho with her family, which includes a multitude of pets.

For information about Joanne, her books, and some great recipes, visit Joanne's website at
www.joannepence.com
. She would love to hear from you via e-mail at [email protected], or by writing to PO Box 64, Eagle, ID 83616-0064.

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www.AuthorTracker.com
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Praise
for JOANNE PENCE's
ANGIE AMALFI MYSTERIES

“If you love books by Diane Mott Davidson
or Denise Dietz, you will love this series.
It's as refreshing as lemon sherbet
and just as delicious.”

Under the Covers

“A winnerâ¦
Angie is a character unlike any
other found in the genre.”

Santa Rosa Press Democrat

“Pence's tongue-in-cheek humor
keeps us grinning.”

San Francisco Chronicle

“A rollicking good timeâ¦
murder, mayhem, food, and fashionâ¦
Joanne Pence serves it all up.”

Butler County Post

“Joanne Pence just gets
better and better.”

Mystery News

“First-rate mysteryâ¦
Angie Amalfi is the queen
of culinary sleuths.”

Romantic Times

Other Angie Amalfi Mysteries by
Joanne Pence

Red Hot Murder

Courting Disaster

Two Cooks A-Killing

If Cooks Could Kill

Bell, Cook, and Candle

To Catch a Cook

A Cook in Time

Cooks Overboard

Cook's Night Out

Cooking Most Deadly

Cooking Up Trouble

Something's Cooking

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

TOO MANY COOKS
. Copyright Â© 1994 by Joanne Pence. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress data available upon request.

EPub Edition JANUARY 2012 ISBN: 9780062191199

Print Edition ISBN: 9780061081996

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