Ganache with Panache: Book 2 in The Chocolate Cafe Series Read Online Free PDF Page B

heels, directing her rage toward the girls.
    “I’ll have no comments from the two of you, either,” she said, her voice echoing throughout the room. “You’re hired for the chocolate. That’s all.”
    “A fountain. I want a fountain. A big one. And swans.” Harper, obviously happy that her mother was doing the arguing for her, stared at Mac and Brie in the mirror. “And no dark or milk chocolate. I only want white chocolate.”
    Mac watched as all the humor and color drained from Brie’s face. She actually blanched. Asking her for a white chocolate fountain was the equivalent of asking a Michelin-starred chef to make fish and chips.
    “White—fountain? White chocolate isn’t even chocolate!” It was Brie’s turn to raise her voice. “People stopped doing fountains years ago! ”
    “What is wrong with these people, Mother?” Harper cried out, her pink nails sinking into the satin as she made two furious little fists. “Why is no one giving me what I want? This is my day.” Olivia’s affected intonations were maddening on the phone; her daughter’s narcissistic emulation could drive Mac and Brie to violence.
    “Complete lack of taste.” Olivia addressed the three of them. There was a rage in her eyes that made her look old and cruel despite the Chanel suit, Botox, and thousand-dollar highlights. “Listen to me. I am going to go take my Xanax. You have stressed me out that badly. But when I get back, you all will have a plan in place, or I will single-handedly destroy all three of you. You will never work again. It’s as simple as that.” Without waiting for a response, Mrs. Hood stalked from the ballroom, her heels ringing out like gunshots against the polished wood.
    In the mirror, Harper smiled smugly at them—her face just as ugly as her mother’s, despite its artfully crafted contours and injections.
    “You heard her,” she said softly. “Get to work.”
     

CHAPTER SIX
    Sabrina leaped up on one of the jutting black rocks revealed by the low tide. She spread her arms wide, the wind whipping her black tee shirt behind her like bat wings. She turned to face Louis and Mac, lowering her lush brows to take on a decidedly sinister look.
    “You,” she growled. “You’ll never work in this town again.”
    Mac laughed. “Oh my, that’s good. You sounded just like her.”
    “Did she actually say that? Those tired old words? People still talk like that?” Louis took the wet piece of driftwood out of Toby’s mouth and tossed it back into the ocean. The dog was gone in an instant, his shimmering grey body galloping into the icy water without a moment’s hesitation.
    “People like her do.” Mac said, her eyes following the dog as his form melted into the rapidly darkening water. It was twilight and the end of what had turned out to be a very long, very dramatic day.
    “You’re not going to still do it, are you?” Louis asked. There was a moment when her two friends watched Brie intently. There was no logical reason why she should.
    “I think you know where I stand when it comes to chocolate fountains,” she said, leaping down from the rock. Her tattered bike boots sank into the wet sand on impact.
    “You’ve made that clear,” Mac said, smiling that crooked smile that the detective was finding more irresistible every time he saw it.
    Brie started walking up the beach toward where Toby was thundering toward them, his prize stick in his mouth.
    “I’m going to take it as a challenge.” Brie said, “I know we don’t need the money thanks to the lovely Ms. Mackenzie here. But really? How can I call myself an artist if I don’t test my limitations?”
    “Burst through creative barriers,” Louis said.
    “Challenge your skill level,” Mac said, that smile still making her kittenish face lopsided.
    “I am going to make the best damn chocolate fountain that this fine country has ever seen.” Brie yelled to the wind, “And it’s going to be white chocolate. Tacky, tasteless, white