Scarred Survival (Scarred Series Book 5)

by Jackie Williams

  Aaron tucked her arm into his elbow and propelled her along the corridor.

  “I’m sure I don’t, but I do know how it makes me feel to have you walk down to dinner with me...like the luckiest guy alive.” He gripped her tighter, refusing to let her fall as she almost tripped over her own skirts.

  Her eyes narrowed even further and she hissed out her words.

  “Shut up, just shut up will you. You are completely full of shit. If we’re having steak and I look like an idiot when I can’t cut it up, you had better watch your back. You might find my knife thrust into it.” Gemma refused to look at him again as they walked towards the stairs.

  He grinned as he enjoyed the fiery tongue lashing she gave him. He had hated the look of despair and defeat that had clouded her lovely features when she found that she had nothing to cover her arm. In that instant he had known that he would put up with just about anything to see the fight back on her dazzling face. As content as he had felt in several weeks, he began chatting about his day.

  “I sat outside this afternoon and looked through some recipes, but they looked horribly complicated. Paul came out for a chat too. Did you know that Amy is expecting? I was there when Paul announced it to Patrick and Joe earlier today.”

  Startled out of her temper, Gemma smiled radiantly.

  “How lovely! I wondered why Amy hadn’t risen as early as usual over the last week or so and I should have realized that something was going on when she didn’t indulge in any of Ben’s cocktails the other night. Poor thing has obviously been suffering from morning sickness. To be honest I didn’t think that they would wait long before they started a family. They’ve only been married a few months, but you can see how they are together.” She let out a happy laugh. She was genuinely delighted for the couple. “It would be sickening if it wasn’t so sweet. Paul used to be such a tough nut, a really stubborn and proud guy, but Amy soon put a dent in his armour. She was his social worker when he was up on an assault charge and could give as good as she took. It was almost inevitable that they would end up falling in love.”

  Aaron nodded.

  “He told me something about it, well he told me that some terrorist was after them and Geraldine ended up having Luc delivered while she and Amy were stuck behind a false wall.” He shuddered at the thought.

  Gemma took a deep breath as she remembered the horrifying incident.

  “It was a nightmare. Amy and Geraldine had been out for the day together before Amy was meant to go back to England to report on Paul’s progress. No one realized they were actually missing until Geraldine was late for dinner, something that never happened especially when she’s pregnant. That woman has a real appreciation for good food.

  It turned out that Amy missed her flight home too so everyone knew that they were probably still together, but David was beside himself with worry. The guys couldn’t find the women and hadn’t a clue where they might be. Turns out that bastard terrorist drugged both Amy and Geraldine after Geraldine went into labour while shopping and, thinking that there would be someone to help them, they came here as the nearest place they could get to. They hadn’t heard about the sudden strike that all the workers called. There was only Samadi here and he sealed them up deliberately hoping that they would never be discovered. Unbearable to think about. Thank God that Paul walked straight into the wall and realized that something was badly out of kilter. No one else would have had a clue that there was a concealed room behind that wall. When the men broke through, David was presented with his new baby son who had been delivered in the pitch black by Amy. But that wasn’t the end of it. After they had been rescued, the terrorist only tried to kidnap Amy too. He held a knife to her throat, but Paul got him. Being blind doesn’t hold him back at all.”

  The story was horrific. Aaron took a shuddering breath before he glanced down at her.

  “No, and a missing arm shouldn’t hold you back either.”

  Gemma knew that he was right. A missing arm was almost nothing and it had never seemed important to her while she was still serving in the army. She’d barely noticed it as she carried on with her duties. It was only now she was out in the general public she found it harder to accept, nearly impossible on occasions. She had even considered signing back on with the army, but she knew that wasn’t really the answer.

  She looked back up at Aaron as he strode along beside her. His foot was encased in the plastic cast again, but his limp now barely noticeable. It looked as though he would be having the pins holding his bones together out soon.

  “Do you have any plans for if you can’t go back?”

  Aaron’s jaw clenched.

  “Not yet. I feel that if I look at other options I’m giving up, when really I’m still hoping it will all be okay.” He didn’t sound all that hopeful.

  “Have you talked to Simone or Magali yet?” She asked.

  He shook his head.

  “There’s no point. I’m not here for that. I’m not suffering from PTSD. If anything I’m suffering from VAYM syndrome.”

  Gemma looked confused.

  “Very Angry Young Man.” He explained with a twinkle in his eye.

  She raised her eyebrow at him.

  “Sure you don’t want to change that from a Y M to an M A, as in ‘middle aged’.” She scoffed.

  Aaron stopped dead.

  “Flipping cheek. How old do you think I am?”

  Gemma didn’t hesitate.

  “I know exactly how old you are. I looked in your file. You’re thirty four. Getting on for middle aged, I’d say.”

  He laughed.

  “You think? Better hold that thought because I know how old you are too. Thirty, so you don’t have long to catch me up.”

  Gemma raised both her eyebrows in surprise.

  “Who told you? If that Joe has said a single word about me, I’ll make sure he suffers.”

  Aaron chuckled.

  “Not Joe. I asked Amy earlier. She made me work hard for it that little snippet of information too. I’ve had to promise that I will have my chest waxed for some charity day you girls are putting on. Patrick has offered up his leg as he apparently has no chest hair to speak of and David has said that you girls can wax whatever is left of him...If you dare. Amy reckons that he’s in for a big shock as Geraldine has already asked Rebecca for some lessons on ‘intimate waxing’ from your beautician...Sounds as though that actually might be painful. I almost pity the guy.”

  Gemma nearly fell over again in surprise as she laughed loudly.

  “Jees! He’s going to be in for a shock. Have you asked Ben and the rest of them to join in? I’ll bet they’d do it too. They’re all mad enough, especially if Delphine or Rebecca have anything to do with it. Two attractive, single women getting up close and personal what could possibly be better? They’ll be falling over themselves to sign up.”

  Aaron laughed with her, the sound echoing down the hall.

  “I’ll bet they will too. I’ll mention it to them. Ellen is going to see the Mayor up at the town where they are. She’s going to make it a special event to gain recognition for what all of you lot are doing, though having my chest waxed does seem a little extreme.”

  Gemma quaked at the thought of having the heated torture treatment again, even though she did rather like the feel of her lovely smooth legs.

  “You do realize how much waxing hurts. It’s not for the faint hearted, I can tell you. Rebecca is a complete sadist what with the way she grins manically while slapping on boiling hot wax.”

  Aaron laughed again.

  “A bit of hot wax? You’re kidding me. It can’t possibly be that painful. You girls make such a fuss.”

  Gemma chuckled secretly. With the amount of hair she had seen some of the men sporting, they were going to be in for a big surprise. She could barely wait for the big day to see the grins wiped from their over-confident faces. The smile stayed on her lips as they headed into the dining room.

  If any already around the table noticed that she w
asn’t wearing her arm, none of them bothered to mention it. Gemma sat down and peered into the dishes waiting to be served while Aaron let out a private sigh of relief when he saw that there were no steaks, only big cauldrons of chilli-con-carne and rice.

  Chapter Eight

  “Oh my god! How delicious is that!” Gemma scooped up another forkful of the creamy mashed potato, chorizo and cheese mixture that topped the spicy chicken and pepper filling. “I didn’t think anything could beat that golden pear and Stilton starter but this is incredible.”

  Karl nudged Ben’s shoulder.

  “We’ve got this in the bag. Beats Will and Amy’s paté stuffed mushrooms and couscous paella, hands down.”

  Paul licked his lips as he scraped his fork over his plate, making sure that he hadn’t missed any of the delicious dinner. He put his cutlery down on his empty plate as he spoke.

  “But what have you rustled up for dessert? Will’s white chocolate layer cake from the other day is going to be hard to beat. I don’t think I ever tasted anything quite so delicious.”

  Aaron broke in.

  “Hang on, we haven’t even had our chance yet. You can’t start deciding who the winner is yet.” He whispered an aside to Gemma. “We’re going to have to up our game.” He looked over to the empty chicken and potato pie dish and raised his eyebrows. “We’re going to have to raise it a lot.”

  Gemma leaned into his shoulder whispered back.

  “It’s okay. Jason and Simone are tomorrow and Paul and Magali the night after. We have two more days to decide on a final menu before we knock their taste buds into the stratosphere.”

  Karl began to clear the dishes and Ben brought what looked like a giant pile of cream to the table.

  “Snowball pudding,” he announced as he placed the extravagant dish on the table with a flourish. “My mother’s special recipe. Guaranteed to slay your taste buds,” he added proudly as he cut into the white, outer frosting and a delicious scent of brandied raisins mixed with vanilla essence, filled the room.

  Ben and Karl’s dinner was agreed to be a triumph. Amy demanded the recipes so that she could make samples to show Patrick and Ellen at their meeting.

  “This is working out brilliantly. I never knew that we could all cook so well. If we ever do decide to run a restaurant it’s going to be brilliant. I can’t wait until we see what Jason and Simone come up with tomorrow.”

  Jason rubbed his hands together and winked at Simone before he whispered loudly.

  “No worries, they’ll be licking their plates.”

  The next two evenings were spent eating the most delicious food as Jason and Simone excelled themselves with crepes filled with bacon and mushrooms followed by chicken served in a champagne and white grape sauce and homemade ice cream with Florentines to finish. Paul and Magalie attempted to triumph with smoked salmon and prawn tartlets to start and leg of lamb stuffed with apricots and prunes. They finished their rich dinner with a simple but delicious lemon cheesecake topped with a fresh raspberry coulis.

  Amy was so thrilled with their achievements that she vowed that Patrick no longer needed to teach them cookery if he didn’t want to, though that brought howls of disappointment from around the table. Patrick’s pastry alone was enough to keep him coming back and the men deliberately refused to perfect their own methods of making it. However, they had taken to cooking with so much enthusiasm they were already deciding to make the competition a monthly event.

  Paul had to remind them that they would all be going home soon and that any new guests might not feel the same way, though Gemma secretly thought that most of the guys would love it. They all liked food too much to not want to try and their competitive spirit wouldn’t let them be beaten without at least attempting the challenge.

  She spent her free time with Aaron looking through cookery books and occasionally practicing recipes when time allowed, but she found it hard to concentrate while he was so close to her. Every time she looked towards him it seemed that their gazes clashed; when she attempted to turn a page of the book her fingertips brushed his as they both had the same intention; when they decided to taste their concoctions, each was already bringing a sample to the others’ lips as though they were a reflection of one another.

  Gemma had even begun dreaming about him so often that she sometimes wasn’t sure if it were day or night.

  They spent the morning of their cooking challenge walking along the busy town market, buying fresh ingredients and making sure that all were from local sources. Aaron suggested a quiet lunch in one of the many restaurants and they sat for an hour drinking in the atmosphere while sharing a plate of fresh oysters before returning to the château to make preparations for the evening.

  They had decided on their own version of a seafood bisque served with Patrick’s recipe for homemade bread, to start; pork tenderloin roasted on a bed of caramelized pink onions and sweet apples served with steamed vegetables and wedged potatoes for the main course, and to finish, a secret recipe for a chocolate dessert that Gemma had to make three times before Aaron would leave enough in the bowl for them to serve at the table.

  The bisque was fiddlier than they expected until Aaron had the clever idea of leaving the langoustine whole in their shells as a decoration for the dish rather than attempting to remove all the meat from the tiny claws. Gemma was squeamish over putting a live creature into boiling water until Aaron assured her that he’d killed the crab before plunging it into the simmering stock. Gemma peeled a huge pile of prawns while Aaron finely diced dill and shallots. After liquidizing and straining and adding lashings of cream, Aaron stuck his finger in the resulting soup and held it up for Gemma to try.

  She shook her head and handed him a spoon.

  “We’re serving this to others. They won’t want to know that your finger has been waggling around in it.”

  Aaron laughed.

  “The ingredients were all over my fingers about half an hour ago and so were yours when you were pulling all those heads off the prawns. I doubt sticking my finger in it to taste it makes any difference. It’s not like I was going to put my finger back in the pot after you licked it.” He licked his own finger slowly, making Gemma’s insides wobble as he declared the bisque perfect.

  They started on the pork next so that it had time to slow roast.

  Aaron used what looked like a huge hunting knife to score the skin before Gemma poured boiling water over the top to open the scores. She rubbed the skin with sea salt crystals and stuck slithers of garlic and leaves of sage from the kitchen garden into the meat. They sliced apples from the orchard outside the kitchen garden and pink onions from the old man who lived at the end of the track running beside the estate, before laying the pork over the top and placing it into the oven.

  Delicious aromas invaded every room of the château and as Gemma and Aaron finished their preparations, the other diners began gathering. There was just time for them to take quick showers and change while Ben did his thing with cocktails before everyone sat down to another incredible meal.

  Simone wanted the recipe for the bisque. She was sure that it was more delicious than her own mother’s variation and Paul decided that the pork rivalled Patrick’s famous hog roast.

  Jason ate so much of the crunchy crackling he decided that he was going to have to decline the offer of dessert until Gemma walked in with the mountain of chocolate mousse. The crunchy biscuit base melted on the tongue and the mousse was so light it dissolved in seconds in their mouths. The dish was completely clean by the time they came to vote for an overall winner.

  The next hour was spent in discussion of all the various menus, the taste of the dishes and the overall presentation. They all decided to vote out of ten on their favourite meal then spent the next several minutes laughing as well as arguing about who was the actual winner because they all ended up with the exact same amount of points.

  Paul was interested in the costing for each meal, how long the preparation took and if anything could be made in
advance. He also wanted to know if the dishes were seasonal or could be re-created at any time. He added all the information to the list of things that Amy was going to present at the meeting.

  Gemma and Aaron stood beside each other as they rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher. She yawned as she fitted in the soap tab and shut the door. Aaron leaned against counter and watched her.

  “Tired?”

  She pressed her hand over her mouth as she yawned again.

  “Exhausted. Feels like it’s been a long day what with shopping and going out to lunch. I wouldn’t fancy cooking like this every night of the week. Apart from all the hard work, I don’t think my waistline could take it.”

  Aaron laughed as he filled the coffee percolator before taking down two mugs.

  “It has been a bit rich I suppose, but I’ve enjoyed all the meals. I really want to know where Karl found that gold leaf that he put on those pears. Looked fabulous and tasted great.”

  Gemma agreed.

  “I had no idea he was that arty. I think that would go down a storm here in France. I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael ends up making that for David and Ellen’s restaurant.” She continued when Aaron looked quizzically at her. “They set up a restaurant in Belle Isle en Terre when it became obvious that everyone loved Patrick’s recipes so much. The mayor raved about the food incessantly after their first ever New Year ball and the rest of the town demanded to know what the fuss was about. After a few open events up at the hotel they ended up opening a restaurant for locals. Michael, the chef, copies Patrick’s signature dishes but adds many of his own too. It’s very a popular place and people come from miles around to try it out. The reservation list is months long.”

  Aaron glanced at her curiously as he poured cups of coffee. He added cream to both and handed one to Gemma.