Page 105 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

Glancing about the New York set at Channeling Food, Sydney felt a mite uncomfortable. She was not used to this. Suzie? That was another ball of wax. Her cousin was very used to television sets and cameras following her every move as she cooked. But Sydney, no.

“You wanted fame? I give you fame.”

“I sort of didn’t expect fame, or this. I was thinking another magazine article, or maybe a plaque for the wall in the bakery. Something small and simple like that.”

Suzie patted her hand.

“Well, getting out of Harbor Falls wasn’t such a bad idea, was it? New York can recharge your soul. The energy here is incredible and I think you need to soak up some of this. You’ve been pining away back home ever since you ditched out of Stone Kellerman’s hotel room. Time for a change, sweetie.”

“I did not ditch.”

“You left him without a word while he was taking a shower, Sydney. That pretty much constitutes ditching.”

“The man lied to me. You know that as well as I do.”

“You could have cut him some slack. I mean, he never really did anything to you, did he? The man was just upset about losing out to you, and you know how men are when they lose. They do desperate things.”

“Like lie? Give fake names? Snoop around? I can’t believe I’m hearing what I’m hearing, Suzie. Criminy! You were the one who thought he was a stalker! Why are you suddenly on his side?”

“I’m not. I always have your back, Syd. You know that. But I was wrong. I did a little investigating, and so did Matt. Stone Kellerman is not a bad guy or a stalker. Perhaps he was a bit misguided for a while but I’m pretty sure that’s not his typical modus operandi. He’s just mighty competitive and pretty darned serious about his work. I know a couple of women who are like that too.”

“Who?”

“Well, you and me, darling. Look. When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong.”

“Humpht.”

Sydney had just about had enough.

“Well, he’s the one who left town without a backward glance. I’m sure he’s not pining away after me in Atlanta. Besides, I don’t know what Stone has to do with today and this stupid show anyway—which is going to be a disaster, by the way, I hope you realize. I don’t know a thing about doing a television show.”

Suzie grasped her by her upper arms and turned her bodily to face her.

“Sydney Hart snap out of it. You know that Patricia, the producer, would never have agreed to this if she hadn’t thought it would make an excellent show. And it’s Valentine’s week, for goodness sake. The perfect time to talk scones.

She frowned.

“I don’t get that.”

Suzie waved her hands in the air.

“Never mind, you will. Now, how was makeup?”

“Like I thought I would never get out of there. Is that stuff sliding down my face? I think one of my eyelashes is loose.”

Smiling, Suzie brushed a wayward hair from her cheek.

“No, you look beautiful. I love the new lashes, by the way. Stunning. Hey, listen, this is a great opportunity to promo your shop and your scones. It’s like a cakewalk once you get started. Just let me do the talking.”

A deep voice broke the air between them.

“Quiet on the set. Cameras rolling in...”

“...and you’ll be fine. Follow my lead.”

“...in three...two...one...” Pause.

Suzie looked straight into the camera. Sydney felt like a statue beside her.

“Good morning and welcome to the Matchmaking Chef! I’m Suzie Hart and today we are romancing the scone. Not your everyday scone, mind you, but a perfect match of scone and coffee that will tickle your taste buds and pacify your palate with a sweet blend of orange and nutty flavors that are definitely a sinful gift from heaven.”

Suzie turned to Sydney and smiled. Reaching out, she grasped her hand. All Sydney could think about were the butterflies in her tummy and the fact that she had not comprehended a single word that had flowed from between Suzie’s lips. Wah-wah-wah…

“Today I have a very special guest, my very own cousin, Sydney Hart, owner of Sydney’s Sugar High Bakery in Harbor Falls, North Carolina, my hometown. Sydney’s Double Orange Scone of Sinful Decadent Desire recently earned the title of Southern’s Best magazine Best Scones of the South. Sydney, welcome!”

An errant and unexpected smile broke across her face.

“Hi! Thanks! This is fun!”

Where those words and her energy came from, Sydney had no clue.

Suzie smiled back and hooked her arm into her elbow.

“And we’ll be back, right after this brief message.”

“Cut!”

Grimacing, Sydney looked to her cousin.

“That was bad, huh.”

“Just relax, Syd. It’s all going to be fine. Just pretend we are in your kitchen back at the bakery, chatting while doing our thing. Piece of cake.”

“Then give me something to do with my hands. I need something to do with my hands.”

The voice, again.

“....and rolling again three... two...”

“Here.”

Suzie pushed toward her a bowl of dough.

“...one.”

“Today we are making orange scones, the recipe that made you famous, right Sydney?”

“Well,”

Sydney pulled the dough out of the bowl and began fiddling with it on the counter.

“this is the scone that won the award but I’m not giving away all my secrets here, Suzie.”

She leaned closer and whispered.

“Even if you are my cousin.”

A few snickers went up from the set. Sydney relaxed a bit.

Suzie leaned in.

“I’ve heard, Sydney, that I wouldn’t be the first person to try to romance the orange scone recipe away from you. Is that true?”

Suddenly, Sydney had visions of tabloid articles about her and Stone plastered all over supermarket checkout lanes worldwide. Would Suzie not let this rest? Besides, it had been weeks. It was a bygone. A distant memory. A sad dream that haunted her every night.

She smiled sweetly for the camera.

“Now that’s a story that will never be shared on national television, my dear cousin.”

Inside, her guts were quaking like an 8.6 on the Richter scale. More snickers from the crew.

“But it’s true, right? A few weeks ago, someone was stalking your scone recipe. Right?”

If she were able to look at herself, Sydney was certain her eyebrows would be positioned into a perfect vee, with the ends of both right and left brows pointed up, and the insides pointing down at her nose, and her face squished into a surprised, but deliberate, scowl.

“Dear cousin, we are not going there.”

Suzie reached to Sydney’s dough and broke off a hunk.

“I do understand, but it’s an incredible story, you know. That’s why I figured I had to get to the bottom of it. Particularly since it’s Valentine’s week.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The scone stalker, my dear. Remember?”

Out of the corner of her mouth, Sydney bit.

“Are you freakin’ crazy?”

“Cut that part, but keep rolling,”

the voice said again.

She wished he’d stopped the cameras so she could get a grip on Suzie and the direction this conversation was going.

“He was not a stalker.”

“Oh?”

“No. And if I remember correctly, I kept telling you that he wasn’t a stalker, Suzie, but you kept insisting.”

Suzie looked directly into the camera, leaning forward a bit.

“I know. I was a bit unnerved. But I was wrong, and when I am, I do correct myself. In fact,”

she glanced at Sydney again.

“I’m going to make a public apology right now.”

This didn’t feel good.

“Suzie, what in the world?”

Sydney looked to her hands and noticed that she had rolled a handful of dough into a very tight wad.

“Which brings me to the introduction of our next guest.”

What the hell? I am your guest, Suzie.

“This is really quite a story, folks. You see, before Sydney held the honor of Best Scones of the South, another gentleman held that title for five years in a row. Please meet Stone Kellerman of Stone’s Scones in Atlanta.”

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sydney heard applause, but knew that couldn’t really be happening. Could it?

What. The. Hell.

And then in walked Steve, er, Stone. Her stomach plummeted and her heart kicked up some kind of weird pitty-patty cadence—and then there he was, looking sheepish as hell. Looking even more handsome than ever. Looking good enough to eat.

Please. I can’t be here if he talks food to me. I’ll have an orgasm on the spot.

He stepped to the counter at Suzie’s right.

“So, Stone. It was quite a surprise when you were ousted of your coveted award by a small-town girl, huh?”

Sydney squeezed the dough in her hand. Hard. Pieces of dough spurted up between her fingers.

He chuckled and looked to Sydney, who couldn’t muster up a word.

“Very surprised. I was used to winning and I am not a very good loser, sorry to say.”

“So much so,”

Suzie went on.

“that you took a little undercover trip to Harbor Falls to check out Sydney’s scones, did you not?”

“I must confess, I did.”

His gaze never left hers.

“And did you check out Sydney, as well?”

Oh, shit, Suzie!

He smiled.

“Afraid so. In fact, I became quite enamored with your beautiful cousin.”

Gulp.

“Enamored? Well...”

Suzie rotated back to look at Sydney, who wanted to stick her tongue out at her but didn’t.

“And were you able to romance the recipe out of her?”

Sydney felt her gaze narrow.

“No ma’am,”

Stone said.

“She’s got that recipe locked up tighter than a drum.”

“But you tried?”

“Oh yes, I tried.”

“And do you have anything you would like to say for yourself at this point, Mr. Kellerman?”

He paused, still gazing into Sydney’s eyes. “Yes.”

“And?”

He looked Sydney dead on, straight into her eyes, and searched her soul. At least that’s what it felt like to her.

“I apologize, Sydney, for my actions. I was wrong and I am so disappointed in myself. In fact, I’ve had weeks to think about it and I want you to know how wrong I was, how sorry I am, and…”

Sydney took it all in, cleared her throat, and then finally mustered up a few words.

“And what? Please go on.”

“And I still think it is Grand Marnier.”

Sydney uttered something that sounded like, “Pphuw”

Suzie prodded.

“Anything else?”

He tipped his head in a slow nod.

“Ms. Sydney is definitely one tough cookie. A little tart like Key Lime Pie, and as smooth and silky on the inside as Crème Brulee, but with a hard sugar crust to boot. I think that recipe is safe with her for a long time. Of course, if she lets me talk food to her, anything is a possibility.”

Enough. Her panties were wet already.

Sydney had remained calm and civil and camera-pretty-like for long enough. She appreciated his apology, she really did, but she was no way ready to accept his words. She gripped the ball of dough in her hand, measured its weight, looked Stone in the eyes and said, with quite a bit of sass and spice.

“My kisses do so taste better than my scones!”

Then she beamed him square in the center of his forehead with the dough.

A collective gasp went up on the set.

****

Stone chuckled and rubbed dough off his forehead.

“I deserved that.”

What did he expect? He’d told Suzie this wasn’t going to work.

“You bet you did.”

That came from Sydney, whose stare could slice a hole right through him.

“Sydney, please....”

Suzie reached for Sydney’s arm, but she jerked out of her grasp.

“No. And get those cameras out of my face. This is over. Done. Finished! Cut! Cut! Cut!”

Stone was a mite surprised at her fervor.

Suzie grabbed for Sydney’s hand again.

“The cameras stopped rolling a while ago. Now, will you get a grip?”

Glaring, Sydney stepped back and faced them both.

“Me get a grip?”

She angled her body toward Stone. “You!”

She pointed.

“You scone stalker you! You lied to me. You gave me a fake name! You talked food to me, and I fell for it. You made me like you. You...you...you…”

A pent-up breath escaped her lips and Stone watched the life sail out of her. Exhausted, he figured. Poor thing. He wished this hadn’t happened quite this way.

Then Suzie stepped forward. “Syd...”

She jerked her posture back upright.

“And you! My own flesh and blood! What did you think you were doing? You were the one who said he was a stalker. Why did you bring me here for this...this...this...?”

“Sydney, we need to talk.”

Stone stepped forward.

She backed away.

“No. I’m not talking to anyone. In fact, I’m going home.”

She whirled.

“Somebody get me a cab. Take me to the airport. Now! Where is that producer of yours, Suzie? I am getting out of there this very instant!”

Rushing away, she headed toward the dressing room.

Stone took a quick step after her.

Suzie grabbed his arm.

“Let her go,”

she told him.

“Patricia isn’t going to release her from this shoot so let’s give her a minute.”

Then turning to him she added.

“Sorry this didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned in my head.”

“Ditto,”

he said.

“Now, will you let me do this my way?”

****

In the end, she didn’t get on a plane for home. There was a matter of a television gig she had agreed to, signed a contract for, dammit, and Patricia Plum, hard-nosed producer that she was, would not let Sydney out of it.

She had managed, however, to postpone it a day. She figured the world owed her that, but she wasn’t leaving Suzie’s New York hotel room suite until then.

Scones be damned.

Stone Kellerman be damned.

The last thing she felt like doing was a Valentine’s week matchmaking show. She should have seen that coming. After all, that’s what Suzie does.

Play matchmaker.

It had worked for Shelley. It had worked for Patricia. And it had even worked for Lyssa Larkin. But it hadn’t worked for Sydney, and it wouldn’t. No use in trying.

Thing was, Stone had looked delicious standing there in the studio. Totally and utterly handsome and sinfully enchanting—but she could never trust him. Not after what he’d done in Harbor Falls. And, she really didn’t even know him, did she?

This was all a ridiculous bit of nonsense.

The door to her bedroom cracked ajar and Sydney lifted her head off her pillow to glance that way.

“I’m going out for a little while to take a walk,”

Suzie said.

“Won’t be gone long, just want some fresh air. Sleep in as long as you want.”

“Okay.”

She left, and Sydney snuggled deeper into the down covers. Her eyelids grew heavy again, and she had nearly dozed back to sleep when the bell to the suite sounded.

“Who in the world?”

She sat up. Maybe the person would go away.

The bell rang again.

She padded to the door and peeped out the peephole. Suzie?

Sydney opened the door and caught Suzie in mid-knock again.

“I forgot my room key. Sorry.”

Suzie stepped toward a table, picked up her key, and slipped it into her pocket. “Bye!”

After latching and dead bolting the lock, she headed back to bed.

It seemed like just a short time later the bell chimed again. She groaned.

“Again! What did you do, lose it this time?”

Stumbling once more out of her bedroom and through the living room, she made it to the door, threw the deadbolt, and swung the door open.

“I swear, if you forget your key one more time...”

Not Suzie.

Stone.

Sydney started to heave the door shut. Stone stopped the motion and held out a white paper sack. “Stop,”

he said.

“I have a peace offering.”

“What?”

“Here.”

Sydney eyed the white paper bag. It was the same kind she used at Sugar High.

“What’s in the bag?”

She refused to lift her gaze to meet his.

He pushed the bag closer. “Look.”

Finally, she took the bag, pulled it open, and glanced inside. “Scones?”

Involuntarily, she looked up. His eyes were twinkling.

“Yes. Scones. A Cream Scone with Raspberry Preserves and Clotted Cream, or a Chocolate Marshmallow Scone with Powdered Sugar Glaze, or, my personal favorite, Blueberry Streusel with Lemon Curd. Take your pick.”

She blinked. Looked at the sack. Sniffed. And looked back to Stone. Then, she narrowed her gaze and gave him the once over.

“Where did you get these?”

“A little shop around the corner. I’ve had my eye on it for a couple of days. Wanna go check it out?”

Sydney bit her lip.

“Undercover?”

“I’m game, are you?”

“Definitely. But I need to get dressed first.”

“I’ll wait.”

“You better.”

Sydney let him in, and he closed the door behind him. She was halfway across the living room when she turned, looked back, and said.

“You had me at clotted cream, you know.”

His left brow arched. “Oh?”

“That’s right.”

“I had rather hoped I had you at Red Velvet Cake.”

Her cheeks flushed hot.

“Well, that, too, but don’t get cocky about it.”

“No, ma’am.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be right here.”

“Good. Let’s go stalk some scones.”

****

“There she goes.”

With those words, everything and everyone inside Sydney’s Sugar High Bakery halted. Everything and everyone. Even the coffee stopped dripping.

Sydney, herself, had uttered the words, just as she stuffed a few dollars into the cash register after Matt Branson paid his bill. Coffee and a Danish. Three dollars and ninety-eight cents, as usual. Matt faced the door. Sydney’s cousin, Suzie Hart, froze while loading a tray of just-baked cinnamon rolls into the display case, the tray perched precariously in the crook of her elbow. Her husband, Brad, reached to steady the heavy tray and said, “Who?”

To which Sydney replied.

“That new woman in town.”

Brad took the tray. Suzie stood.

“Where? I want to see the hussy.”

Sydney grasped Suzie by the arm and pulled her across the bakery until they were at the huge window in the front. Leaning together over plants and assorted whimsical stuff in the wide windowsill, their heads both cocked to the right and they peered down the street.

“There. See her? Pink shirt, white pants. Looking too damned petite and perky.

Suzie groaned.

“I see her. The heifer.”

“Looks rather cute to me,”

a male voice said.

Sydney turned toward her fiance, Stone Kellerman, giving him a warning look.

“You do not think she is cute.”

He shrugged.

“She’s cute! I don’t mean it in any way other than that. She’s young and pretty and from what I’ve observed, very personable.”

“What you’ve observed?”

Sydney’s mouth screwed up on one corner.

“Have you been down there stalking her pastries?”

Stone laughed and kissed Sydney on the end of her nose.

“No. Fact is, she doesn’t have pastries, she only has coffee, and it’s not very good coffee either. I was doing due diligence for us, sweetheart. Her coffee doesn’t hold a candle to yours, Sydney.”

He turned to Suzie.

“Or for yours at Sweet Hart Inn. You girls are safe.”

“She’s a heifer,”

Suzie repeated.

“The last thing I want is competition for Sweet Hart Inn or for Sugar High!”

Suzie’s husband stepped closer.

“Seriously ladies. You have the cooking world in Harbor Falls wrapped around your fingers. Give it up.”

He thought for a moment.

“Wait, isn’t it a bad thing when women called other women a heifer? She’s not looking so bad.”

His gaze followed the young woman down the street.

Sydney shot another look over her shoulder. All three men were leaning in, too, watching the woman hurry toward her shop. Both women turned and stood. The men straightened right up.

Suzie reached out and chugged her husband square in the chest for that last comment.

“It is a bad thing! No woman wants to be called a heifer!”

“But Suzie, she’s a teeny little thing. And you don’t know her so why would you….”

Sydney flung her hands up in the air.

“Oh, my God! I can’t believe you. Men! Don’t you get it?”

Matt and Brad looked at each other and shrugged. Stone’s face went blank.

“No, Syd,”

Matt answered.

“I guess we don’t get it. Tell us.”

This time Suzie and Sydney did the eye exchange, shaking their heads and tilting them in that way women do when they know that the men they are talking to, clearly do not understand what is going on.

“Because she’s new,”

Sydney finally said.

“And because she’s cute and young,”

Suzie added.

“And because,”

Sydney paused and looked down the street again.

“because she’s competition, dammit.”

Again, Matt and Brad shared a look.

“Don’t even try to comprehend, men,”

Brad said.

“It will make sense eventually.”

Matt added.

“This is nuts, Sydney. You and Stone are a couple. Suzie is married. So why is this woman, just because she’s new in town and cute, competition for the two of you? You already have your guys. Besides, you both are beautiful women!”

This time both women did a little shriek, fluttered their hands around, and stomped off back to the counter. Sydney resumed counting money, and Suzie retrieved the cinnamon roll tray off the counter where Brad had left it and returned to filling the display case.

“Girls?”

Neither of them responded. Sydney just shook her head.

“Ladies…?”

Finally, Sydney dropped her hands full of money into the tray, looked at the men, and said.

“I will tell you why. Look around, all three of you. Just look. Where are all my customers? Hmm? Where are they?”

Clearly, the men were still a tad confused. They glanced about and back to Sydney. Suzie straightened and looked at them head on.

“Well?”

“There is no one here, Sydney.”

“Exactly,”

Suzie said, wiping her hands on a towel.

Matt stepped forward.

“Give me more.”

“No customers! What else do you need?”

Brad stepped even with Matt. Stone joined them.

“Okay, maybe we’re getting closer here, men.”

Stone said.

“So, Sydney, you think this woman has something to do with your customers not coming around lately? I told you the coffee was not really that good.”

“Competition!”

Suzie said.

“We already told you that.”

“Competition.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Customer competition! The woman sweeps into town and within a couple of weeks has opened a new coffee shop. Haven’t you seen the lines that stretch around the corner every morning?”

Sydney crossed her arms.

“Matt, if it weren’t for you and your cop friends, my coffee business would be a bust right now.”

“But all she does is coffee? How long can that last?”

“Not just coffee. Every kind you can imagine and she’s planning more. Lattes, mochas, hot and iced, frappes and ice cream drinks, fancy schmancy chocolate stuff that no one in Harbor Falls really wants anyway. I heard something about candy, too, in the future, but not sure about that.”

“Frappes?”

Matt questioned.

“Sort of like a milkshake, Matt,”

Sydney offered.

“With caffeine.”

Looking at Brad, Matt asked.

“How can that be a bad thing?”

Brad shot him a look.

“Don’t go there,”

then turned to his wife’s cousin and business partner and said.

“If it’s true she doesn’t have a bakery, Syd, then why are you worried?”

“Because, Brad Matthews, I just am.”

Suzie leaned in.

“I heard she was even going after a liquor license so she could serve after dinner coffee-liquored drinks in the evenings, like with Bailey’s and Kahlua and such.”

The men feigned simultaneous gasps of horror. Brad chuckled.

“Suzie, listen to yourself. You sound like one of the old women down at the Daughters of the American Revolution meeting.”

“I do not!”

“You do.”

He glanced at the clock.

“Hey, I have to run. I’m already late to pick up Scott at the airport.”

“Scott is coming?”

Sydney watched Brad hurry for the door.

“Just for a couple of weeks. Vacation.”

Then Brad was gone.

Stone stepped toward Sydney.

“I have to get going myself, sweetheart.”

He gave Sydney a quick kiss.

“Meeting with the attorney this morning about the franchising opportunity, and then hiring a manager for the Atlanta shop later this afternoon, I hope. I’ll call you tonight and see you in a couple of days.”

Sydney kissed him back and gave him a hug.

“Be careful. I love you!”

“I love you too, darling.”

Then he was gone, as well.

The women stood and looked at Matt, who obviously had no desire to stick around sparring with them any longer either.

“I have my morning rounds.”

Suzie nodded.

“Go rattle some doorknobs, Matt.”

He tipped his head and grinned.

“I’ll be back for some more coffee about ten o’clock, Syd. I give you my word, I won’t be checking out the competition, and I’ll bring friends. You have the best damn coffee in Harbor Falls.”

Suzie cleared her throat.

He glanced her way.

“Um, except for Suzie’s cinnamon blend out at Sweet Hart Inn, of course, and logistically her property sits outside the corporation limit so…so I think I’m safe now with both statements.”

Smiling, Suzie crossed her arms over her chest and nodded.

“Smart man. Go do your coply duty. By the way, how is Shelley doing?”

“Morning sickness. Bad.”

“Ewe.”

Both women shooed him off and he left.

After a couple of moments of silence, Sydney resumed counting her money, and Suzie finished putting all the rolls in the display case.

Later while cleaning up the kitchen, Suzie turned to her cousin and said.

“Only one thing to do.”

She straightened her body and dried off the last mixing bowl.

“We need to go see what all of this is about down the street before we jump to conclusions.”

Sydney wasn’t sure that stroll was in her best interest and shook her head.

“I’d have to close up shop. I might miss customers.”

Narrowing her gaze, Suzie took a step closer.

“Five minutes, Syd. Turn the sign on the door saying you’ll be back in five. I don’t see much action going on here right now, do you?”

She didn’t have to glance around to answer that one. Resigned, she took a breath and reached behind her for her apron strings.

“All right. Let’s go.”

No Sweeter Match

When master chocolate taster, Scott Matthews, escapes to Harbor Falls to visit his brother and sister-in-law, Brad and Suzie Hart Matthews, he has only one request—no talk about work, and that includes any discussion of chocolate.

****