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“You never told me you played an instrument, baby,” Grath remarked to Madeline.
“Oh—because it was ages ago. I played second chair piccolo,” Madeline said. “Shonda, this is Grath, my—”
“Herfiancé,”Grath finished smoothly for her, when she paused uncertainly. “Madeline and I are going to be Joined—what you humans call ‘getting married’—very soon.”
“Is that right?” Shonda scanned Madeline’s hands. “I don’t see a ring, though—did you take it off to make the cookies? If I were you, I’d keep it in my pocket—considering the way things keep walking off your table,” she added, casting another glance at Amanda.
“Oh, no ring yet,” Madeline said awkwardly.
“Because I haven’t picked it out yet,” Grath said quickly. “But I’m planning to very soon—after all, the holiday season is for gift giving, isn’t it?”
“It certainlyis.” Shonda’s eyes sparkled. “Well, I hope you get her a ring that’s worthy of her.” And she nudged Madeline’s arm with her elbow and gave her a knowing wink.
Madeline smiled back.
“Well, thank you for the sugar—I’d better get going. My dough has to chill a little while before it can go in the oven.” She nodded at the large refrigeration unit which had been set up at the other side of the room.
“Get baking,” Shonda said, smiling. “Mine has to chill too, so I’d better do the same.”
The two females nodded and smiled at each other and both went back to their respective tasks.
Grath was glad that the powdered sugar incident had been resolved. He had been every bit as upset as Madeline—maybe more—when the important ingredient went missing. Again he wished he could search under table number ten where Amanda was working, but he was sure it would be against the rules of the contest. Anyway, Madeline had what she needed now to proceed so hopefully there would be no more problems.
And it didn’t seem there would be. Madeline had the dough mixed in no time. Then she covered the metal bowl it was in with plastic wrap and nodded at Grath.
“Come on—let’s get this to the freezer and let it chill for a while. And once it’s in, we’re going to stand there and guard itwith our livesto be sure nothing happens to it!”
Grath agreed this was a sensible precaution, so he accompanied Madeline across the room where she put the ball dough safely into the freezer unit and shut the door firmly.
“So now we wait,” Grath remarked as he settled himself on the floor and leaned back against the wall.
“Yup.” She sighed pensively and he noticed she was looking at the stage at the far end of the room where the judges were seated.
“Worried about the judging?” he asked.
Madeline shook her head.
“No, I was just thinking. This is the same room they hold the Yule Ball in, you know? And that’s where Ethan—my brother-in-law—got down on his knees and proposed to Anna.”
“So it was a very public proposal,” Grath said, frowning. “What if she’d said no?”
“Oh, nobody proposes at the Yule Ball unless they’re sure of getting a ‘yes,’” Madeline said and sighed again. “I was kind of jealous at the time, you know—but I can’t help being happy for them. They’re just sorighttogether.”
Grath saw that she was feeling melancholy—possibly because her sister had a mate and she didn’t—and he wanted to cheer her up.
“Come sit with me, baby—let’s talk,” he said, reaching for her hand.
“Okay. What do you want to talk about?” Madeline started to settle beside him but Grath pulled her into his lap instead so that her back was against his front.
“Oh!” Madeline exclaimed rather breathlessly. “What are you doing?”
“Just letting everyone here know that you’remine,” Grath growled.
He knew he probably shouldn’t be doing this—shouldn’t be getting even closer to her. But somehow he couldn’t help himself. Looping his arms loosely around her waist, he pressed his cheek against hers and inhaled her delicious, feminine fragrance. “Mmm, you smell sweet—like that banilla stuff you used in the ball dough,” he remarked.
“That’svanilla,”Madeline corrected him with a breathless little laugh. “And it’s a pretty common ingredient—you put it into almost every single cookie and cake recipe there is.”
“Well, whatever it is, I really like it,” Grath growled in her ear. “You smell good enough to eat, little girl. And I mean that fuckingliterally,” he added.
