A Taste of the Untamed. Susan Stephens

far away. And impossible for her to visit now she was blind.

       Argentina—the home of the Acostas and Nacho—

      ‘Don’t look so shocked,’ Elias insisted. ‘You know I’ve been slowing down recently …’

      Grace’s thoughts whirled. Elias being less than fit was a terrifying prospect. He was a dear friend.

      ‘You’ll have to go to Argentina without me,’ he said.

      ‘Sorry?’ she breathed in a shocked voice.

      ‘If there was any alternative, believe me, I would suggest it, Grace, but my doctor has insisted I must rest.’

      ‘Then you must rest, and I’ll look after you,’ Grace insisted.

      ‘The business can’t afford for both of us to be away at the same time, and I’m not going to risk losing out on top-quality wine to a competitor. You have to go, Grace. Who else can I ask? Who else can I trust?’

      ‘But what if I let you down?’

      ‘You won’t,’ Elias assured her. ‘I believe in you, Grace. I always have. You must go to Argentina to check this vineyard and its wine production for me.’

      She was filled with concern for Elias and fear at the thought of failing him. ‘I want to help, but—’

      ‘Don’t say But I’m blind,’ Elias warned her. ‘Don’t ever say that, Grace, or everything you have achieved since losing your sight will be lost.’

      ‘And you’ve been there for me from the start.’

      ‘Yes, I have,’ he said pointedly.

      When he had first heard about her illness Elias had sought her out with an unconditional offer of help, saying it was his way of repaying Grace for all her small kindnesses over the years.

      ‘You know how short we are on Argentinian wine,’ he said. ‘Would you have me turn customers away?’

      ‘No, of course not. But do I really need to go to Argentina? Can’t we find someone else to go?’

      ‘No,’ Elias said flatly. ‘Apart from the little matter of trust, I think you need to go to Argentina to prove you can do it, Grace. It’s the next step for you. And if you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for me. I’m trying to make a businesswoman out of you, as well as a connoisseur of wine, and you must always satisfy yourself that things are what they seem to be before you place an order. It won’t be so bad,’ he encouraged. ‘You’ll only be there a month or so—’

      ‘A month!’ Grace exclaimed, horrorstruck. Just when she’d been about ready to say maybe, Elias had moved the goalposts.

      ‘And you must leave right away, to catch the harvest at its best,’ he continued. ‘I’ll need a full report from you, Grace.’

      One of the things she loved about Elias was that he never made any allowances for her being blind. But this was too much. This wasn’t the ‘next step’—it was a huge leap across an unknowable chasm.

      ‘But you know I can’t travel—’

      ‘I know nothing of the sort,’ Elias argued. ‘You can get about London, can’t you?’

      ‘Only because I have Buddy to help me—’

      ‘Exactly,’ Elias interrupted. ‘Grace, I can’t trust anyone else to do this. Are you saying I wasted my money training you?’

      ‘Of course not. I can’t imagine what I’d be doing now if you hadn’t helped me. You know how grateful I am.’

      ‘I don’t want your gratitude. I want you out there doing the job you’ve been trained to do.’

      ‘But I haven’t left the country since—’

      ‘Since your sight was reduced to looking at the world as if through the wrong end of a telescope? Yes, I know that. But I thought you liked a challenge, Grace?’

      ‘I do,’ Grace insisted, remembering the staff at the rehabilitation centre telling her she must keep pushing the boundaries—but not as far as Argentina, surely?

      ‘I can’t travel,’ Elias said flatly, ‘and taking on a new supplier is a huge risk for the business. We have to be sure these wines are as good as they promise to be.’

      ‘Surely sending me in your place is an even bigger risk?’

      ‘Grace, my father taught me, his father taught him, and now I’ve trained you, with many patient tasting sessions—’

      ‘Patient?’ Grace interrupted, starting to smile.

      ‘I love to hear you happy, Grace. Don’t let life frighten you. Please promise me that.’

      ‘But do I know enough?’ she said, still fretting.

      ‘I know sommeliers who have been judging wine for forty years and don’t have your natural ability,’ Elias insisted. ‘There’s only one amateur I can think of who comes close to matching your palate and he just left the building.’

      Grace felt the same tremble of awareness she had felt at that dinner, when Buddy had started barking, but she didn’t believe in coincidence, and there had to be more than one family in Argentina that owned vineyards. And hadn’t Lucia said the Acosta vineyards had been languishing for years?

      ‘You don’t have to worry about Buddy,’ Elias was saying. ‘He won’t be a problem as you’ll both be travelling in style on the Acosta family jet.’

      ‘The Acosta family?’ Grace’s throat closed up as her worst fears were confirmed. ‘Who exactly is it I’m meeting in Argentina?’ she managed hoarsely.

      Elias laughed, as if to confirm his thoughts that she was overreacting. ‘Don’t worry, you don’t have to face the whole tribe at once—just the kingpin, Nacho.’

      ‘Nacho?’ A sound that was half a laugh and half a hysterical sob squeezed out of her throat. ‘You have warned Señor Acosta that I will be travelling to Argentina in your place?’

      Elias took too long to answer.

      ‘You haven’t?’ she said.

      ‘I won’t lose out to a competitor,’ Elias said stubbornly. ‘And I can’t see why you’re making such a fuss. You know the Acosta family, don’t you?’

      ‘You know I do. Lucia is my best friend. You must remember we worked together at the club. And, yes, I’ve met her brothers, too,’ she said, making sure to keep all expression out of her voice.

      ‘Well, there you are!’ Elias exclaimed. ‘You’ll be flying to the far west of their property, where I’m told it’s very beautiful. You’ll see the snow-capped Andes, and all those glorious rivers that feed the vines. It’s perfect wine-growing country—’ Elias stopped. ‘Oh, Grace, I’m so sorry …’

      ‘Please don’t be,’ she said. ‘What I can’t see I can’t tell you about, but I’ll make up for it in other ways, I promise. I’m sure the air will be different—and I can still smell. I can still feel the sun on my face. And the rain,’ she added wryly as the latest in a series of angry winter storms rattled the windows. ‘There will be so many new experiences—’ She stopped, remembering the one experience ahead that really frightened her: meeting the most formidable of the Acosta brothers again. ‘Was Nacho Acosta here today, by any chance?’

      ‘Yes. Nacho’s taken charge of the family vineyards,’ Elias confirmed breezily. ‘I’ve got every confidence in you,’ he stressed. ‘I know I couldn’t have a better representative. This trip is going to be a piece of cake for you, Grace.’

      It was to be hoped the cake didn’t choke her.

      CHAPTER