Passionate Chef, Ice Queen Boss / Rescued in a Wedding Dress. Cara Colter

more qualified cook than you are.’

      Lorenzo made a sound in the back of his throat. ‘Of course I trust Isabella in the kitchen. That’s not what I meant.’

      ‘Whatever you meant, we’re wasting time.’ Scarlett glared at him across Luca’s desk. If her anger was somewhat of a shield, she wasn’t about to admit it.

      Lorenzo stared back and whatever thoughts he had disappeared in his eyes. ‘By all means, please go on with what you need to say.’

      ‘I will.’ Another curl of Scarlett’s hair slid from its moorings and lay against her cheek. Scarlett gritted her teeth and asked herself how a few minutes in his company could get her so worked up so easily. She’d just finished telling herself she would treat this in a calm, professional manner.

      Lorenzo’s gaze clung to her hair for a moment before he raised it to meet her eyes.

      Dark brown to sherry brown.

      Five years older to aeons wiser.

      He’d be thirty-two now. Scarlett was twenty-eight. That extra layer of maturity…flattered him.

      ‘Do you understand the reason for my presence at Rosa?’ Scarlett didn’t know what Isabella had told him. She doubted Luca would have said much. Her uncle had hidden the state of Rosa’s finances even from Isabella for as long as he could. It had taken effort to get Luca to the point where he was willing to have Scarlett come in to try to clean things up here.

      Lorenzo made a ‘Who knows?’ gesture with his hands. ‘You’re here as Financial Manager for the time being. Isabella has relinquished her management to you, though she’ll still be actively involved in the restaurant in other ways. In other words, you answer only to Luca himself, though he’s been quite scarce here of late.’

      ‘Good. You understand, then.’ In fact he had a better grip on his knowledge of events than Scarlett had imagined.

      Lorenzo examined her face. Maybe he was searching for her response to him? Or maybe he saw a different woman five years on from the one he had known? Well, he’d helped Scarlett to become that woman. Self-contained, determined, career-focused and beyond guarded in some ways. She’d been halfway there before she even met Lorenzo.

      ‘As Head Chef and Assistant Manager you will answer directly to me. Everything you do will be under my scrutiny, and I expect your full co-operation with any changes I decide to make to improve the financial bottom line of the restaurant.’ This was what needed to be said.

      ‘I run a good kitchen and do my best with the resources Luca has allowed me.’ He spoke the words and then clamped his lips together before he added, ‘All of us have had to work within the framework of Luca’s feelings about employing and buying locally and treating the staff in some ways as a big family.’

      And Luca loved to be generous and giving. This was something Isabella had brought up and, though her cousin hadn’t gone into much detail, Scarlett had wondered whether this had caused problems for Isabella in her management efforts. Scarlett would look into it.

      ‘I’m accustomed to co-operation, Lorenzo. This morning, by your actions, you communicated to other members of the staff here that I can wait until it suits you if I request a meeting.’ She drew a breath. ‘I don’t want to have to make changes to the staffing here, but I also will not work with a head chef who doesn’t respect my authority.’

      Scarlett’s message was clear, and clearly received if the tightening of Lorenzo’s expressive mouth was any indication.

      ‘We received a special order—’ He cut the words off and shook his head. ‘My apologies for not attending you immediately. It would be great if in future you could give me a little notice so I can leave the kitchen without any negative impact on the work there, but if you can’t, you can’t. I will still co-operate with you to the fullest.’

      He held her gaze with a level one of his own. ‘I value this job. Every step I take is aimed at making the best of Rosa that I possibly can.’

      ‘Then I’m sure we understand each other and will get along just fine.’ Scarlett’s fingers closed over a typed list on Luca’s desk. ‘I’d like to discuss the current staffing policies with you. I understand from Isabella that you’ve been given a fairly free rein to make decisions about the number of kitchen hands employed at any given time, how you roster them, that sort of thing.’

      ‘I have enough kitchen hands to meet the kitchen’s needs. Some of them, Luca has speared into the positions when I…might not have chosen them for the work, but I do my best with the workers I have.’

      It wasn’t a negative statement. Scarlett got the impression it was an honest one.

      Lorenzo named staff members. He explained whether they were full or part time, hours they worked and what their roles were. ‘There is room for all of them to improve their skills in one way or another. I work on that on a daily basis.’

      For a restaurant the size of Rosa, the staffing levels seemed appropriate. ‘I’ll want to examine your kitchen roster some time in the next day or two.’ And the wages and staff conditions, but those weren’t Lorenzo’s responsibility.

      There had to be reasons why Rosa didn’t make a better bottom line financially. Scarlett would turn the restaurant inside out to discover those reasons and fix them.

      For now she needed to know: ‘How economical are you with your cooking methods? What are you doing to reduce ingredient wastage? How often do you have Isabella in to supervise the making of the special tomato sauce?’

      ‘Within the guidelines I have to work with, I believe I’m being quite economical.’ Lorenzo stared into Scarlett’s sherry-brown eyes and assured himself he could and would finish this interview in a calm relaxed manner no matter how many questions Scarlett threw at him or how less than happy to see him she might appear to be. And no matter how concerned he felt about his job security with Scarlett now in a position to decide his fate.

      He didn’t need any more ripples in his work record, but what could he do besides work hard and perform to the best of his ability?

      Regret tugged at him. It wasn’t easy to look into Scarlett’s lovely face and keep memories at bay. That was a problem he’d worried over since he first heard she would be coming to Rosa to act as Financial Manager. He wanted to ask how she’d been—was she happy? So many things. He couldn’t ask any of those questions. It was all long gone, the mistakes and missteps were made. He couldn’t fix the past. And his present.

      ‘I maintain a high standard in my kitchen.’ Best to stick to these things with her. Best not to notice her too much, and he was trying not to notice how lovely she looked in the prissy cream blouse. She’d teamed it with a deep crimson and cream pinstriped skirt that had clung to her hips as she stalked out of the kitchen minutes ago.

      The clothes were businesslike yet still practical for Italy’s summer weather. But did Scarlett think the outfit made her look severe? Remote? If so, she didn’t have much idea. Her hair slipping from its moorings put paid to that, as did the bright pink ribbon that adorned the silky black mass.

      That and the softness that she couldn’t quite hide, deep in the backs of her guarded eyes. She might play the tough boss lady, but it was clear she still had…her softer side.

      ‘My reputation and that of the restaurant are on the line with every meal produced.’ His tone wanted to soften. He forced it to remain businesslike. His job could be on the line here, which meant he couldn’t let himself indulge in memories of the past when, for a time before it all went wrong, he and Scarlett had been happy together.

      He forced the words out. ‘If a dish is substandard it’s thrown away, but my ultimate goal is to ensure everyone on my team works hard enough and carefully enough to always produce a dish worthy of the standards of Rosa.’

      ‘Throwing meals out at all—that’ll have to stop.’ Scarlett leaned forward in her chair.

      ‘Sometimes