Daisy James - Lucie’s Vintage Cupcake Company

When life gives you lemons, make lemon-drizzle cupcakes…

Lucie thought that proposing to her boyfriend in Tiffany’s would be the best day of her life. Until he said no. In just a few seconds, her whole world is turned upside-down! And when she accidentally switches cocoa powder for chilli powder at work, she finds herself out of a job too…

Baking has always made life better in the past, but can Lucie really bake her way to happiness? Starting her own company, selling cupcakes out of an old ice-cream van might just be the second chance she needs!

Of course, she never expected to find love along the way…

The delightfully heartwarming romantic comedy from Daisy James!

Lucie's Vintage Cupcake Company

Daisy James

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016

Copyright © Daisy James 2016

Daisy James asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Previously published as When Only Cupcakes Will Do

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 978-0-008-20683-3

Version date: 2018-07-12

DAISY JAMES

is a Yorkshire girl transplanted to the north-east of England. She loves writing stories with strong heroines and swift-flowing plotlines. She has written three novels, The Runaway Bridesmaid , If the Dress Fits and Lucie's Vintage Cupcake Company , all contemporary romances with a dash of humour. When not scribbling away in her peppermint-and-green summerhouse (garden shed), she spends her time sifting flour and sprinkling sugar and edible glitter. She loves gossiping with friends over a glass of something pink and fizzy or indulging in a spot of afternoon tea – china plates and teacups are a must!

Daisy would love to hear from readers via her Facebook page or you can follow her on twitter @daisyjamesbooks.

Thank you to my friends Kathleen and Luigi Sanapo for their generous input on the subject of Italian cakes and confectionery and for the fun in the baking… and the sampling!

To my lovely sister, Hazel

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Epilogue

Excerpt

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Endpages

About the Publisher

Chapter One

‘Okay, people, it’s a big night tonight. The restaurant’s overbooked – how did you let that happen, Sofia? – so we all need to be at the top of our game. I want our diners to marvel over our minestrone, drool over our ditali and swoon when they taste a slice of Lucie’s signature strawberry crostata .’ Gino smiled as he delivered his regular pre-shift monologue to his kitchen staff in preparation for the busiest night of the week at Francesca’s Trattoria.

‘Yes, Chef,’ they chorused.

‘I want us to have fun with it because, when we do, our pleasure shows in the food we serve. However, as we all know, it’s an even bigger night for our very own Dessert Diva.’ Gino’s mahogany eyes rested on Lucie.

‘Yay, Lucie!’

‘Go get him!’

‘Alex is a lucky guy!’

A surge of heat rose to her cheeks as she glanced around at her colleagues who had become friends over the last two years. They had listened to her, offering their own increasingly bizarre suggestions, as she’d organised and plotted every detail of what she planned to do that evening with almost military precision. She was determined that everything would be perfect, nothing would be left to chance, for it wasn’t every day a girl proposed to her boyfriend.

‘Okay, let’s go, guys!’

Lucie strode over to her prep area. She tried to prevent her lips from tweaking upwards at the corners but failed. The sooner she finished that evening’s desserts, the sooner she could wriggle into the Hobbs dress hanging in her locker and be on her way. Francesca frowned on her chefs asking for Friday night off but had reluctantly agreed to her request provided she spent the whole afternoon at the trattoria cooking up a storm. She tightened her apron round her waist, grabbed her favourite silver mixing bowl and began to sift the flour for her strawberry tart.

Soon she was in the culinary zone and her happiness ballooned. She adored Alex, but a very close second in the race for her heart was her love affair with baking and her perfect job as a pastry chef for one of the best Italian restaurants in Hammersmith. She sliced, squeezed, liquidised and whisked; all to the accompaniment of Gino’s barked suggestions, Sofia and Antonio’s increasingly racy gossip, and snippets of an aria from one of Gino’s favourite operas. A mouth-watering aroma of garlic and olive oil, intertwined with caramelised sugar and lemon zest, snaked through the kitchen and caused her stomach to growl as punishment for skipping lunch.

At last she sprinkled a generous dusting of sugar on her torta di cioccolato e mandorle and stood back. She checked her watch. It was time to go.

‘Hey, Lucie! You still over there creating your culinary magic? Go on, get out of here! Go get that handsome guy of yours!’ smiled Gino, dragging her into a bear hug and depositing a noisy kiss on each of her cheeks.

Lucie unravelled the strings of her apron and hung it on its designated hook. Gino ran a tidy kitchen, yet, even left to her own devices, she would have had her workspace as pristine as a surgical operating theatre. Tidy kitchen, tidy life – this was the mantra her mother had drummed into her ever since she had held her first wooden spoon. It had seeped into her consciousness, but had slipped from her sister Jess’s shoulders like sand.

‘Bye, everyone. Wish me luck!’

She almost made it to the door, but Sofia caught up with her. She placed her hand on Lucie’s forearm and met her eyes. ‘Lucie, are you absolutely sure you want to do this?’