“The dry-cured duck breast can be used in many of the same ways you might serve prosciutto or smoked salmon.”

From the tiered seats of the teaching theater, Ashleigh in her black chef’s attire looked as delicate as a porcelain doll, her redhead’s fair skin seeming luminous in contrast. She held the duck breast up on the palm of her latex-gloved hand, moving it from left to right and back again so that all the students and VIP observers could get an idea of what she was talking about.

“You need a very sharp, very thin-bladed knife to slice it thinly enough.” She held up a knife with a long, blunt-tipped blade, flexing it with her fingertip to demonstrate. “The cured breast is not quite as soft as smoked salmon but is less firm than prosciutto.”

Her hands were sure and deft as she proceeded to slice the delicate meat almost paper thin. When she had finished, she stepped aside so two student assistants could take the slices and begin arranging them on a platter along with cubed papaya and a peppermill.

While they worked, Ashleigh referred the seated students to the brochure she had provided them on the product. Her helpers began circulating through the tiers of attendees, waiting while each helped themself to samples from the trays. The table in front of each student had a bottle of still and a bottle of sparkling water for palate cleansing between samples.

“I think you’ll find the flavor is delicate yet very, very rich. The texture is smoother and less dry than prosciutto, also less salty than either prosciutto or smoked salmon.”

As she was speaking the first “Ooohs” and “Aaahs,” came from those who had already had a taste.

Ash smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Now we come to the painful part – the price. The whole breasts are approximately $30 per pound, with a double breast weighing in at around a pound and a half.” The expected gasps greeted this statement.

“Now you see why most of the recipes I've given you are for food service.” She chuckled along with the crowd. “But a very little bit of this goes a long way – a double breast, properly sliced will make upwards of 150 appetizer servings. It’s a most unusual and delicious focal point for any occasion.”

That was the last item, on her last lesson plan, for the last class of the week. In just under two hours, she would boarding a plane for her home in California and the first weekend not in spent transit for nearly six weeks. At this point, the students were free to walk around, to chat and try to sneak more samples of the products Ashleigh had demonstrated that afternoon.

Ash rotated her neck to ease the tired muscles but turned with a smile for the first query from a caterer hoping to move into a more upscale market. She was always glad to talk with students. Part of her enjoyment in teaching Gourmet and Specialty Foods was to enlighten food professionals on the newest products available, where to get them, and how to use them to grow their businesses.

Ash usually enjoyed the classes as much as her students, but sometimes she had VIPs in the audience who seemed to think that, although their attendance was comped by the Academy, they were entitled to more and special attention. The swarthy, forrtyish man in the front row was one of those.

Ordinarily she insisted that paying students be given first choice of seating, but this fellow had simply waltzed in with the Director and taken the front row center seat on the first day and refused to budge. He was beautifully groomed in obviously hand-tailored suits. Not a hair on his head was out of place; his manicure was perfection.

One or two students looked like they might ask him to move, but he had such an air of disdain about him that even the most hardy wilted and moved away. And the man’s sinister companion with the dead eyes, obviously a bodyguard, who lounged at the entrance of the room waiting and watching everything, didn’t encourage familiarity. She had christened the guard the Stone Man on the first day of class and had had no reason to change that sobriquet.

Since that first session, His Highness, as she had dubbed the VIP, had kept his place in the best seat in the house as if by divine right. The Director had urged her to be patient and pleasant with Ari Haddad since he was a wealthy benefactor who endowed a sizable scholarship at the Academy.

On the first day, Haddad wore a heavy scent, quite delicious, really, but that was another of Ashleigh’s rules, and this one she could enforce. “Rule Number One for this class, no perfumes, colognes, scented hair sprays and so on,” she announced as she began her introduction at the first session.
His Highness had arched an elegant brow and stared down his nose at her. Since even the first tier of seats was elevated from the teaching floor by at least a foot, that wasn’t difficult to do.

“In addition to gatheing my pearls of wisdom,” she paused a beat for the expected laughter, “the whole purpose of attending this class is to taste and smell these foods. You need to be able to absorb all the information they and I have to give you, and you can’t if your olfactory sense is stunned by other scents.”

The man’s expression had been one of comprehension, and he had gracefully nodded his approval. It was what she wanted, ultimately, but his noblesse oblige attitude definitely rubbed Ash the wrong way. She’d have loved the opportunity to refuse him admission to the next day’s session.

He hadn’t spoken a word to her until the final day, when the flurry of last minute questions, requests for another copy of the syllabus, and thanks from grateful students was over. Ash watched the student aide as he put the class evaluation forms into a large manila envelope and sealed it. She signed across the back flap closure; the student signed below Ash’s signature, and her job for the week was done.

The room had finally emptied out and she was about to savor a moment of blessed peace when, out of the corner of her eye, she sensed movement in the doorway. She was startled, thinking herself alone, but she turned casually to see His Highness and the Stone Man standing there. Oh, no, she thought, but pasted on a smile and tried not to show her annoyance.

“Was there something you forgot?”

“No, Miss Probert, I waited until I could speak to you alone.” He smiled benignly at her.

Oh, goody! she thought and hoped the sentiment didn’t show in her expression. “I’m in rather a hurry. I have a plane to catch.” Ash finished wrapping the power cord to her laptop and tucked it in a pocket of her pack. She ignored both of them as she gathered her things and moved toward the door.

“That won’t be a problem. I will take you to the airport in my limousine he informed her. Mr. Draeger, here,” he gestured to the Stone Man, “is an excellent driver. We’ll have you there in no time.”

She tried to stifle her sigh of exasperation, but this really was too much. “I have a cab waiting for me, but we can talk on the way out.” She mentally crossed her fingers that the taxi she’d booked during the lunch break was on time.

“Very well.” He inclined his head, and the two men followed her out the door, waiting while she turned off all the lights and locked the room. “What I have to say...to offer will take only a moment.”

Offer? Ash kept moving along the corridor toward the lobby of the Academy, detouring to drop the room key in the slot of the security guard’s office door. His Highness was obviously exasperated at her lack of attention, but he hung in there.

Miss, Probert. If you would please pause a moment!”

His saturnine face showed exasperation so she explained again. “I really must hurry or I’ll miss my plane.”

At that, Haddad nodded to the Stone Man, Draeger, who stepped to block her path. She was tempted to dart around him, but she had a nasty feeling that he would be there before her. Rather than make a fool of herself, she gave vent to that exasperated sigh and turned to face His Highness.

“Thank you. That is better.” He smiled. A genuine smile, which made him really quite devastatingly attractive. Then he spoke, as though bestowing a great honor, “I would like to offer you the position of my personal chef. It will be...”

Ash couldn’t believe the nerve of the man. “Now just a minute,” she interrupted. “I am a teacher and a professional. I have no interest in catering to the personal tastes of one man when I can share my experience and expertise with so many. I like teaching, and I have no intention of giving it up until I’m too old to stand.”

Then she did dart around the Stone Man who apparently hadn’t been given a signal to stop her. She was very nearly running by the time she reached the front door and breathed a gratified sigh when she saw the cab waiting for her. She hurried down the steps, hopped into the back seat and gave the address of her hotel.

As Ash’s taxi pulled away from the building, Draeger was on his cell phone. “Primrose Cabs? One of our instructors just took one of your cabs from the Culinary Academy, and she left her grade book behind. Could you tell me...the Embassy Suites,” he turned and nodded to his employer. “Thanks, we’ll try to catch her there.”

“Excellent. I’m sure Miss Probert only needs a little time to realize how beneficial it would be to her career to work for me.” Draeger didn’t see what the big deal was, but if the boss wanted a new chef, then he’d get him a new chef.

At the hotel, Ashleigh asked the cabbie to wait while she got her luggage. She’d checked out that morning before leaving for the Academy but left her luggage with the Bell Captain. The hotel was barely a mile from the airport, so the stop took only moments.

She tipped the bellman who stowed her bags in the trunk of the cab. The driver didn’t get out, just released the trunk lock. As she climbed into the cab, she thanked him for waiting. “Okay, let’s get to the airport. I’m flying US Airways,” she said as she buckled her seat belt.

While they pulled out into traffic she busied herself locating her tickets, making sure she had left a book in her pack and hadn’t put them all in her suitcase, and touching up her lipstick. She looked up, then, expecting to see the approach to the terminal. Instead they were turning onto a two-lane road with nothing but trees on either side.

“What?" She twisted to look back toward the highway. "Where are you going? This isn’t the way to the airport!” She couldn’t see the driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror; his visored cap shadowed his face. She was sure it was some kind of silly mistake, but she felt the beginnings of panic anyway.

“Stop this car and turn around, now! I have to be at the airport in five minutes or I won't be able to board my flight.”

The man at the wheel ignored her, slowing the cab to swing onto a narrow dirt road running back into the trees. Truly frightened now, Ash scanned the area. There was nothing to see but trees. The big car jolted and yawed on the rutted track; the driver was going much too fast for the surface yet he seemed to have complete control. She knew that if she didn’t at least make an attempt to get away, she’d probably be dead, or wish she were.

Ash clutched her pack to her chest, shoved down the door handle and prepared to jump. The door wouldn’t open.
The driver turned to grin at her over his shoulder. Stone Man! Draeger, she corrected herself.

At first she was speechless, then she felt a red tide of rage wash over her. “Are you out of your mind?” she screamed. “If you don’t take me to the airport this instant, I’m going to call the police.” She’d just remembered her cell phone in the pocket of her raincoat and immediately wished she hadn’t blurted that out.

She grabbed the little phone, flipped it open and pressed the emergency button. Before she could raise it to her mouth to speak, Draeger had reached back and snagged it out of her hand, flipping it shut and breaking the connection. The cab lurched to one side and almost sideswiped a tree before he brought it back under control.

At this point, Ashleigh didn’t know what to expect. At least she felt less afraid of being raped and murdered than she had when she thought she’d been kidnapped by a deranged cab driver. She laughed a hysterical little bubble of inappropriate mirth and that thought. She peered ahead, expecting to see some isolated mansion with His Highness waiting inside for his captive chef to arrive. Does he really think he can just kidnap someone and expect them to work for him?

Draeger slowed the big car and edged it through a small opening between the trees. From there he could back around and return the way he’d come, and they were far enough from the road that even if the woman screamed no one would hear her.

He put the gear lever into park and turned to look back over the seat at his reluctant passenger. She was huddled in the far corner, clutching her bag to her chest. He’d feel sorry for her but she looked more pissed off than scared. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” His voice was dark and rich. She hadn't heard him speak before.

She was stunned by the offer. Coffee? He really was mad.
“It’s really very good. We’re going to have a little chat, so we might as well be civilized about it.” Giving her a strictly social smile that never reached his eyes, he lifted a thermos from the seat beside him, unscrewed the cap and poured steaming coffee into a cup he had provided.

It really did smell wonderful. She sniffed - just a hint of nutmeg and maybe almond, if she wasn’t mistaken. What are you thinking? Ash couldn’t just sit here drinking coffee with this maniac as though they were in a Starbucks. When he held the coffee cup toward her, she slapped it out of his hand. She immediately regretted the impulse, since most of the hot coffee spilled onto her legs and feet.

“Now, is that any way to behave?” He sounded like an indulgent parent who’d been disappointed in his favorite child. Draeger recapped the thermos and tucked it under his arm. When he got out and was reaching for the back door handle, Ashleigh jerked frantically at the door handle on her side. It wouldn’t budge. She was still struggling with it when she felt a rock hard arm come around her throat.

“Settle down,” he warned her as she gasped and struggled to pull away from him. He was cutting off her air; he knew she’d quiet in a minute. When she had stopped fighting him, he pulled her over to lie against his arm. Her eyes were like saucers, and that already pale skin was whiter than white.

“What are you going to do?” Ash hated that her voice was high and shaky, but she was well and truly terrified. This man wasn’t just going to have a chat with her; she’d be a complacent fool to believe that.

“I’m going to give you some of this nice coffee.” His voice was level, as though this were the most ordinary situation in the world. He uncapped the thermos and put it to her lips, tilting it just enough for the coffee to run in. She took a convulsive swallow, then shoved at his arm.

“No!” Ash fought and flailed for all she was worth, but he just held her with that immoveable arm, inexorably tipping coffee down her throat. She choked and drew in a wheezing breath, then she started to giggle hysterically. “What is it with you and coffee?”

She heard a grunt of amusement from him before her head started to spin. When she tried again to push him away, her arms were too heavy to lift. Her head lolled on his arm, but her eyes were open.

Draeger held her head up and tilted more coffee down her throat, pausing to rub her throat the way he would a cat to get it to swallow medicine. Her eyes drifted closed and her body relaxed in his hold.

When he thought he’d gotten enough coffee down her to keep her quiet for the next couple hours, he tied her hand and foot, gagged her just to be sure, and laid her out on the passenger seat. He covered her with the blanket he’d brought with him and cross-rigged the seat belts to keep her from tumbling off. Then he turned the cab toward the highway south from Baltimore to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

“You’re awake.”

She had started to waken to the soothing sound of rain on the rooftop, but two words in that dark, warm voice, and it all came back in a burst of panic. Ashleigh leapt from the bed and broke for the door. Even if she hadn’t been lightheaded and wobbly, he would have been far too fast for her. She crashed into his hard chest, knocking the breath out of her but barely moving him. She was grabbed in arms hard with bone and muscle. “Settle down.” A soft whisper that held the threat of retaliation is she didn’t heed it.

Ash was furious to find that she was weeping and couldn’t stop herself. Gasping for breath, she wanted to run but knew he would hurt her if she tried.

Draeger felt sorry for the woman, but a job was a job. The way she’d carried on in that cab, you’d have thought he was going to kill her. He didn’t know why the boss had to resort to kidnapping kitchen help, but Draeger had learned not to ask too many questions. He owed him his life, and what little grasp he had on sanity. It made it remarkably easy not to ask questions.

He’d watched the woman while she slept — it took his mind off the incessant rain. He’d spent too many uncomfortable nights sleeping in one jungle or another in heavy rain, never really dry, always on the alert for the death hiding within the shadows of the storm. He needed a distraction.

“Where are we?” It was the first thing she’d said since trying to make a break for it.

“In a motel on the way to Mr. Haddad’s estate.”

Ashleigh stared at Draeger. His face was square and boyish, but he looked anything but youthful. He was tall and massive, and he had strength, frightening strength. She knew. He was still in suit and tie, cuffs down and buttoned. Didn’t he ever relax?

“Why are you doing this? Don’t you have any moral sense?” Her voice was rising in indignation. Draeger whipped his head toward her; the look in his eyes could have cut through steel. Ash cringed away from him, afraid that she’d sent him over some invisible line to a place where killing her was a desirable option. She held her breath until he slowly turned back to continue to staring out at the rain.

She realized she had to go to the bathroom, badly, but she was afraid to attract his attention again. She lay there for a while trying to think of other things until it dawned on her that the alternative to possibly annoying Draeger by asking to use the bathroom would be too humiliating. Well, I just won’t ask, she thought.

Ash sat up slowly and turned to lower her feet to the floor. She could feel his eyes on her as she cautiously rose. She moved slowly toward the opening which was just a lighter place in the darkness, assuming that it had to be the open bathroom door. The man behind her said nothing, wasn’t even breathing as far as she could tell.

At the door, she fumbled inside for the light switch. The glare was blinding, bouncing off the vanity mirror and the white tile walls to lance her eyeballs. She pulled the door closed behind her. Ash squinted into the brightness until she could focus on the commode. Once she had taken care of that necessity, she felt considerably better. A shower would be heaven, but did kidnapping etiquette allow for such a luxury? After dithering about it for a while, she stuck her head into the still dark bedroom. “Did you bring my bags in?”

“Yeah. Why?” All she could see was his silhouette against the widow.

“I’d like to take a shower and change clothes.”

Draeger turned toward her, paused as if weighing her request, then moved off to one side to pick up her bags. When she would have taken them into the bathroom with her, he shook his head. “Nope. Get out what you need.”

He was apparently under the impression that she kept an Ouzi in her luggage. She almost made a snide comment to that effect then thought it would be better not to antagonize the unknown quantity at whose mercy she found herself.
Taking out folded underwear, a pair of jeans, a heavy sweater and fresh socks, she went back to lay them on the lid of the toilet. Then she returned for her sponge bag and hair dryer.

Draeger took the sponge bag from her, fished around in it, removing her nail file, hair spray and nail polish remover before returning it to her. Then he pulled the dryer from her hand, telling her, “You can dry your hair after you come out.”

With her bare necessities, Ash slammed the door in his face and locked it. The nerve of the man. Who does he think I am? McGyver? She flashed on the image of using her hair dryer and the can of hairspray to make a flame thrower. Hmmm, could work. Damn! That would have been a great idea, if only...yeah, if only. Might as well forget about it and get washed and into some fresh clothes.

It wasn’t until she was in the shower that she wondered about the advisability of putting herself in such a vulnerable position with that maniac just the other side of a door with a no doubt flimsy lock. “Huh!” The Stone Man probably didn’t even have hormones. Reassured, she washed with renewed vigor, relieved to feel clean at least.

Draeger stood in the dark listening to the shower run. He wasn’t that used to having women around, at least not the kind you had to watch your manners with. Whores and camp followers were what he was used to. Special Forces had taught him that.

This was different, though. This red head was a pistol. He chuckled remembering when she’d asked him, “What is it with you and coffee?” as he’d been in the process of restraining her and forcing the drugged brew down her throat. And the only sign of weakness she’d shown was when she’d cried after he kept her from making a break for it.

He felt a little bad for kidnapping her, though he still didn't see what all the fuss was about. The boss wouldn't make her stay if she didn't like it there. Then he thought about Haddad's temper and wondered if maybe he wasn't doing a bad thing.

He forced his mind to focus on the remainder of their journey. Another couple hours on the road, and they’d be at their destination. As long as she behaved herself, he wouldn’t have to tie her up again. Then she'd be in the the boss’s kitchen, living in the chef’s wing, and he’d never have to see her again.

Ahsleigh came out of the bathroom with her dirty clothes and her sponge bag. When the Stone Man didn’t move, she packed them in her luggage and looked around for her hair dryer.

“Hurry up. We have to get going.”

“Now?” Ash asked. “It must be the middle of the night, and I need to dry my hair.” He said nothing.

She was suddenly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep for 12 hours straight. She still felt disoriented from whatever he'd put in the coffee. And these week-long workshops were really draining. There was so much to plan for and so many things that could go wrong. Huh. Kidnapping was something she'd never have thought to anticipate.

She usually spent the weekend after one of her trips vegged out at home in Palo Alto with a few books and videos, eating nothing more exotic than tea and toast. When would she have the freedom to do that, in her own house, again? She felt like crying, but she was not going to let that man drive her to tears again.

“Why? Why can’t we sleep like normal people and leave in the morning?”

Draeger was gathering her luggage and other belongings, using only the light that came through the bathroom door. He didn’t answer her, biding his time to see just how feisty she was feeling. If she was being reasonable, he’d explain it to her, if not, he’d have to gag her before she started screaming and maybe woke someone in an adjoining room.

“Aren’t you going to answer me?” Her voice was calmly interrogative, not stressed or angry.

“We only have a couple more hours to drive. I’d like to get it over with, then we can both get some sleep in our own beds.”

Ash said nothing for a moment, then she hissed, “My own bed is on the other side of the country.”

Draeger’s only response was to begin picking up her bags. He turned back at the door. “If you’ll behave yourself, we can do this the easy way. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

She didn’t want him to hurt her either, but she had to fight the urge to charge at him, scratching and kicking in a frenzy of helpless rage. She forced herself to calm, closing her eyes and practicing grounding herself. Those expensive meditation classes had to be good for something.

When she felt she could speak in a normal voice, she opened her eyes. “Alright. I won’t fight you.” But if I get the chance I’ll kill you where you sit, Mister.

He nodded and began taking the luggage out to the cab. When she would have gotten in the back seat again, he held open the front passenger door for her. Ash glanced at him briefly, wondering what this meant, but he wasn’t even looking at her.

They rode in silence. After an hour of driving with no illumination except that thrown by the cab’s headlights, Ashleigh felt spaced out and restless. Trees flashed by in a dizzying procession; once an animal, she wasn’t sure what, but something big, almost darted in front of them but turned back at the last second and bounded off into the darkness.

She couldn’t imagine where they could be going. Having grown up in San Francisco, she wouldn’t have thought there was this much rural roadway in existence. Once they passed a tiny gas station, and she wondered if they wouldn’t need to stop for gas soon. That might be an opportunity for her to summon help or to somehow make a break for it.

She had to face the fact that the only way she was going to get free of him was to either kill him or knock him cold. As long as he was conscious and breathing, he would be too quick and too strong for her. Always appalled by physical violence, Ash found that she could, in this case, seriously contemplate wounding or even killing a man to regain her freedom. Well, maybe killing was a little extreme. Being shanghaied to cook for some megalomaniac was outrageous, but it wasn’t exactly torture in a prison camp.

Ashleigh had been weighing her principles against her desire to escape for what seemed like hours when they pulled up at a set of wrought iron gates. There were wide brick walls at least two feet thick running from either side of the massive entrance and off into the invisible distance. Apparently they’d arrived.

Draeger pulled what looked like a credit card from his pocket and slid it into the brick wall on the driver’s side. The gates glided open and the cab moved through. Ash turned in her seat to watch the gates immediately reverse their direction as soon as the rear of the car was clear.

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