The spice king

Annabelle Larkin left her home in Kansas to take a position as a junior botanist at the Smithsonian and be a companion to her sister, Elaine, who is volunteering at the Library of Congress after losing her sight. To keep her job, Annabelle must manage to gain access to Gray Delacroix's rare-plant collection in the hope of finding a rare orchid. After years of traveling abroad in search of rare spices, Gray has recently returned to Virginia, where he is trying to develop a cost-effective way to create a natural vanilla flavoring. Annabelle and Gray quickly develop feelings for each other, but his distrust of the government and her discovery of his family's links to Cuba soon put them at odds. When it is discovered that a competitor is selling cheap food products with potentially dangerous additives to the military, Annabelle and Gray must work together to stop them. Librarian and Christy Award winner Camden presents another fabulous love story wrapped around compelling historical events in this unique exploration of early efforts to regulate the food industry.--C. L. Quillen Copyright 2010 Booklist