In winter it looked spectacular, but Dahlia had told her stories of St Martin in the summer too, where the ski runs became lush pastures and the sun was hot and the quaint little church that formed the heartbeat of the village staged concerts that sent music ringing out across the valleys. Isla had decided she’d like to see chamois and wild sheep ambling across the hillsides, to take the roads out to the Péclet glacier or scale the nearby peaks and look down on the towns below. She’d hike in the day and drink wine on the veranda of Serendipity Sound in the evening as the sun set and the fireflies began to bustle in the long grass. She’d have no company but her own, and she’d love it. It was strange – a week ago she couldn’t have thought of anything she’d rather do less than hiking in the wilderness, not a shop or bar or café in sight.
Pulling up her collar to keep out the cold, she picked up the pace, soft fresh snow yielding easily beneath her feet with that satisfying creak of a path not yet trodden. Snatches of heat and music rolled out into the frosty air from briefly opened doorways, the sounds and smells of packed restaurants and bars as people sought respite from the cold and to share a few hours of good company. But for Isla right now, the best company was her own, and although these bright, wood-smoke interiors were tempting, she was happy to go on her own way and leave the hikers, the après-ski crowds and the snowboarders to their revelling. She just wanted to feel small, to feel lost but not alone in a universe that was so much bigger than her, to lose sight of all the petty struggles that bothered her in the small hours of the morning.
At heart, she’d always considered herself a city girl, tied to civilisation and the modern comforts she barely gave a second thought to, but the Alps were changing her in a way she had never expected and could never have dreamed of. St Martin had crept up and burrowed into her soul, and now she realised that she could never forsake it.
In her jeans pocket she felt her phone vibrate. There was nobody she felt a burning desire to talk to right now. If it was Justin, she still hadn’t decided what to say to him, and if it was anyone else they’d call back. Anyway, she wasn’t going to be able to reach for it without taking off her huge cosy gloves so the decision was made for her. She ignored it.
Half an hour saw her at the town boundaries. For such a vibrant community it was sometimes easy to forget that it was actually a very small place. The buildings suddenly stopped and the horizon was lost in darkness, the mountains and forests shadows against the indigo sky. Isla halted and took a deep breath. It was possible that this was the furthest she’d ever really been from civilisation in her whole life – at least alone. She stepped forward, another inch from the twinkling lights of the town behind her. Then again, and before she knew it she was walking – away from the avenue. If she could face this then perhaps she could face anything and it made her want to try harder, to test herself, to see how much uncertainty she could take before she caved in and ran back to the safety of St Martin. If she could do this then perhaps she could go home a little braver, be able to deal with the inevitable onslaught from her mum, with the mistrust she still felt for her dad, the resentment she still felt towards Celine, Benet and Natalie though she desperately fought it. Perhaps this was the moment she finally took control of her life, and it started, here and now, with a walk into the dark.
She walked slowly, one uncertain step after another, scared but feeling more alive than she’d ever felt before. Ten minutes later she halted on the road. It seemed to be getting colder, though that hardly seemed possible, and the darkness now pressed in as the lights of the town faded behind her.
‘Maybe that’s enough bravery for one night,’ she muttered, with a small smile at her lips. It may have only been small steps, but her journey had begun.
Justin was waiting outside the hotel. Isla knew his silhouette so well already there was no mistaking the figure propped up against the wall. Faltering, she stood and stared, momentarily thrown. While she had expected a few more text messages, maybe even a phone call or two, she hadn’t imagined for a moment he’d turn up at Residence Alpenrose. She had to hand it to him, he had balls for daring to after the way they’d parted the day before. He was motionless, staring up into the sky, his breath curling into the night as the sodium yellow of a streetlight washed over him. He turned and saw her. Too late to duck behind a building and wait for him to go, Isla knew there was nothing else for it; she straightened her back, jutted out her chin and marched over.
‘I suppose you’ve come to see me,’ she said.
‘Isla, I need a minute to explain—’
She held up a hand and then gave a brisk nod. ‘OK. And then you go.’
He scratched his head and threw her a look that bordered on reproach. As if she was the one being unreasonable… but it faded fast and he took a deep breath and smoothed his features. ‘We parted badly last night…’
‘You don’t say.’
‘But I thought it was what you wanted. I mean, you were so…’
‘I didn’t have a lot of choice considering you launched yourself at me.’
‘You did not fight me away.’
‘You weren’t exactly giving me a chance to fight. You took me by surprise and I’ll admit that up until that point I fancied you. It doesn’t make what you did right, though.’
‘You want me, and I’m not wrong about that.’
Isla sighed. ‘You’re not wrong, but the way you went about things was wrong. If there was an attraction then you’ve killed it now.’
He was silent for a moment, his gaze cast to the ground, and Isla almost felt sorry for him. Almost. But if his behaviour last night, and his refusal to accept any blame since, were anything to go by, this was a relationship that would be filled with poison from the start. If he could adopt this tone now, what would he be like if they got closer?
Looking up at her he forced a bleak smile. ‘Can we start again? Pretend we have never met and try to get it right?’
Isla shook her head. ‘I’ve seen the real you and I don’t think I like it much.’
‘That’s not the real me. That Justin is driven mad with desire, but I’m not like that. If you give me time I can show you.’
‘Does desiring something give you the right to reach out and take it?’
‘Of course not – you do not understand what I am saying.’
‘Then what are you saying? Justin…’ She paused. ‘You can’t even tell me the truth about Grandma Sarah’s holiday home.’
‘I told you what happened. What’s wrong with you? Why do you always have to be so suspicious? Why can’t you believe the truth?’
‘I don’t know, but I just know when something isn’t right.’
‘You’re crazy.’
‘Maybe, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I don’t see a way forward for a relationship and it doesn’t even matter because I’m going home tomorrow. What were you even expecting coming here tonight? To get a second crack at seducing me? To get me into bed tonight? I’m not a prize to be won and I don’t do one night stands – not with anyone, ever.’
‘We could see each other again. You will come back to St Martin?’
‘I might, but it wouldn’t be to see you. Go home, Justin. Go back to the girlfriend you probably have tucked away somewhere. ’
She turned to the hotel doorway and he grabbed her arm, spinning her back to face him.
‘You’re wrong – there’s no girlfriend in St Martin, I swear. Isla, I’ll admit one thing – OK? I’ll admit that I never meant to fall for you and the plan was always to help get our inheritance. I’ll admit that Celine promised me a share if I could help to secure it. But when I met you, all that changed.’
Isla’s eyes narrowed. ‘Celine put you up to this?’
‘Not exactly. She was not cruel, only desperate. They are not as rich as they look and they need the money to keep the business running. It was less of a plan, more an understanding that perhaps I could influence things.’
‘Does Ian know about any of this?’
‘He knew that I was trying to make you see sense. But this you know; I never made a secret of it.’
‘And the charm offensive that led to you lunging at me last night? Did my father know about that?’
Justin’s mouth twisted into a grimace. ‘Of course not! He would be horrified!’
‘Unlike Celine.’
He threw her a withering glance that told Isla exactly what he was thinking. She’d been perfectly sweet and courteous, but in reality why would Celine have any reason to care about Isla? Ian’s other daughter was nothing but an inconvenience, a reminder of a past he’d had long before they’d met and a threat to her own family stability. They were silent for a moment and then Isla recalled the feeling of his hand still gripped around her bicep. Even as she looked down at it with a silent signal to let go, she heard a familiar voice from the doorway of the hotel and her insides were suddenly colder than the air of the street they stood on.
‘Isla! Is everything OK?’
She turned to see Seb on the hotel steps, his face a mask of concern.
‘Seb…’ she replied weakly. ‘I’m fine, I just…’
‘Who’s this?’ Justin asked, inclining his head at Seb.
‘I’m the person who’s wondering why you’re grabbing her arm in such an aggressive manner,’ Seb replied, stretching to his full height.
‘It’s not aggressive and it’s none of your business,’ Justin replied, letting Isla’s arm drop anyway.
Seb ignored his reply and turned to Isla. ‘Is he bothering you?’
Justin cut in before she’d opened her mouth. ‘What are you going to do about it? I told you, this is not your business. Leave us.’
‘I think I can answer for myself,’ Isla said, throwing an indignant glare at Justin. ‘Yes,’ she continued, turning to Seb. ‘He is bothering me, but I can handle it. Thank you all the same.’
‘Are you sure?’ Seb asked. ‘Only… well, Dahlia said you had a reservation for seven and it’s now twenty past and so…’
‘Isla said she was OK,’ Justin warned.
‘She said nothing of the kind,’ Seb fired back, the blush rising to his cheeks visible even in the dim glow of the street lights. ‘She said you were bothering her, which is not the same as being OK.’
‘Tell me,’ Justin said, climbing the steps to square up to Seb now. ‘What do you know about this? Isla is my family, and this is family business.’
‘She’s my friend and I know what I saw.’
Isla manoeuvred to get between them.
‘Leave it, Seb,’ she cried. ‘I said I could handle it.’
‘I know you did but—’
‘I said leave it!’ Isla repeated, a little more forcefully than she intended. The last thing she wanted was a fight breaking out.
Seb gave her a look like a wounded pup that made Isla’s stomach lurch. This wasn’t supposed to happen; she’d only meant to get him safely out of the way. He nodded and said curtly, ‘I understand. I just wanted to tell you that Dahlia was worried because she knew you were exploring on your own and you hadn’t come back in time for dinner. But now I see you’re OK, I’ll let you get on. Excuse me.’
He slipped past them both, down onto the street, and walked away. As much as Isla desperately wanted to run after him, to explain that she hadn’t meant to hurt him and to say that his concern filled her with a strange kind of hope that she couldn’t fully explain, from the corner of her eye she noticed Justin fighting back a smug grin.
‘Go away, Justin,’ she hissed. ‘I think you’ve done enough damage, and if there was any tiny spark of reconciliation possible then you’ve certainly put that out now.’
‘So you won’t talk to me at all? You can’t give me five minutes?’
‘You’ve had more than five minutes and you haven’t convinced me yet. What’s the point in another five? There’s nothing you can say to me that will change my mind. The way I feel right now I could phone Grover Rousseau tomorrow morning and tell him to forget the inheritance deal entirely, and if anyone asked me why I would tell them it was your fault. So I think you’d better go before you lose whatever little gift your aunt has promised you for trying to scam me in the first place.’
‘Isla, you misunderstand—’
‘Stop it! Please, just stop it! I don’t want to hear any more of your bullshit. I just want to eat my dinner and go to bed ready for my flight tomorrow so I can get back to England and forget you ever existed. That’s it. So please go. If what you’ve said is true, and you did care for me at all, then please do me this one kindness to prove it. Leave me alone and don’t ever call me again.’
Justin’s mouth opened and then closed again. If he was going to argue, Isla never got to hear what that argument was. She didn’t give him the chance. She turned on her heel and headed through the doorway of Residence Alpenrose, slamming it hard behind her.
Isla made her way straight to the dining room and Dahlia rushed to the doorway to meet her.
‘I was so worried,’ she said. ‘Did you get lost?’
Isla shook her head with a rueful smile. ‘Not exactly.’
‘Oh. Want to talk about it, honey?’ She inclined her head at a relatively quiet dining room.
‘A whole two waitresses?’ Isla said, trying, but failing, to raise a playful smile. ‘That’s absolutely staggering. What’s the special occasion?’
‘For once nobody called in sick,’ Dahlia replied, a smile of her own hovering about her lips. ‘Seriously, Isla, you look shaken to the core. Want to tell me what’s happened?’
‘Do I?’ Isla asked. She’d been convinced that she’d been keeping a lid on her emotions but it appeared she was wrong about that. Or perhaps Dahlia was more perceptive than most. ‘Honestly, I’m fine.’
‘OK. So convince me you’re fine – talk to me.’
Isla glanced around the dining room. ‘I’m sure you’re too busy to listen to me witter on.’
‘I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it. I won’t pry if you don’t want me to but I’m all yours if you need a friendly ear.’
‘You might regret that offer.’
‘I might, but I doubt it. Try me.’
Even as Isla was formulating a reply, Dahlia was herding her to a tiny office behind the bar. ‘Sit down, honey,’ she smiled. ‘You can trust that anything you want to tell me won’t go any further.’
Isla forced a smile in return. She didn’t really care about that – what did it matter who knew what about her business? She was going home tomorrow and after a few days nobody in St Martin would even remember her name. Well, almost nobody.
‘I think I might have just upset Seb,’ she said.
‘He’s gone out. Said he needed some air – poor guy’s been cooped up in his suite working all day.’
‘I know, I saw him on the steps just now,’ Isla replied. The mystery of where he’d been all day had been solved. She wished she’d just knocked and seen him instead of being silly about it. Perhaps then she wouldn’t have been fighting Justin off and pissing off Seb into the bargain.
‘Whatever happened between you two on the steps is what’s upset you so?’
‘Oh, God, no. It’s something he happened to get in the middle of… it’s nothing – silly really.’
‘But you can tell me. Maybe I won’t think it’s silly.’
Isla sighed. ‘Let’s just say I think I’ve been taken for a mug and I ought to have known better.’
‘Is this something to do with the meetings you’ve been having?’
Isla nodded as Dahlia took a seat across from her and folded her hands in her lap. ‘My dad lives here in St Martin,’ Isla said. ‘I hadn’t seen him since I was five, and one day I get a letter out of the blue from a solicitor’s office to say I’ve inherited some property from my grandma.’
Dahlia’s forehead wrinkled. And then her eyes widened as she processed the information and obviously came to a surprising conclusion. ‘Wait… You’re Ian McCoy’s girl?’
‘Yes.’
‘Of course!’ Dahlia smiled. ‘I never made the connection even when I saw the name!’
‘You know him then?’
‘Honey, in a town this small we’re all connected somehow. Though to be honest I didn’t know he had a daughter other than Natalie.’
‘And I don’t suppose I’m someone he would have talked much about outside his family.’ Isla broke into a wry smile. ‘I don’t suppose the fact that we’re different skin colours would have helped you connect the dots either.’
Dahlia chuckled. ‘I suppose not.’ She held Isla in an appraising gaze. ‘Well I never,’ she added. ‘Who’d have thought it? So he was with your mother before Celine?’
‘Yes. We hadn’t seen or heard from him for years – at least I hadn’t. Apparently Mum had, but she kept it to herself for reasons she’s not telling me.’
‘So you came here to find him?’
‘I came here because of the will, but I didn’t expect much to come of it. Imagine my surprise when I found out I was inheriting a chalet here.’
‘Sarah’s holiday place?’
‘Yes. You know it?’
‘I’ve been up there once or twice with her. Beautiful house.’
‘It is,’ Isla agreed.
Dahlia paused, studying Isla carefully again before she finally spoke. ‘So you’re renting it out? To holidaymakers?’
‘Renting it out?’ Isla frowned. ‘It’s not even mine yet!’
‘Only… well, I had a couple in here last week. They were passing through but loved the area so much they wanted long-term accommodation to come back and spend the summer here. I told them about a rental site and we looked at Serendipity Sound together.’
‘What?’
‘It’s up on the site.’
‘Should it have been taken down? Perhaps it was still listed from before Grandma Sarah died.’
‘Sarah would never let that place to strangers – she loved it too much. It’s been listed recently. I just figured Ian or Celine had listed it as I assumed they’d inherited it along with Sarah’s house back home. I had no idea it wasn’t theirs yet, and I hadn’t bumped into them to ask.’
A Cosy Candlelit Christmas: A wonderfully festive feel good romance (An Unforgettable Christmas Book 2) Page 17