‘OK.’ Already feeling nervous about her decision, Lily followed Luc. They got a chair lift, which in itself was a feat of precision and skill.
‘Sit down!’ Luc cried as the lift came up and bumped their legs.
Sitting down quickly, Lily put her skis over the footrest as instructed and let Luc pull the bar down.
‘Oh God,’ she breathed, looking down. ‘We’re high, Luc. And our skis are dangling in the air.’
‘Good, isn’t it?’ Luc high-fived her. ‘Look at you,’ he added more quietly. ‘I am so proud of you. You decided you wanted to do this and now you have done it.’
‘We’re not down the blue yet,’ Lily warned. ‘And it’s a bit windy, isn’t it?’ The chairlift wasn’t as bad as she had thought it would be, but she wasn’t enjoying the way it was swinging around in the gusts of wind.
Luc said nothing but looked ahead. ‘Check out the view.’
It was incredible. Dark green fir trees studded the steep-looking slopes. Naked Christmas trees, Jamie had always called them, and snow stretched out before them and behind them.
‘This lift was replaced a few years ago,’ Luc informed her.
‘Please don’t say it broke,’ Lily pleaded, feeling her stomach turning somersaults. ‘I can’t even think about stuff like that.’
Luc laughed. ‘Fair enough. OK, to get off, we stand and let our skis glide down the slope.’
Lily felt a tremor of fear again, but she did as she was told. She wobbled as she let her skis glide down the slope, but she managed it.
‘Well done.’ Luc directed her to the side. ‘So. A blue run is like a green run with a slightly steeper slope, but we do not care about that. We are going to cross from side to side the way we did on the nursery slopes and not take any notice of the slope itself. OK?’
‘OK.’ Lily followed Luc slowly across the slope.
‘Snow ploughs for now so you feel comfortable,’ Luc shouted. ‘And then we will start to draw one ski close to the other one.’ He demonstrated, making the move look smooth and easy.
Lily took a gulp of cold air and did her best to copy Luc. Her leg felt as heavy as lead as she tried to draw it round. It simply would not do as it was told!
‘Why can’t I do it?’ she shouted to Luc in frustration.
‘Do it again!’ he yelled back.
Lily tried again. Her leg still felt like a dead weight, but this time, she managed to bring it in more sharply.
‘And the other way!’
Lily did as she was told.
‘And again!’ Luc called.
Lily did it again. And again and again. Buoyed up with her success, Lily lost concentration and then control, and her skis went one way and her body the other.
‘Ouuff.’ She landed with her face in the snow. She spat it out. ‘Not the face, not the face,’ she joked, as Luc pulled her up. ‘Am I bleeding?’
‘No.’ Luc sternly brushed snow from her helmet. ‘So that is a lesson in keeping your focus.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Lily said meekly. He was right, of course.
‘But apart from that… I am so proud of you!’
Luc scooped her up into his arms. Lily’s face ended up in Luc’s neck and she caught the full force of his aftershave. It was delicious. And his body was all warm and sexy and firm and…
‘Bloody hell,’ she said as he released her.
‘What?’ Luc was confused.
Not as confused as Lily. The only person who had made her feel all wibbly like that before was Jamie. And the wibbliness she had just felt with Luc had been completely different. It was hotter, more disorientating, more disturbing and just… hotter.
‘Nothing,’ she mumbled, adjusting her goggles. ‘What now? More of the same?’
Luc looked up towards the sky. ‘Merde,’ he muttered under his breath.
‘What’s wrong?’ Lily felt panicked. When Luc looked worried, she knew she needed to worry.
‘Whiteout,’ Luc said to her, pointing.
‘Oh my God.’ Lily felt herself go pale. Not a whiteout. That was the thing she had always dreaded. All around them and descending from above was a white cloud like thick, snowy fog that wound itself around them. Within seconds, they could barely see more than a few metres in front of them.
‘Do not panic,’ Luc instructed her calmly. ‘We are going to stick to the sides and follow the flags. We are going to do smaller parallel turns or snow plough turns. Worst case, I will ski in front of you in a snow plough and you will hold my poles. I will get you down.’ He touched her chin. ‘Do you trust me?’
‘Y-yes.’ Lily was shaking all over. This was terrifying. They were on a blue run and she couldn’t see a thing. She wasn’t confident with her parallels and this was steeper than anything she’d ever been on before.
‘Follow me. My parents have a little place down here. Let’s aim for that. I wanted to take you there anyway.’
Luc’s authoritative tone reassured her, and Lily had no choice but to do as she was told. Her legs were wobbly, her hands were gripping her poles way too tight, and Lily knew that fear had hunched her entire body up. It was the worst thing she could possibly do when skiing. Lily struggled to parallel turn in such a narrow space and being near the edge was putting the fear of God in her. She couldn’t see the edge. What if she skied off it into the abyss? She didn’t know what was on the other side. Was it more snow, a steeper slope, trees… nothing?
‘Luc, stop,’ she shouted, coming to a clumsy stop. She could barely see him and she wished he was wearing his red jacket today. ‘I can’t do that. I’m too scared.’
‘Tuck in behind me,’ he instructed firmly, getting into a snow plough position. He grabbed her poles and tucked his in under his arms so the ends were sticking out behind him. Lily grabbed the ends and positioned her skis inside Luc’s. She wobbled as they started to move, but she held her stance and let him guide her. Finally, she felt safe. Luc did little turns where he could, but mainly, he controlled his snow plough for a while, which must have killed his thighs almost as much as it killed Lily’s.
The whiteout was still in full force, hanging like a snowy fog over and around them. It was eerily quiet with only the occasional noise of another skier slowly passing them. Lily and Luc didn’t speak as they descended. Luc was no doubt concentrating, and Lily… well, basically she didn’t want to die.
We must be near the bottom, Lily thought to herself, her thighs screaming. We simply must be. And how long do these bloody whiteouts last?
Just when she thought she couldn’t possibly ski any more, Luc took a gentle turn to the right. How he could see in this heavy white smog was anyone’s guess, but maybe he was more used to it. Lily gripped Luc’s poles for dear life and did her best to match the movement of his skis with hers. They slowed to a halt and Lily realised they were by some kind of log cabin.
Luc wiggled away from her skis and, turning, pointed at the log cabin. He shuffled over to it and took his skis off. He helped Lily with hers, then fumbled around in his jacket. Finding something – a key? – he unlocked the door to the cabin and pushed it open. Lily almost fell through the door she was so grateful to have cover.
Leaving their skis and poles outside, Luc came in and closed the door. Lily took her goggles and helmet off, panting with the effort of the skiing.
‘Oh my God,’ she said. ‘That was…’
‘That was a bad one,’ Luc agreed. ‘My legs are killing me.’
‘Me too.’ Lily glanced around. They were in the cutest log cabin. It was small, but well-equipped and very cosy. Wooden beams, cream and fern-green furnishings and lots of personal touches, presumably courtesy of Violetta. It was a romantic little hideaway. She took out her phone, tutting as she realised that it was dead.
‘Well.’ Luc glanced out the window. ‘Looks like this is our home for the next couple of hours. That whiteout is not shifting at all.’
‘Right.’ Lily stared at him. Her heart started to hammer slightly in her chest. Stuck in a ro
mantic log cabin with Luc? She could think of worse things.
‘There is a hot tub,’ Luc said, starting to take his boots off. He shot a glance in her direction, but Lily couldn’t read his eyes. ‘I will go and get it started. We… need to warm up after that.’
‘Right,’ Lily repeated dumbly. A hot tub. Were they sharing? Taking it in turns? And just a small thing, but they didn’t have bathing costumes.
Lily gulped and wished she could phone Imogen. She needed to send out an SOS.
Chapter Twenty
Lily removed her boots and wandered around the log cabin, looking around while Luc was fiddling around with the hot tub. The whiteout wasn’t letting up and nothing but white fog could be seen through every window. Lily imagined that the view from this little cabin would be fantastic on a clear day.
There was an adorable little kitchen with wooden units, dark blue touches dotted about and a large oak table in the centre. Little navy curtains the size of tea towels had even been put up in the window and, in opening a few cupboards, Lily could see that it was complete with everything anyone would need.
Luc was back, checking his phone. ‘I have service,’ he said, focusing on the screen. ‘I’ll let everyone know where we are.’
‘Great.’
Luc sent a couple of texts and then dropped to his knees, piling logs into the fireplace.
‘We need to get warm,’ he was saying as he set fire to the logs and some firelighters.
‘Perfect,’ Lily said, feeling an odd mixture of excitement and calm at being in the log cabin with Luc. She was actually quite warm already; the skiing had made her work up a sweat and it was surprisingly toasty in the little hut. She felt rather sweaty, though, so she removed her jacket and hung it on one of the hooks by the front door.
‘I love this place,’ she commented, drinking in the ambiance. ‘It’s lovely.’
‘It is,’ Luc agreed. ‘My parents don’t use it so much now, but I like it as a…’ he paused.
‘Bolthole?’ Lily offered. ‘That’s what we would say in English. Somewhere to escape to.’
‘Yes, that.’ Luc sat back, satisfied with his fire-making skills. ‘There should be some food. Are you hungry?’ He padded past her to the kitchen.
‘A little,’ Lily admitted. She was rather taken aback at how his proximity was affecting her. She had just caught a waft of his aftershave and it was messing with her head. She hoped she smelt of perfume and loveliness, not pongy sweat.
‘What can I do?’
‘See if there is a bottle of mulled wine in that cupboard.’ Luc pointed as he opened another cupboard. ‘Here is some of my mother’s fruit cake.’
‘Sounds delicious. Is this it?’ Lily held up a large glass bottle with a flip lid like some bottles of beer and cider have.
‘Yes. Let’s warm it up.’ Luc poured it into a saucepan and put the gas on. ‘It’s homemade,’ he explained. ‘My mother would not buy something like that from the shops. She thinks it’s too sugary.’
‘It smells wonderful.’ Lily inhaled. It smelt of vanilla and cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. It was a proper mulled wine.
‘It is very alcoholic. That has brandy in it too,’ Luc grinned.
‘Lordy. I’ll never get down the rest of the mountain.’
‘Some people ski better after a few drinks, you know.’
Lily peered into her glass. ‘I don’t know. I always feel as though I need to have my wits about me when I’m skiing.’
Luc looked up, puzzled. ‘Your what about you?’
‘Oh right. I feel that I need to be… on the ball.’ Lily tutted at herself. ‘God! That’s no better. I feel that I need to—’
‘Concentrate?’ Luc offered, hacking the fruit cake up rather roughly.
‘Yes. That.’ Lily laughed. ‘Your English is so good I often forget myself and use funny expressions I assume you’ll understand.’
‘I’ve noticed,’ Luc said drily. ‘But my vocabulary is improving a lot around you. I need to have my wits about me. I’ve got it.’
Lily cheered. ‘Well done, you. I can teach you loads of English swear words too, if you want.’
Luc raised his eyebrow, James Bond-style. ‘I think I know them all, but do give it a try.’
They feasted on the cake, which was rich and stuffed full of candied orange peel and nuts, and they drank the warm wine sitting by the fire. Luc was right; the mulled wine was very strong, but Lily decided it might help her relax. Soon she was trotting out some of her favourite swear words and expressions. Shocking Luc, even, by the look on his face.
She’d worry about the skiing later. The whiteout was still going strong, so Lily had no idea when they were going to venture out of the log cabin. It felt like a cosy, safe cocoon, almost as though real life had been suspended, regardless of whatever might be going on outside.
‘How long do these whiteouts last usually?’ Lily said, watching the swirling cloud from the front window. She couldn’t even see any other skiers at this point. Or much of anything else, to be honest. The log cabin was enveloped by thick, white mist.
‘They can last for twenty seconds or they can last for hours. It depends on how long it takes the cloud to pass over. This is a bad one,’ Luc admitted.
Lily shuddered at the memory of the cold cloud descending on them. ‘Thank you for getting me down,’ she told Luc. ‘My hero and all that.’
‘Anytime,’ Luc said with a grin. ‘You did well to hold your nerve. And my poles.’
Lily swallowed. Why had that sounded suggestive? She was being ridiculous. Luc was always a gentleman and he wasn’t prone to making crude comments. Lily frowned. She really needed Imogen right now. She was all over the show imagining things and maybe even wanting to imagine things.
‘Good parallels earlier too.’ Luc got up and topped up their wine. Clearly, he hadn’t meant to be suggestive in any way; his mind was focused on her skiing technique. ‘We must keep working on those. Not necessarily today, but when we ski together next. I’m booked into some other private lessons over the next few days as the Devereuxs have three English families arriving, but we can ski again after that.’
‘I understand.’ Lily felt a thud of disappointment and berated herself. Silly woman, she scolded. He does have an actual job to do. ‘I like all the photos,’ she commented, pointing to a collection of black and white postcard-sized photographs arranged artistically on the wall.
‘My dad is a good photographer. There are a few of Anais in the bedroom.’
‘Can I look at them?’
‘Of course.’ Luc stood up and led the way to a tiny bedroom. It had a double bed, a miniscule wardrobe and a cute white dresser with dark blue flowers painted all over it. ‘Here.’ He gestured to a cluster of colour photos that had been arranged together in one frame.
Lily studied the photos. Anais had been pretty. Very pretty. She had Raymond’s height by the looks of things and Violetta’s blond hair. Hers was long and tangled in all the photos, as if being neat and tidy had been an anathema to her, but the wild, untamed look suited her. Her dark eyes, so like Luc’s, danced with fun and unspoken laughter in the pictures, making her seem very real and alive. Except that she wasn’t.
Lily felt immeasurably sad. ‘She was so pretty. And she looked full of life. How sad for you all.’
Luc nodded, but said nothing. He touched one of the photos with his finger. ‘I wish you could have met her. She was so full of fun. So funny. She could always laugh at herself, you know? She played the clown, if that is how you say it.’
‘Something like that.’ Oddly, Lily liked it when Luc got something slightly wrong in English. It always sounded rather endearing.
‘Shall we sit in the hot tub?’ Luc suggested, tearing himself away from the photos of Anais.
‘Er… well, I don’t have a swimsuit and I’m not sure we should…’
‘What? Sit in it naked? Together?’ Luc stared back at her innocently. ‘That’s a shame. I was hoping for that when we came her
e.’
‘Oh. Well. That’s rather…’ Lily felt herself blushing and she wasn’t sure she liked this cocky version of Luc.
‘I arranged the whole whiteout just to lure you here. Even if it hurt my thighs,’ he added wryly.
‘Oh.’ Lily suddenly felt silly. Luc was poking fun at her. Of course he didn’t mean for them to sit in the hot tub naked. Lily reminded herself that this little interlude had been accidental. Obviously Luc hadn’t planned any of this, although he had mentioned earlier that he had wanted to show her the log cabin earlier.
Stop it, she berated herself. She just wished she had some idea of how Luc felt about her. Or if he even liked her. Surely he liked her? They were spending an awful lot of time together and he seemed to really enjoy—
‘Lily. Please.’ Luc interrupted her thoughts and opened the door of the miniscule wardrobe. It was full of clothes hanging from the rail, but there were also stacks of clothes to the side. Ski layers, t-shirts, and… swimsuits. ‘If you would like to choose one, I’ll meet you in there.’ He grabbed a pair of bright red shorts and left her to it.
Lily felt embarrassed. Why did she keep making a tit of herself in front of Luc? He was the consummate gentleman, so why was she acting as though he was about to leap on her and ravish the hell out of her? Maybe that was just secretly what she wanted…
No. NO. Lily squashed that thought down as she sorted through some swimsuits. It was time to remind herself of anything that would turn her off when it came to Luc. That was the best option when she was about to sit in a hot tub, half-naked, with the man. Gulp.
So, Luc and Elodie were an item. Surely they were an item? They were absurdly close, and they had either some kind of hold over each other or they were connected on some level. It was as though they had an unbreakable bond. No one had been able to shed any light on it, despite subtle and unsubtle digging. Imogen was none the wiser, and not even the brief chat with Celine during the massage had given her more of an insight. It was so frustrating.
Christmas in Chamonix Page 19