OK, so what else did she have to go on? Right, well, Luc had laughed at her that time with Elodie at the Christmas drinks and made her feel like a total wally. And he hadn’t defended her when Elodie had made her fake accusation. He had simply run off after Elodie as if he was going to comfort her and he hadn’t exactly backed Lily up.
And, more importantly, Lily still had feelings for Jamie. He was her close friend and he was fun and lovely and Lily wasn’t going to act on it because of Ivy, but she had feelings for him. For Jamie. Not Luc, Jamie. There. Lily felt in control again. She was back on top and ready to sit in a hot tub with Luc with his top off and those thighs.
Pulling out a black swimsuit with a plunging front and white piping, Lily decided to give it a whirl. Was it Elodie’s? Had she worn it here with Luc? Lily found the thought upsetting for some reason, so she was relieved when she realised the swimsuit still had the tags on. She slipped out of her ski clothes and laid them out to dry, wriggling into the swimsuit. Her bikini line was all good because she’d had it lasered for months at the spa she used to work at in England, and it was one of the best things she’d ever done. The swimsuit fitted her but didn’t do much to hide her cleavage, which was bursting out of the thin material as though it had a mind of its own.
Tugging it up desperately, Lily grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself for good measure. She found a hair band in the dresser and tied her red hair up so it was in a big messy bun on top of her head.
Heading out to the bathroom at the back, she found Luc sitting in the tub with his arms stretched out. He’d brought their glasses of mulled wine in and had set them on the side. Steam rose from the tub and Luc had obviously pushed his blond hair out of his face because it hung wet and comically skew-whiff. It looked dark when it was wet, and he looked different, but still hot. Oh man.
‘Wow. This is lovely.’ Lily fiddled with her towel, wishing Luc would look away. Now would be a really good time to act like a gentleman, she thought to herself. It was to no avail, though, because for once, Luc wasn’t behaving himself. He had his dark eyes fixed on her with amusement.
Sod you then, she thought, whipping her towel off. Climbing the steps with as much dignity as she could muster with legs that were still pink from the cold and maybe also the fire, Lily sank into the warm, bubbly water.
‘Oh, that is heaven,’ she murmured, luxuriating in the warm bubbles. The hot tub felt like the best place to be. Especially with… no, it was just the hot tub. The hot tub felt great. ‘Mulled wine too. A rather perfect day,’ she added, meeting Luc’s eyes rather daringly and forgetting her good intentions from a few moments ago.
‘Isn’t it?’ Luc raised his glass at her, giving her a cheeky smile. ‘I organised the whiteout especially, and on the slope where the cabin was.’
‘Oh, do shut up,’ Lily said, closing her eyes as she sank more deeply into the tub. ‘Stop taking the piss.’
‘The piss? Oh, you mean laughing at you, oui?’
‘Oui.’
‘Actually, I did want to show you the cabin,’ Luc admitted, pulling a ‘so shoot me’ face. ‘I thought you would like it. I just thought we might arrive with more style. You know, with proper vision and side by side, skiing smoothly to the door.’
Lily laughed. ‘Oh really? I think a tandem snow plough is the most elegant way to travel. Apart from the horrific pain in the thighs, that is.’
Luc laughed too. They sat in the tub for another half hour, chatting about nothing in particular. Lily enjoyed Luc’s company. He had relaxed and let his guard down and he was charming. Very funny and very likeable. Fanciable, in fact. Very, very fanciable. Yum, yum, bubble gum, as Imogen would say.
Lily fanned her flushed cheeks. Damned hot tub…
At one point, Luc stopped talking and stared at her quizzically. ‘Hey. You said you were going to talk to me about your dad at some point.’
Lily was taken aback. She hadn’t even thought Luc would remember to ask.
Luc held a hand up. ‘You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.’
‘No, it’s OK.’ Lily took a deep breath. Luc had told her all about Anais and, according to Bernadette, he didn’t talk to anyone about his sister. ‘My dad was… he was a bully,’ she said, letting out a jerky breath. ‘He put my mum through hell. And me, I guess. He used to pick on me all the time. Tell me I wasn’t good enough.’
Luc watched her intently, but said nothing.
‘I felt so stupid around him.’ Lily was shocked to feel tears pricking at her eyelids. ‘I couldn’t seem to do anything right. And the way he treated my mum… God, Luc. It was awful. He… he hit her. In front of me. He cheated on her. He had children by loads of other women all over the world, and then he left one day and left us with nothing.’
‘That is terrible.’ Luc looked genuinely traumatised by her story.
‘It was.’ Lily fought the urge to burst into tears. ‘We had no money. We had to sell our house and live in a council flat because my dad hid all his money away offshore. He sold his company to a friend for a pound so he could buy it back later.’
Lily felt a stab of fury as she remembered what her dad had put them through.
Luc reached out and touched her hand. ‘I am so very sorry you had to go through that.’ He shook his head, his eyes brimming with sympathy. ‘I find it hard to understand any man being that way towards his children. My father… he is such a kind, gentle man.’
‘He is.’ Lily swallowed. ‘Raymond seemed like a lovely man. A lovely dad. He is very proud of you.’ Luc was still holding her hand. She wanted him to.
‘I hope he is proud of me,’ Luc commented. ‘He is the man I measure myself by, so I want to be like him and for him to be happy with my choices.’ He paused. ‘Your mum is with someone else now, I think you said?’
Lily nodded. ‘Oh yes. An amazing man named Dave. My stepdad. He’s brilliant. You’d love him. I mean, that sounded weird. You know, if you ever get to meet him.’
Luc gave her a wide smile. ‘That is good to hear. I would love to meet both of your parents.
She stared at his hand, still clasped around hers.
‘Sorry,’ Luc said. He left his hand where it was for a while. Then he removed it. ‘I suppose we should check on the weather?’ He lifted himself out of the water, displaying a smooth, sculpted chest and good thighs. The red shorts made him look even more tanned and Lily buried her face in her mulled wine. Luc wrapped a towel around himself and gallantly put Lily’s towel closer to the steps.
‘Thank you for trusting me,’ he said, still looking moved by her story. ‘It must have been hard for you to talk to me about your dad.’
Lily nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Luc wandered into the other room and Lily let out a breath, realising she had been holding it as Luc left the room.
Lordy. That had been an intimate moment and for some reason, it had really shaken Lily up. She rarely talked about her dad to anyone other than Imogen or Jamie – and with Bernadette, it had felt detached and professional to a degree – but with Luc, Lily couldn’t explain it. She felt exposed and vulnerable. But on another level, she was glad she had spoken to him about her childhood. It felt as though they were even, but in a positive way.
‘The whiteout is clearing,’ Luc called.
‘Great,’ Lily said, her heart sinking. Oh bugger. Now it would be time to go. And she had been enjoying herself too. Emerging from the warm water, she wrapped her towel around herself and joined Luc in the lounge. He had tucked his towel around his waist and he was rotating his arm and shoulder, wincing painfully.
‘God, is that from lugging me behind you?’ Lily asked, feeling guilty.
‘Maybe, but not because you are heavy.’ Luc rolled his shoulder again. ‘I have an injury – bad accident on a black run years ago. Certain things aggravate it.’
‘Let me see.’ Lily got Luc to sit down and pushed her fingers into the muscles around his shoulder blade. ‘Aah! Here.’ S
he pushed a little deeper and felt him stiffen. ‘I can help with that. Least I can do. Lie down,’ she instructed. ‘Either on the sofa or the floor.’
Luc opted for the sofa, laying down with his arms by his side. Lily got to work, rotating the shoulder gently before going into the muscles with practised fingers, manipulating and massaging.
‘Oh, that is good,’ Luc groaned.
Lily smiled. ‘Well, I owed you a massage for the ski lessons.’
‘Er, I’m expecting more than ten minutes in return for the lessons,’ Luc retorted, his voice muffled from the cushion.
‘OK, well this is a down payment,’ Lily told him. His back and shoulders were also tanned, but not as tanned as his face. He was in incredible shape – toned, with good definition. Lily gulped. She shouldn’t be this attracted to someone other than Jamie, although she wasn’t sure which was worse: Jamie was taken and Luc probably was too. And Elodie was already her enemy.
‘OK, that’s you done for now,’ Lily said, standing up. ‘We’d better get back.’
Luc turned over and pulled an exaggerated disappointed face. ‘A short down payment, but it was good. Thank you. I look forward to the rest of it.’
Lily busied herself getting dressed again in the other room. Luc had told her to leave all the wet things by the hot tub as a cleaner came in once a week. She strapped herself into her ski boots again, groaning as the boots cut into her calves. She wiggled her legs around to get them more comfortable. Luc tidied up and put the fire out safely, pulling his brown jacket on again.
‘Ready?’
‘Yep.’ They stepped outside. The view, as Lily had predicted, was glorious. The whiteout had fully cleared, leaving a blue sky and, astonishingly, no cloud whatsoever. There was a view of unnamed mountains stretching out in front of them, as well as a rather steep slope.
Lily gulped and steeled her nerves. God, this was going to be a challenge, but she was going to have to trust Luc. And herself. She followed Luc down slowly, haltingly, but as soon as she found her feet again, she worked on the parallel turns. When she looked down, she felt sick and all the familiar fear shot to the surface. But when she ignored the down part of the slope and just moved across it, she was fine. It took a while to get down, but she made it.
At the bottom, there was a restaurant with a bar area that was full of skiers who had obviously camped out there during the whiteout. They had all been drinking and there was a loud, happy atmosphere across the decked area.
‘You did very well,’ Luc told her as they stepped out of their skis. ‘Very well. Especially now I know about your dad. Good for you.’ He put his arm round her and drew her in.
Why did that feel so right? Lily relaxed into his embrace, enjoying every second of it. Luc pulled back and stared at her mouth.
He’s going to kiss me, Lily thought, her heart thumping in her chest. And I bloody well want him to.
One of their phones rang between their bodies, making them both jump.
‘It’s me,’ Luc said, touching his jacket. ‘It’s Elodie.’
Of course it was. Elodie was never far away from them, was she?
‘She’s saying we need to get back.’ Luc frowned. ‘I guess we’d better go.’
‘Yes, we better had.’
They walked back to the hotel in silence, both deep in thought. When they entered the reception area, Elodie rushed up to them.
‘Luc, Marc wants to see you in his office.’
‘OK. I will see you later, Lily.’ Giving Lily a lingering glance, Luc headed off to the office area.
Elodie looked at Lily with a tight smile on her face. ‘Did you enjoy the whiteout?’
‘I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it as such,’ Lily replied, wondering why Elodie was looking so pleased with herself.
‘You spent some time with Luc at his parents’ cute log cabin,’ Elodie said, stating it as fact.
Of course she knew! And of course she’d been there before. Lily felt narked, and a bit sick at the thought of Elodie and Luc in the hot tub together, stretched out on the fur rug in front of the roaring fire…
‘He is so kind, isn’t he,’ Elodie said.
Not sure where Elodie was going with this, but knowing it was nowhere good, Lily watched her warily.
‘Kind? Yes. Yes, he is.’
‘He has taken you under his wing and he is looking after you.’ Elodie’s face twisted spitefully. ‘But that is Luc all over. He feels sorry for people and he knows a broken-hearted girl when he sees one.’
Lily fought an urge to slap her. Oh, for the love of God! What was this girl’s problem? Elodie definitely had it in for Lily. There was no doubt about it.
‘What is your point, Elodie?’
‘He is so easy to fall in love with, isn’t he?’ Elodie sat on the edge of one of the sofas, flicking one of her slender legs in agitation. ‘As he well knows.’
Lily started to have a horrible creeping feeling. Was Elodie suggesting that Luc had deliberately made her fall for him? If so, that was a very cruel game he was playing. Or was Elodie just messing with her head? Lily knew she wasn’t remotely trustworthy. After all, she had made up a complaint in front of everyone just to make Lily look like an idiot.
‘Ask him yourself,’ Elodie shrugged, knowing full well that Lily wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing. She had, however, succeeded in placing a very large seed of doubt in Lily’s head. ‘But in the meantime, I have a surprise for you.’
‘Great.’ Lily felt that she would rather ski up that blue run backwards in a whiteout than see what kind of twisted surprise Elodie might come up with.
Elodie turned and waved at something – someone – behind her. The person turned and got up. A person with messy, floppy dark hair and flirty eyes.
Lily gasped and clapped her hands to her face. ‘Jamie!’
‘Lily! Red.’ Jamie strode towards her and pulled her into a hug.
Lily hugged him back, shocked to the core. She breathed in his familiar smell, the woody aftershave and the washing powder, and closed her eyes. He was a piece of home. Was it the same as Luc hugging her and the way she had felt then? Lily wasn’t sure. But this was Jamie. Lovely, lovely Jamie. Lily squeezed him harder.
Lily opened her eyes and found herself staring right back at Luc, who had just come back from his catch up with Marc. They stared at one another. Luc’s expression was inscrutable, but she knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that she had been played, good and proper. Luc had felt sorry for her, and playboy that he was, he had flirted and befriended her and made her fall for him. He couldn’t be that callous, though, could he? Maybe he was just a playboy at heart and all his chat had been calculated. Meeting his parents, opening up about Anais, all of it.
Lily felt horribly upset at the thought of it. But Elodie was a bitch, she reminded herself. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t true.
‘This is Jamie,’ Lily said, untangling herself from Jamie’s arms.
‘Jamie, the one Lily talks about all the time,’ Elodie interjected, the picture of innocence.
Lily shot her an evil look. She hardly talked about Jamie at all. And certainly not to Elodie, of all people.
Looking stoked at that news, Jamie turned and held his hand out to Luc. ‘Luc? You’re the one who’s looked after Red so well since she’s been here. Thank you.’
Luc hesitated then shook Jamie’s hand. ‘Red… right.’ He said Lily’s nickname as if he didn’t like it. Lily cringed slightly.
‘We must ski together,’ Jamie said to Luc. ‘I hear you’re almost as good as me,’ he deadpanned and then broke into a smile. ‘Jokes. I know you’re fantastic. You’ll have to show me all the good off-piste.’
‘Of course.’ Luc smiled politely. ‘I have some private lessons booked in, but will have some time in a few days, if you are still here.’
Jamie pulled his ‘flying by the seat of my pants’ face. It was one Lily was very familiar with. ‘Open ticket, but it all depends on work too. I have a conference to att
end here in town. Red, you’ll have to show me around.’
‘Definitely.’
Lily suddenly felt even more delighted that Jamie was here. Thank God. She needed an ally, Jamie was her good friend, and she needed him. Lily glanced at Elodie. She was watching everything with a smug smile, her arms folded. God, she was odious! One of the most horrible people Lily had ever met in her life.
‘Well. I will leave you both to it,’ Luc said, inclining his head in their general direction. His eyes met Lily’s briefly, then slid away.
‘See you at dinner?’ she said, hating how distant he was being. The intimacy of the log cabin suddenly felt like a million years ago.
‘I’m eating with my parents,’ he told her shortly. His expression softened. ‘But I’m sure I’ll see you around.’
‘Right.’
Lily felt herself plummet slightly as Luc left and Elodie hurried after him. What had just happened? She was cross with Luc if he was playing her, but he had no reason to be cross with her! What had she done wrong?
‘Red.’ Jamie turned back to Lily. ‘You look great. I’m so pleased to see you. Are you pleased to see me?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Lily gave him a warm smile. ‘We must go and find Imogen. She’ll be delighted to see you. Are you all settled in your room?’
‘Yes, it’s up on the second floor, with a balcony and a hot tub. Well, a bath with jets.’
‘You have one of the posh rooms,’ Lily told him, feeling his arm snake around her shoulders. It felt natural and normal. They were often that way with one another. ‘Lucky you.’
‘Lucky me indeed,’ Jamie said, smiling down at her. ‘Lucky me.’
Lily walked out of the lobby in a daze. What was all that about? They headed for the staff room and Imogen got all excited when she saw Jamie. She introduced him to Ollie and all the other staff while Lily sat on the edge of the sofa and caught her breath.
Watching Jamie flicking his floppy hair out of his eyes and shaking hands with everyone on the hotel staff, Lily tried to make sense of her feelings. She was over the moon that Jamie was here. Looking at his face brought home right back into the room and it made Lily realise that as much as she loved it here in Chamonix, there were things she missed about home. Mostly friends and family, if truth be known, but still. Lily had been rather concerned that she wasn’t missing home more, but she had left so abruptly that maybe that was normal.
Christmas in Chamonix Page 20