Page 105 of The Chalet Girl

‘It was in his coat, which was found miles away. I hadn’t noticed him take it off.’

‘And search and rescue couldn’t recover the body?’

‘No. You’ve seen choppers on the mountain, how hard it is to land on a piste. Only cavers could get down there, and they didn’t deem it worth putting anyone else’s life at risk.’

Emme smoothed her palm under Tristan’s jumper, up over his spine.

‘Cat reckons the mountain gives up its secrets. Maybe your dad will be found one day.’

‘She’s right. That’s why I hang out with the instructors. They’re useless drunks but they’re the best for the job of searching for something in the snow. I pay them to see if they can find anything down there, or anything along the trails. In case there was anything I might have missed.’

‘And that’s why you stuck around here, looking for him?’

Tristan nodded.

‘And the beauty of the place,’ she added.

He nodded again, and caressed her nose with his thumb.

‘You never know what’s going to happen next here,’ he said, quietly.

But Emme knew right at this moment. She kissed Tristan gently on the lips, he tasted of olive brine and musk. He took Emme’s face in his hands, kissing her intently as she lifted her jumper over her head and freed her breasts from her T-shirt. Within minutes they were both naked on the bearskin rug in front of the fire, caressing every curve and sinew of each other’s bodies. Tristan lowered his kisses to Emme’s abdomen, to her pussy, to her clitoris, beforeshe moaned exquisitely and rolled over, liberated on all fours while she arched her back and pushed her bottom towards him. Tristan had a steady hand on each hip, caressing Emme’s peachy curves as he took her from behind with a solid, rhythmic power.

As she took his thrusts she looked out at the view with a smile. The length of him, his touch, the way he leaned down and kissed the skin on her tingling spine was so sensational, she had to bite her lip and try to think of something else to stave off her orgasm and prolong the joy.

She held off as long as she could, until Tristan Du Kok lay on top of her on the bearskin, the weight of his muscular body all streaming to one delicious point between her legs. She came with a roar as dynamite exploded and reverberated around the valley. Tristan followed soon after, legs paralysed as he filled Emme and they fell into a bruised and lovestruck heap.

When Emme woke from the post-orgasmic glow, the Silberschnee was turning pink in the panorama outside the window. The fire was low, and Tristan had put a blanket over them in their huddle. She looked at Tristan’s Patek Phillipe watch, ticking quietly, remembering it from the airport shuttle. She groaned when she saw the time. It was almost 4pm; the Harringtons would be back from Zurich soon, she imagined, and today was meant to be her fresh start. Her heart sank. She didn’t want to move from this spot. She didn’t want to be Harry and Bella’s nanny. She could feel Tristan’s enormous arms around her; his velvety cosh pressing into her buttocks. She wanted to enjoy an extended holiday, not be a nanny in a tense household.Then a thought struck her, which she said out loud, before she could stop herself.

‘Do you know what happened to Jenny?’ she asked, as she stroked the hairs on Tristan’s arm.

‘Who’s Jenny?’ he said softly, into her ear.

‘The nanny before me. She left suddenly, it must have been at the end of October.’

Tristan was quiet, still half asleep. Emme rolled over to face him. She couldn’t help thinking about Lexy last night in the laundry room, warning Emme off Tristan, as if she personally had lost something because of him.

Be wary of anyone who can break three hearts in one callous hit.

Had Tristan broken Jenny’s heart? He had joked about ‘the previous nanny’s dispatch’ that first day on the slopes.

‘Look, if you slept with her, I can handle it. I’d rather know…’

Tristan looked like he was trying to remember a Jenny in his conquests. It made Emme feel a bit sick. He yawned and stretched.

‘I don’t know a Jenny,’ he said. But Emme had seen him lie to a woman before; and she couldn’t help thinking he was now.

‘People are telling me not to trust you.’ As Emme said it, she knew what she meant was,I don’t think I trust you.

‘Lexy’s telling you not to trust me, right?’ Tristan quipped. ‘That’s rich. I mean… Lexy Harrington is not the most reliable narrator, she’s all over the place.’

But Emme couldn’t stop pondering it.

‘At first I thought Jenny had an affair with Bill, but now I’m wondering…’

Tristan was fast waking up.

Emme knew she risked him going cold on her again, but her curiosity was too much. Tristan rubbed his eyes and looked at Emme intently.