Page 137 of The Chalet Girl

Not for Tristan they didn’t. He’d sat in the chair night and day in the waiting room, waiting for the right moment to see Emme.

Marian realised she was fussing. This man, this hero, who had saved her daughter’s life, had that effect on her, so it was best she left them to it.

‘Go Mum, it’s fine.’

She kissed Emme’s head, pressed Tristan on the shoulder, blushed, and walked out.

Chapter Eighty-Four

‘Your parents are lovely.’ Tristan said quietly, testing Emme’s reaction to his appearance.

‘My parents are grateful.’

There was a pause, and Tristan took a seat.

‘I’mgrateful,’ Emme said. ‘You saved my life.’

Tristan shook his head.

‘How are your ribs?’

Emme put her palm to her left side, she could feel exactly which were broken. She gave her answer in her wince. But she didn’t want to talk about physical fractures. It was the broken heart that was consuming her now she was conscious.

‘I mean, I’m still so, so gutted…’ she added, shaking her head and almost crying at his treachery. She so desperately wanted to unsee the awful video of Tristan and Lexy on the threshold. Knowing that within the week he would have slept with Vivian and Anastasia too. He’d ruined everything before they’d even started. But he had saved her life.

‘I know, I am so sorry,’ he said, face forlorn.

‘But thank you. For the mountain.’

He let out a sigh as weary as a confession.

‘I was so scared.’

Tristan took Emme’s hand, scared she would flinch butshe didn’t, so he raised it, kissed it, and held it to his cheek. His touch felt like the most natural thing in the world.

‘I wasn’t willing to lose someone else I… someone else I care about… to the mountain.’

Emme smiled gently.

‘How did you know I was up there?’

‘I didn’t. I went skiing. I was so pissed off that the Lexy thing had undone everything– undone us– I did what I always do when I’m upset. I went to the mountains. Tried to clear my head. I was on the piste when I saw the avalanche.’

‘You were?’

‘I saw the snowboarder set it off…’

‘You did?’

‘I’d seen that there were people in the wildlife area. I didn’t know it was you, but I just had a bad feeling… I would have gone to help whoever it was… but it wasyou.’

He looked genuinely terrified.

‘It’s OK, Tristan.’

He squeezed her hand and held it to his lips again. She looked at him and smiled. They were bigger than Lexy Harrington.

She realised, after all Tristan had been through that day with his father, after all he had done to get help and dig her out, there were more important things at play than a bruised heart.