Page 26 of The Chalet Girl

The gall of me, she thought, mischievously.

Deep breath.

‘Good evening,’ he said, seemingly having broken away from the conversation he was in. Rude.

‘Evening,’ Emme replied, as they locked eyes.

Urgh, he does this all the time!

‘Quite the spot of bother you were in earlier,’ Emme said, falling into her own trap.

He leaned in and smiled.

‘I saw you, spying on me.’

Emme flushed red.

‘I was not!’ she protested. He leaned closer.

‘Wanted to join in?’

The arrogance of the man. Emme felt both outraged and utterly transparent.

‘Oh please! You’re so disrespectful.’

It annoyed Emme. He annoyed Emme. She could see why women were climbing over balconies for him and that’s what pissed her off the most.

The man held his hands up in submission and smiled. Such a sexy smile, he was ridiculous.

‘Sorry, you just seemed a little…’

‘A little what?’ Emme challenged him, almost aggressively.

Tristan pondered and settled on a word.

‘Enchanted.’

‘Enchanted? Get over yourself! I was trying to work out how to tell both those women what a creep you are!’

Tristan threw back his head and laughed. His eyes crinkling at their sun-kissed corners.

‘I can’t buy you a drink then?’

Emme levelled him with a look.

He’s taking the piss out of me!

Of course he was. This tall, beautiful man who smelled of cedar, citrus and sex was taking the piss out of her, just a girl from Surrey in jeans and a white T-shirt, nothing special. Not a long-limbed glamazon in a thong. She didn’t even wear thongs, she wore regular M&S knickers or big booty SKIMS because that’s what felt most comfortable.

‘I got it,’ Emme replied snarkily, leaning over the bar and asking Cat’s friend Carla for a glass of tap water, and hoping Tristan Du Kok, with his bottle of Dom Perignon and his massive hard cock, couldn’t hear.

Chapter Seventeen

Emme woke up at almost midday with a terrible hangover. Despite her encounter with Tristan Du Kok at the bar sobering her up somewhat, she danced for hours with Cat and Tiago, plus Will, Yannick and Lydia, once The Cheeky Blinders had finished playing. They moved on to a basement nightclub and had a great night. Cat had taken a phone call and dashed off at midnight, but Tiago assured Emme Cat was OK and had made sure Emme got home safe. She had crawled into bed at 2am with nineties Europop ringing in her ears and a pint of water on the bedside table. She’d loved the night, but woken feeling wobbly about the decision she’d made to move to the mountains and become a nanny. Whether she was up to the job. Whether she could fit in. She was so out of her comfort zone, she wondered how the hell she would be able to stick it out until the end of the season.

Emme lay in her comfy bed, looking at the ceiling, wondering what the hell she should do. She wanted to talk to Tom. She wanted to ask Dominique Henry for her job back, but she couldn’t bring herself to do either of those things, so she showered, got dressed and went for a walk, passing Mr and Mrs Muller on the stairs, down the wide steep steps from Chalet Stern to the path and back intothe village to get ingredients to make the Harringtons a Sunday roast. Emme made the best Yorkshire puddings, and coming home to a full roast dinner might help Lexy Harrington calm down, she seemed so jittery and uptight on Friday night. It would also help soak up Emme’s hangover.

She returned to the supermarket down the side street, and the first person she saw was Tiago, unpacking boxes of grapes in the fruit and veg aisle, wearing an orange T-shirt with Migros written on it. She had forgotten he worked here as well as a hotel.Poor guy must be shattered,she thought.