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‘I saw you yesterday,’ she told him, ‘on the intermediate slope, but you seemed too good to be on that level.’
‘I did a cross-country run yesterday, then made my way down the mountain.’
‘I guess you have a lot of experience.’
Something changed in his eyes. He looked at her, standing there in her pink ski suit, her hair loose about her shoulders since she’d pulled off her hat when she entered the café. ‘Some. How about you?’ he asked.
Katrien wrenched her eyes from his and looked down the slope. ‘I came up here today thinking I might try this run but…I’m not sure I’m quite brave enough.’
‘Is your fiancé with you?’
She had to look back at him then. ‘He wasn’t able to get away. And anyway, he doesn’t ski.’
His mouth tilted up at one corner and he gave a brief nod. ‘I see.’ There was a small silence. ‘If you like, I’ll go down with you.’
‘I wouldn’t like to hold you up. I don’t suppose you want to spend your time nursing along a bunny skier.’
‘You’re no bunny,’ he argued. ‘You looked pretty competent yesterday.’ At her surprised look, he added, ‘I recognise the…outfit.’ He cast a glance over the figure-hugging stretch pants and the fleecy-lined shirt under her open jacket. ‘So…shall we go?’
It was a challenge, pure and simple. He waited for her to make up her mind whether to accept it, or to walk away and return to the less exciting lower slopes.
She stepped onto the snow and retrieved her skis.
The sound of their skis gliding on the slick white surface was like tearing silk. Katrien’s hair streamed behind her, the momentum of her downhill flight dragging it back from her face. She had left the café in such a hurry she’d forgotten to retrieve her woollen hat.
Zachary was a blur of blue and yellow at her peripheral vision, a couple of times swooping away in a half loop, then coming back to stay at her side, moderating his speed to hers.
‘Okay?’ he shouted at her once, and she risked a look at his face, saw his white smile, and smiled back.
‘Okay!’
When they reached the end of the run she fluffed the stop and ended up in a jumbled heap, laughing.
Zachary offered a gloved hand and helped her up. ‘How was it?’
‘Wonderful!’ She brushed snow from her arms and body, and he reached out to flick away flakes of white from her hair.
His hand touched her cheek, and even though he still wore gloves, she felt a tingling awareness that stopped her smile and made her veil her eyes with her lashes. A flash of unease assailed her, and she tried to step away, forgetting she was wearing skis.
She would have toppled again if he hadn’t caught at her arms. ‘Steady.’
‘Thanks.’ She was breathless, not only from the run. ‘And thanks for bringing me down. I might have chickened out otherwise.’
‘I don’t think so.’
She glanced up and into his eyes, uncertain what it was she read there.
Then he looked away up the slope and said, ‘Want to try again?’
Why not? After the thrill of that descent, the thought of returning to the easier slopes seemed very tame. She nodded. ‘Yes. But this time you don’t need to wait for me.’
They shared a T-bar back to the top, holding on and standing side by side while little puffs of their steamy breath mingled in the frosty air.
Zachary waited for her to go first. She was halfway to the bottom when she heard a shout from behind and then two young men, whooping in feigned panic, went flying past, much too close for comfort. A quick look sideways showed her a third, about to cannon into her. She took evasive action and he careered on down the slope, but Katrien lost control and went sliding and skidding to the edge of the run, hitting her head painfully on a hidden rock under the snow and landing in a tangle of skis and poles, one of which went flying from her hand.
‘Katrien!’ Zachary slid to a stop beside her, clicked his boots from his skis with his poles and knelt to grip her shoulder. ‘Are you hurt?’
The white world gradually steadied. ‘Banged my head,’ she said. ‘But nothing’s broken.’
He swore. ‘Bloody fools, they were all over the place. Keep still. Where did you hurt your head?’
She put a hand to a tender, sore lump, and winced.
Zachary swore again. ‘Let me see.’ He bent over her, stripped off his gloves, and gently parted her hair. ‘Mmm. That’s a nasty bump. Are you feeling dizzy at all?’
‘No, not really.’
‘Not really?’ He frowned and shifted his hands to either side of her face, lifting it so he could study her.
‘I mean, it’s gone now. I’m all right.’ Except for the way her heart was hammering away.
Another skier slid to a stop nearby. ‘You okay?’
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘Hang on,’ Zachary requested of the man. Turning to her, he said, ‘We can get medicos up here if you might be concussed.’
‘I’m sure I’m not, honestly.’
He studied her again, then nodded to the would-be Samaritan. ‘We’re okay, thanks.’ The man gave them a wave and carried on downhill.
Katrien scooped up a handful of snow and pressed it to the bruise.
‘You should wear a hat,’ he said.
‘I took it off in the café and forgot it.’
‘Why didn’t you say so?’ He looked irritated. ‘If I’d known you had one with you I’d have made sure you put it on.’
She’d been afraid he might change his mind about accompanying her if she held him up. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’ve spoiled your run again.’
‘Don’t worry about it. I have another five days.’
Had he opted for the same cut-rate package that she had taken? ‘I haven’t seen you at the hotel.’
‘I’m staying at a friend’s private lodge.’ He paused. ‘Were you looking for me at the hotel?’
Katrien blinked at him. ‘What do you mean?’
Zachary studied her face consideringly. ‘Never mind. Do you think you can stand, with my help?’
‘Yes.’ She could probably manage without it, but she didn’t fancy floundering round trying to get her balance if she was wrong. She manoeuvred herself into position, then stood up slowly while he steadied her. His hand remained on her waist and he was looking down at her with a slightly amused, knowing expression.
‘Thank you,’ she said tightly. ‘I can manage now.’
He didn’t move and she cast him a fierce glare. ‘I know I seem to have made a habit of looking to be in need of rescuing when you’re around, but it wasn’t deliberate. And I certainly didn’t come up the mountain with the intention of waylaying you.’ She was appalled that he might have thought so. ‘I don’t find climbers that fascinating, and anyway, in case you’d forgotten, I’m engaged to be married.’
‘I hadn’t forgotten,’ he said. ‘Had you?’
Katrien drew a deep, furious breath. ‘No!’ She’d done nothing that could be construed that way, she assured herself.
She stiffened against his light hold and put a hand behind her to tug at his wrist, but that was a mistake, making her body curve towards his just as he bent his head and increased the pressure of his hand on her waist against her ineffectual resistance. And said softly, ‘Could I make you…forget?’
His voice, his face were those of the man in her dreams, and for a second she imagined that this was another night fantasy. Tongue-tied, she was possessed of a great curiosity. The air around them seemed stilled, waiting.
But when his mouth was a hairsbreadth from hers, she jerked away, assailed by a sudden shaft of familiar fear. ‘No!’
‘Okay,’ Zachary said easily, releasing her. He picked up the pole she’d lost and handed it courteously to her. ‘Only that isn’t the message I’ve been getting from you.’
She looked up from pushing her gloved hand through the loop on the ski pole to see him regarding her with quizzical enquiry. Flushing, she realised he was right. Somehow in her mind he’d got mixed up with the larger-than-life figure who had dominated her dream life since adolescence. It wasn’t his fault that she’d been giving out confusing signals. She was confused herself.
‘The thing is,’ she said, ‘you remind me of someone I…met a long time ago.’
‘Not your fiancé?’
Katrien shook her head.
‘Does he know about this…someone?’
‘There’s nothing to know.’
‘Nothing?’ He gave a short, breathy laugh.
Katrien looked at him angrily, and he said, ‘I’d say your fiancé has a problem on his hands.’
‘It’s not a problem,’ she said emphatically. ‘You don’t understand.’ Not that there was any need for him to do so.
‘Does What’s-his-name understand?’
‘Callum,’ she said. ‘He has nothing to worry about, and excuse me, but it’s none of your business.’
‘Maybe it isn’t. But I tell you what—if I were engaged to you and saw you looking at another man the way you look at me, I’d be worried all right. I’d be doing something about it.’
‘Like what?’ she shot at him without thinking.
He looked thoughtful. ‘You probably don’t want to know.’
Violence? Her lip curled with scorn. ‘Of course, you rugged mountain men are so physical!’
‘Yeah,’ he said, his eyes glinting. ‘We are.’ His hand reached over, so casually, and cupped her chin, turning her face towards him. And then he leaned down and kissed her thoroughly, his lips exploring hers, parting them, mastering her with a flair and panache that he hadn’t learned on any mountain slopes.
Anchored by her skis, hampered by the ski poles looped to her hands, she could hardly move. Pure panic fought with the hot sweep of passion that sent the blood racing in her veins and made her lips pliant and shamefully eager under his.
Someone swished by with a whoop of laughter and someone else whistled shrilly across the snow. Katrien made a protesting sound and tried to tear herself from Zachary’s hold.
He lifted his head and looked down at her. ‘If I were your Callum,’ he said, ‘I’d be very worried.’
She pulled herself away, keeping her balance with some difficulty, and trying to breathe normally. ‘That was…’
‘Wonderful?’ he suggested as she hunted for words.
‘Unfair!’ she snapped. ‘Contemptible.’
His lips pursed. ‘I didn’t think my technique was that bad.’
He was laughing at her. ‘You had no right to kiss me!’
‘I didn’t notice you complaining.’
‘I’m complaining now!’
Zachary laughed. ‘After the fact.’
‘I could hardly do it before—I didn’t know what you intended.’
He gave her a level look. ‘You had a fair idea,’ he drawled. And added, ‘You wanted to know, too.’
About to deny it, she hesitated, and then clamped her teeth together. She had wanted to know—to know what he would do in Callum’s place, what it would be like to be kissed by him. She’d almost invited him to do it.
Mortified, she turned away from him. ‘Thank you for stopping. I’ll be fine on my own now.’
But he paced her all the way, then followed without comment as she made for the chairlift going down. ‘Is your head aching?’ he asked her.
‘No. It’s just a bump.’
‘If you feel unwell—’
‘I’m not unwell. But I think I’ll stick to the easy run after this.’
A chair arrived and she stepped forward. ‘If that satisfies you,’ he taunted quietly, standing aside as she took her seat and the safety bar came down in front of her.
Katrien stared straight ahead, refusing to look at him, and the chair lifted her into the air and carried her away from him.
She was in the hotel lounge bar, having a brandy after dinner and chatting with two American girls, when she saw Zachary come in, dressed in cords and a chunky natural wool sweater. He looked around the room, found her and gave her a nod, then approached the bar.
Katrien forced her attention back to her companions, but was aware of Zachary getting his drink and then crossing the room to them.
When he stopped before their table she had to look up and acknowledge his presence.
