Secret Crush of a Chalet Girl:

Version 2014-10-02

Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Thanks as always to the lovely team at Harper Impulse and also to my husband for believing that cocktail tasting at very nice hotels was essential for the writing of this book!

CHAPTER ONE (#u9b5db084-a5cb-5e73-a890-778b24911f8f)

“So, what’s that you’re reading?”

Tash’s voice pierced Sophie’s happy bubble like a razor slashing a party balloon.

“Just a book.” Sophie shifted on her bar stool, inching the Kindle screen away from Tash’s line of sight.

Tash slid onto the cow-skin bar stool next to her and didn’t seem to pick up on Sophie’s irritation at being disturbed.

“You’re early.” Tash swiveled towards her. “We’re not meeting until eight.”

“I wanted a bit of time alone,” Sophie replied.

Fat chance of that around here, or in the dorm room at Chalet Repos, or…anywhere for that matter.

Privacy was the only luxury in short supply in Verbier.

“Me too, those kids were making a right racket back at the chalet. I wish Scott would make it an adults-only chalet.” Tash grimaced.

Sophie sighed heavily. Time to relinquish her vain hope for a bit of peace and quiet. There was no stopping Tash if she’d decided she wanted to talk to you. Things were certainly…difficult back at Chalet Repos, for more than one reason. But it wasn’t anything she wanted to talk to Tash about.

“So, what are you reading Ms. Trent? Why don’t you want to tell me?” Tash had grabbed Sophie’s Kindle before Sophie could stop her.

Sophie glared at Tash, who scrolled through the pages on-screen, a delighted smile on her face.

“Ooh, it’s a romance. I didn’t know you were into these bodice-rippers.” Tash’s cat-like eyes gleamed, reflecting the bar’s tea lights. “So, what page are the dirty bits on?”

“Ssh, will you keep it down?” Sophie reached for the Kindle but Tash lifted it above her head. She was only attracting more attention now from the other customers of Bar des Amis, some of them starting the après ski early, while others clearly hadn’t made it back to their accommodation to change from their ski gear yet. A hot flush crept up Sophie’s neck and heat radiated from her cheeks.

She automatically cast her eyes down to the floor – the way she’d always coped whenever she wanted to disappear.

What she’d give for a trap door right now. Or even just a chance to escape into her book again.

“Nathan tenderly stroked the side of Ava’s face. Yet despite the tenderness, his dark eyes blazed with the heat of passion and her skin tingled at his touch. ‘Do you feel it too?’ he asked huskily as their eyes locked,” Tash read aloud in a ridiculously over-the-top acting voice. “Then he reached for her, his mouth was on her lips, tasting her hungrily as his hands slid down to cup her…”

“For God’s sake, Tash, will you just shut up?” Sophie spoke fiercely into Tash’s ear, fighting the feelings of humiliation. She knew Tash wasn’t deliberately trying to ridicule her but this felt too much like all those horrible times at school for comfort. It felt like Tash had ripped all of Sophie’s clothes off, leaving her exposed for everyone to laugh at her, plump and naked except for her mis-matched underwear.

At last Sophie managed to grab the Kindle back and slumped, mortified, onto her bar stool.

“Ça va?”

Sophie looked up to see who had spoken, afraid she’d find the owner of the voice laughing at her. Instead she found the dark-grey eyes of Luc Dubois, the owner of Bar des Amis, fixed on her.

The very gorgeous bar owner.

Who’d just heard everything Tash had said. Not that she was ashamed of liking romance novels but it was private, something she kept to herself precisely to stop things like this occurring. And it was too precious an escape for it to be exposed to ridicule. Books had always been her escape – in the school library, where she’d hid from the bullies at lunchtime, devouring the Sweet Valley High series and then here in Verbier. When it seemed everyone was finding love except for her the romance novels on her Kindle had provided solace. Given her hope.

She shrugged, fighting the lie rising to her lips, unwilling to automatically say the ‘Oui, bien merci’, socially accepted response. For one thing it felt like Luc actually wanted to know, rather than just a standard greeting.

His grey eyes flickered with sympathy. Sophie couldn’t imagine he knew what it felt like to be ridiculed or bullied. Luc was cool without trying. His dark hair looked wilder than ever this evening, as though he’d just rolled out of bed and sloped down to open up the bar, his handsome jaw peppered with stubble. Maybe he had. For a second she wondered who he’d been in bed with. He was gorgeous enough to have his pick of the Verbier lovelies.

Don’t be ridiculous Sophie, as if someone like him would be interested in you.

She chided herself. He was out of her league, so what was the point of speculating? She might be average size back in the UK but here she was slightly plump, the only bonus being large, real, breasts. Also she was very definitely not cool without trying. In fact she had to try very hard just to fit in. She spent more than she should getting her hair coloured and highlighted to a perfect caramel blonde before she came out for the Verbier season each year, blowing all the tips she made in the summer at Uncle Frank’s café.

As it was she fitted in but she would never stand out. A ‘six out of ten’ she’d heard a group of guys rating her the other night. So while she’d love the intent look Luc was giving her to mean more, he was just being kind.

Luc jerked his head towards Tash, who was now having a noisy conversation with one of the instructors from the Swiss Ski School. “Ignore her, Sophie. It’s not important.”

He knows who I am.

She loved how he said her name, his Swiss-French accent making it sound special, as though it weren’t entirely ordinary. Just like her.

“It’s important to me,” she replied quietly. The days of being bullied at school might be in the past, dead and buried, but she couldn’t deny the ghosts still had the power to kick her where it hurt.

She felt the flush on her cheeks growing hotter for a reason entirely different than embarrassment and tried to ignore the sweet unfurling sensation in the pit of her stomach. Well it was actually a fair bit lower than her stomach…

He’s too good-looking for you. Sixes don’t go out with tens, not in the real world.

“Désolée. I’m sorry,” Luc said softly. “But even so, don’t let it get to you.”

Easier said than done.

“You don’t really believe that romance crap, do you?” Tash’s voice gate-crashed the intimate moment between Sophie and Luc.

Normally Sophie liked Tash. They’d been friends and colleagues for a couple of seasons now but tonight Tash was really winding her up. At her best she was like an over-enthusiastic puppy – loyal and emotionally honest. At her worst she could teach a bull in a china shop a thing or two.

“Yes, I do,” Sophie replied defiantly. “I believe there are men out there who can be romantic and that falling in love could happen to any one of us.”

Tash snorted. “True love, the one, a magical connection? I just don’t get it. And if buying a bunch of flowers when men have done something they feel guilty about is romantic, well, give me realism any day. It’s all about sex, pure and simple.”

“Just because you haven’t fallen in love yet doesn’t mean that you never will,” Sophie said with conviction. “And you can laugh all you like but romance books are really popular, they sell well so I can’t be the only one who likes them.”

“Hi you two, what’ve we missed?” Amelia grabbed the free bar stool next to Sophie and Lucy moved in on the other side of Tash, waving at Luc to get his attention so she could order a drink.

Sophie seethed quietly. She might as well have stayed back at the chalet for all the peace and quiet she was getting here. Were Amelia and Lucy also fleeing the noise of the kids’ bedtime routine back at Chalet Repos? She glared at Tash, willing her to drop the subject now the others were here.

“We’ve been reading from Intimate Surrender,” Tash said, taking a sip from her cocktail, seemingly oblivious to the furious vibes Sophie sent in her direction. “Our Sophie is a bit of a romance fan on the quiet.”

“Yeah, I can’t think why I kept my reading tastes quiet.” Sophie rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, that would be because I knew you’d make fun of me. Although I hadn’t anticipated the whole public humiliation scenario. Thanks for that.”

Luc caught Sophie’s gaze and winked at her while he got the girls’ drinks. She’d felt a delicious stirring of desire inside and tried to quash it.