A Slippery Slope (6 page)

‘Past
tense? She’s no longer with either of them? And neither one was your father,
clearly. You didn’t refer to either as ‘Dad’.’

Trust
him to pick up on that, she thought.

‘No.
Mum and Dad divorced when I was very young. He died a few years ago. Mum’s on
her fifth marriage now – or is it her sixth? I lose count.’

‘Fifth,’
Lucy said, ‘but she ...’ Her voice trailed off and she took a mouthful of her
food.

‘I’m
sorry,’ Josh said.

‘Why?’
Verity asked. ‘Because my dad’s dead or because they divorced when I was young?
Or did you mean because my mother’s like a moth when it comes to relationships?
Always attracted to a brighter flame.’

‘Mum.
Not the time or place.’ Lucy threw Verity a ‘remember he’s our boss’ kind of
look even though she was smiling.

‘I
meant, I’m sorry I asked something that clearly upsets you,’ Josh said.

‘It
doesn’t!’ Verity snapped, annoyed with herself for letting her guard down and
bringing up the subject of her mother’s numerous marriages, but she caught
Lucy’s glare from the corner of her eye and forced a smile for Josh. ‘I mean,
not really. Sorry. Please tell us about Meribel.’

He
gave her an odd look. ‘Okay. Well, there’s a large British contingent here. I’m
not sure if you’ve read that Meribel was established as a ski resort in the
late 1930s by a British Colonel, Peter Lindsay and, unlike many other resorts,
Meribel still has that quaint ‘chocolate box’ charm. That’s one of the reasons
it appeals to so many of us Brits. And the skiing is superb. Meribel’s in the
heart of the Three Valleys as you no doubt know, so it’s part of the world’s
largest ski area. It’s also got plenty of shops, restaurants and bars and the
nightlife is great. But you’ve already sampled the nightlife, haven’t you?’ His
eyes held hers.

‘We’re
planning,’ Lucy said before Verity could open her mouth, ‘to nip down the
valley to the old spa town of Brides-les-Bains when we have a chance.’

Etienne
smiled. ‘That’s another great thing about Meribel, isn’t it, Josh? There are
tons of other places to see, some better than others, but all worth a visit if
you’re here for a few months.’

Josh
merely nodded in agreement, his gaze still fixed on Verity.

‘I’ll
take you on a few guided tours to the ones we can ski to if you like,’ Etienne
offered.

‘That
would be good, wouldn’t it, Mum?’

‘It
would,’ Verity said, glancing up at Josh from beneath her lashes. She’d been
trying to avoid looking at him for the last few minutes but she’d felt him looking
at her. ‘Assuming we have the time that is. We are here to work, after all.’

Josh
sighed, pushed his empty ramekin to one side, ran a hand through his hair and
grabbed a bottle of wine.

‘We
appear to have got off to a bad start,’ he said, topping up Verity’s glass.
‘I’m not the tyrannical, slave-driver you seem to think I am. You’ll have
plenty of free time to ski or do whatever else takes your fancy, and you do get
one day off a week. I’ll admit I have certain standards but as long as the
guests are happy, the chalet runs smoothly and the food is good, I really don’t
mind what you do – within reason. I’m afraid I do draw the line at sleeping
with the guests though. It can cause all sorts of problems.’

Verity
could feel her jaw drop but she quickly recovered her equilibrium.

‘Damn,’
she said, smiling at Josh as provocatively as she could. ‘I suppose we’ll have
to cross that off of our ‘how to keep the punters happy’ list then.’ 

The
look Josh gave her in response wasn’t at all what she’d expected.

‘I’ll
serve the main course,’ she said, desperately needing to get away from his
deeply unsettling eyes.

Lucy
followed Verity into the kitchen. ‘I think it’s going well. If you can manage
to keep your temper and the facetious remarks to a minimum, we may still have
jobs this time tomorrow.’

She
was grinning but Verity realised her daughter was only half-joking. Lucy had
been looking forward to working this season in Meribel from the minute her best
friend Joanna had mentioned the possibility.

‘I
promise I’ll behave,’ Verity said, ‘and no matter how much the man annoys me,
I’ll remain cool, calm and collected from now on.’

‘Hmm.
Why do I think that’s about as likely as Grandma deciding to become a nun?’

But
Verity was true to her word – for a few hours at least – and each time Josh
said or did something irritating, she drank her wine and held her tongue, which
was probably why she was beginning to feel rather tipsy.

‘Are
we keeping you?’ she asked when Josh yawned and glanced at his watch for the
second time in ten minutes.

‘Sorry.
I think I’m still a bit jet-lagged but it is getting late. It’s almost
midnight.’

‘And
is that when you turn back into a frog?’

For
a split second, Josh’s eyes narrowed but he grinned and stood up. ‘Does that
mean that you think I’ve been a prince tonight? Or are we both getting our
stories confused? This has been a wonderful evening, thank you, but I’m afraid
I must go home to bed.’

‘I’m
so glad you’ve enjoyed it,’ Lucy said, getting to her feet and gathering the
plates.

‘Let
me help you with that,’ Josh offered.

‘No,
I’m fine thank you,’ she said, heading for the kitchen.

Etienne
followed behind her, carrying the empty wine bottles and Josh grabbed the
glasses and turned towards the kitchen whilst Verity gathered up the
Chalet
Marianne
photographic placemats.

‘We
work for you, remember?’ she said sarcastically when she thought Josh was out
of earshot.

‘You’re
not going to let me forget that, are you?’

She
almost dropped the placements on the floor. Her voice must have been louder than
she’d realised.

‘I
think I may owe you an apology,’ Josh continued.

‘Oh?’
She tried to sound indifferent but her heart was thumping in her chest as she
turned to face him.

‘When
Joanna told me that you would be taking her place, I didn’t know what to
expect. My chalet hosts are usually ...’

‘Young?’
she suggested as he was clearly struggling for the right word.

‘No.
Well ... I suppose they often are but that isn’t what I was going to say.
Experienced. They’ve usually worked at least a couple of seasons for other
companies before they work for me. I was taking a chance on Joanna and Lucy but
at least they’d done a chalet hosting course and I knew they wanted to be
seasonaires, whereas you .... Well, let’s just say that this was a last-minute
decision on your part, and when I found you in bed this morning, I–’

‘You
thought I wasn’t going to take this job seriously, is that it?’

Josh
nodded. ‘I suppose so ... in a way. Yes.’

‘And
sarcasm is always a useful motivator, isn’t it?’

‘What?’

‘Never
mind. I assure you that I’ll do my very best – assuming I still have a job,
that is. But whether my best will meet your high standards is a question only
you can answer.’

‘If
this evening is anything to go by, I think we can safely say that answer is
yes.’

‘So
... are you saying you want me to stay, in spite of the fact that I threw wine
all over you this evening?’

‘I
don’t think you did that on purpose. ... Did you?’

She
grinned. ‘No. But I apologise for that anyway.’

‘Just
for that?’ he said with the oddest look in his eyes.

‘Are
you suggesting I need to apologise for something else?’

He
laughed, and Verity thought she’d like to hear that sound more often. He had
the sort of laugh that lifted one’s spirits and made one want to laugh with
him. She suddenly realised that it seemed a very long time since she had
laughed at all.

‘No,
Verity, I’m not suggesting that. You can call me a miserable git, a lech ...
and a frog, amongst other things, any time you want.’

She
blushed. ‘Oh. Yes, okay. I also apologise for that. But you haven’t answered my
question. Are you saying you want me to stay?’

His
blue-grey eyes looked iridescent as the firelight reflected in them.

‘Yes,
Verity. I most definitely want you to stay.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

Verity
wasn’t sure whether she should be pleased or concerned. For the second night in
a row, she hadn’t shed one single tear over Tony and the breakdown of her
marriage.

Of course, the first night didn’t really count. She’d been so
drunk that she could hardly remember her own name let alone anything else, but
last night ... she could remember almost everything about last night. And she
hadn’t given Tony a second thought from the moment Josh Calder walked into the
kitchen. In fact, she’d hardly thought of Tony all day. She’d been too busy
thinking how infuriating her new boss was. Now she couldn’t stop thinking how
attractive he was.

She was being ridiculous and she knew it. This was obviously some
sort of reaction to the breakdown of her marriage. Some sort of rebound. Her
husband had betrayed her with a young and beautiful woman, now she was
‘betraying’ him with thoughts of Josh. It was ludicrous.

She didn’t even particularly
like
Josh.

She liked the way he laughed and his deep, gravelly voice; she
liked his blue-grey eyes, his sensuous smile and his chiselled features; she
liked his tall, agile frame and his lustrous, dark brown hair. She liked the
way he seemed so sure of himself most of the time and yet, just occasionally,
gave a hint of vulnerability. She liked his hands and the way he raked them
through his hair and she wondered, once or twice, what it would feel like to
run her hands through it. She also wondered what it would feel like to have his
hands touch her – caress her …

Apart from that, she didn’t really like him at all.

She definitely
didn’t
like the way he looked at her at
times. It was the type of look that said he was thinking things he shouldn’t.
Things that involved touching and exploring; things that involved kissing;
things that involved taking and giving. Things that she instinctively knew
would make her knees turn to jelly and her insides to melted ice cream.

Her stomach already felt like a butter churn every time he added
one of his smiles and last night, when he’d said that he wanted her to stay,
there was something in that look that almost had steam coming out of her ears.

It was definitely her hormones. Since finding her husband and
Daniella together, her emotions had been all over the place. One minute she
hated Tony, the next, she loved him. She never wanted to see him again or she
wanted to see him immediately. She wanted him back or she wanted him to die a
very slow and painful death, without her. She alternated between tears of
sorrow and tears of anger. She couldn’t eat; she couldn’t sleep. She drank far
too much. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible; she wished he
were by her side. Her brain and her heart were in turmoil.

No wonder she felt so confused. That was all this was. She
couldn’t bear to think about Tony, so her subconscious had focused on Josh.
That was it. That must be it. She knew there had to be a rational explanation.
And there was no real harm in that, surely?

Now that she understood what was happening and why, she felt much
better. Relieved almost. For one dreadful, totally insane moment, she had
actually wondered if she were falling in love! And with a man she’d known for
less than a day. And more importantly … with a man she didn’t even
like
!

***

Lucy leant back in her chair as Verity returned to the kitchen.
‘I’ve designed the menus and made a list of the things we’ll need for next
week,’ Lucy said.

‘Excellent, darling. And I’ve checked the bedding and towels for
the eight guest bedrooms. Did I hear Josh say that they had to be colour
co-ordinated with the rooms?’

‘Yeah. It said so in the information pack too.’

‘How quaint. I suppose I ought to read that,’ Verity said,
grinning. ‘Does it also say that staff must obey their lord and master at all
times and in all things? I’m making coffee. Would you like some?’

Lucy nodded. ‘I don’t think he’s that bad, Mum. You two just got
off on the wrong foot but he seemed pleasant enough last night and you were
both smiling when he left.’

Odd little goosebumps popped up on Verity’s arms as she remembered
that smile and she rubbed them away, thinking that she must put on another
jumper: she was obviously feeling cold.

‘He’s okay, I suppose. He’s very handsome I’ll give him that and
he did seem to be making an effort to be friendly. Although he may not be quite
as happy when he discovers I can’t cook!’

‘He doesn’t need to find out. Last night went off without a hitch
and it’s not as if he’ll be here every day. Jo said that we’ll probably hardly
ever see him – unless there’s a problem with the chalet or we need his help in
some way.’

Verity wondered why she found that news disappointing. Surely she
should be pleased?

‘So what’s the plan for today?’ she asked. ‘The rooms will only
need a quick dust and polish and the beds made, and we can do that the day
before the guests arrive. Perhaps we could go for a walk and get to know
Meribel. That way we can tell the guests exactly where certain places are and
how they get to them.’

Lucy grinned. ‘Particularly the bars. We do need to know where all
the best places are. There’s lots of info in this pack Josh left us – the one
you haven’t read, but it’s best if we see for ourselves.’ She waved the
five-page, plastic covered pack in the air before taking the cup of coffee
Verity handed her.

‘And then I think I’d like to see if I can still ski after all
these years,’ Verity said, taking the pack, flicking through it and tossing it
onto the worktop opposite. ‘Although perhaps I should do that
before
we
check out the delights of Meribel, bearing in mind what happened on our first
night. And that was in just one bar. These days you can get arrested for being
drunk on the slopes! Or should that be pissed on the pistes?’

***

Not only could Verity still ski; after the first few blue runs she
found she could still ski well. The snow conditions were perfect, the air was
cold and clear and the sky, a beautiful, shimmering blue around a warming
golden sun.

Together, Verity and Lucy explored some of the superb pistes
Meribel had to offer but after a few hours of virtually non-stop skiing, they
were both exhausted. The only ‘rests’ they’d taken were when they travelled
back up to the top of the next run via the various draglifts, chairlifts,
gondolas and cable cars.

‘I hadn’t realised how unfit I am,’ Verity said as they headed to
one of a choice of restaurants in Meribel for a well-earned lunch. ‘My legs
feel as if they’re on fire!’

‘You’re not the only one!’ Lucy exclaimed, virtually collapsing
onto a chair at a table positioned at the front of a surprisingly empty sun
terrace. ‘And I’ve been boarding every year so I haven’t even got the excuse of
being out of practice.’

They had just completed the descent from the top station of Mont
du Vallon at a height of 2,952 metres, down the red run of
Combe Vallon
on to the blue, tree-lined
Ours
, through part of Meribel Mottaret and
finally, the green
Truite
into Meribel.

A waiter brought a menu, followed by the two large glasses of red
wine they ordered, and they sat back, closed their eyes and soaked up the sun
as they waited for their lunch.

 ‘Well! Fancy seeing you here. And why may I ask, aren’t you back
at the chalet slaving over a grubby shower tray?’

Verity recognised the voice immediately and despite the question,
she opened her eyes and smiled up at Josh.

‘Because there aren’t any grubby shower trays to slave over. But
don’t worry, we were hard at it for at least ... oh, half an hour before we
came out this morning.’

‘I was teasing you,’ Josh said, a hint of concern evident in his
blue-grey eyes. ‘Are you having a good day?’

‘I know you were. I could tell by your tone. And we’re having a
lovely day, thank you. We’ve just skied down Mont du Vallon. The views were
stunning and the pistes really are superb. But we’re exhausted now. Where have
you been?’

He was dressed in ski pants, ski jacket and ski boots so he’d
clearly been taking advantage of the terrain and the glorious weather. He
removed his skis and Verity wondered if she should invite him to join them for
lunch – or a drink at least.

‘I’ve been over to Val Thorens this morning. I’ve got a couple of
chalets there. All my chalets – except
Marianne
– have been run by the
same teams for the last four years so I know they’re in good hands. I just
wanted to pop over and say hello. I like to catch up with all my teams the week
before the first of the guests arrive but if I can get in some skiing at the
same time, that’s even better.’

‘So it’s only Lucy and I that you have to worry about then?’

‘After last night I don’t think I have anything to worry about –
as far as the chalet is concerned at least.’

‘That’s good,’ Verity said, seeing that strange look in his eyes.
‘What happened to the team at
Marianne
? Why aren’t they back this year?’

The smile immediately left Josh’s face and he raked a hand through
his hair. ‘I ... one of them moved on ... to better things and the other ...
moved away. I have to dash. Enjoy the rest of your day.’

‘I’m beginning to feel invisible when you two get together,’ Lucy
said as they both watched Josh march off.

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Verity replied. ‘That was a little
odd though, don’t you think? One minute he’s all sweetness and light, the next
it’s as if he’s been encased in ice. His demeanour completely changed when I
mentioned the previous team and his entire body stiffened. I wonder if there’s
more to that than he’s saying.’

‘I wasn’t studying him that closely. He did seem in a hurry to get
away though. Ooh! Perhaps he murdered them for failing to keep the chalet up to
his standards and he’s buried them in the cellar.’ Lucy laughed and shook her
head. ‘Honestly, Mum. One of them obviously got a job with a rival company and
the other left too. He’s pissed off about it, that’s all. Mind you, have you
been down to the cellar yet? It’s seriously creepy down there. It runs the
entire length of the chalet and there’re lots of nooks and crannies. I couldn’t
wait to get out of it. Maybe there is something buried down there ... apart
from the crates of wine and all the old furniture.’

‘Maybe,’ Verity said, still staring at Josh’s back and foolishly
wishing he’d look round and smile. He finally disappeared into the crowd and
Verity glanced at Lucy. ‘We’ll have to find out where they went, won’t we?’

Lucy shrugged. Clearly, she couldn’t care less and as the waiter
brought them their lunch, she turned her attention to her food.

‘I don’t think it matters, does it? As long as they don’t decide
they want to come back that is. Let’s eat. I’m starving!’