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‘Okay then. As a resident here, why don’t I show you why the world loves Mont Coeur so much? Do you have any other plans for tonight?’
He shook his head. ‘None. I’m all yours.’
‘Then how about we meet later—around nine o’clock?’ She grabbed a notepad sitting next to the phone. ‘Here’s the name and number of the place to hire gear. Okay?’
His hand touched hers as she slid the piece of paper across the table towards him. He smiled again. ‘This sounds like a date,’ he said, his tone teasing.
She shook her head. ‘It’s no date.’ She wagged her finger at him as she headed to the door. ‘Don’t you be getting any ideas, Leo Baxter.’ She gave him a cheeky wink and then hurried out the door before her rapidly beating heart exploded in her chest.
The hand he’d just touched was pressed up against her chest wall, still tingling. She looked down and smiled.
What on earth had she just done?
CHAPTER THREE
LEO BAXTER WAS used to being in control. Anything else was alien to him. Which meant the last few months had thrown him off his game.
The letter he’d received from his birth parents was still in his briefcase. It had been there since it had landed in his penthouse mailbox in August. It had taken him weeks to reply, and then, when he had, his mother and father had sounded overjoyed and couldn’t wait to come to New York to meet him.
He’d been struggling with the realisation that what he’d believed for most of his life had been wrong when they’d died in a helicopter crash on way to New York. He’d never even got to see them in the flesh. He’d never got to hug them. He’d never got a kiss from them. It was almost as if, since he’d received that letter, all elements of his normally micromanaged existence had spiralled out of his control.
The will was just another element. He hated being manipulated. He hated the thought that someone might be trying to take charge of his life.
His parents had had no idea where he was, or how life had turned out for him, when they’d included him in the will. Maybe they’d hoped it would give him the financial security that most people craved. But Leo had no need of financial security from his parents. He’d carved out his own successful business through dedication, hard work and a tiny edge of ruthlessness.
If they’d had a chance to meet they would have realised that Leo didn’t need money. He had no need to be part of the family business—or any interest in it. But that chance had been stolen from them all, and right now the will was creating havoc with his own business interests.
He needed to be in New York. He had several large deals coming off and for Leo the devil was in the detail. The thing he prided himself on. Being in Mont Coeur, surrounded by family pressure, was messing with his head.
Anissa’s idea to come up the mountain to clear his head had come at the perfect time.
There was a nudge at his back. ‘Come on, then, Leo. Show me your moves.’
She’d arrived behind him right on time at the ski lift. Her eyes swept up and down his body. ‘Did you get that gear from the hire shop?’
‘Maybe,’ he answered, noncommittal. He didn’t want to let her know that he’d just gone to the most exclusive shop and bought a whole host of new gear and equipment.
She gave a nod. ‘They’ve obviously improved their range. Cool.’
She gestured towards the ski lift. ‘Ready, then?’
‘Sure I am. You show me your moves, and I’ll show you mine.’
She grinned and glided ahead of him on her skis, lining up with the swiftly approaching chair lift. He slotted in behind her in the queue and tried not to think about how neat her backside had looked as she’d been swept up by the seat. She was wearing the same black ski gear she’d been wearing the first time he’d seen her. And, boy, did it fit well.
They reached the top of the slope around ten minutes later. It wasn’t for the faint-hearted, and just being here gave Leo a hint of mischief.
The whole of Mont Coeur lay beneath them, twinkling with lights, surrounded by a dark sky and white snow.
‘I love it up here,’ Anissa said quietly, her warm breath clouding the air in front of them.
‘Impressive,’ he said as he looked around. There were only a few other serious skiers. He watched them dart down the slopes in front of them, zig-zagging with ease.
Anissa was moving from foot to foot—obviously anxious to get started. He turned to face her with a wide grin on his face. ‘Okay, so you might need to give me a few pointers.’
‘What?’ Her face fell.
He held up his ski poles. ‘You know—the kind of stuff that you teach.’
Her mouth opened. ‘But you said you could ski. That you could hold your own.’
He shrugged. ‘I might have been a bit economical with the truth.’
Concern laced her brow. ‘Please tell me you’re joking. I would never have brought you up to this slope if you weren’t experienced.’
‘I am. I’m maybe just...’ he grinned and shrugged again ‘...a little out of practice.’ He loved teasing her. It was clear she was taking it all in and contemplating how to tell him he was about to kill himself skiing down this run.
She sucked in a deep breath and obviously tried to still the panic she was feeling. She shuffled over next to him. ‘Okay, let’s practise the basics. Positioning. Moving. Slowing and stopping.’
She seemed to go into automatic pilot, demonstrating each position and talking him through it. Leo took great pleasure in getting most things wrong, particularly when she came over and tried to move his body into the position it was supposed to be in.
‘When was the last time you skied?’ she asked.
‘College,’ he quipped.
‘College?’ It came out more like a squeak.
He could see her professional face slip into place. ‘Leo, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.’
‘How long have you been doing this?’ he asked. He was curious. Was her dual role between ski instructor and chalet maid her ambition or a convenience?
She bit her bottom lip. It made her look the tiniest bit vulnerable.
‘Only for the past year. It’s kind of a needs–must situation.’
Now he really was curious. ‘Why? What were you doing before?’
She looked distinctly uncomfortable, shifting from ski to ski. ‘I had other career plans. But they got...side-lined.’
He couldn’t help himself. ‘Why, what did you do before?’
She glanced over her shoulder, almost as if she were checking to see if anyone was listening. But the few other skiers up on the slopes were all occupied. She took a deep breath. ‘I was a professional. Have been the last few years. I was training for the International Skiing Championship. I was hoping to get gold.’
For the first time since he’d met her, he was struck dumb. ‘What?’
She looked a little hurt. ‘Is it really so unbelievable?’
‘What?’ he repeated. ‘No, of course not. But...’ he paused for a second ‘...what happened?’
Her face was serious and her body posture tense. ‘I had an accident. One that my surgeon termed “catastrophic”. I broke my leg in three places. He said it would never be strong enough for me to ski professionally again.’
Leo reached out and touched her arm. ‘Oh, Anissa, I’m so sorry.’
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. ‘Don’t be. I get better every day. I can feel the strength returning. I just need to keep practising, keep conditioning myself to gain momentum again.’
He heard the words she was saying but wasn’t quite sure he believed them. He’d seen how much she’d been in shock the other night after her minor accident. And if her doctor had told her that being competitive wasn’t possible again, could Anissa be deluding herself?
‘What happened to the team you had around you?
Didn’t you have a sponsor?’
She pressed her lips together and looked off into the distance for a second. ‘Yeah. They weren’t interested in hanging around. They’re in it for the here and now. They don’t want to wait for someone to get back to fitness.’
He moved in front of her. It was awkward when they both had skis. Right now he wanted to touch her cheek, give her a hug, let her know that he empathised with her. Because he did.
Anissa sounded as if she’d been the next big thing—only to have it all ripped away from her. In a resort like this, she had a daily reminder of what she’d lost.
He knew how hard that was. He’d spent the last few days purposely avoiding Sebastian and Noemi—even though Noemi had called four times. He was trying so hard to think about the family stuff. He didn’t even want to acknowledge how much his life had been turned upside down.
He reached out and took his Anissa’s hand. ‘I get it,’ he said quietly.
