His eyes search mine, and there’s so much conveyed in that look. We’ve spent the week together and I thought I was imagining the connection we had, but it’s obvious from his look that he’s felt it too.
Hans smiles at me softly, and I want him to kiss me again and never stop.
“Allie, I…” He goes to speak, but he’s cut off by a voice I know all too well.
“That’s where you are.”
Hans drops his hold of me, and I snap around to see my mother approaching across the snow. She’s got one of the ski patrols with her, and neither of them look happy.
“We’ve been looking all over for you, Allie; you can’t just go off-piste without telling me.”
I drop my gaze, because there’s no point arguing with my mother. It only ever gets me in trouble, and she never listens anyway.
Mom doesn’t even look at Hans, and I wonder if she saw us kissing. Part of me hopes she did. It might make her stop trying to set me up with an appropriate man from a proper family.
“We were just looking at the view.”
“We need to get back to the cabin. We’ve got dinner with the Boltons tonight. I want you in the blue dress with your hair brushed. Their son arrived today, and he’s going to take you up the slopes tomorrow.”
My heart sinks because she’s at it again, setting me up with some boring guy.
“How about my lesson?”
“Lessons are cancelled,” Mom says crisply.
I turn to Hans, but he’s already gotten down off the boulder. I try to catch his eye but his goggles are already pulled down over his face, making his expression unreadable.
I scramble off the boulder. “Thank you for showing me this,” I say to Hans, trying to get back the connection we shared a few moments ago.
“Of course,” he says, but there’s something chilly in his voice that I don’t like.
He steps into his skis and goes on ahead of us.
As I watch him go, Mom leans forward and says in a voice that’s supposed to be conspiratorial but is still loud enough to carry across the entire valley, “Don’t fool around with the help, Allie. He’ll never be good enough for someone like you.”
My breath does a sharp intake at her words. Hans is moving away from us using his poles to pull him through the snow. I see his back stiffen, and he pauses as the words hit him.
“Hans…” I call.
But he puts his poles in the ground and keeps moving without looking back.
1
ALLIE
Two years later…
Soft tulle whispers and brushes against my legs as I turn to face the mirror. Taking a deep breath, I open my eyes.
I hardly recognize myself amongst the layers of white fabric. I was up at six to get my hair piled into tight curls with the loose strands falling in ringlets down my bare back. The dress clings to my breasts and tucks in at the waist, falling is soft lines to the floor.
I look like a bride.
Perspiration beads on my brow, destroying the work of the make-up artist. My palms sweat, and the corset under the dress pinches so tight I can’t breathe.
I suck in a deep breath, but it comes out shallow as panic rises in my chest.
I’m a freaking bride.
