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She smiled, amused. “I love dessert.”
“We’ll make sure you have some before you leave.”
“But I only just arrived. I’m not going to think about leaving yet.” She looked at him hopefully. “I saw Mr. Trimble early this morning and he said, once I’m ready, he’ll take me to the cottage. I’m excited about that.”
“Makes you happy.”
“I appreciate the roof over my head last night. It’s obviously a very impressive roof, but I like being independent and not creating a fuss, and let’s face it, I have been an imposition and that’s not why I came.”
Just the opening he was looking for. “Why did you come? Christmas isn’t the time most people want to be alone.”
She gestured to the window. “But I’m not alone. I’m in a market town. People are everywhere.”
“Including your former fiancé.”
The girl from the counter appeared with their coffees and set them down before slipping away. Alec glanced at the cups of coffee and then at Cara.
Cara’s smile had faded. “That was a shock,” she admitted. “Haven’t seen him since our engagement ended, and to see him here is…” She shook her head. “Weird. Fortunately, I don’t think he saw me. At least, I hope he didn’t see me running away. Although, I don’t know why I did that. We don’t hate each other.”
“Hard breakup?” Alec asked.
She hesitated. “A messy breakup. We’d have some intense discussions about the future. I’d wanted to postpone the wedding, and we had a fight about it. And then not long after a friend saw Chet with someone else. They were out in Seattle, on what looked like a date. I’m grateful the friend told me, but it hurt. If he wanted out, just end things before you start something else.”
Alec heard the crack in her voice. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s partly my fault. I knew we weren’t right for each other, but I tend to avoid conflict, and so rather than break things off, I suggested we push the wedding back.”
“That doesn’t give him license to cheat,” Alec said curtly. “An honorable man doesn’t do such things.”
Cara looked at him, expression thoughtful. “Not even when feeling demoralized?”
He shot her a look of disbelief. “Not even then. A man must have integrity; that is part of his code of conduct. And it’s not as if you went out and made a fool of him. You asked to push the wedding back. That’s not a sin.”
She processed this a moment before speaking. “To answer your earlier question, about why I’d come to England for Christmas on my own. I wasn’t looking to be alone as much asnot be home for Christmas. I have a lovely, very involved family, but I didn’t want to spend Christmas discussing Chet.”
“Why would you? Your engagement ended months ago.”
“Chet and Alison’s wedding took place just last weekend.” She hesitated before adding, “On the same day he and I were to be married.”
“Now that’s simply wrong.”
Her lips pursed. “It would have been nice if they’d shifted the ceremony to a different day, but maybe he couldn’t. He’d already put in for time off work, so if you have those vacation days set aside, one really should use them.” And then Cara smiled, a wide, rather wicked smile.
Alec smiled and shook his head. “I’m glad to hear you a bit ruthless. He’s behaved badly. I can see why your family is feeling protective.”
“To be fair, I felt bruised by the way things ended—and how quickly he married Alison—but if he’s happy, that’s good. Life is so short I try not to dwell on upsetting things, or the things I can’t change.”
Alec suddenly flashed to Madeleine, and his stomach did a free fall. He exhaled quickly and shifted, uncomfortable.
“Life is short,” he agreed, voice pitched low.
And this week, like every week before Christmas, Madeleine was very much on his heart and mind.
A young man from the kitchen arrived at their table with Cara’s eggs. He asked Alec if he wanted anything. Alec declined and focused on his coffee while Cara ate.
Or he tried to focus on his coffee but he kept picturing his late wife, just before that last, tragic run at Chamonix. She’d been having a great day on the slopes and was laughing, challenging him just as she always did. It was their final run for the day, and she’d wanted to race him. Madeleine was a superb skier; her French mother and English father having met on the slopesin France. Later, they’d bought a chalet in Tignes and spent the winter holidays there every year. Alec and Madeleine were there with her family for a long weekend before Christmas, which would be spent at Langley Park as they did every year. But that final run on December twenty-first ended in disaster, and Alec buried her on December twenty-fourth, before flying to England, solo. Single.
He glanced up to find Cara’s gaze on him, her expression troubled.
