Page 52 of One Forbidden Night In Paradise (Hot Winter Escapes)

He led her along the side of the pool and opened a door into what she had assumed was a changing room. It wasn’t. She stared in amazement. It looked almost like the sauna except that, instead of wood, the walls were clad in stone and everything was covered in what looked like...

‘Is this snow?’

Shutting the door, he nodded. ‘I was doing business in Dubai, and they had one of these in the hotel.’

‘This is completely wild. Is this actual snow?’ She stared up dazedly at the ceiling, blinking into the tiny white crystals dropping onto her face.

‘It snows all day every day if you want it to. Solar power, before you ask, and, while I remember, the jet we flew here on is powered by sustainable fuel.’

She smiled. ‘I’m impressed, but I’m also curious as to why you want it to snow every day.’

‘It’s supposed to be good for you. Mainly though it’s because it only snows about twelve days a year in New York and I miss the snow back home.’ His green eyes locked onto hers. ‘I thought you might be missing it too. Home, not the snow. Or maybe that as well.’

There were snowflakes on the end of his eyelashes. For a moment she couldn’t speak; her breath was knotted in her throat.

‘Because of last night,’ he said softly. He reached over and touched her cheek and it was impossible not to lean into the warmth of his hand. ‘Look, I know you probably feel weird, but you don’t need to. We both had things we’d been holding onto a long time. I’m just glad to have been of some help.’

For a moment she thought he was going to say something else but then he reached out and took her hands and pulled her against him, his green eyes resting on her face as he rubbed his nose against hers.

‘And because we have this trust thing I’m going to let you into a secret. The real reason I have this room is so I can build snow people.’

She felt a tug of heat low down as he caught her smile. And relief that she hadn’t wrecked these last days together.

‘You should just come to Edale if you want to do that.’ Realising the implications of her words, she said quickly, ‘We get masses of snow where I live. It’s beautiful, like something fromThe Snow Queen.’

His eyes were steady and unblinking on her face. ‘Maybe I could drop by next time I’m in London.’

She felt a rush of something that she knew to be happiness, which was ridiculous because another part of her knew that it would never happen. Should never happen, according to the rules of the holiday fling. Only this didn’t feel like a fling any more. For either of them.

But then again she knew only too well how attracted she was to the dark and unpredictable and there was no point in trying to ignore that fact or the disastrous consequences of ignoring it.

‘It’s not exactly drop-by-able but I’d like that,’ she said carefully. ‘But first I’d really like to go back to Bermuda. To the beach house. I don’t feel like I’ve spent nearly enough time there and it’s nearly time for me to go home.’ She knew that, of course, but saying it out loud made it suddenly, painfully real. Her heart punched upwards into her throat as she tried to picture the blank space where Chase would have stood, the silence of her world without his voice.

No, not yet.

She took a breath. ‘And I’d really like you to come with me.’

He touched her cheek, brushed his thumb over her bottom lip and then tilted her head up to meet his. ‘I’d like that too,’ he said softly.

It was better that they had talked, Jemima thought as she stared through the window of Chase’s private jet at the brilliant blue sky. Aside from inviting him to build snow people in Edale, of course.

It was noticeably easier to breathe and her body felt looser and lighter now, as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. And really that was exactly what had happened. Before today, talking about her father, his life, his death had been out of bounds and impassable for so long, like those terrible war zones where landmines were still waiting to be cleared.

It hadn’t been painless to say what had to be said, but with Chase’s arms wrapped around her the flame had been pure and contained like a votive candle. It was a flame that would never go out, but it would never hurt her any more either.

And now she could see how much of her life had been dictated by her guilt and her grief. How it had cast a shadow over her like a mourning veil. But Chase had lifted the veil, and she had let him because she knew he understood what she was feeling. He had felt it himself, and been as trapped.

With hindsight, it was obvious that they’d had that in common all along, which was no doubt why it had been so easy to leapfrog from one-night stand to holiday fling, and now to this understanding that she had never had with anyone before, not even the twins.

There was still an irrevocable sadness that her father hadn’t been able to cope with life without a drink, but she had accepted that dating damaged men would never fix the past. Things felt clearer now, and not just the past.

She could picture the title of her thesis, the chaotic pages of notes, only now patterns were forming, sentences shifting into focus. Blinking into the sunlight, she turned her head, and felt her pulse jerk as she found Chase looking at her as if he’d been waiting for her to turn or perhaps to say something. For a moment, all she could do was gaze at him.

He was so beautiful, but he was so much more than that. He was a good boss and he cared about people, the planet... Her breath caught. He cared about her.

‘What is it?’ he said softly.

‘Could I borrow your laptop? I left mine on theMiranda. Would you mind?’

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