Page 25 of In Bed with Her Billionaire Bodyguard

‘I have to do a deal that will make them forget all their prejudice. Because if avarice is their weakness, it will be my success.’

Hope followed Luca down the stairs from the jet as the luggage was loaded into a sleek, dark SUV with blacked-out windows, her breath misting in the cold air. The private airstrip was in a basin protected by a mountain range on one side and a lake in the distance on the other. The air crisp and cool and promising a snowfall that would be sure to delight the holidaymakers hoping to get in a few last runs before returning their children to school or work after the festive winter break. The runway had been cleared to allow for landing, the snow banked up around the edges looking dirty and industrial, taking just a little of the shine from the alpine fantasy and showing the reality hidden beneath. Something that felt a little too close to home at that moment for Hope.

‘Would you like to sit in the front?’ Luca asked. She considered it. Thought of the way she’d watch his hands as he steered the wheel, changed gears, the power of it...

‘If I sit beside you, the press will want to know who you are.’

It was true, but she still disliked how it forced them back to the roles of employer and employee, even if it wasn’t strictly true. Luca’s stiff nod in response served to acknowledge as much, as he held the passenger door open for her.

She immediately swiped across the screen of her phone to access her emails. Work. She needed to work, she washereto work, and as long as the elaborate scheme she had created with Angelique was a success, she’d meet with her potential business partner that evening and be on her way back home tomorrow, all being well.

Hope had spent two days pulling together the details of what she believed would be the making of Harcourts. Her brother had tried with Casas Industries and while a deal with the Spanish fashion house would have been a solid investment, exciting up to a point, it wouldn’t have changed anything. Hope wanted more. Hope wanted bigger. With Sofia Obeid, Hope was almost sure she had it. And while that familiar part of her wanted to speak to her brother, to ask if she was doing the right thing, if the deal was actually as good as she’d hoped, another—stronger—part wanted to keep this to herself. In case she failed.

She tried to focus on the inbox on her screen, but soon became distracted by the view beyond the window. She had always loved snow-covered mountains. There was a wildness inherent in them that she felt she was never allowed to be. A raw, unmatched, solid force to them that was not action or reaction, push or pull, it justwas. Simply power, unquestionable and immovable.

Like Luca.

No, she argued with herself.Likeme. Like howIwant to be.

She watched as the familiar turn-off to the village just outside of Kitzbühel came up on her left...and then disappeared as they passed it.

‘Luca, I think we’ve missed the turning.’

‘No, we didn’t.’

‘Yes,’ she said, craning her neck back to where they should have gone. ‘We’ve passed it.’

Her statement was met with silence.

‘Luca?’ she asked, her tone a warning which was also ignored.

CHAPTER SIX

THESLAMOFher car door cracked through the snow-heavy silence like a gunshot. A bird erupted from a nearby fir tree, sending a flutter of wings and snow off into the forest just behind the sprawling wooden chalet.

Not even on pain of death would Hope admit that this place looked as if it had been plucked out of her daydreams. Not that Luca seemed to be bothered in any way whether she liked the ski lodge or not. He had hauled open the boot of the car and was removing their meagre luggage and carrying it up the stairs towards the front door, his movements quick, efficient and laced with a controlled impatience.

‘You went behind my back,’ she accused, following him as he made the trip back to the car. She turned to stare up at the accommodation. It seemed almost wasteful to use it for just a night. She counted the windows along the second floor of the chalet, bracketed by wooden eaves and a balcony. The entire place—built to house at least fifteen, from what she could see—looked as if it belonged in a chocolate advert. The luxurious promise of sweetness, warmth and decadence just behind its doors.

Her mind threw up a marketing campaign just like that—a couple very much in love, sinking to a white fur rug before a roaring fire, mulled wine on one side and seventy percent dark chocolate on the other. The mountains, perhaps a few slopes visible in the distance through an open window.

The slam of the car boot made her jump and Luca stalked past her, refusing to spare her a glance, up the stairs and, after entering a code in the door’s keypad, into the chalet. She stamped her boots on the snow-covered driveway, kicking out the cold from her feet, and followed him reluctantly into one of the most beautiful places she’d ever stayed.

The door opened onto a large utility-style hallway, perfect for hanging coats and taking off boots. Along one side was a rack for skis and poles, snowboards and holders for boots and every kind of winter sport that could be imagined. At the end of the utility room was a door that stood partly ajar.

Braced and ready to give Luca a piece of her mind, she swept through the door and...

Oh.

The ground floor was as serene and soothing as any spa. A sauna glowed gently from behind its glass front, the wooden seating and panels promising a bone-deep warmth that Hope suddenly craved more than she could have imagined. On the other side was a hammam, offering a slick, humid heat that reactivated fantasies that she’d desperately wanted to put away. A small pool lay just beyond the bounds of the building, beneath a canopy of fairy lights covering what must be the underside of the large balcony above. Hope was hardly unfamiliar with the luxury that money could buy, but even she felt as if the world had tilted on its axis the moment she had stepped through the door.

On the second floor, she found an impressive gym that stretched the entire length and width of the chalet, filled with machines that would work any muscle group imaginable, and a matted floor space just in front of the same floor-to-ceiling windows that separated it from the swimming area below. The third floor comprised of enough bedrooms for several families to share but it was the fourth floor that really impressed.

The entire open-plan floor wrapped around a chimney that hung down from the ceiling. Beneath it, a firepit blazed seductively. The floor-to-ceiling windows that had below displayed the incredible snow-covered landscape of forests and far-off chalets, here, with the elevated height offered by the fourth floor, showcased the mountain range that had become a piece of art in its own right.

Large plush cream sofas faced the central fireplace on one side, and an exquisite wooden hand-carved table ready to seat sixteen stood on the other. She became aware of a boiling kettle by the sound of it franticly rocking on its base.

Luca emerged from a doorway to her left and absently asked her if she wanted a cup of tea.

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