A Slippery Slope (12 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Verity
hadn’t meant to laugh. She had no idea why she had but there was something
about the whole situation that bordered on the ridiculous. She just couldn’t
help herself. She’d actually been intending to storm out into the night. Now
Josh was telling her that Mistral had buried her shoes!

What was she supposed to do? Go barefoot? Demand to borrow a pair
of Josh’s? She saw a vision of herself traipsing through the snow in a dressing
gown that swamped her, and her feet swimming in Josh’s shoes. She couldn’t help
but burst out laughing.

She’d wanted to stay mad at him. Knowing he’d undressed her and
had seen her naked made her want to curl up and die of embarrassment. But as
she’d sat by the fire stroking Mistral and waiting for Josh to return, she
wondered what she would have done had the roles been reversed.

Would she have left him in wet clothes?

No.

Would she have undressed him?

Yes.

Would she have looked?

Absolutely!

And he’d told her she’d been sick. He’d not only looked after her
but also cleaned her things. He deserved some brownie points for that! She’d
just behaved like some virginal miss from a Regency romance; he’d behaved like
a rake, but that thought brought a wry smile to her lips. She did love a good
Regency romance.

Now this! Mistral had buried her shoes. It was just too much.

‘Well,’ she said, still chuckling, ‘if that’s the thanks I get for
rescuing a dog, perhaps I’ll think twice about it in future.’ She patted
Mistral on the head and Mistral licked her foot in return. ‘I don’t suppose
there’s any point in asking you to go and dig them up, is there?’

‘Me? Or Mistral?’ Josh said, hovering in the doorway.

She smiled at him in spite of herself.

‘Does this mean you’re no longer mad at me?’ he asked, running a
hand through his hair. ‘Is it safe for me to come in?’

‘It’s your house,’ she replied, playing it cool. ‘You must do as
you please. You clearly have so far. But I’m still a little cross.’

He sighed and walked towards the fire, sinking into a chair
opposite her.

‘Can we call a truce if I tell you that I didn’t actually look?
Well, not much anyway. I had to look a bit because I couldn’t do it properly
with my eyes closed.’

She raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Really? You surprise me.’

He grinned. ‘You have no idea how difficult it was. I think I
deserve a medal for bravery and self-sacrifice.’

‘I’ll mention it in dispatches. I believe my mother knows some
influential people.’

‘You’re clearly feeling better. To be honest, I didn’t expect to
see you until at least eleven tomorrow morning.’

Verity frowned disapprovingly. ‘Speaking of tomorrow – well, today
now – I’ll have to get Lucy to bring me some clothes and shoes or something so
that I can go home. I expect most of the guests are still out but I can’t turn
up dressed like this, just in case.’

Josh shrugged. ‘I think you look very fetching. Lucy and Etienne
are still at the party but ... I can take you home if you’re sure you’re okay
... or you can stay here the night and I can take you back later. I can carry
you to the door so you won’t need shoes and I’m sure no one will see you
because the guests usually lie in a bit on Christmas Day.’

‘I can’t stay here!’

‘Why not? Don’t look so worried, Verity. You’re perfectly safe, if
that’s what’s bothering you. I won’t ... try to seduce you.’

‘That’s a relief,’ she said, wondering why she didn’t actually
sound – or feel relieved.

‘I expect so.’

He held her gaze and she had an insane urge to fling herself into
his arms. She had to grip the arm of the chair to stop herself from doing so.
She took several deep breaths to regain her self-control.

‘Don’t ... don’t you want to get back to the party?’ she said,
lowering her eyes to the belt of the dressing gown as she twisted one end
around her finger. ‘And ... Christelle?’

‘No.’

‘I don’t mind.’

He studied her face for a few moments before replying and she had
to look away.

‘That’s what you said about me dancing with her, but apparently
you lied.’

‘Who told you that?’ Her eyes shot back to his.

‘You did.’

‘Me! When?’

‘Shortly before you threw up over my shoes.’

‘Oh! I ... I was drunk. I must have been because I can’t remember
that at all.’

‘So you obviously can’t remember telling me that you can’t cook,
either.’

Verity could feel her mouth falling open but she was powerless to
stop it. She couldn’t remember saying that but she must have. How else would he
have known? Unless Etienne had told him. And it was true about him dancing with
Christelle so she’d obviously told him that too. Now, she
really
wanted
to die of embarrassment.

‘I can explain,’ she said.

‘I was sure you could.’

‘Are you really cross?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Okay.’ She took another deep breath. ‘You know that I’m married,
obviously, and I assume Joanna told you that ... Actually, what
did
Jo
tell you?’

He gave a little cough and ran his hand through his hair. ‘She
told me that you’d found your husband in bed with a waitress from his
restaurant, and that you wanted time to consider your future. I was reluctant
at first because I thought you might up and leave and go running back to him
but she told me later that in fact, he said he’s leaving
you
.’

‘Humph! Pretty much everything then.’

‘Pretty much. She also told me that you’d just lost your job so–’

‘I didn’t
lose
my job! Well, not exactly. My old boss
retired and my new boss – who is a total lech – made a pass at me. I kneed him
in the groin and ... long story short ... I left with a rather large sum of
money by way of a ... redundancy package. Large in comparison to my normal
standards, that is.’

‘Really? That I didn’t know. It seems you’re ... surrounded by
lecherous bosses.’

‘What? Oh! Because I called you a lech, you mean? Don’t worry,
you’re nothing like Alfie.’

‘That’s good to know.’

‘And I didn’t knee you in the groin when you kissed me, did I?’

His eyes narrowed and he furrowed his brows. ‘No you didn’t,
thankfully. Why was that?’

‘Um ... It’s irrelevant.’

‘Not to me.’

‘It doesn’t matter. Anyway, Lucy wanted to come here and when Jo
suggested I take her place, Lucy and my mother persuaded me that it was a good
idea. Lucy said she’d do the cooking and I could do all the prepping, and chat
with the guests because I’m good at that. We all thought it would work very
well – and it has. Hasn’t it?’

He nodded. ‘I can’t argue with that. It has. So far.’

‘We thought if I told you I can’t cook, you wouldn’t want me to
come and then Lucy wouldn’t have come either. Jo said you were desperate, and
that we wouldn’t see you very much anyway, so we didn’t think you’d ever find
out.’

‘Jo said that I’m desperate
and
a miserable git. She’s
clearly a big fan.’

‘She meant desperate for staff, not anything else.’

‘That’s nice. And that’s true, I suppose.’

‘Having been let down by ... your previous team?’

‘No. Having only decided at the last minute to take guests at
Marianne
this year.’

‘But you said ...? You told us that one of them moved on to better
things and–’

‘That was the year before. I didn’t open
Marianne
for guests
last year. I only opened this year because my regulars wanted me to and my
sister, Chloe – Joanna’s mother – nagged me until I agreed. Chloe can be very
... persuasive when she sets her mind to it.’

‘Why didn’t you open last year?’

‘I didn’t want to. But we’re getting off the subject. This is
about you and your cooking skills. Or lack of them.’

Verity shook her head. ‘That’s it. End of story. My ... husband,
Tony’s a chef, as you know, so he did all the cooking. My mother isn’t exactly
the domestic goddess type so I never really learnt anything other than the
basics, and I married young. Tony told me my cooking was ... abysmal so I just
... stopped cooking. But Lucy clearly takes after him as far as that goes. I
sent her on the chalet-hosting course so that she could come here. She’s always
wanted to do a few seasons as a chalet girl.’

‘I heard that you wanted to be one too, when you were young. And
by the way, I know it’s none of my business but I really don’t like the sound
of your husband.’

Verity tutted. ‘You’re right! It is none of your business. Who
told you I wanted to be a chalet girl? Oh, I suppose it was Lucy, wasn’t it?’

‘I apologise. I’ll keep my views on your husband to myself in
future. And no, it was Etienne, but I suppose we can safely assume that Lucy
told him – unless you did.’

Verity shook her head. ‘No. It was obviously Lucy. So ... do I
still have a job?’

Josh stared at her for several seconds. ‘Yes, Verity. You still
have a job.’

The fire hissed and crackled and neither of them spoke for some
time until Mistral got to her feet, farted and headed towards the open door of
the sitting room. They both screwed up their eyes and burst out laughing.

Josh got up and followed Mistral out. ‘Excuse me, Verity,’ I
assume nature calls.’

He returned alone a few minutes later. ‘She may be some time. I’ll
leave her to it.’ Resuming his seat opposite, he grinned at her. ‘I suppose I
should be glad you came. After all, if it weren’t for you, I never would have
become the ... devoted owner of such a delightful dog.’

‘And I’d really like to thank you for that,’ she said, grinning
back. ‘Seriously, if there’s anything I can do to repay you, please let me
know.’

His eyes held hers and the grin turned to that sensuous smile of
his. ‘You may regret saying that because I can think of something, as it
happens.’

Verity swallowed and fidgeted in the chair. It wasn’t just the
fire that was making her temperature rise now. ‘What is it?’ she squeaked,
wondering if she sounded like a mouse to his ears too.

He didn’t answer immediately and she cast her eyes downwards,
unable to meet the look in his.

‘Two things, actually.’ You can tell me why you didn’t ... stop me
when I kissed you. And why you minded me dancing with Christelle.’

Verity’s head shot up but she quickly looked away again. ‘Oh! Um.
Well ... the reason I didn’t stop you was because it happened so suddenly and
ended just as quickly. By the time I realised what was happening, you had
stopped. As for you dancing with Christelle, my husband has just left me for a
very young and very beautiful, woman. I’m feeling a little ... unattractive at
the moment. To go to a party with you and have a very beautiful woman drag you
off to dance with her just ... reinforced that feeling, I suppose. I know we
weren’t on a date or anything and I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t have danced
with her. I’m just saying that ... well, it’s about me, not you.’

‘So what you’re actually telling me is that it could have been
anyone kissing you and it wouldn’t have made the slightest difference and that
if Etienne had danced with Christelle and left you standing there you would
have felt exactly the same?’

‘No! I mean, yes! Yes. Exactly.’

‘And tonight was just because you feel unattractive?’

‘Yes.’

The fire crackled in the silence and as she watched the flickering
flames, she could feel his eyes almost burning into her skin. After what seemed
like an eternity, he spoke:

‘I can do something about that, Verity. If you’ll let me.’

She didn’t dare look at him. She felt him watching her every move
and as she fidgeted in the chair and bit her lower lip, she became
excruciatingly aware of the fact that she was naked beneath the dressing gown.

‘Please stop looking at me like that,’ she said, staring into the
fire.

‘Like what?’

‘That!’

‘Er ... how do you know how I’m looking at you? You’ve been
avoiding looking in my direction for the last five minutes – at least.’

‘I don’t need to look at you to know. I can hear it in your voice.
And you’ve looked at me like that ever since that first day when you wouldn’t stop
staring at my legs!’

‘You have very nice legs. I couldn’t help myself. Surely that
tells you you’re not totally unattractive.’

Her eyes shot to his face at that, but she saw the smile on his
lips and the desire in his eyes, and she quickly turned away.

‘You’re doing this on purpose.’

‘Doing what?’

‘Making me feel ... uncomfortable.’