Fire and Ice (10 page)

Kate had still not decided on how
much of a history she dared to invent for Michelle. Made bold by the tone of
the evening she decided to be blatantly evasive.

“The agency expressly forbid me
from giving you any of my personal details,” she answered with mock primness.

Stefan’s eyebrows arched high into
his forehead. “Oh they did, did they?” He leaned forward in his chair, rubbing
his hands together with relish. “What exactly did they tell you about me? I’d
love to hear my notoriety rating.”

Kate pursed her lips firmly
together and shook her head. “Sorry, that’s classified info. I can’t divulge
private information to any of my clients.”

“Well, in that case I’ll have to
ask you after-hours, when you’re off-duty,” Stefan responded suavely. “Why
don’t I take you out to the Farm Club this evening and buy you ridiculously
over-priced drinks in return for the gossip on the black sheep of the Pichard
flock?”

Before Kate could reply, Sebastien
cut in, his dark eyes glinting dangerously.

 “I think Michelle has had her dose
of Pichard for one evening,” he said shortly. “We don’t pay her nearly enough
to ask her to put up with you on overtime. Let the poor girl escape and get
some sleep before she has to face the clan again early tomorrow.”

He stood up abruptly and gestured gallantly
toward the doorway. Stefan leaned back on the sofa and flung his arms out,
watching his brother with curiosity but saying nothing.

Unsure of what to say to Stefan,
Kate glanced toward Sebastien, but his polite suggestion seemed to conceal a
direct order. She nodded goodnight to both of the men and fled to the safety of
her room.

The fire was burning low when the
two men drained their glasses.

“You are supposed to be keeping a
low profile, that’s why,” Sebatien said irritably to his brother. He slammed
his glass down onto the table with unnecessary vehemence.

Stefan sighed in a bored way. “And
you are supposed to be learning how to be social again, remember? Can you
remember how it was to go out and have fun from time to time?”

“I’m not against all fun,” Sebastien
answered impatiently. “But hitting on our employees seems a little
inappropriate.”

Stefan looked amused. “Is that
what’s really bothering you, little brother? You think I’m being inappropriate?
Or are you wondering if it would be inappropriate for you to hit on our
charming little employee?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Sebastien said
churlishly, picking up his glass and gazing into its empty depths.

His brother laughed out loud.
“Come on, I haven’t seen you act like this since Genevieve. You can’t keep your
eyes off her. Are you defending a fair maiden or your own interests? Is this jealousy
I see?”

Sebastien lunged at his brother in
a wrestling hold and the two of them rolled off the sofa and landed with a thud
on the wooden floor.

Stefan was taller, but Sebastien
was more muscular and managed to pin him in a few moves. He glared down at his
brother.

“Ouch!” Stefan grunted, grinning
devilishly. “I take it that’s a yes?”

Sebastien gave him a final shake
and then stood up, proffering a hand to pull Stefan to his feet.

Stefan gave tousled his younger
brother’s shaggy hair. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t hitting on her. I haven’t
forgotten that I’m exiled to Siberia.”

Sebastien stared into the fire,
saying nothing.

Stefan brought him back to his
senses with a friendly punch in the arm. “I don’t suppose you want to go down
to the club, see who’s in town?” he asked hopefully.

Sebastien sent him a baleful look
and Stefan sighed. “Somehow I didn’t think so. In that case, I’m off to bed.”
He paused, looking at the dark form still staring into the flames. “But it
wouldn’t be a scandal if you asked her for a date outside of her work time, you
know.”

 On that note he waltzed out of
the room, leaving Sebastien with his tangled thoughts.

Chapter Eleven

Tuesday night found Kate and Mimi
curled up on the couch in the chalet, eating ice cream from the container and
watching a movie as they discussed romance in general. Outside, the wind
rattled the shutters and drove snow up against the panes. Inside, the fire cast
a cosy glow on the warm room.

They were watching The Sound of
Music in French. Mimi had come up with the idea as a means of boosting Kate’s
flagging interest in improving her French.

“What better way to work on a
language than by watching a film you can recite by heart?” she had asked,
adding, after a moment’s thought, “Except of course by taking on a French
lover. That’s the true secret to learning a language. And it IS the language of
love, after all.”

Kate had preferred the film option
and so here they were trying to get used to strange voices singing familiar
melodies. As a French lesson Kate wasn’t reaping much benefit, but both women
were having fun singing along when their favourite songs came up, and in
between they were trying to analyse Sebastien’s behaviour.

“In any case, sounds like
Sebastien is the musical,” Emily mused aloud. “And Stefan just might be the
drama.”

Kate had to laugh at the forgotten
code they used to use back in high school, where Kate was always given the lead
in anything musical and Emily starred in most dramas. “You’d probably be his
type, actually.”
                “Good, that’s settled then,” her friend said matter-of-factly.
“You two just have to get married, make me the maid of honour and I’ll pick up
the best man. I assume it’s de rigeur to make your brother your best man in
these old families. Keep the cards held close and all that.”

“I don’t think it’s so likely to
be a case of wedding bells ringing as police sirens wailing,” Kate said, pushing
out her lower lip. “That Axelle witch is probably behind the scenes trying to
get me fired even as we speak.”

“Ah, ha, proof positive,” Mimi
crowed triumphantly. “She obviously felt threatened by you, which means that
the chemistry between you two is palpable even to the self-absorbed. It’s a
good sign.”

Kate snorted. “She thought I was
the maid and my presence was the only thing that stood between her and a naked
romp in front of the fire. And he didn’t exactly do anything to suggest that he
thought differently.”

“You have to see it as a game,”
Emily declared, waving her spoon dramatically in the air for emphasis before
plunging it back into the container. “Nobody wants to show their hand too
early, but there are clues you can look for.”

“Like showing up with a beautiful model?”
Kate asked dryly. “You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that one.
Pass me the ice cream.”

“Occupational hazard,” her friend
dismissed airily, handing the tub across the coffee table. “His reaction to
your flirting with Stefan.”

“I was NOT flirting!” Kate
objected emphatically, stabbing her spoon crossly into the ice cream. “But he
probably thinks I was. And don’t smirk like that, I’m not interested in
Stefan.”

“Or Sebastien either, or so you
keep saying,” Emily reminded her. “Although methinks the lady doth protest too
much.”

Kate sighed and rearranged herself
more comfortably against the sofa cushions. “I’m just being silly about this
anyway. Nothing even happened.”

“There is no silly when it comes
to romance,” Mimi reprimanded her.

At that moment, on the screen,
Julie Andrews tipped out of a boat wearing clothes made out of curtains. The
girls looked at each other in silence and then burst out laughing.

“Yes, there is,” Kate contradicted
her, wiping her eyes. “Do you remember waiting for five hours outside a
restaurant so that you could “accidentally” bump into that rugby guy? And only
realising after the whole place had closed down that there was another exit?”

Mimi sniffed. “Fine, Katie, but if
you’re going to bring up the past, do I have to remind you of when you turned
your hair green trying to dye it black to make yourself more attractive for
Paulo, who turned out to be gay anyway?”

Kate picked up a pillow from the
sofa and turned to throw it at her friend. As she raised her arm, she caught
sight of a figure stepping silently into the room behind Emily. A shriek of
shock escaped her lips and the cushion flew high over Mimi’s head in the
direction of the intruder.

Emily spun in terror and sprang to
her feet just as the man caught the pillow deftly and turned on the living room
light.

Sebastien Pichard stood by the
switch, cushion in hand, looking amused.

“I’m glad to see that my home is so
safely defended,” he observed with a merry twinkle in his eye. “I’m terribly
sorry to disturb you like this. I didn’t want to ring in case you were asleep,
but then I heard voices…”

His own trailed off, looking at
the two women. Emily looked wide-eyed at Kate, who was frozen in place,
mortified. He caught the exchanged glances and raised his hand in a calming manner.

“Please, don’t get up. It was
inconsiderate of me to arrive unannounced,” he said. “I was just on my way back
from Torino and the traffic was bad so I thought I’d cut the trip in two by
crashing here for the night.” He looked at the screen. “Get back to your girls’
night in.”

Kate stood uncertainly. “Should I
get you something? A drink? Something to eat?”

Sebastien shook his head. “No,
you’re off-duty tonight.” His gaze drifted to the two spoons sticking out of
the half-finished tub of ice-cream on the table and he grinned. “I think I’ll
pass on the “something to eat.” But I might open a bottle of red if anyone
would care to join me. That is, if I’m not intruding.”

“Please do,” both said
immediately, scrambling to clean up their mess.  

“This is my friend Emily,” Kate said
awkwardly, wondering about the social etiquette of introducing guests to the
home owner in his own home. “I hope you don’t mind. She’s a very old friend
working in Verbier as well.”  She moved toward the screen to turn off the DVD
but Sebastien stopped her.

“Really, carry on with your
evening. I don’t wish to interrupt. Nice to meet you, Emily.” He moved toward
the liqueur cabinet, returning with three glasses and a bottle of Burgandy. He
looked at the scene unfolding on the screen and shook his head with exaggerated
sorrow. “As if romantic comedies on their own aren’t bad enough, you had to go
one further and get a musical. Just tell me, what is it with women and romantic
comedies?”

“And how would you recognise it as
a romance if you hadn’t seen it for yourself?” Emily asked pointedly, accepting
the proffered glass and easing herself into a comfortable chair.

Sebastien looked at her and sighed
as if he were a teacher correcting a particularly obtuse student. “Of course, the
singing and dancing and falling into the lake could be part of a horror film. In
fact, it probably is for some audiences. But I wouldn’t bet on it in this case.”

“It isn’t just a romance, it’s
historical. Biographical. Drama. A bit of everything,” Kate said defensively,
her eyes flicking back to the screen to reassure her characters. “And in this
case, it also happens to be my French lesson.”

“I see,” Sebastien said dryly,
with a forced cough. “Because being able to sing about climbing mountains will
get you through the Alps. Good tactic. Now tell me, why does your friend call
you Katie?”

Both women froze for a moment
exchanging panicked looks before Mimi smiled broadly. “We used to act in
musicals together, and Michelle here played the lead role in “Kiss Me Kate” and
the name stuck. You’ll also catch me calling her “Annie” at times, if she gets
too impulsive.”

Kate could feel her heart thumping
against her ribs. What had her mother said about your first lie leading to a
slippery slope? But Mimi’s smooth tone and calm manner made the lie seem
natural, and Kate grudgingly admired her friend’s quick reflexes.

Besides, Sebastien’s question
seemed to be based on genuine curiosity rather than suspicion. He seemed amused
by something and Kate had the horrible feeling that he had overheard more of
their conversation than he was letting on, maybe even their sing-along. She
wondered which was worse.

There was something different
about Sebastien this evening. He seemed relaxed, more approachable and less
guarded, Kate decided, watching him from the corner of her eye.

And more attractive than ever, in
his faded jeans and tee-shirt which showed his muscled build to advantage. It
seemed to be his natural attire and she watched appreciatively as he interacted
graciously with Emily, not seeming to be in the least put out at finding a
stranger in his chalet.

 “What sort of movie would you
choose?” Kate asked curiously. She sat back down cautiously on the couch,
sipping at her wine. “Action movies?”

Emily looked at him appraisingly.
“I’d say cop flicks and thrillers.” Her gaze took in his heavy brows and strong
build, his dark eyes. She winked approvingly at Kate.

“Nobody’s going to guess
international award-winning documentaries and obscure artsy films? I could be
offended,” Sebastien said mildly, settling himself comfortably at the other end
of the sofa from Kate.

They watched the end of the movie
together in companionable silence, with the occasional dry comment from
Sebastien and defensive response on the part of Kate and Mimi.

Kate stared at the screen with the
others but didn’t even try to follow the film. She was far too conscious of the
man on the sofa next to her. Their bodies didn’t touch, but she could feel his masculine
presence next to her and smell the slight fragrance of shampoo in his hair.  In
the corner of her field of vision she saw his handsome features and the
flickering light of the movie reflecting in his eyes.