Fire and Ice (15 page)

Carol smiled. “No, we’re just
gate-crashing the cocktail hour to see you and Simon. But we’ll come by for breakfast
to say goodbye to Calamity Simon tomorrow.”

Simon sat back down in his deep
leather chair, waving his cast toward the champagne bottle that was propped in
a bucket of ice on the low glass coffee table. “Nick will have to serve you,
I’m afraid, but if you think I was clumsy before the accident, I can assure you
that it hasn’t gotten better with a plaster on my arm.”

Nick poured a flute of champagne
for Kate and rose to his feet to hand it to her. “You look quite transformed,
Michelle,” he said, passing her the cold drink and raising his glass to clink
it against hers. “In a positive way, of course. Which isn’t to say...”

He petered out awkwardly and Carol
broke in. “You look wonderful, Kate, is what he’s trying to say. Wherever did
you find that dress?”

Kate smoothed it nervously, taking
a sip of bubbly to calm her nerves. “Teresa picked it out for me,” she
answered, resisting the urge to help herself to one of the twisted breadsticks
that stood temptingly in a bowl beside the champagne. As it was, she would be
trying to pull in her stomach all evening.

“Isn’t she an amazing woman?”
Carol asked rhetorically. “We’re staying up at the family home with her this
week. She always insists that we stay with her whenever we’re in town on
business, says it is part of the personal touch that family businesses should
offer.”

“Plus she likes to have people
around her,” Simon said fondly. “That’s the Latin blood in her, always wanting
to take care of you. I always used to stay with them for a week during school
holidays. Never ate better in my life. And that’s saying something.”  He patted
his ample stomach with satisfaction.

“Yes, she’s been incredibly kind
to me,” Kate agreed, moving toward the window to look at the lights lining the
quay.

“The boys used to like it because
it gave her somebody new to fuss over,” Simon continued fondly. “I always stay
with Sebastien now, but I make sure to visit Teresa for a mealtime or two while
I’m here.” He looked up at Kate, who was still hovering by the window. “Do take
a seat, Michelle,” he suggested, gesturing grandly toward the available sofas
and chairs. “You know, if Nick and I were real gentlemen we would be forced to
stay standing until you sat down.”

“Oh, let her stand,” Carol chided.
“It isn’t as if either of you are gentlemen enough to remember to stand even if
the Queen herself stopped by for a drink. And I imagine that Michelle feels
more comfortable standing in a dress like that.”

Kate sent her a grateful look. It
was true that she was afraid of crumpling her new gown before Sebastien even
saw her, although Teresa had assured her that the material was wrinkle-free.

Just at that moment Sebastien
strode into the room. Kate felt his arrival before she even saw him, felt the
atmosphere become more charged by his powerful presence as everyone turned
toward him.

Kate’s heart flip-flopped to the
point of hurting. He looked devastating in his formal wear, his clothes
tailored to fit his athletic form perfectly. Kate suddenly understood why
Teresa had bemoaned their lack of time, wanting to have something custom-made
for Kate as well. His dark eyes and thick brows were set off by the black
jacket, while the cream-coloured shirt underneath highlighted his tanned skin.

“Evening Carol, Nick, Simon,” he
greeted them, his eyes raking the room until he caught sight of Kate
silhouetted against the window. For a moment he simply stared.

Kate felt herself burning up under
the heat of his eyes as they slowly travelled down her body, from her tumbling
curls to the angle of her feet in her new heels. His gaze lingered on the curve
of her breasts and hips and the length of her calves, dissolving any remaining
doubts she harboured about his interest in her.

He lifted his eyes to meet hers
and suddenly nobody else in the room existed for Kate. “Tu es ravissante,” he
told her simply, tilting his head toward her as if doffing his cap.

Then he seemed to become aware of
the others in the room and smilingly accepted the proffered glass of champagne
from Nick, never taking his eyes off Kate.

Simon rolled his eyes
theatrically. “I think I’m going to feel like a third wheel as well as the
thorn between two roses,” he said, trying to sound petulant. “How can I feel
out of place at my own soirée?”

Sebastien finally tore his gaze
from Kate and turned his dark eyes on his friend, raising his glass as he did
so to propose a toast. “To Simon, for bringing us all together again,” he said,
taking a sip as everyone else did the same. “If it weren’t for his uncanny
knack to get injured off the slopes, we’d all be back to life as normal and
probably working right now.”

Simon made a sheepish face as the
others laughed.

Sebastien continued. “No, mon
vieux, you are not in the way at all. Au contraire, if you hadn’t insisted, I
might never have managed to convince Michelle to leave her precious mountain
for me tonight.”

Kate stepped closer to the group and
forced herself to join in the conversation, although she could happily have
stood there for another hour simply basking in the pleasure of the way
Sebastien was looking at her. “It’s true,” she said as if conceding a point.
“Between a night at the opera and finishing a chapter in the book I’m reading,
it was a pretty tough decision.”

“I had to promise her that you’d
be there to chaperone us, Simon,” Sebastien went on with a twinkle in his eye.
“I had to promise my mother as well. Her little boys apparently are not to be
trusted around the fairer sex, and the tabloids would love another racy Pichard
piece.”

“So, how did you two lovebirds
meet?” Nick asked conversationally as Kate bent down to place her empty
champagne glass on the table.

The directness of the question
caught Kate unawares and she kept her head bent over the breadsticks, her mind
racing as she tried to figure out how Sebastien had presented her.

“Michelle works with me,”
Sebastien answered easily. “Which reminds me, you have some modelling to do for
us tonight.”

Kate looked up in alarm and took a
step backwards, but Sebastien caught her by her wrist and held her firmly. The
feel of his strong hand against her arm sent an electric shock through her
entire body and made her want to crumple into his arms.

Instead she stood warily, unsure
of what was expected of her.

Sebastien seemed amused by her
discomfort. “Just the usual, cherie,” he drawled, reaching in his jacket pocket
for a small box. He released her arm to remove the lid and held the opened box
out toward her.

Inside, nestled on blue satin, was
a Pichard watch from the Simply Elegant collection. Kate recognised the style
from the photographs that graced the deluxe watch catalogue on the coffee table
in Verbier. The wristband was a simple swirl of narrow silver that fit like a
bracelet, and the watch itself was a very small face embedded in the gentle
crest of the wave. Kate wasn’t that familiar with precious stones, but the ends
of the watch hands sparkled with what looked like diamonds.

“Sorry to ask you to work overtime
again, Michelle,” he said, taking back the box to remove the watch from its
case. “Mixing work and play is one of the hazards of a small family business and
I’m afraid you’re getting dragged into it with me.”

Once again he reached for her
hand, slipping the watch over her wrist where it fit perfectly. He tilted his head
critically to verify the sizing and seemed satisfied. “Good to know I haven’t
lost my touch.”

Kate simply stared at it dumbly.
The watch was exquisite, and under the fine silverwork her wrist suddenly
appeared delicate.

Her emotions were a jumbled mess
again. She was confused by Sebastien’s presentation. How much of this was real
and how much was a show for his colleagues? She also felt immensely relieved
that she had thought to take off her own clunky digital watch and leave it in
her room.

Sebastien’s thumb found the small
of her wrist and applied gentle pressure for a moment before releasing her hand
as the others came over to examine the watch.

 “That’s a new one in the
collection, isn’t it?” Carol asked Sebastien, looking at the watch
appreciatively.

“Looks like an hors-series,” Simon
said, sounding impressed and raising his eyebrows. “So what do I get to
showcase for you tonight, mate?” He gave his friend a puppy dog look before
slapping him on the shoulder. “We’d better get moving or I’m going to end up
going to the opera alone. Or offering your tickets to Nick and Carol.”

“We’ve already been,” Nick said
loftily, taking his wife’s arm. “And we have other plans, thank you very much.”

“Yes, a movie,” Carol laughed,
rolling her eyes and letting herself be led away. “Enjoy! And we’ll see you in
the morning.”

“Are you a big opera fan, Michelle?”
Simon asked, draining his glass as they moved toward the door.

“I haven’t been to all that many,”
Kate began, and then opted for the truth. Something she would have to do sooner
or later. “I’ve never been, actually. Unless you count Chess, Les Mis and Jesus
Christ Superstar.”

Simon sent her a doleful look.
“I’m going to ignore that last bit,” he informed her haughtily. “But I’m
pleased for you. You’re in for a real treat, in that case, your first proper
opera.”

Kate was too excited to bother
defending her favourite and much-maligned art form, although she made a mental
note to set Simon straight another time.

“Michelle has a past on stage,
performing musicals,” Sebastien informed him, looking amused as he helped Kate
with her coat and ushered her out the door. “So you might not want to knock
them. At least, not in front of her.”

Simon raised his eyebrows at
Sebastien as they headed toward the lift. “I thought you had sworn off all
actresses and models for the rest of your life,” he teased his friend, pressing
the button for the elevator and sending his friend a challenging look.

“Well, as you said, acting in
musicals doesn’t really count,” Sebasten responded with a laugh. “People like
you keep the performers from getting too high an opinion of themselves with
your casual dismissal of their careers.”

They stepped into the lift and Simon
smiled a bit sheepishly at Kate. “Excuse me for that rude lack of respect. Very
insensitive of me. Of course, if I was more sensitive, maybe I’d appreciate
musicals better. Or maybe I’m just still smarting from being passed over in the
casting of “The Pirates of Penzance” back in school. I was hoping to be the
very model of a modern major general, or at least a

pirate king. Instead I moved props between scenes.”

                Kate nodded her head in Sebastien’s
direction. “Don’t worry, he did the same,” she told Simon with a grin. “Completely
dissed musicals, romantic comedies and women in one fell swoop, if I remember
right.”

Sebastien pretended to look
injured. “Such accusations. That’s the problem with these artistic types,
always so sensitive. Taking offence at the slightest whiff of anything less
than blind adulation for their craft.”

“Misunderstood geniuses,” Kate
supplied. “Was that the term you were looking for?”

He made a great show of ignoring
her and turned to Simon. “Watch out, lad, I had an earful of defensive delusion
about how musical comedies could change the world. Apparently “the Sound of
Music” is every genre of film known to man plus a few more, historico-cultural-biographical-revolutionary-avant-garde-documentary-thriller,
I think it was. Don’t even let her start expounding on the merits of “Hair” or
“Rent” or we could be here for the rest of our miserable, but musical, lives.”

“Just so you know, Simon, I only
ever used to do it for fun,” Kate put in hastily. “My acting, that is. I just
love music that you can sing along with.”

They had reached the ground floor
and stepped out into the chill of the evening, where Sebastien hailed the
waiting taxi. “I prefer not to drive tonight so that we can taste a few wines
over dinner,” he explained as the car pulled up. “And although it’s not far to
the theatre, you might find it a bit chilly tonight to walk.”

“Well, Michelle, I think you’ll
love opera, although I don’t recommend that you sing along,” Simon said sagely
as he walked around to the passenger side, leaving the back seat for Kate and
Sebastien. “And it’s la Traviata, which is a good introduction to opera.”

 “I hope my French is good enough
to follow it,” Kate said without thinking.

Simon had the good grace not to
laugh as he corrected her gently. “It’s in Italian, if that helps.”

Kate felt foolish and flustered,
but was reassured by the touch of Sebastien’s hand on her shoulder as he opened
the car door for her. 

Kate took a final look around her
before climbing in. Her memory registered the yellow of the city lights
glittering against the huge windows, the high facades on the old building, the
impossibly light feeling of the watch on her wrist and of the sheer dress
against her skin. She wanted to remember every detail of tonight.

As she ducked her head to swing
into the cab she looked down at her little Italian shoes and smiled to herself.
Tonight’s song was definitely “I Could Have Danced All Night” and the evening
was only beginning.

Chapter Seventeen

Later that evening the three of
them walked down the steps of the Geneva’s Grand Theatre into the cold night.
Across the road, soft lights lined the footpath through the park of the old
bastion, under sphinx-topped marble columns. Apart from waiting taxis there was
little traffic at this time of the night in the old city, completing Kate’s
impression that she had travelled back in time to a grander period.