What Happens in the Alps... (17 page)

Annie spent most of the afternoon with Janet and told her all about her good fortune with the guest chalet. Then she mentioned that she had been out to dinner with Alex. Janet was enthusiastic about the house and the man, although Annie warned her that it was far too soon to start talking about relationships. Nevertheless, Annie came away feeling more positive about things. She went to the supermarket and then got back to the school, laden with bags, just as it was getting dark. The light was on in Matt's office and the door closed. Paolina was leaning on the counter, staring across the room at the smart new brass plate on Matt's door:
MB Translations. Matthew Brown.

‘All well, Paolina? Did you have a good chat to Paul?' Annie took off her coat and hung it on the hook by the door. Paolina nodded.

‘And I've taken a good few phone calls, another two enrolments this afternoon and…' She hesitated. ‘Paul's asked me out on Saturday.'

‘That's great; great about the enrolments and great about Paul. He's nice, and he's very handsome. I like him.' And, she thought to herself, it would appear that her fears that Paolina and Matt might be about to become an item were unfounded.

‘Yes, but…' Paolina sounded unusually hesitant.

‘But…?' Annie had a horrible feeling the answer was going to be, ‘But he's not Matt.' But, fortunately it was not to be. Instead, she saw Paolina's cheeks redden and raised her own eyebrows in surprise. This was something new. Considering all the way-out and wacky clothes she wore, Paolina had never looked even slightly embarrassed before, even with a décolleté almost deep enough to show her appendix scar. She caught Annie's eye.

‘But he makes me feel like a teenager all over again. I had such a crush on him back then and my mind keeps reminding me how awkward I used to feel in his presence. Come Saturday, I'm going to be a nervous wreck.'

Remembering what Paul had told her about his own sense of insecurity as a teenager, Annie did her best to offer encouragement. ‘You'll be fine. You'll probably both be embarrassed at first, but then you'll soon get over it. Go for it. I think it's ever so romantic that you're finally going out together after a ten-year wait.' She then decided it best to change the subject. ‘Matt in?'

Paolina nodded. ‘Yes, but he said he's got to do some whopping great technical translation by tonight or else.'

Annie nodded. ‘I'll leave him in peace then.' She left Paolina and walked through to the room where she was sleeping and hunted for something suitable to wear. As she did so, she reflected that as soon as she returned from her Christmas break in the UK, she would be moving out of this jumbled mess and into the fabulous guest chalet. She wouldn't be sorry. And then, only a few days later, the school, her school, would start lessons for the very first time.

She took a shower and changed into a smart top and one of her shorter skirts. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she realised she hadn't shown as much leg as this for a good long time. Well, she told herself, if this was to be the last time she saw Alex this year, she wanted to make sure he knew what he would be missing while he was in the Caribbean.

Paolina went off to meet Rita at seven and Annie took over in reception. Over the next hour she was visited by a very nice couple with two little children. After Annie had explained what was on offer, all four enrolled for courses. As they left, Annie did a bit of mental arithmetic. This made it seventy-two firm enrolments so far, not counting the staff up at the Hotel Montalto. Sixty had been her notional break-even point, so she could be pretty sure now that the school wouldn't plunge her into bankruptcy. It was a great relief and she was still smiling when the doorbell rang at eight o'clock. It was Alex, looking very smart and handsome in a stylish black suit, white shirt and a blue tie that matched his eyes.

‘Annie, you look amazing.'

‘Well, so do you. It's very good to see you, Alex.' She went across to him and kissed him on the cheeks. ‘Very good indeed.'

‘How does a trip down to the casino sound?'

To be honest, it didn't sound that great. Annie had never been one for flashy, ostentatious places and her one and only visit to the casino and the nearby Grand Hotel a few years previously had firmly put it on her list of places to be avoided like the plague. Still, she thought to herself, the main thing was to spend some time with Alex before their two-week separation. If that was where he wanted to go, so be it.

‘That sounds lovely. Am I smart enough?'

He took her hand and twirled her around. ‘You look delightful.'

Annie felt reassured. She started turning off the lights and then noticed that Matt's light was still on. She gave Alex an apologetic smile and tapped on the door. She turned the handle and stuck her head into the room. Matt was bent forward, elbows on the desk, staring at his computer screen. He looked up as the door opened. His face split into a smile. ‘Wow, you look gorgeous.'

Annie dodged the compliment. ‘Matt, can I introduce you to Alex Lago from the Hotel Montalto?'

Annie opened the door fully and the two men nodded at each other. As they did so, Annie couldn't help noticing how similar they were in height, build, hair colour and even down to the stubbly chin. For a moment she wondered what her sister's reaction would be when she realised that Annie now knew two drop-dead-gorgeous men. Matt got up and came round the desk to greet Alex and they shook hands. Both men were smiling but Annie could sense a tension in the air that she hadn't expected. For a moment she had a mental image of two Labradors sniffing each other warily and was hard-pressed to keep from giggling. She controlled herself and added a few words of introduction.

‘Matt runs a very successful translation agency.'

Alex glanced round the room. ‘And you do it all from here? You don't take up a lot of space, do you?' There was just a hint of mockery in his voice.

‘Computer, desk, bookshelves and a coffee machine.' Matt's smile was still on his face, but it was looking a little strained. ‘What more do I need?'

Alex nodded. ‘I suppose so. Anyway, we won't disturb you. We're off to the casino at San Daniele for dinner and a little flutter on the tables.'

For a split second Matt's eyes met Annie's. He knew full well that her opinion of such places was no higher than his. Then he smiled at them both. ‘Well, you enjoy yourselves.' He gave them a wave of the hand, stretched and returned to his desk.

When they got outside, Annie got a shock. There, parked half on the pavement, half on the road, was an amazing red sports car: low, sleek and surprisingly long. Alex opened the passenger door for her and looked on as Annie slid, or rather fell, into the low leather seat, her legs waving rather inelegantly in the air as she did so. He apologised. ‘Sorry, I should have warned you. It's a bit low.'

‘A
bit
low? You may need a crane to get me out of this thing again.' Mercifully, from where he was standing, he couldn't see the embarrassment on her face. Well, she told herself, she had intended to flash him a bit of leg and she had certainly succeeded in doing that, if not substantially more. He closed the door and walked round to the driving seat. She noticed that he managed to slide in his side much more elegantly. Presumably it was something that improved with practice.

‘As it's not freezing tonight and there's no snow predicted, I thought we could give the Ferrari a run out.' Annie looked across at the mass of coloured dials and gauges on the dashboard and clearly saw the trademark prancing horse in the middle of the steering wheel. The wheel itself had been squared off along the bottom and looked strangely unbalanced. Alex pressed the starter button and the car erupted into a high-pitched roar that rattled windows and turned heads all along the narrow road. As they drove off through the streets of Santorso, Annie felt more conspicuous than she had ever felt in her life. Luckily, it was dark outside and she was so low down in the car that she doubted if anybody looking on would be able to recognise her. She certainly hoped not.

The drive down the motorway to San Daniele normally took Annie twenty minutes in her old Panda. In the Ferrari, it felt like two or three, the tail lights of the other road users appearing and disappearing in a blur, the frantic scream of the engine making conversation all but impossible. She almost didn't have time to be frightened. Almost.

By the time Alex drove up the tree-lined drive to the front doors of the floodlit casino, her heart rate had slowed from life-threatening to just critical, but at least she could breathe again. He drew up right by the steps leading to the front door and climbed out. As Annie heaved herself out of the car, seriously regretting her choice of a short skirt and doing her best to maintain some semblance of modesty, she felt a host of eyes on the car and on her. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable. One thing was for sure: she wasn't used to being ferried round in cars like this and she didn't like what it said about her. No doubt the onlookers were drawing their own conclusions about her and she didn't like that sensation one bit.

Alex didn't appear to notice her discomfort. ‘Here, let me give you a hand.' He leant in and helped her out of the car. Then he tossed the keys across to a liveried bellboy and turned dismissively away. Annie followed him up the steps and into the casino, anxious to put as much distance between her and that bloody car as possible. Alex took her hand and led her towards a sign marked
Restaurant
.

‘Shall we eat first and then play a bit of roulette afterwards?'

Food was not high on Annie's agenda at the moment, and gambling even less so. She summoned a weak smile and then, spotting a door marked
Servizi
, she excused herself and went into the ladies' to regroup. By the time she had smoothed her skirt, wiped her brow and swallowed a paper cupful of water, her heart was no longer racing, she felt a bit better, and so she went out to rejoin Alex. She found him chatting to two older men in dinner jackets. Her first impression of them wasn't auspicious. Greased-down black hair, matching moustaches and straining waistbands, they looked like something out of
The
Godfather
. As she appeared, Alex excused himself and came over to take her hand once more.

The headwaiter recognised him immediately and led them to a table in the corner, overlooking the formal gardens to the rear of the old property. Strategically positioned lights illuminated snow-dusted box hedges, miniature trees and a frozen pond. The dining room itself was as blingy as she remembered, and the other diners even more so. If even half the sparkling diamonds on display were real, an armed robbery could only be a matter of minutes away. Somehow, however, she had a sneaking feeling a lot of them might be as false as the atmosphere in this place. She sighed inwardly and turned her attention to Alex. Resisting the temptation to ask him if he came here often, she gave him a smile and asked about work. ‘So, are you managing to get everything done in time?'

‘Fingers crossed. I've been burning the midnight oil over the past few days and I'm getting there. My flight's at the weekend, so if I haven't got everything done by Saturday lunchtime, I'm going to be in trouble.'

‘I'm sure you'll be fine. Anyway, with the internet, you can work from pretty much anywhere these days, can't you?'

He smiled across the table at her. ‘Unless they've done something about it, the last time I was at that place on Anguilla, there was no Wi-Fi and precious little mobile phone reception. We'll see.' As if prompted by the talk of telephones, his phone started ringing. He shrugged, reached into his pocket and answered it. After a few monosyllabic replies, he gave her an apologetic look and got up to continue the conversation outside, leaving Annie feeling very conspicuous sitting on her own. She caught an appraising glance from an older man that reached right through her clothes to her naked flesh beneath and felt somehow defiled. She fought hard to resist the temptation to get up and leave, dropping her eyes to the menu and doing her best to ignore the eyes she could feel on her.

Mercifully, Alex returned to his seat within a few minutes and she felt she could look up again. Before she could ask him more about the place in Anguilla and, more importantly, who his companions would be, the waiter arrived to take their order. Although Annie felt a bit calmer now, she wasn't hungry and opted for something light, instead of the normal five courses. Alex decided to join her and they both ordered the same thing: Parma ham with melon followed by a Caesar salad. Annie reflected that she could be in pretty much any hotel anywhere in the world and have the same thing. For a moment she was tempted to change her mind and have something more typically from the valley, but then she decided to leave the order as it was.

Alex ordered an excellent white wine from the Veneto region and they chatted. He was especially pleased about her having decided to take Signor Dumoulin's guest chalet. ‘When my father told me he'd brokered that deal, I was delighted.' He caught her eye. ‘For two reasons: one, because it brings you nearer to me, and two, because I'm really pleased to see my father so animated. He really likes you, you know.' He took a sip of wine. ‘He's been getting more and more reclusive recently, since my mother died. This is a really good sign if he feels he wants to interact with somebody else, rather than just staying cooped up in that house with old Romeo.'

‘In that
amazing
house. Signor Dumoulin's guest chalet has got pretty much the same view and I'm afraid I'm going to spend all my time standing at the window, doing nothing but staring out.'

‘If you like that, you'll have to come up and see the view from my place. I'm on the top floor of the hotel. The view's 360 degrees.'

Annie rather liked the idea of coming up to his place, but not necessarily because of the view. She remembered her resolution to find out more about him, so she made a start. ‘So, when you aren't skiing and you aren't working, what do you do, Alex?'