Lorraine Wilson - Secret Crush of a Chalet Girl:

Lorraine Wilson

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright HarperImpulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 77–85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith, London W6 8JB www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2014 Copyright © Lorraine Wilson Ltd 2014 Cover images © Shutterstock.com Lorraine Wilson Ltd. asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Ebook Edition © February 2014 ISBN: 9780007558346 Version 2014-10-02 Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Dedication Thanks as always to the lovely team at Harper Impulse and also to my husband for believing that cocktail tasting at very nice hotels was essential for the writing of this book!

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

EPILOGUE

Lorraine Wilson

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

HarperImpulse an imprint of

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2014

Copyright © Lorraine Wilson Ltd 2014

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Lorraine Wilson Ltd. asserts the moral right

to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International

and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

By payment of the required fees, you have been granted

the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access

and read the text of this e-book on screen.

No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,

downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or

stored in or introduced into any information storage and

retrieval system, in any form or by any means,

whether electronic or mechanical, now known or

hereinafter invented, without the express

written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © February 2014

ISBN: 9780007558346

Version 2014-10-02

Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Thanks as always to the lovely team at Harper Impulse and also to my husband for believing that cocktail tasting at very nice hotels was essential for the writing of this book!

“So, what’s that you’re reading?”

Tash’s voice pierced Sophie’s happy bubble like a razor slashing a party balloon.

“Just a book.” Sophie shifted on her bar stool, inching the Kindle screen away from Tash’s line of sight.

Tash slid onto the cow-skin bar stool next to her and didn’t seem to pick up on Sophie’s irritation at being disturbed.

“You’re early.” Tash swiveled towards her. “We’re not meeting until eight.”

“I wanted a bit of time alone,” Sophie replied.

Fat chance of that around here, or in the dorm room at Chalet Repos, or…anywhere for that matter.

Privacy was the only luxury in short supply in Verbier.

“Me too, those kids were making a right racket back at the chalet. I wish Scott would make it an adults-only chalet.” Tash grimaced.

Sophie sighed heavily. Time to relinquish her vain hope for a bit of peace and quiet. There was no stopping Tash if she’d decided she wanted to talk to you. Things were certainly…difficult back at Chalet Repos, for more than one reason. But it wasn’t anything she wanted to talk to Tash about.

“So, what are you reading Ms. Trent? Why don’t you want to tell me?” Tash had grabbed Sophie’s Kindle before Sophie could stop her.

Sophie glared at Tash, who scrolled through the pages on-screen, a delighted smile on her face.

“Ooh, it’s a romance. I didn’t know you were into these bodice-rippers.” Tash’s cat-like eyes gleamed, reflecting the bar’s tea lights. “So, what page are the dirty bits on?”

“Ssh, will you keep it down?” Sophie reached for the Kindle but Tash lifted it above her head. She was only attracting more attention now from the other customers of Bar des Amis, some of them starting the après ski early, while others clearly hadn’t made it back to their accommodation to change from their ski gear yet. A hot flush crept up Sophie’s neck and heat radiated from her cheeks.

She automatically cast her eyes down to the floor – the way she’d always coped whenever she wanted to disappear.

What she’d give for a trap door right now. Or even just a chance to escape into her book again.

“Nathan tenderly stroked the side of Ava’s face. Yet despite the tenderness, his dark eyes blazed with the heat of passion and her skin tingled at his touch. ‘Do you feel it too?’ he asked huskily as their eyes locked,” Tash read aloud in a ridiculously over-the-top acting voice. “Then he reached for her, his mouth was on her lips, tasting her hungrily as his hands slid down to cup her…”

“For God’s sake, Tash, will you just shut up?” Sophie spoke fiercely into Tash’s ear, fighting the feelings of humiliation. She knew Tash wasn’t deliberately trying to ridicule her but this felt too much like all those horrible times at school for comfort. It felt like Tash had ripped all of Sophie’s clothes off, leaving her exposed for everyone to laugh at her, plump and naked except for her mis-matched underwear.

At last Sophie managed to grab the Kindle back and slumped, mortified, onto her bar stool.

“Ça va?”

Sophie looked up to see who had spoken, afraid she’d find the owner of the voice laughing at her. Instead she found the dark-grey eyes of Luc Dubois, the owner of Bar des Amis, fixed on her.

The very gorgeous bar owner.

Who’d just heard everything Tash had said. Not that she was ashamed of liking romance novels but it was private, something she kept to herself precisely to stop things like this occurring. And it was too precious an escape for it to be exposed to ridicule. Books had always been her escape – in the school library, where she’d hid from the bullies at lunchtime, devouring the Sweet Valley High series and then here in Verbier. When it seemed everyone was finding love except for her the romance novels on her Kindle had provided solace. Given her hope.