T Williams - What Happens in the Alps...

Up in the magical, snow kissed mountains…

Two years ago, Annie Brewer’s life was turned upside down when her adrenaline-junkie husband died in a tragic climbing accident. So she’s hoping that moving to the beautiful village of Santorso in the Italian Alps will finally put her life back on track!

… anything can happen!

She might be going into business with her oldest friend – notorious lady-charmer Matt Brown – but men are definitely out of the question for Annie! That is, until she bumps into tall, dark and delicious Alessandro Lago on the ski slopes…and spontaneously says ‘Yes’ to a date! It must be the crisp mountain air but suddenly, anything seems possible. The only trouble is, chivalrous Matt is looking more gorgeous than ever …

A sparkling romantic comedy guaranteed to beat the winter blues, What Happens in the Alps… is one story you don’t want miss in 2016!

Also by T. A. Williams:

Dirty Minds

The Room on the Second Floor

When Alice Met Danny

What Happens in Tuscany…

What Happens in Cornwall…

What Happens at Christmas…

What Happens in the Alps…

T. A. Williams

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016

Copyright © Trevor Williams 2016

Trevor Williams 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.

E-book Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 9780008182595

Version date: 2018-06-08

TREVOR WILLIAMS

lives in Devon with his Italian wife. He lived and worked in Switzerland, France and Italy, before returning to run one of the best-known language schools in the UK. He has taught people from all over the world, among them Arab princes, Brazilian beauty queens and Italian billionaires. He speaks a number of languages and has travelled extensively. He has eaten snake, live fish and alligator. A Spanish dog, a Russian bug and a Korean parasite have done their best to eat him in return. He has written historical novels, humorous books and thrillers. His hobby is long-distance cycling, but his passion is writing. You can follow him on Twitter, @TAWilliamsBooks, find him on Facebook: facebook.com/TrevorWilliamsBooksor visit his website: tawilliamsbooks.com.

With many thanks, as always, to my lovely editor Charlotte Mursell.

Thanks to Giovanna Zanchi in Aosta for her wonderful photos of the mountains.

Thanks also to John Byrne for giving me that job all those years ago.

To Mariangela and Christina with love

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Excerpt

Endpages

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

‘Don’t look down.’

The cable car had been running smoothly along, only a few metres above the gently sloping fields. Now, as they reached the massive red and white pylon at the cliff edge, there was a rumble of pulley wheels and they swept out into the void.

Ignoring Karen’s advice, Annie tightened her grip on the handrail, braced herself, and glanced out of the window and down. The valley floor was stomach-churningly far below them, the cars in the car park like models on a playroom floor. She took a deep breath and hastily turned her eyes back to her sister, doing her best to summon a weak smile.

‘I’m okay, Karen. Thanks for the warning.’ She swallowed hard and tried to sound unworried. ‘It’s an amazing view from up here, isn’t it?’ And it was. In the clear, late autumn air, the whole range of the Alps was visible on the northern horizon, with the Mont Blanc massif standing out crisply against a pale blue sky. Over to the left of them, coming in from France, cloud was beginning to build as the predicted snow approached, but for now, the Italian Alps were magnificent.

Annie decided to keep her eyes on her sister, rather than on the abyss beneath her feet. Karen, unworried, was still reflecting on the amazing lunch they had just had.

‘I’m surprised you haven’t been up here more often, seeing as you live here now. That restaurant was fabulous; great food, nice people and the best view I’ve ever seen.’

‘I’m so glad you liked it. I haven’t had much time for sightseeing. Don’t forget I only got to Santorso a few months ago and there’s been loads to do. Besides, you know…’ Her voice tailed off.

Karen knew all too well. ‘Three or four more minutes and we’ll be down.’ Her tone was supportive. Karen knew that Annie’s fear of heights wasn’t the only reason she was finding this hard.

A few minutes later, sensing the cable car begin to slow, Annie took a cautious look out of the window and felt an overwhelming feeling of relief as the roof of the bottom station appeared ahead of them, less than a hundred metres away. The trees around the car park looked close enough to touch. For the first time she had a chance to appreciate the sheer breathtaking beauty of the place with its lush pastures dotted with cows, squat timber chalets with logs piled against the walls in readiness for winter, and a stone church that had probably been standing there for the last five hundred years. Directly below them now was a mountain stream that snaked down from the high Alps at the head of the valley. The water was so clear, Annie could even see the shadows of trout passing over the gravel riverbed. She felt her heart rate begin to slow.

There was a gentle bump and the doors of the car slid open. Annie wasted no time in getting out, but didn’t reckon with the door handle. As she pushed past it in her haste to get onto solid ground once more, the strap of her bag got caught and she was stopped dead and spun round. Her right foot tripped over her left foot and she ended up sprawled on the ground. Luckily all that was hurt was her pride.

As Karen hurried across to help her up, she saw the red glow of embarrassment on her sister’s face. ‘Oh, Annie, how can you be so clumsy? Here, grab hold of my hand.’ She pulled Annie to her feet and they waited until the other passengers had left, before following them down the steps into the open. Annie, her cheeks a bit less red now, looked across at her sister.