‘Your turn,’ Madeleine said, indicating for Tania to swap places with her.
Tania shook her head. ‘That’s kind, but I promised myself no media this week. Photos included.’
‘Beautiful ladies, I take your photo.’
Tania was already shaking her head as the small man approached, a professional long-lens camera strung around his neck.
‘I take you all together.’ He pulled his camera to his face, gesturing for them to huddle up.
‘No thank you.’ Tania turned away. ‘Not today.’
He shook his head, the woollen ear flaps from his bobble hat following his movement. ‘Most beautiful ladies of the day, will you allow me the privilege? Photos available in Près du Ciel. Next to Ski World. Easy to find.’ He held out a card, as if that might change the situation.
‘The ladies said no.’
The voice came from behind the little man, the owner of the voice tall and broad and decidedly Gull-shaped.
‘Hi, Gull,’ Madeleine said, grinning at him.
The photographer retreated, the frown of annoyance on his face quickly replaced by a smile as he zeroed in on another group exiting the bubble station and greeted them with another well-practised compliment.
‘We must stop running into one another like this,’ Gull said. He looked at them all in turn, a smile tweaking at his face, but Madeleine couldn’t help but notice the way the look in his eyes changed when he settled his gaze on Tania.
Madeleine was expecting Tania to smile at him. To greet him with warmth and possibly for the two of them to embrace. A kiss wasn’t outside the realms of possibility, as she rolled the camera in her head. Maybe Gull would sweep Tania from her feet, twirl her around. That would make a fantastic shot, especially with the mountains in the background. Maybe they would wait until someone sent a drone out, to film them with aSound of Music-style panoramic scene, and then go for it with the twirling and the kissing.
Except that Gull had his skis in one hand, making the whole twirling thing a little tricky, and Tania wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked annoyed.
‘We didn’t need any help from you,’ Tania said.
Tania shouldn’t feel annoyed, but if Gull thought she was incapable of dealing with one of the many mountain-top photographers, he was very much mistaken. They were like newborn kittens in comparison to most of the paparazzi she’d dealt with. It annoyed her that he didn’t think she could cope by herself. That he felt they needed a man to back them up. That a woman couldn’t say no for herself and mean it. If he even knew half of the things she’d dealt with over the years, he wouldn’t have intervened.
But he didn’t know, did he? Because he knew nothing about her. And that was how she wanted it to be, wasn’t it? She couldn’t have it both ways.
Gull’s jawline tightened a little. He looked as if she’d slapped him. ‘I suppose I should have expected that.’
‘No need to be a bitch, Tania,’ Rose said, under her breath but loud enough for everyone to hear. ‘He was just trying to help.’
‘I know we’re supposed to be meeting later, but when I saw you here, I thought you might like to meet my brother, and Niamh. But I’m clearly overreaching again. I’ll leave you to it.’ He made to turn away.
Tania looked past him, to a small group standing a little way off. The photographer handing a card to a woman who zipped it into a pocket as she said something to the man standing next to her, making him laugh. Gull’s brother– Tania recognised the green jacket and the frame. And the woman must be his fiancée, she supposed. A couple of others, their gaze shifting across to Gull every few seconds, looking impatient to get going.
‘No,’ she said, by way of an apology. ‘I’d like that.’
‘We’ll head for the restaurant,’ Clara said. ‘See you there in a few minutes?’
Nodding, she allowed Gull to lead her across to the group.
‘This is Tania,’ he said, introducing each one of them in turn. She shook hands briefly and politely, each of them greeting her with open smiles and no hint of surprise. She had been mentioned, that much was clear.
‘It’s good to meet you,’ Niamh said, holding her hand a fraction longer than the others, her expression hard to read.
‘I hope Gull wasn’t late to your dinner. If he was, you can blame me,’ Tania said.
‘David was there on time, and he’s the important one, so …’ As she spoke, the Irish lilt to Niamh’s voice grew stronger. She shifted her skis from one shoulder to the other and pulled off a glove, revealing a discreet diamond set into a gold band glittering almost as brightly as the snow in the sunshine. ‘He took his time, but as usual with him, it was worth the wait.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Tania said. ‘Congratulations.’
‘It’s the oddest thing, but I feel like you and I have already met,’ Niamh said. ‘I mean, Gull described you, but you know how useless men are at that kind of thing. The details were scant, let’s put it that way.’
