Tania shook her head. ‘Don’t ask.’ She pushed the remnants oftartifletteto one side of her plate and drained her glass.
‘Come on,’ Rose said. ‘Spill. There’s no way you can say that and then not expand. In what way not nice?’
Tania sighed. ‘He asked me if I wanted to shag him in a hot tub, that’s why.’
‘Whoa. Are you telling me he asked you that just now, in the food queue?’ Rose’s incredulous tone echoed Madeleine’s thought process.
‘No– last night, in Le Bar. It was his opening gambit.’
‘Seriously?’ Rose said. ‘That’s properly shady.’
It dawned on Madeleine that her mouth was hanging open. She glanced around to catch sight of where the guy had gone, but she couldn’t see him. Nobody had ever so much as asked her if she fancied sharing a packet of Smarties in a hot tub, let alone bodily fluids. Not that spending time in a hot tub was something she did on a regular basis– actually, make that ever– or that she wanted to be propositioned like that, but the point still held.
And, anyway, she thought, what happened about the next people who wanted to use the hot tub, once a couple had– you know– done it in the water? Did someone change the water out? Madeleine hoped that was the case, but she wondered how easy that was, in the sub-zero temperatures on the mountain.
She frowned. ‘What happens about the water?’ she asked. ‘Afterwards, I mean?’
Tania looked at her for a moment, then her face creased into a smile. She chuckled. ‘What happens about the water? That’s funny.’
Madeleine smiled back. Then she said, ‘But do they change it?’ Now she’d had the thought, she really wanted to know the answer. There was a hot tub at the lodge, but she was rapidly going off the idea of getting into it.
‘You said no to him, I assume?’ Rose asked.
‘I didn’t give him any answer,’ Tania said. ‘I was a bit distracted by Clara falling off her chair and slicing her hand open.’
‘So, do they change the water or not?’ Madeleine said.
‘What did he say to you just now?’
‘Some nonsense about having had too much to drink last night.’
‘I’m not sure I fancy the hot tub now I’ve got this thought running around my brain,’ Madeleine said. She’d brought a swimming costume with her, on Rose’s insistence, but it was looking increasingly likely that it would be staying in a drawer. ‘Are there filters, like in swimming pools?’
‘Did he apologise?’ Rose asked.
‘Not in so many words,’ Tania said.
‘What a dick.’ Rose shook her head.
‘Is the water cleaned between guests, or do they empty the tub and refill it?’ Madeleine’s brows furrowed together.
Rose and Tania both turned to her. ‘What the hell are you wittering on about, Maddy?’ Rose asked.
‘Sorry, it’s just … I was thinking about how hard it must be to maintain hygiene in something like a hot tub, bearing in mind what you’re talking about and I …’
Tania laughed again, then ran a hand through her hair. ‘Tell you what, Madeleine. If it makes you feel better, I’ll make sure you’re the first person to know if I decide to have sex with someone in the hot tub. Deal?’
Chapter 5
In Snow Pine Lodge, Clara watched as Tom pulled cold meats and cheeses from the fridge. ‘All right then, yes,’ she said. ‘Some food would be really nice, thank you.’
Tom smiled. ‘Take a seat. Lunch will be ready in no time.’
She settled onto one of the heavy dining chairs and watched as he sliced a baguette, then arranged it on a platter with some of the cold meats and slices of cheese. He selected a huge red apple from the fruit bowl and cut that into sections, adding them to the plate in an elegant fan. It seemed even the simplest of dishes required a flourish in its presentation. To be honest, she wasn’t sure she could manage much more than a slice or two of the apple, maybe a piece of dry bread, but she appreciated how much effort he was going to on her behalf.
Gathering a smaller plate and some cutlery, Tom brought the food to the table, placing everything in front of her.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ he said.
