‘I’m sorry… I have to go,’ he explained. ‘My job is to ride shotgun and make sure no one falls or gets left behind.’
‘I understand,’ she said with a quick smile before glancing back at the chalet. ‘And I need to make sure that everyone’s glass is full to toast the parade as you start off.’
‘You’ll be okay if I leave you here?’
She shot him a look and smiled. ‘I’ll be okay,’ she confirmed, but her gaze didn’t linger on his face as it once had, and he knew that if he lost her trust it would be gone for ever. Stacey was a survivor who knew when to cut a hopeless cause loose. He ground his jaw at the thought that he was in real danger of falling into that category, and right now there was nothing he could do about it. The ski instructors and other advanced skiers were waiting for him on the slope. He was one of the stewards, and the torchlit descent couldn’t begin until he was on his skis, ready to go with them. ‘Don’t get cold,’ he warned Stacey.
She laughed. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t. I’ll be far too busy for that.’
After making sure all the guests had a drink, and a blanket if they needed one, Stacey chose a good vantage point. She had selected the music to accompany the skiers’ decent in a sentimental moment, asking the guitarist from Barcelona, where she had so memorably danced with Luc, if he would agree to play live with a full orchestra, and he had agreed. Everyone around her commented on the passion and beauty with which he played, and as the other instruments swelled in a crescendo behind him her eyes filled with tears at the thought that special moments like these could never be recaptured.
But they would live on in the memory. Cling on to that…
She must not cry. This wasn’t the time or the place, so she bit down hard on her bottom lip. Luc’s guests relied on her to entertain them and their evening wasn’t over yet. Personal feelings were unimportant. She’d be better off without them, and must certainly never show them. Maybe she had revealed too much to Lucas, because what had he shared with her? He kept more hidden than he revealed.
Her thoughts were abruptly cut short when everything was plunged into darkness, signalling the start of the descent. The murmur of anticipation around her died. Nothing was visible beyond the ghostly white peaks. Then the lights of the same snowploughs that had brought the guests up the mountain blazed into life and it was possible to see the skiers assembling with their torches like tiny dots of light. She wished Luc safe with all her heart. It reassured her to know that the chief mountain guide always led the procession, as no one knew the ever-changing nature of the trail better than he. Skiing at night at speed always held some risk, and there had been fallers. Not this year, she prayed fervently as she fixed her gaze on the top of the slope.
The long snake of light with its accompanying music was an unforgettable sight and Stacey was as spellbound as the rest. As if one party wasn’t enough, there would be another in the village square to welcome everyone safely home. Transport was waiting for Luc’s guests, and as she moved amongst them it was wonderful to feel their upbeat mood. The feedback so far suggested this was the most successful event Party Planners had ever arranged. It was just a shame the lights went out at the end of it, Stacey reflected, pressing her lips flat with regret.
The snowplough was approaching the village, where she could see that every shop and restaurant was ablaze with light. There were bunting and bands in the square and so many food kiosks they were banked up side by side. This was the first real fun people had been able to enjoy since the village had been snowbound, and everyone was determined to make the most of it. And it didn’t take long, once they had been taken down, to learn that the roads were clear, and everything was on the move again.
She glanced around, but couldn’t see Lucas. Quartering the square in the hope of finding him proved useless; there was no sign of him. None of the guests had seen their host and the torchlit descent had ended some time ago. So where was he?
‘Some people peel away and ski home before they reach the village,’ a ski guide still pumped with success and effort told her. ‘Maybe Lucas is one of these. He’s very popular…’
As the guys around him laughed Stacey walked away, red-faced, but she couldn’t give up. Maybe Lucas had gone home with another woman, but that was his business. She just wanted to know he was safe. And it didn’t seem likely that he’d desert his guests. At last, she found someone who’d seen him.
‘He stopped on the slopes to help a young woman who was trailing behind, and then she fell,’ the elderly man informed her.
‘Not badly hurt, I hope?’ she exclaimed.
‘The clinic’s just over there,’ he said, pointing it out. ‘You could go and ask.’
‘Thank you. I will.’ She had to know for sure what was happening. If Lucas didn’t show his face, she’d have to explain to his guests why their host had deserted them. Summoning reinforcements from the team on the radio to look after the guests milling about the square, she crossed the road to the clinic. Each small community in the mountains had a medical facility and a doctor on standby. She’d discovered this while she’d been researching the area for information to pass on to the guests.
The receptionist at the clinic explained that Lucas had stopped to help a young woman, but the young woman had turned out to be only thirteen years old, and skiing on the mountain without the consent of her parents. ‘It isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last,’ the smiling receptionist told Stacey. ‘The mountain is like a magnet to local teenagers, and the annual parade is the biggest draw of all.’
‘Can I help you?’
Breath shot from her lungs. ‘Lucas!Thank goodness you’re safe!’
Regardless of anything that had gone before, she was just so relieved to see him.
Still dressed in dark ski wear, he looked exactly like the type of big, swarthy hero any young woman would dream of sweeping her off her feet on the slope. It was lucky she was Lucas-proof, Stacey reflected as he shot her a brooding look.
‘Why are you here?’ he demanded coolly.
‘To find you, of course.’
‘Shouldn’t you be with my guests?’
‘Shouldn’t you?’ She stared up at him, unblinking, while her heart shouted hallelujah to see him unharmed.
‘Are you here to remind me of my manners?’
‘If you need a nudge…?’
A glint of humour in his eyes greeted this remark.
