Page 37 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
‘Is it warmer in here than out there?’ he asked, his brow knit.
She nodded. ‘If there’s ice melting, it must be around zero. You’d survive in here, if you got stranded overnight.’
He shuddered. ‘I don’t know what would be left of me with this incessant drip. You’d have to talk to me all night.’ He winked and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. He had no right to flirt with her when she was out of her depth. He especially had no right to look so adorable while he did so.
After the first crevasse, they climbed the ladder again and the path opened out on one side with lights illuminating a shimmering, rippling surface.
‘Is that water?’ Mattia gripped the rope strung along the side and leaned out, his jaw hanging open.
Kira’s lips twitched in amusement. ‘What do you think is all around us?’
He eyed her and even that was cute. ‘All around us is ice, while that is liquid. It’s some kind of miracle.’
‘Don’t call your saints too quickly. It’s thermodynamics.’
‘It’s amazing,’ he said softly.
Her chest full and tight with pressure – and not the kind of pressure that kept the water a liquid rather than a solid – Kira grinned, a laugh rising from her stomach. ‘It is amazing,’ she agreed.
A group of tourists in a rubber boat floated past and waved, the flash of a camera penetrating the eerie thickness of the ice.
He bit his lip thoughtfully. ‘You feel it,’ he said, a hint of I told you so in his tone. ‘The power of this place.’
‘Unfortunately,’ she quipped.
Moving slowly, as though he didn’t want to alarm her, Mattia came close enough to whisper in her ear, ‘Don’t worry. Your feelings are safe with me.’
With a dazzling smile that was far too cocky for someone who’d slipped while trying to grab an icicle, he inclined his head in an invitation to continue after the others. Kira realised with a start that they’d dropped behind and that was all his fault too.
Up ahead, Alessandra’s exclamations of wonder and delight reached a new crescendo and Kira hurried to catch up with Mattia, peering around his tall frame when he slowed his steps. Her heart rate kicked up again.
She felt his deep gasp at the same time as her own breath caught.
15
Fingers of ice grew in front of Kira’s eyes, twists and swirls and little waterfalls, as though a stream had been snap frozen. The cavern was high and wide and full of ice formations more beautiful than anything a sculptor could create. Occasional protrusions of rock hinted at the summits that ranged above.
‘Up there would be the randkluft,’ she whispered, ‘the place where the glacial ice pulls away from the rock. It’s one of the most dangerous parts of a mountain for climbers, but I’ve never seen it from… underneath.’
‘Oh my God, I am bringing every couple here from now on!’ Ginny squealed, interrupting the hushed awe. ‘Alessandra, you and Joe go stand on that platform and Rhys – camera! We only have half an hour in here. Kira, can you take them around to that cave there and I’ll call instructions. These photos are going to be epic!’
‘Urgh, weddings,’ Kira said through gritted teeth, although she appreciated the reminder that she was not here to gaze in wonder at the natural phenomenon – or let the baritone bridesman get to her. ‘Will you be all right?’ she asked Mattia warily. ‘Don’t touch anything and watch your step in those shoes.’
‘Of course. I’m not going to lick the icicles.’
That comment made her eye him in alarm.
She had no choice but to follow Ginny’s instructions and moments later, found herself juggling Alessandra’s handbag while trying to stay out of the background of the photos. The ice formations created angles that Rhys would be certain to enjoy capturing, despite the bride and groom also in the frame. At least he was snapping wide shots and didn’t have to capture Joe and Alessandra’s facial expressions in detail. She knew how much he would loathe that, given his perfectionist streak.
Ginny obviously found Rhys frustrating, but Kira couldn’t exactly take her friend aside and explain why he was so surly. Ginny should have learned by now that everyone associated with Great Heart had a tough outer shell.
Kira was restless – itchy – from the slow day. If she were honest, she was restless from the day of emotions with no outlet, plus the way weddings inevitably made her face her own life choices. She wanted to climb something and these frozen waterfalls were looking pretty good.
A burst of loud Italian broke into her ruminations, booming and ricocheting off the rock in eerie waves. Only one person in the wedding party had such a rich, powerful voice. Kira peeked around the curl of ice in front of her to see him making Alessandra’s mother laugh with his dramatic tone, trying out the acoustics of the ice cave.
‘Yes!’ came Alessandra’s enthusiastic response to whatever he’d said. ‘You must sing something for us in here!’
‘Are you sure it won’t break the ice and bring the whole cave down on our heads?’ Joe joked under his breath.
