Page 58 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
‘Porca miseria!’ he cursed through his chattering teeth. There was no way he could get back to sleep. He hoped his was the only room that was so icy.
Folding back the blanket, he shook violently, more from the fear of the cold than the cold itself. The polished timber floor tortured his feet with every step as he hurtled for the jute rug. Shuddering violently, he pulled on his thickest merino pullover and rummaged for a pair of socks, and then another pair of socks when the first was clearly insufficient.
Touching the back of his hand to the radiator, he found it completely cold, even though he’d turned up the thermostat as soon as he’d been shown to his room on arrival.
Tugging the duvet from the bed and wrapping it around himself, he slipped into the felt slippers with embroidered antlers on them provided by the chalet and braced himself to open the door. The hallway would be toasty warm. His radiator was probably broken – that was all. With the concierge down in the valley, maybe Kira could fix it or he could just sleep in her room.
That was what he called serendipity.
Pulling open the door, he stepped tentatively into the hall. Damn, he could see his own breath in here. The window at the end was obscured with condensation, but glowed bright with the light of the moon reflected on snow.
Crossing the hall, he approached Kira’s door and knocked. He was too cold to pause and reflect on the last time he’d stood here and had his world turned upside down by a vulnerable kiss.
‘What?’ he heard, her voice groggy.
‘Kira, there’s something wrong with the heating,’ he said, standing close to the door and speaking as quietly as possible. When the door swung open abruptly, he nearly teetered inside, especially as he only managed to extract one arm from his duvet to grab the doorframe for balance.
Kira blinked up at him, her hair a tousled bluebird’s nest and her lips puffy. She was wearing a ribbed tank top and leggings, her skin radiating heat, making him think of wrapping his body around hers. She crossed her arms instinctively against the cold she mustn’t have registered yet, in her bleary state, and that also made him want to wrap his body around hers.
When she noticed him with the duvet all the way up to his neck, she cocked her head and frowned. ‘What the matter?’
‘T-the h-heating. It’s not working.’
Her frown was eloquent. Mattia rather liked sleepy, sluggish Kira. He wanted to scoop her up and take them both back to bed. Sharing body heat sounded like a dream right now.
She groped for the light as she turned back with a shiver, but when she flicked the switch, nothing happened. Click, click. Still nothing. His stomach clenched with the first spasms of panic.
She muttered a curse and stalked away, swiping a fleece off the floor and tugging it over her head. This room was dim, with the window facing the steep slope behind the chalet, but the light of the moon penetrated enough for him to see more piles of clothes and even a tablet lying on the floor of the room.
‘You have something against tables?’
‘I’m messy. Get over it.’
With thick socks on her feet, she nabbed a quilted jacket from a hook and beckoned for him to follow her.
Downstairs, the light from the panoramic windows in the den shot vivid shadows across the floorboards. He caught a glimpse of an enormous, pearlescent moon in a black sky.
‘At least it’s stopped snowing,’ he commented, his voice hushed.
Kira knocked on the door marked ‘Privat’ and they waited for the manager to appear.
Mattia hovered next to her in his duvet, feeling faintly ridiculous. ‘I’m sorry I woke you,’ he belatedly apologised. ‘I probably could have managed this myself.’
‘It’s okay,’ she said mildly. ‘I needed to know what’s going on.’ And there was no answer from behind the door. Kira knocked again, more firmly this time. ‘Katy?’ she called through the door. Straightening, she glanced over her shoulder at Mattia. ‘Did Norbert say something about Katy leaving to collect her children?’
‘She didn’t… She can’t have left us alone here, can she?’ A scraping sound reached his ears and he jumped. ‘There’s something outside.’ A distant crack. ‘Did you hear that? Was it thunder?’
She shook her head. ‘Unlikely in this weather. Large amounts of snow can be pretty powerful though – and noisy.’ Unease rippled across her features, alarming Mattia further. ‘But we’re safe here, okay? You only need to worry when there’s something to worry about. We’re safe.’
Her rough, matter-of-fact tone took him back to the first night in Salzburg, when she’d vanquished the fridge for him. He nodded. ‘Safe,’ he agreed. ‘Just cold.’
The moonlight illuminated the smile curving her lips. ‘The cold won’t hurt you in here.’
‘Ahem. It is hurting my toes.’
She knocked again, this time with force, and finally, he made out a rustling sound behind the door.
‘There’s someone there,’ he said with a sigh of relief.
