Page 61 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
‘Look after you.’
‘I don’t need—’ Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. Perhaps she realised she was lying and stopped talking. Pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead, she groaned, ‘I’m supposed to be throwing you together with Carla.’
‘Carissima,’ he began, taking a step closer, but he forgot he was on the steps and scuffed his foot. With a cry of alarm, he groped for something to hold onto and ended up suspended in the stairwell, one hand clutching the banister and the other around her waist, his face pressed into her chest. He froze, expecting her to grab him and steady him – then push him away. But instead, there was a hitch in her breathing and a swallow and he stayed where he was, breathing in the strength of her.
‘What is going on here?’
He cursed Alessandra’s impeccable – or terrible – timing. He opened his eyes and reluctantly extracted his face from Kira’s fleece. Her nostrils flared and he considered for a moment leaving Alessandra to wonder for a few more minutes and talking all of this out. Poor Kira. She was afraid – probably of her own feelings. How she must hate that.
But Alessandra was watching, wide-eyed and expectant, from the door of her room. All Mattia could do was lift his eyebrows at Kira, give her arm a squeeze in the hope she understood that to mean We’ll talk later. Hang in there.
‘Eh, I slipped. We were coming to see you.’
Shut inside the bridal suite for warmth, Kira invited Alessandra to sit down, while his old friend still looked between them as though they were about to announce their own marriage – and she’d be horrified.
‘We can’t have the wedding today,’ he blurted out.
‘What?’
Kira’s gaze flew to the ceiling. ‘Bloody hell, Mattia, even I could have done that with more tact.’
He was distracted by how good his name sounded in her voice.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said to Alessandra. ‘There’s an avalanche warning for this area and we’ve been strongly advised to stay put.’
‘An avalanche?’ Alessandra cried, echoing Mattia’s thoughts.
‘A warning,’ Kira reassured them. ‘This position is protected or they wouldn’t have built the chalet here. It’s the road in and out that’s the concern. Norbert won’t risk it, which is fair. But I’ve spoken to Ginny and she’s already checked that the priest is available tomorrow or the next day and he’s been very accommodating.’
‘The next day! Our wedding day was supposed to be today! I’m supposed to be married before the new year! I even had a commemorative plaque engraved with this year on it! I can’t get married next year!’
‘It isn’t safe for the reindeer anyway,’ Kira pointed out.
What reindeer?
‘But at least it gives us lots of time for Ginny to get back from Mayrhofen with the mistletoe.’
‘The mistletoe!’ Alessandra exclaimed and then she burst into tears. ‘All the flowers! Everything will be wilted!’
His friend had her own dramatic streak, but he’d never seen her worked up like this. His gaze flickered to Kira in horror. She glared back.
Patting Alessandra’s shoulder awkwardly, she said, ‘There, there. The low temperature might slow the process.’ She shot him another look, clearly expecting him to do something.
He sat down next to Alessandra, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and tried to reason with her. ‘Given the fact that we’re safe and warm… enough, anyway, during a catastrophic snowfall event, aren’t your flowers and the commemorative plaque a side issue, Ale? We’re all together, like you wanted.’
His words only seemed to get her more worked up. ‘This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life and instead I’m freezing in fifteen layers of clothing, and what I wanted was for you to fall in love with Carla again so at least you’d have each other when I’m gone, but you’ve decided you want to let your horse run, chasing every woman in this chalet except the one who’s interested in you!’
Kira stepped back so suddenly, she nearly tripped. ‘I’m not… I don’t want to be involved in this.’
Mattia’s throat closed, terrified she didn’t want anything to do with him, but not certain that was what she meant.
‘Look, I’m going to go?—’
‘No!’ Mattia stopped her. ‘We haven’t finished?—’
When Kira wrenched open the door, Carla stood behind it, her hand raised to knock. Mattia’s groan came from deep in his chest as he watched them exchange a wide-eyed look across the threshold.
He’d been wrong. It would have been better if they’d got Alessandra married and out of the way so he could talk to Kira in peace – except after the wedding, they’d have no reason to ever see each other again.
