Page 76 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
‘You obviously… care a lot…’ Mattia cleared his throat. ‘As a friend.’
‘Of course as a friend. My fiancée is currently on her way here.’
Mattia wasn’t sure if Andreas realised how his chest puffed up when he said that word. He was obviously one of these cavemen who were too scared to admit they wanted love and then grabbed it by the neck when it finally found them.
He probably should have kept silent, but he was tired and high on Kira’s attention to him, so he continued. ‘But she told me about you.’
That earned him a dark look. ‘What are you trying to say?’
He came right out with it. ‘I like her. If things were different…’
Andreas’s expression turned reflective. ‘Are you going to make things different?’
The words gave Mattia a start. He couldn’t change the things that would keep them apart once they left Tyrol. That was up to Kira. And yet…
In a flurry of a woollen coat, scarf and subtle perfume, a woman rushed to where they were sitting, making Andreas leap out of his chair to catch her. The fiancée. She was blonde and pretty, but with a chin that suggested she could keep him in line.
Grasping his lapels, she asked, ‘How is she? Can we see her? I picked Ginny up because she was beside herself with worry. Apparently, their room was completely destroyed, all of their belongings buried under the snow!’
Ginny approached at a more sedate pace, smiling a weak greeting at Mattia. ‘You’re still here, you poor thing. Alessandra texted that she and her parents are settled into a hotel here in Innsbruck. I don’t know how I’ll be able to make it up to her!’
‘She won’t expect you to,’ Mattia attempted, but Ginny was obviously too worked up to take anything in.
Turning to Andreas, she said, ‘I hate to think what might have happened if we’d been in the room, especially after poor Yolanda—’ She cut herself off with a choke.
Andreas’s fiancée drew back with a frown. ‘It’s lucky that Kira wasn’t in the room.’
Mattia’s face heated afresh and he looked anxiously to the double doors Kira had disappeared through too long ago.
‘Very lucky,’ Andreas responded drily, with a look in Mattia’s direction that he felt in his skin.
He was saved by those doors opening, Kira finally appearing with her jacket over her arm and both hands wrapped in bandages. He rushed at her, but unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one with that idea.
The two women wrapped her in a hug before he could reach her.
‘Thank God!’
‘You are everyone’s hero!’
‘We officially need a guide on board for every wedding from now on!’
She met his gaze with a small smile and he felt immediately lighter. The faint rumble of her stomach reached his ears, reminding him of the evening they’d met – grumpy, hungry Kira who’d still saved him from a fridge worse than death.
So, he took a risk. Lifting his brow in invitation, he held out a hand. ‘Come on,’ was all he said, softly. ‘Food.’
While her friends looked on, mouths ajar, Kira’s smile blossomed fully and she came to him, letting him help her with her jacket.
Glancing back at her colleagues, she said, ‘We’ll talk later today, hmm? Thanks for coming.’
‘Always.’
‘Any time.’
Andreas added in a low grumble, ‘Even when we’re not needed, it seems,’ that he probably hadn’t intended anyone to hear.
Ushering her towards the exit, he heard Andreas’s fiancée marvel, ‘Did she just leave with the opera singer?’
‘Reshma said she’d kissed him, the dark horse. I had no idea!’ Ginny added.
