Harlequin Presents December 2021, Box Set 2 of 2 by Pippa Roscoe

Author:Pippa Roscoe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWO

PICKING UP HER cup of coffee from the kitchen counter, Santa walked into the living area of Merry’s chalet and stared out of the window at the blue-white mountains, wishing once again that her friend was there and not on a train somewhere in Europe.

Just fifteen minutes’ walk from the hotel, it was a lovely, cosy little cabin, nothing like the glamorous Haensli, with its wood-panelled walls, leather sofas, opulent gold lamps and equally opulent Christmas tree.

When she’d walked into the hotel’s vast reception area to pick up the key Merry had left for her, her legs had been shaking, her hands too. Only she hadn’t been able to blame the opulent hygge interior. Or the nonchalant, cosmopolitan hotel patrons in their sleek down jackets, cashmere jumpers and shearling-lined boots.

‘There’s ice in your veins.’

Her lips formed a moue of annoyance.

No, the blame for her nervousness lay solidly at the feet of the Duke of Astbury. It had been his barbed words, so casually tossed at her just as he got out of the limo, that had made her stomach knot with a familiar panic. And those same words were still echoing inside her head now.

But why?

Fingers tightening around the cup, she shivered.

Louis didn’t know her. He didn’t know what had happened with Nathan.

She’d never told anyone. Not even her best friend. Merry had already left to go to college by then, and it had seemed ridiculous to dredge it up when she’d finally come home to visit.

A knot tightened in her chest. Plus, she’d been ashamed—and scared. Scared to look into her friend’s eyes and see not just affection and concern but an acknowledgement that Nathan was right.

She bit her lip. So she hadn’t said anything, and probably she wouldn’t say anything about Louis either.

And not just because of what he’d said.

Her pulse missed a beat and another shiver skimmed over her skin, this one hot, not cool. There had been that other thing too...that tension between them in the limo.

She gritted her teeth, trying to give it a name. She wanted to call it hate, but hate was so unequivocal. It had been more like a battle of wills—a kind of virtual tug of war, with neither of them willing to let go of the rope.

It was like nothing she had ever felt before. But then Louis Albemarle wasn’t like any other man she’d met.

He was a stranger, and yet he didn’t feel like one. And, more confusingly, even though she disliked him intensely, she had never felt so attracted to a man. It was both baffling and irresistible. Maybe that was why it had made her feel so out of control and inadequate. Just like before. Just like with Nathan.

Her throat tightened at the memory.

She’d been so naive back then. So trusting and hopeful and eager. And stupid. What other explanation could there be for how she’d acted? What she’d accepted?

But it wasn’t going to happen again. Particularly not with a man like Louis. She didn’t want or need that kind of complication in her life—and besides there was no room.

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