Chapter Eighty-Four
‘Your parents are lovely.’ Tristan said quietly, testing Emme’s reaction to his appearance.
‘My parents are grateful.’
There was a pause, and Tristan took a seat.
‘I’m grateful,’ Emme said. ‘You saved my life.’
Tristan shook his head.
‘How are your ribs?’
Emme put her palm to her left side, she could feel exactly which were broken. She gave her answer in her wince. But she didn’t want to talk about physical fractures. It was the broken heart that was consuming her now she was conscious.
‘I mean, I’m still so, so gutted …’ she added, shaking her head and almost crying at his treachery.
She so desperately wanted to unsee the awful video of Tristan and Lexy on the threshold.
Knowing that within the week he would have slept with Vivian and Anastasia too.
He’d ruined everything before they’d even started. But he had saved her life.
‘I know, I am so sorry,’ he said, face forlorn.
‘But thank you. For the mountain.’
He let out a sigh as weary as a confession.
‘I was so scared.’
Tristan took Emme’s hand, scared she would flinch but she didn’t, so he raised it, kissed it, and held it to his cheek. His touch felt like the most natural thing in the world.
‘I wasn’t willing to lose someone else I … someone else I care about … to the mountain.’
Emme smiled gently.
‘How did you know I was up there?’
‘I didn’t. I went skiing. I was so pissed off that the Lexy thing had undone everything – undone us – I did what I always do when I’m upset. I went to the mountains. Tried to clear my head. I was on the piste when I saw the avalanche.’
‘You were?’
‘I saw the snowboarder set it off …’
‘You did?’
‘I’d seen that there were people in the wildlife area. I didn’t know it was you, but I just had a bad feeling … I would have gone to help whoever it was … but it was you.’
He looked genuinely terrified.
‘It’s OK, Tristan.’
He squeezed her hand and held it to his lips again. She looked at him and smiled. They were bigger than Lexy Harrington.
She realised, after all Tristan had been through that day with his father, after all he had done to get help and dig her out, there were more important things at play than a bruised heart.
‘I am so sorry Emme,’ he said, shaking his head.
‘Don’t be sorry, you save—’
‘I’m talking about us.’
Emme steeled herself.
‘I thought about you all the time I was in South Africa. I promise. Nothing has been the same since you, I swear.’
Emme felt so conflicted.
‘What about all these women? I can’t be with someone who just sets everything ablaze wherever he goes. I can’t be with someone who can’t help himself. That’s not me.’
‘That’s not me either!’ he almost begged. ‘Not any more.’
Emme was startled.
‘Lexy, Anastasia, Vivian … what do they all have in common?’
Emme looked blank and shrugged. The effort of which hurt and she winced again. Tristan kissed her hand; his lips offering a salve. God, he was beautiful.
‘They all came before you. Since … since we kissed in the alleyway, since that day in the gondola, I swear I haven’t even looked at another woman.’
Emme blushed. She thought about the sensations of him, rippling inside her; the passion he unlocked in her. ‘Not here, not in London, not in Geneva, not in Cape Town, not in Stellenbosch …’
Could Emme really believe a man she had seen lying?
‘You breezed into my life six weeks ago and I have never felt so utterly sure about anything. I want to take you to the vineyards; meet my mother; show you the whales off Hermanus, show you the Alpenglow. I swear I have never felt like this about anyone.’
Emme shook her head.
‘Why?’
Tristan looked genuinely confused.
‘Why what?’
‘Why me? You could have any woman in Kristalldorf. Why me?’
‘All those fakes? All those entitled princesses? I don’t think you and I are as different as you think we are …’
Emme pondered Tristan the outsider. Tristan grafting to find his way and fit in.
Tristan with the luxury of choices, just like Emme had.
Her flat in Balham was not quite the Vitreum, but she had chosen to move to Kristalldorf, and didn’t they both feel like imposters in the end?
Didn’t they both want to be loved, wholeheartedly? To be their lover’s priority.
‘Look at you Emme! You are beautiful. You emanate kindness and warmth. You make me feel safe. I have never felt safe with any woman in Kristalldorf. When I realised it was you in the snow, I just … I just imagined losing you, all over again, and how I’d fucked it all up.
And I vowed to do anything I could to make you happy.
I promise. I will serve you.’ He said it with such reverence, Emme was taken aback.
She wove her fingers among his and beckoned him closer, until he was close enough to kiss.
His kiss felt like medicine as she remembered all the passionate kisses he had furnished her face, her breasts, her stomach and her entire body with, since they had come together in the gondola.
Except this kiss had more depth. It felt more tender. It was gentle and loving and loyal.
‘Anything?’ Emme asked, as she pulled back.
‘Anything,’ he assured her.
‘Then take me to Cat,’ Emme said with a smile. ‘I need to see Cat.’