Christmas in the Snow (33 page)

‘I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother,’ he said, perching on the edge of a vast partner’s desk as she ambled vaguely around the room.

‘Thanks,’ she murmured.

‘Will you be staying in Zermatt long?’

‘Only until the memorial service on Thursday.’

‘I see.’ They were silent. ‘And have you managed to get much skiing in?’

‘Some. We’ve had to have a lot of meetings to finalize all the paperwork.’

‘Yes. I can imagine.’

There was a small silence again.

‘Listen, I—’ he began.

‘Really, there’s no need,’ she said quickly, already knowing what he was going to say.

‘Please. I
want
to apologize. Things seemed to be . . .’ He cleared his throat and she thought he looked embarrassed. ‘They seemed to be taken out of context. I never
wanted you to feel that—’

‘Really, it’s fine. I’m a woman operating in a man’s world. It’s not the first time it’s happened and I doubt it’ll be the last.’

‘No, I’m sure,’ he said after a moment. ‘I know it isn’t easy being in the minority, especially in the circles we operate in.’

Her eyes flicked over to him. What did he know about it? How could this Harvard-educated son of a billionaire have any idea of the discrimination she encountered on a daily basis for daring to
be not just a woman in a man’s world, but a woman at the top of a man’s world? He just smiled and nodded his glass towards her.

‘But seeing as you’re here now, I guess that means you can come to the party after all. It’s tomorrow night.’

Allegra sighed.
Seriously?
Didn’t he see there was absolutely no point at all in her going to his party now she wasn’t even employed? Any debt his family had accrued with
her was redundant. She couldn’t use it for professional gain, and the deal was all but guaranteed to go to PLF, if it hadn’t already. Surely Zhou’s father waiting until the 18th
was just a formality?

‘Mr Yong—’

‘Zhou.’

His correction made her feel foolish for addressing him so formally when he could only be a couple of years older than her. ‘Zhou, you’re very kind, but it’s not really the
time for me to be going to parties right now. My sister and I have to focus on getting our family affairs sorted at the moment.’ It was a more diplomatic refusal than the one at the Christmas
benefit, at least.

‘Of course. I understand,’ he agreed, lapsing into silence as he stared into his glass. ‘Look, to be honest, I just wanted to give you a last opportunity to make a final bid
before my father makes his decision.’

She blinked. ‘I’m sorry, what?’

‘My father is coming out here tomorrow evening and will be making his announcement on the 18th. I really think you should be here. You brought us to PLF’s door, and if my father
awards the contract to them, it should be you taking the credit.’

Allegra stiffened. ‘OK, two things: one, I’ve quit, so PLF is no longer my problem, nor am I theirs; secondly, your father has made his feelings about dealing with a woman perfectly
clear. Sam’s the face of the team now.’

‘Sam is too close a friend for my father to see him objectively. It is not necessarily a benefit for PLF to have Sam doing the negotiations. Maybe Pierre doesn’t realize
that?’

She was too female, and Sam was too friendly? ‘Your father is a very complicated man, Zhou,’ she said archly.

‘He is old guard, yes. It’s hard to persuade him sometimes to accept new ways – especially in our dealings with the West – but I have done it before and I can do it now.
Allegra, yours was the best pitch.’

‘But I’m not going back to PLF.’ Her lip trembled as she remembered Pierre’s text. How could he have said those things to her?

‘Then win the deal for your new employers,’ he said easily. ‘You must be speaking to people already.’

She didn’t reply. Red Shore had left six messages now. They were the biggest in the market. It made perfect sense for her to return their call . . .

‘And Sam told me you have a new proposal that you never presented to the board and won’t give him.’

‘That’s right,’ she said defiantly. ‘Why should I? He’s benefitting enough from my work. I don’t owe any of them anything.’

‘I completely agree. And if you’ve put together something even better than before, frankly the deal could be awarded to you
personally
. You could pretty much demand a board
seat wherever you wanted . . . Or set up on your own like your mentor did . . . We both know that under the right manager, this could be a starter fund. My father might be open to that.’

She looked at him in bewilderment – it was like he had tapped into all her innermost dreams. ‘Why are you doing this? Sam’s your friend. He trusts you.’

‘This is business, Allegra. We’re talking about eighty hundred and ninety million pounds. It’s about who’s best for the job.’

She stared at him, adrenalin beginning to make her hands shake. It was too much to take in – the deal, not just revived but offered up as a golden hello? Her own company . . .

‘So your father’s coming tomorrow evening?’

‘Yes, he’s flying in for the party.’

Zhou narrowed his eyes, his voice low and cajoling. ‘Come on, Allegra. We both know you’re not a quitter. The bid doesn’t stop here.’

A knock at the door made them both turn.

‘Mr Yong, Dr Baden is just leaving,’ Estelle said.

‘Ah, right,’ Zhou said, motioning for Allegra to lead the way.

‘It’s a knee strain, quite nasty,’ the doctor said, meeting them in the hallway. ‘
Possibly
there’s some damage to the anterior cruciate ligament, but we
won’t be able to tell until the swelling starts to go down. She’ll need to have an MRI scan at some point. In the meantime, I’ve stabilized it and applied a knee cuff with cooler,
but she really mustn’t move for the next forty-eight hours. And the leg should be kept elevated at all times. I’ve given her a prescription for some strong painkillers too.’

‘Thank you so much, Dr Baden,’ Allegra said, shaking his hand. ‘Let me give you my contact details for your invoice.’

‘No, Allegra, it’s fine,’ Zhou said quietly, patting her shoulder as he walked past. ‘Dr Baden works on retainer for our family. It’s all covered.’

‘Oh.’ That was the second time he’d paid for her this evening. Little by little he was wriggling out of the debt his family owed her.

She watched for a moment while the two men talked in lowered voices by the front door as Dr Baden shrugged on his coat. Then she hurried back into the sitting room, where Isobel was lying with
her leg elevated on a pile of cushions, taking photos of the chalet on her phone.

‘Iz! What the hell are you doing?’ Allegra hissed, breaking into a run, snatching the phone off her and instantly deleting them.

‘Hey! I wanted to show Lloyd. I just rang him, told him what’s going on. He said he wanted to see this place.’

‘Iz, this is their private home. You can’t start sharing it around with people.’

Isobel pouted. ‘Lloyd is not “people”.’

‘No, I know
that
, but what if he shares it with someone at work and then they share it with someone else?’ She could well imagine Lloyd showing off.

Isobel gave a little sigh but didn’t protest further.

‘How are you feeling?’ Allegra asked, sitting herself on the edge of the sofa.

‘A bit idiotic, to be honest.’

‘You gave me such a fright.’

‘I’m sorry. Really I am. I just . . . slightly lost it. I couldn’t believe you were beating me.’

Allegra smiled. ‘I’d never have beaten you to the bottom. We both know that! I just had a lucky streak for a bit, that was all.’

Isobel’s eyes moved onto someone behind her and her smile brightened. ‘Ah, my hero!’ Her voice lowered to a – for once – scarcely audible whisper. ‘Christ,
he’s gorgeous. Are you blind or what?’

Allegra got up from the sofa, staring with ill-concealed disdain at Sam. He had changed into jeans and a camel-coloured Nordic jumper, his hair still wet, and it was true he did look
depressingly good. But she didn’t give a damn about that. Any gratitude she had felt towards him earlier for rescuing Iz had been replaced once more by her usual contempt – she would
never forgive him for what he had made Pierre do, and Zhou had just handed her the perfect opportunity for revenge . . .

Zhou came back into the room. ‘Well, that’s all sorted, then.’

‘What is?’

‘Dr Baden has said Isobel mustn’t be moved, so Estelle’s just preparing the guest suites for you both.’

‘What? No!’ Allegra cried, at the exact moment Isobel exclaimed: ‘Great!’

‘It’s no problem, and frankly, some female company would be a welcome boost. There are far too many men in this house. I’m not sure I can cope with any more
arm-wrestling.’

Allegra watched in panic as he walked to the low pocketed ottoman in the middle of the room and pulled a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket.

‘Zhou, we couldn’t possibly impinge on your hospitality any more than we already have,’ she said, walking towards him there. ‘Our apartment isn’t even ten minutes
away. If we can just call a cab, we’ll be out of your hair in no time and Isobel can rest up there. I’m sure it won’t matter for her leg to be down for a few minutes.’

Zhou looked up at her. ‘On the contrary, Dr Baden was adamant that for the best chance of recovery, her leg must be elevated, quote, at all times, unquote.’

‘This is silly,’ she half laughed, just as the cork popped softly and Zhou began to pour.

A young girl, dressed all in black like Estelle, came over to Allegra. ‘May I take your coat for you, Miss Fisher?’

‘Legs, it’s important we do everything right,’ Isobel said behind her. ‘The doctor said this is the “acute healing phase”, and I do think I’d be happier
taking a more . . . conservative approach, for these first two days at least.’

Allegra looked down at Isobel crossly, knowing full well her sister just wanted to stay in the chalet.

‘Zhou,’ she heard Sam protest, but Zhou was already holding out a glass of champagne to her. She looked over at Sam and saw the same resistance in his expression as hers. They
couldn’t even share a mountain. How the hell were they supposed to share a chalet?

‘It’s just a couple of days, Allegra,’ Zhou shrugged, a conspiratorial look in his eye reminding her his father was back tomorrow. ‘Where’s the harm?’

Her and Sam Kemp living together under one roof? She knew exactly where the harm was – but she handed her jacket over anyway.

Her bedroom was vast: cerulean hand-painted walls with a bed covered in ivory cashmere and mother-of-pearl furniture. As for Isobel’s room across the hall, upholstered as
it was in baby-blue velvet with coral accents, Allegra was quite seriously concerned her sister might never leave.

She smiled politely as Zhou pointed everything out to her, while Sam and Isobel chatted upstairs. The very thought of it made her wince. What were they talking about? She knew well enough that
it would be no idle chatter on either’s part – Sam would be asking targeted questions about her; Iz would be finding out his romantic history.

‘Mine and my family’s rooms are on the top floor, but Kemp’s room is next to yours, Massi’s is opposite, and—’

‘Uh, wait,’ she said. ‘Who’s Massi?’

Zhou smiled again; it made him look ten years younger. ‘Nothing to do with work – don’t worry. He’s another friend from Harvard. He was meeting up with a business contact
for a drink this evening, but he should be back any minute. You’ll like him. This week is all about having some fun before my parents arrive.’

Allegra looked at him in surprise. Coming from someone as controlled as him, the comment was fabulously indiscreet, but whether he had intended it to be or not, he carried on with the tour
without missing a beat and she was left feeling more confused than ever by this strange blurring of the professional and personal boundaries between them. ‘And just through this door here is
the hammam and massage room,’ he said, opening a door wide enough for her to glimpse an all-marble room with bench seats built into the wall and an arched ceiling. ‘There’s a
selection of new, tags-on swimwear in the cupboard to the left there. Heidi Klein, is it?’ he said in anticipation of her protest that she hadn’t brought anything suitable.

‘And across here,’ he said, crossing the hall, ‘are the pool and gym.’ He opened one of a set of double oak doors onto a glittering turquoise pool with a teardrop
chandelier hanging not five feet above the water and a mammoth screen filling the entire wall at the far end. ‘Anything you want to watch, basically . . .’ he murmured.

‘Right,’ she replied slowly, even though they both knew she wasn’t going to be lying on a lilo watching
Celebrity Big Brother
.

They stepped back into the lift and moments later returned to the sitting room.

‘Will everything be to my satisfaction, sis?’ Isobel enquired in a lofty tone that made Zhou smile.

‘I think we can safely say so, yes,’ Allegra replied sardonically, while trying to detect from Kemp’s body language alone what might have been said about her. But he simply sat
on the opposite sofa to Isobel, one ankle slung over the opposite knee, his arm outstretched along the back, giving nothing away.

A little silence erupted and Allegra felt aware of Isobel and Zhou’s eyes moving between her and Sam. Her sister, she expected no better from – Sam was a man with a pulse – but
Zhou . . . Had Sam told him about them?

The sound of sudden laughter made them both sit straighter in their seats as a man whom Allegra deduced had to be Massi sauntered in. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the two
sisters, still in their ski clothes – Estelle had despatched one of the chalet girls to pack up their things and bring them over from the apartment for them – being entertained.

‘Massi, we’ve been waiting for you,’ Zhou said. ‘I want you to meet Allegra and Isobel Fisher. Allegra and Isobel, this is Massimo Bianchi.’

Allegra rose politely from her seat to shake his hand – Isobel clearly couldn’t – but Massi crossed the room in three strides, planting his hands on Allegra’s hips and
holding her in front of him with an open-mouthed look of delight. ‘My God!’ he said with a lusciously thick, creamy Italian accent. ‘She is so beautiful!’