Read Online Secrets of a Chalet Girl by Lorraine Wilson - Free Book Online Page B

eyes, whenever she didn’t shy away from him like a wild horse evading a lasso.
    Flora climbed back into his bed, drawing the duvet up over her body, hiding again, her urgency seemingly depleted. He slid in next to her, pulling her into his arms, cuddling her back. He wondered if she’d be more likely to talk to him if she couldn’t see his face.
    Obviously she was ashamed of something but he really didn’t see what she could’ve done that would be so terrible.
    “You need to talk about it,” he said, lazily stroking her arm.
    “I just found out someone I cared about has passed away. He died of a heart attack and it was a bit of a shock.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” Zac murmured quietly. “Did you know him well?”
    “Yes, he was my ex’s dad and my old boss. And, well, there’s something else - it was supposed to be my wedding day today.” Flora sighed as she snuggled back against him.
    “Oh?”
    Whatever I was imagining I wasn’t expecting that.
    “Yep. But I couldn’t do it, he was…wrong for me.”
    Zac stayed silent but continued to stroke, to soothe, to encourage her words to flow with the tips of his fingers. Teasing her words from her as he’d teased her body earlier.
    “I couldn’t cope with his mood swings and he was controlling, really controlling, you know?”
    “I think I do, yes,” Zac sighed, pulling her closer, the stirrings of anger bubbling deep inside him. The dormant volcano always rumbled, the lava of anger churning in his belly, whenever something happened to remind him of his father.
    He’d had a masterclass in the controlling type in his dad. The thought of Flora involved with anyone like his dad made his gut clench.
    “Then you did the right thing.”
    “How can you be so sure?” She twisted round to face him, seemingly ready to engage. “I haven’t even told you everything…”
    “Do you want to tell me?”
    “Not…right now… Sorry.”
    “That’s fine. But can you tell me why you were crying earlier? You said it was meant to be your wedding day. Was it that or…did something happen earlier? Has someone upset you?” She definitely hadn’t been this upset earlier when she’d left his chalet. Distant yes, but not distraught.
    If anyone’s hurt her, I’ll…
    “The email I got earlier telling me about the heart attack, it came from my ex’s sister, we used to be good friends.” She bit her lip and her eyes filled with tears again. “The family blame me, they say it was stress…”
    He wiped away a tear on her cheek with his thumb.
    “Hey.” He placed a soft kiss on her trembling lower lip. “You can’t take responsibility for someone else’s health or their actions. You could hardly marry just to keep the in-laws happy, that’s not fair.”
    “I sort of know that on one level,” she admitted, eyes huge and threatening to brim over again. “But he was like family to me. My own parents aren’t really the happy family types. Tom’s family became my family and they were under a lot of stress. Maybe I should have stayed, helped them. Perhaps I was selfish.”
    He gently nudged her shoulders to bring her back from the dark place she’d vanished to.
    “No excuses. Don’t make excuses for him,” he said, exasperated, her story so horribly familiar it prodded and bated the slumbering volcano through the iron bars of his control. “Did he make you miserable? Undermine you? Belittle you?”
    Did he hurt you?
    She nodded slowly.
    Zac took a deep breath. “Were you afraid of him?”
    “Yes,” she replied, burying her face deep into the pillow.
    He wanted to bring back the sassy girl who’d walked up to him in the bar and surprised him with a kiss, the girl who had dreams and a talent that’d been stifled.
    His jaw tensed and he closed his eyes for a minute, trying to contain the volcano, trying not to think about the things that would lead to its eruption. He held her, murmuring nonsense and trying to comfort her while hiding his own turmoil.