Secrets of a Chalet Girl
Lorraine Wilson
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Contents
I live in Wiltshire with my husband but love to travel and have lived in four continents. From playing amidst Roman ruins in Africa as a child to riding a Sultan's racehorse in the Middle East as a teen, I’ve many experiences to draw on for the stories I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. When I’m not writing you'll find me listening to audiobooks while I sew or design handbags, usually with a rescue terrier or two curled up on my feet!
I'd like to say a big thank you to the lovely team at HarperImpulse and also to Maria and Dawn - thank you so much for your help with this book.
“Pick a Dare, Flora, it’s your turn.” Tash thrust the shiny, silver gift bag across the bar towards Flora.
Flora had assumed Tash brought the bag along from Chalet Repos because it contained an early wedding present for Holly, or more likely silly ‘L’ plates or even worse…she’d heard talk about inflatable costumes.
No such luck.
Even dressing up as an inflatable penis might be preferable to carrying out a dare Tash had made up.
“Um, I don’t know … ” Flora licked her lips nervously. Looking around at the group she could tell everyone was glad it wasn’t their turn. Tash’s wilder streak was enough to make anyone uneasy. She should’ve known Tash offering to take a hand in organising Holly’s Hen night was a bad omen.
Really? They were playing some kind of Truth or Dare game? She’d played spin the bottle as a teenager. It never ended well.
It might have been better if Holly’s best friend Pippa had been in charge of the plans. But she’d only arrived in Verbier this morning. Plus she had lively one-year old Lexie to keep her busy, so she was hardly in a party planning frame of mind.
Take a bunch of emotional girls, add in copious amounts of cocktails and play Truth or Dare… What could go wrong?
There’d be tears before bedtime. Hopefully not hers.
Her skin prickled with the awareness she was being watched by the other bar customers. It was the third Verbier bar in their bar crawl this evening. The fact they were wearing dresses in a resort town where everyone wore salopettes by day and jeans, albeit designer ones, by night, had already attracted them a fair amount of attention. Holly insisted they dress up, saying she never got a chance to be ‘girly’ nowadays.
“Come on Flora, get on with it.” Sophie giggled, signalling to the barman that they needed more drinks. Her shiny mane of blonde hair and baby blue eyes, coupled with a dress that revealed an impressive cleavage meant they’d had no trouble getting served.
Feeling self-conscious in her silky blue evening dress, Flora shifted uncomfortably on her barstool and hoped she wasn’t going to humiliate herself in public.
Ha! Dream on…
“You should just be glad you don’t have to do the chalet girl initiation thing I went through.” Holly grimaced sympathetically.
“Me too, she’s right, you should count yourself lucky.” Sophie laughed. “The initiation was you had to go to Wonderbar, take your bra off and flash the crowd. Although some we could mention fudged it.”
Sophie winked at Holly, smirking but Flora couldn’t join in the laughter, panic now rising about what she might have to do. Her face flamed with heat. She hated blushing, always had ever since she’d been teased at school for her ability to turn scarlet so easily.
“How do you know I haven’t put that Dare in the bag?” Tash winked and practically thrust the shiny silver bag under Flora’s nose.
I am so not taking my bra off and flashing the crowd. No. Not. Not!
“I’d really, rather not. I mean I couldn’t…” She faltered.
Bloody Tash.
Flora caught Holly’s eye, pleading silently ‘Help me.’
“We won’t make you strip, I promise,” Holly interrupted, placing a hand on Flora’s elbow.
Flora exhaled slowly with relief and smiled gratefully at her boss.
Rescued!
Holly was lovely like that. Not to mention great to work for given she’d actually been doing the job herself last season and wasn’t afraid to muck in when they needed help.
Maybe she was paranoid but it felt like everyone in the packed bar was staring at them. A quick glance confirmed most of them were. Now Flora wished she hadn’t worn her high heeled boots and been persuaded into wearing her silky midnight blue dress. Right now she might as well be wearing a sign over her neck saying she was on the pull.
Do I want to be on the pull? It might be a good distraction and I certainly need one of those.
That would probably be the Dare, knowing Tash. Ever since she’d found out Flora hadn’t had sex since coming out of a long-term relationship she’d been on at her to get back in the game. Or had it been ‘on’ the game? With Tash you never really knew. She liked to shock people.
The group of men closest to them sniggered. She was sure she heard them assessing the hen party girls, picking their favourites and giving marks out of ten. She seethed quietly, skin burning as she swallowed down her irritation. Only one of the men here had caught her attention when they walked in and he wasn’t even looking over at them, his attention purely on his mobile phone.
“Okay, I’ll do Dare then,” she said crossly, gulping her cocktail and trying to force a smile to her face for Holly’s sake. It was Holly’s