“I had a bad dream.”

“Oh that’s not good.” Pulling himself together, Zac strode across to her and scooped her up. “Do you want to tell me what the dream was about?”

“I forget.” Holly put her arms round his neck. “You were kissing Aunty Alix.”

Even Zac seemed at a loss for an answer to that one. “Well, I—”

“And Aunty Alix was kissing you back.”

What was she supposed to say? She could hardly deny it, when she and Zac had been devouring each other like animals.

Alix tried to slow her beating heart. “Holly, it wasn’t—”

“It’s okay.” She beamed at them. “Kissing someone means you love them. Now you have to get married, and I can be a bridesmaid.” The aftereffects of bad dreams apparently soothed by this happy thought, she squirmed out of Zac’s arms and took herself back to bed.

Zac ran his hand over the back of his neck, glanced briefly at Alix and then followed Holly into the bedroom.

Alix walked to the window and slumped against the glass, cooling her burning forehead on the ice-cold glass. Beyond the windows the snow was luminous, the forest glowing with an ethereal beauty. What she really needed was to go for a walk and cool off, but with her current run of luck she’d probably fall in a snowdrift and freeze to death. Or be eaten by a wolf. Or, worse, have to be rescued by Zac.

Zac.

She breathed out slowly, her breath forming a cloud on the window.

What if Holly said something to Christy? Alix would have some difficult questions to answer. She’d never discussed what had happened the night before the wedding, and she didn’t intend to. She tried not to think about it.

She’d slept with Zac.

She’d put it behind her, ignored it, pretended it hadn’t happened.

She’d assumed he’d do the same, but then he’d called her. Twice. She’d rejected his calls both times. He’d emailed her. She’d deleted it. She hadn’t given him a chance to follow up on what had happened. She’d avoided every social engagement that had meant their paths might cross.

Which was, presumably, why he’d been so sure she would refuse to come on this trip.

And she should have done. She should have done.

But now here they were, and there was no escaping.

Zac emerged from Holly’s bedroom and walked across to her. “I guess that’s the end of our deep, dark secret.”

The sound of his voice was enough to set her pulse racing.

She kept her back to him so that he couldn’t see her face.

“She’s four years old, Zac. She’ll have forgotten it by tomorrow.” Which was more than could be said for her. She’d spent almost five years trying to forget that one night, and one kiss had undone all the hard work. It wasn’t only the chemistry, although there was no denying the dizzying power of that. It was the gentleness. The way he kissed her, with thought and care, as if he knew every one of her secrets.