"I said scrub my back." Emma wiggled in the bath, splashing water and bubbles over the side as James' hand playfully slid around her ribcage. "That's not my back."

"Autonomy was never my strong point. Good job I'm not a surgeon." he grinned, glancing out of the bathroom window as his cell phone began to ring in the living room. "Starting to snow again. Hang on let me get that."

Emma heard him answer the phone, greeting one of his friends with enthusiasm. As she lazily soaped her arms, James came back to the bathroom.

"... what you're where? God, that sounds fantastic. Hang on a second, she's right here, I'll just ask her. It's Lukas Ackermann," James explained. "He's in Austria. There's a group of them sharing a chalet in Kitzbuhel and one of the other guys has just been flown home with a smashed-up pelvis. Which is bad news for him, of course, but on the other hand..."

"Good news for you?" guessed Emma. "Or do we call a lucky break? Don't tell me, they've got room for one more and they thought of you." Was that a niggle there in her voice? A little niggly edge?

"Wrong actually. The other guy's wife flew home with him. They've got room for two more and they thought of us." Luckily James hadn't taken offense. Sitting on the edge of the bath he added persuasively. "So what do you think? Can Aaron take care of the things here? It's only for a week. Lukas says the chalet's fantastic, the skiing's superb, they've got a great crowd out there. And it's mixed, not just a horrible gang of boys, drinking nonstop and throwing up in the jacuzzi. Come on," he leaned teasingly over the bath, "we'd have a brilliant time. You could do it with a break."

Emma knew she could, but she also knew she wasn't going to get one. Aaron had already booked a couple of days off in the coming week in order to attend a cousin's wedding in Glasgow.

"I can't." Regretfully, she shook her head. "Aaron is away." It was a shame, it couldn't be helped.

James' face fell. "Okay. Nevermind. Lukas," he returned to the phone, "sorry man, we can't make it. Emma has to work." A pause while he listened to Lukas' voice at the other end, then.

"No, no. Thanks , but I wouldn't feel... it wouldn't be..."

"You could still go," suggested Emma, squeezing bubbles out of the sponge.

James looked at her. Hesitating. She knew how much he wanted to.

"Hang on again, Lukas. Emma's saying something." Moving the phone away from his mouth he said, "Wouldn't you mind?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind. You love skiing. You can't do much here while the weather's like this." She waved at the snow tumbling like confetti past the window. "No golf, no ice cream dates with me. And it's only for a week."

She meant it. The moment of nigglyness earlier had been a Pavlovian reaction, a hangover from her previous relationship. Even when she thought she'd trusted Patrick, some inner instinct had never entirely trusted him. But had been then. Things were different now. This was James, whom she knew she could trust. He was a polar opposite of Patrick.

"You know what you are?" Grinning, James leaned precariously over the bath and gave her a huge kiss. "Gorgeous." The phone in his hand began to cackle and he spoke into it. "No, not you, you're an ugly sod. I'm talking to this beautiful gem of a girl here... yes, I mean Emma. And she's naked. In the bath. Oh yes. And right now I don't know if I even want to leave her here on her own, but she says that if I want to come out to Kitzbuhel, it's fine by her."

Ten minutes later, it was all fixed. James had got himself on a flight from North Caroline to Salzburg, leaving tomorrow lunchtime.

By late afternoon he'd arrive at Chalet Sattelkopf in the heart of Kitzbuhel, for seven days of hard skiing and seven nights of while apres-ski.

"You're sure you don't mind?" James brought a glass of fresh orange juice into the bathroom and handed Emma a glass.

"I really don't mind." She smiled, but she was looking like a young boy on Christmas morning.

"You don't have to worry about me. I won't be getting up to any funny business."

"I know that too." She did. It was a great feeling.

"Unless Jennifer Lopez is there," James amended. "Obviously."

"Oh well, goes without saying." Emma nodded to show she understood. He had a bit of a thing for Jennifer Lopez.

"And will you miss me?" James sat on the edge of the bath.

"Every minute of every hour of every day." Tilting her face up for a kiss, she added, "Well, unless Jude Law books into the house. Obviously."

James nodded. "I can't understand that. I love Jude Law in a flash. But otherwise I can trust you to behave. What are you doing?"

"I think you need a bath." Emma locked her wet fingers round the front of his rugby shirt and pulled him towards her.

"Right now?"

She tugged harder. "Right now."

"Still in my clothes?"

"You can take them off if you want oops," Emma muttered happily as he landed in the water with a splash. "Too late."

~~~~

Stephanie was having the most fantastic dream. She was sitting in the hot seat on Family Feud? with Richard Dawson giving her his teasing, twinkly-eyed smile. She was up to five hundred thousand dollars with only one more question to go and the audience was agog.

Richard mopped imaginary sweat from his brow. "So. Stephanie. Are you ready for this?"

"I'm ready, Richard."

"For one million dollars," he announced, skillfully building the drama. "Here we go. In Greek mythology..."

Stephanie listened to the question, a smile spreading over her face as he read out the four possible answers. She knew nothing about Greek mythology, but luckily she knew a girl who did.

Even more luckily, she still had her phone-a-friend lifeline left.

"Of course she'll be one of your phone-a-friends," Hunter had assured her yesterday. "She'd love to help you. Anything you want to know about literature, art or Greek mythology, Emma's the one to ask. She's a real expert."

Hooray for that.

"I'd like to phone a family member, please," Stephanie told Richard Dawson.

"Emma Campbell."

As they waited for the phone to be picked up, Stephanie fantasized about winning the million. Gosh, it was going to be so brilliant... if she had that much money, Hunter would be so proud of her. Not at her aunt and uncle's place, of course, oh no. She'd buy a much grander place than that...

"Emma? Hi, this is Richard Dawson, I've got your sister Stephanie here and she needs your help." Pausing, he added significantly, "To get her up from half a million to one million dollars."

The audience buzzed with excitement.

"Oh gosh, that's fantastic." Emma sounded thrilled too. "I just hope I know the answer! Right, go ahead, fire away!"

As Stephanie read out the question, her heart began to thump with anticipation. Emma was an expert, she knew everything about Greek mythology. She was seconds away from an astounding triumph.

When she'd listed the four possible answers, there was a moment of silence.

Then Emma said, "Well, I'm so glad you rang, Stephanie, because I do know the right answer."

Stephanie waited.

Richard Dawson was waiting too.

The studio audience collectively held their breath.

The man whose job it was to send sparkly confetti tumbling from the ceiling prepared to pull the sparkly confetti switch.

"But guess what?" Emma went on gaily. "I'm not going to tell you what it is!"

Gasps all around.

"You can't do that! It's not fair," Stephanie wailed. "Quick, just tell me the answer!"

"Nope. Don't want to. "Bye, Stephanie." And Emma put the phone down with ten seconds still left to go to the clock.

Totally humiliated, Stephanie hung her head and said, "I'll take the money, Richard."

Oh well, half a million, that was still pretty good, wasn't it?

Everything's going to be fine.

But now it was Richard Dawson's turn to be unfriendly. That lovely twinkly smile of his had gone.

"I'm sorry, Stephanie, but the rules have been broken. You named Emma as a family member and she clearly wasn't helping you. That means you're disqualified from the competition. I'm afraid you leave here with nothing at all."

Stephanie woke up with a start, just as the studio audience were beginning to boo her and chant her, "Off, off, off."

What a completely horrible dream. And how mean of her sister.

No wonder she stayed single forever. No one loves her.

Untangling herself from the duvet, Stephanie climbed out of bed. It was ten to eight. Hunter had said he'd give her a promise ring at eight o' clock and she didn't want to speak to him before she'd brushed her teeth.