“Do you have any idea how lucky you are to feel that kind of desire and know it’s reciprocated?” Raoul bit out fiercely. “If you have that going for you, you can make the rest work.”

“I’ve never wanted a woman so much in my life,” he admitted in a haunted whisper. “However, this conversation isn’t about me. Raoul- I have an idea. Why don’t you ask Sophie to join us in Zermatt?”

“What are you talking about?” he demanded incredulously.

“You two need time together away from your families and protocol. Ask her to come to your chalet. We’ll all take the cable car to Schwartzsee together. A two-hour hike to the Berghaus shouldn’t be too strenuous for her. We could do a less ambitious climb to the summit from the Hornli Ridge. If she doesn’t want to climb from there you cou-”

“What do you mean ‘if’?” Raoul cut in. “She’d be terrified at the thought.”

“That’s the whole point, Raoul. If she has any blood running through her veins, it should put the fear in her to consider marrying a total stranger whose passions she could never understand. The rest of us will go on to the top and leave you two alone. Reserve a double room at the hut. It should terrify her even more to discover that she’s marrying a man who’s not attracted to her in any way-who has no desire to bed her when given the opportunity. You follow me?

“Twelve hours of getting to know the real you will make her realize that neither of you has a damn thing in common. Let her see beneath the veneer to the flesh and blood man who will always be indifferent to her.”

Raoul had been listening to his friend. “Mon Dieu-if I thought for one moment I could get her to call off our betrothal…”

“Then you could marry the woman you want? If she came along?”

The question reverberated in his head. “I don’t know.” His voice shook. “But it’s worth finding out, mon ami.”