The Trouble with Valentine’s (10 page)

Not that he had the slightest chance of doing that indefinitely, thought Hallie, as Kai’s hooded gaze connected with Jasmine’s newly aware one. Particularly if Jasmine decided she had feelings for him.

Water always prevailed in the end, no matter how hard the rock. Everyone knew that.

Lunch was a feast of flavours and hugely entertaining. The food hall was large, the crowd was
raucous, and Hallie loved it. Almost as much as she enjoyed the silent byplay between Kai and Jasmine. Kai seemed to sense Jasmine’s disquiet and watched her closely. Jasmine watched
him
when he wasn’t watching her.

When Hallie could eat no more, when she was full to bursting and couldn’t contemplate another mouthful, they cleared their table and headed up the escalator to browse the shops on the next level. Collectors’ shops, Jasmine told her distractedly before excusing herself and hurrying down a side corridor towards the bathrooms.

Kai watched her go, his gaze never leaving her retreating form. Moments later he was striding after her, catching her by the arm and swinging her round to face him just as she reached the bathroom door in an unmistakable display of baffled masculinity.

Hallie grinned and left them to it, more than happy to browse this shopping level at her leisure. It was quieter on this shopping level. There weren’t nearly as many people and there was a great deal more space available for walking and looking. The goods on display here looked vastly more expensive.

Hallie wandered towards an odd little corner shop while she waited. It was hard to tell what it
sold, the red velvet curtains in the display windows weren’t giving away any clues. And then she saw it. A solitary Chinese funeral vase sitting on a pedestal. It was old, so very old, and almost luminous in its fragile beauty. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The stark black sign-work on the entry door was in Cantonese. Hallie had no idea what it said. But a glance through the door showed more funeral vases inside, some on pedestals, some behind glass, and she simply couldn’t resist a closer look.

The mood inside the shop was a sombre reflection of the stock, the salesman young and immaculately presented in a tailored grey suit. He looked up, surprise and wariness crossing his face as she came further into the shop. Maybe he didn’t speak English and was worried about how to approach her, thought Hallie. Or maybe he’d forgotten how to speak at all; that was a possibility too given the number of customers he probably saw in a day. She sent him a reassuring smile and turned to the vases on display. Many of them were old. They were all beautiful. But none were lovelier than the one in the window.

‘Excuse me,’ she said to the young salesman, who still hadn’t spoken but was watching her closely nonetheless, ‘but do you speak English?’

‘Some,’ he said with a slight smile.

Some was good. Some was definitely better than none, which was the exact extent of her Cantonese. ‘May I have a closer look at the vase in the window?’

‘Madam probably wishes to buy a different kind of vase,’ said the young man with surprising firmness. ‘There are many other vases for sale on the next shopping level.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ she said. ‘Right now I’m more interested in
these
vases.’

‘Madam
does
realise that these vases are not for flowers.’

‘I know. They’re funeral vases.’

‘Indeed so. They house the ashes of our beloved deceased.’

Yes, they did. And the one in the front window was perfect for a certain pretend husband whose post-coital sensitivity was non-existent. Nick wanted a vase. Hallie wanted his money gone. Definitely a win-win situation. ‘Would I be able to take a closer look at the one in the window?’

‘It’s very expensive, madam.’

‘I suspected as much,’ she said smoothly. Not exactly salesman of the year, this one. She waited. So did he.

Finally he moved to the window, retrieved the
vase and placed it carefully on the counter in front of her. She wanted her magnifying glass, contented herself with examining the vase inside and out. Definitely a collector’s item.

‘No refunds,’ he said. ‘Madam has to be very sure.’

‘I’m sure.’ She’d found what she was looking for, the tiny mark of a renowned dynasty craftsman. She wondered if the salesman knew what he had. ‘How much?’

He named a price that made her gasp. He knew.

But the value was still there. The vase was in immaculate condition. It was even functional. Besides, it appealed to her sense of humour. She looked up at the salesman and gave him a wicked smile. ‘It’s for my husband. He deserves it.’

This time the salesman smiled back. ‘And your husband’s name?’ He whipped a palm pilot from his pocket, far more co-operative now that he had the sale.

She gave him Nick’s name, the Teys’ address, and all the cash Nick had given her that morning and then some.

‘Do you have a picture of your husband?’

It was a strange question, thought Hallie. And no, she didn’t.

‘No matter, we will take care of it.’ The salesman
handed her the receipt. ‘When would you like the vase delivered?’

‘Today?’ Hallie figured they probably didn’t pack dynasty vases to go.

‘Not possible, madam.’ The salesman was shaking his head regretfully.

‘Well, I definitely need it before the end of the week. Can you do that?’ she asked him anxiously.

‘Certainly,’ said the salesman. ‘That we can do. We are not slow like some.’ His smile was charmingly crooked. ‘We are professionals.’

Jasmine worried over Hallie’s words on the way home from their shopping trip, testing them for validity and trying to prevent the tiny sliver of hope in her stomach from growing into something more. Kai was her protector. Once upon a time he’d been her confidant. For many years he’d been one of her only companions and of a certainty he was beautiful. Of course she had a crush on him.

That didn’t mean her feelings were reciprocated.

Don’t
turn those long, inscrutable looks he gives you into anything. Don’t tremble at his touch – just
don’t
. A mantra Jasmine had been whispering to herself for years.

So Jasmine was preoccupied when they returned home and when Hallie confided jetlag and sleepiness,
she was slow to suggest that Hallie retreat to the guestroom and rest.

But Nicholas’s wife was funny and not shy about saying what she wanted, and she did it in a nice way, nothing awkward about it. Just, ‘I’m thinking of having a mid-afternoon nap; will that fit in with your plans?’

And it did.

‘If I’m not back downstairs in an hour or two will you
please
come and wake me,’ Hallie continued. ‘I do
not
want to be wide awake all night tonight. That would be bad.’

‘I’ll wake you,’ said Jasmine. ‘Two hours at most.’

So much could happen in two hours when a person had a plan.

Fifteen minutes later, Jasmine had changed into fitted black trousers and a white short-sleeved T-shirt. She tied her hair back into a long, slender ponytail – her Wing Chun instructor labelled long hair a liability, but Jasmine wasn’t about to cut it off to satisfy him and she didn’t necessarily want to defeat anyone today. She simply wanted to test Hallie’s theory when it came to what might be bothering Kai.

The garden was where she wanted to be. Private
and arranged into three descending terraces, each terrace acted as a room. The first terrace had a long, low bench, a waterfall and a koi pond. The second terrace favoured azalea bushes and sculpted forms, an orderly arrangement with everything in its place. The third terrace was farthest from the house and boasted a meticulously clipped grassy area and a tall cassia tree that shed dappled shade and painted the world a vibrant yellow-green. It was here that Jasmine, Kai and even her father practised Tai Chi and Wing Chun. Here with the house at their back and the city spread out before them in the distance. An unforgettable view, most visitors said. Jasmine saw it every day. There were advantages to being her father’s daughter – luxury and privilege, no need to ever worry about money. But it came at the cost of freedom, and the older she got the more confining the walls of her world became. There was her father and there was Kai – the two constants in her life. Everyone else was just passing through.

That Kai might have hidden feelings for her … if he did …

There was nothing simple about that scenario. If he did it was going to rock the foundations of Jasmine’s world.

She started with the simpler forms; empty hands
and an overflowing mind. Within minutes her mind had turned to reliving years-old conversations she’d had with Kai; running them through a new filter now and coming up with maybes and possibly and Jasmine you’re dreaming. Again.

Her body flowed automatically from one remembered pattern to the next, and that was something to be proud of even if her mind refused to quiet.

Kai found her, twenty minutes later. He always found her; that was his job.

He stayed by the garden steps, hands in his trouser pockets and leaned back against the grey stone wall. He looked relaxed. Curious but not captivated as he tracked her body’s movements. Jasmine held his gaze and completed her second form.

‘Practice with me,’ she said. ‘Sticky hands.’ A method for developing awareness of muscle movement and predicting what moves an opponent might make next.

‘No.’

‘You’re so busy?’ It wasn’t as if his dark, loose-fitting trousers and simple short- sleeved shirt would restrict his movements. ‘Master Wong says I’m much improved.’

She’d missed those training sessions with Kai
so much. She’d loved being able to focus wholly on him, and there’d been the added bonus of touch and Jasmine always had been starved for that.

Control was key. Control of her breathing when finally Kai moved forward to stand in front of her and finally raised his forearms to hers. They started out slowly, fluid, in the way of dreams, and she took the role of aggressor and he blocked her, move for move, slow and easy as she made sure of her balance and her centre line. Two years it had taken her to get comfortable in the role of aggressor. Jasmine wondered how long it would take her to become comfortable in the aggressor’s role when it came to the wooing of men.

Though perhaps it wasn’t like that.

Their arms moved faster, action and reaction and a slow blooming heat because the touch of hand against hand, against forearm or wrist, and wrist was still skin on skin contact and a kiss with a fist was still a kiss. Jasmine picked up the pace and still she couldn’t slip past Kai’s defences and land a body strike; he blocked her every step of the way.

‘I’m working on a new theory for why you’ve been so irritable lately,’ she told him, but if she thought talking would weaken his defences she was wrong.

‘Is that so?’

The form had been abandoned; they were sparring in earnest now. Kai giving ground and moving them out into the sunlight. Defending, because that’s what he did. Jasmine pushing him because sometimes that was what she did, getting up in his space because that was the way of Wing Chun, getting up into his head and forcing the mistake.

‘Unrequited love,’ she said.

Kai said nothing.

‘Or longing.’

‘Whose?’

‘Yours.’

A swift dance of hands now, and twin lines of displeasure between Kai’s brows. ‘You’re not concentrating,’ he said.

And he was avoiding the question. ‘Do you want a woman you cannot have, Meng Kai? Is that what’s been bothering you?’

She wasn’t ready for Kai’s attack. Nothing
but
attack, snake-fast and relentless; whisper-soft touches to face and to neck. Punishment for pushing him, for forcing upon him questions that he did not care to answer.

And then he had hold of her wrists and the sparring was over and Kai was breathing hard and so was she, and there was touch – one long, hot line
from shoulder to knee and Jasmine couldn’t take her eyes off the rapid beating of the pulse at Kai’s throat. Her breath squeezed harsh and laboured along her too tight throat and her lips had gone dry. Instinct, to wet them with her tongue, pure instinct, and finally she dragged her gaze from that telltale throb at his throat and raised her eyes to his.

He did want her. She could see it in his eyes; fierce and heated desire in amongst all that finely contained fury.

Kai’s fingers squeezed tighter around her wrists, tight for the space of a heartbeat, and then he let go of her altogether and slowly stepped away.

‘You need to get out more,’ he said, and the lash of his words fell hard for all that he’d spoken so softly. ‘It’s time you
made
your father let you go.’ He took another step back. ‘It’s wrong to shelter you.’

She was only half listening to him. The rest of her was lost in newfound revelations. ‘You want me.’

‘No.’

Jasmine’s gaze tracked to the pulse point at his throat once more. ‘Yes.’

‘You’re wrong.’ His voice sounded huskier than usual. ‘Jasmine, listen to me. Please. There’s
so
much more to life than what you see before you. I promise you … Once you see what’s out there … Once you come into your own …’ He shook his head. ‘You’ll barely remember me.’

N
ICK RETURNED TO HIS
room just on five-thirty that afternoon to find Hallie fast asleep on the bed, clothes on, shoes off, and pillows everywhere. You could tell a lot about a person by the way they slept, thought Nick. Those who slept curled and guarded were careful, guarded people. Those who slept tidily and peacefully could generally be counted on to be the same awake. It was the sprawlers you had to worry about, and Hallie Bennett was most definitely a sprawler. A Titian-haired dryad, who even in her sleep had the ability to charm him with her vulnerability even as she overwhelmed him with her fearlessness. It was a wicked combination. Apply it to lovemaking and it was deadly. No wonder a man couldn’t think straight afterwards. No wonder he’d botched his retreat and thrown money at her not two minutes
later. He’d hurt her. He knew he had. And deeply regretted doing so.

Turning away, he loosened his tie and the top button of his shirt, saw the jug of water on the sideboard and poured himself a glass. He didn’t need this. Didn’t need Hallie dominating his thoughts in the middle of complex negotiations so that instead of thinking profit margins he was thinking of ways to apologise and put the warmth back in her eyes and in her smile when she looked at him.

Not that he’d come up with a solution that didn’t leave
him
exposed and vulnerable, which meant that he hadn’t come up with a solution at all.

‘Hey,’ said a sleepy voice from the bed. ‘How’s business?’

Nick turned to face her warily. ‘Fast.’ He was expecting coolness from her, didn’t find it, so he told her more. ‘John wants negotiations settled by the end of the week. Apparently if they drag on too long it could signal the start of an inauspicious union and we wouldn’t want that.’

‘Absolutely not.’ Hallie smiled and sat up on the edge of the bed looking tousled and inviting. ‘Can it be done?’

‘John has a team working on it. From his perspective it is. From my side of things there’s just me and an inch of fine print in two languages to
wade through, and that’s
after
we finalise the conditions.’ She looked concerned, then thoughtful. He hadn’t meant to tell her that much, didn’t know why he had other than that she was a good listener when she wanted to be. ‘It’s doable,’ he said with a shrug. ‘How was your day?’

‘Fun,’ she said with a smile. ‘I got your vase. It’s being delivered. We also went sightseeing and did a great deal of eating. Oh, and I have something to tell you about Jasmine, too. She only tried to seduce you because she saw you as an escape route from her father’s over-protectiveness. I don’t think we have to worry about her broken heart.’

Great, just great, all this subterfuge for nothing. Women! Nick scowled. Here he’d been trying to protect Jasmine from heartbreak and she’d been trying to
use
him.

‘What?’ said Hallie. ‘I thought you’d be pleased.’

‘I am.’ He was. But between Hallie’s blithe acceptance of his no more sex rule and Jasmine’s ulterior motive for trying to seduce him, he was beginning to feel thoroughly under- appreciated. ‘John’s invited us out to dinner this evening,’ he said by way of changing the subject before his ego was battered beyond repair.

‘What time?’

‘Seven.’

She glanced at the clock on the sideboard. ‘Excellent. Enough time for me to wake up slowly. A person could really get used to this afternoon dozing caper.’ She snagged a pillow and lay back down haphazardly. Her eyes drifted closed.

Nick couldn’t move, wouldn’t, for fear his feet would take him towards the bed and all this morning’s rulemaking would be for nothing. ‘How are you feeling?’ he asked huskily and cursed himself the moment the words left his lips. He knew what that question was about, knew exactly where it was heading. He wanted to know if she was physically able to take him again.

She came up onto one elbow in a single fluid movement and fixed him with those glorious golden eyes. ‘Are we talking mentally or physically?’

‘Both.’

But Nick’s dark, searing gaze slid from her face to her breasts and Hallie just knew what lay behind his question. ‘You
want
me,’ she breathed. ‘You want to make love to me again!’

‘No I don’t.’

Oh yes he did. And the knowledge that he did was downright empowering. She smiled slowly, arched back so that the thin silk of her shirt
stretched taut across her breasts and had the satisfaction of seeing him pale.

‘Stop that,’ he ordered.

Hallie smiled. ‘You’re absolutely right. Mustn’t forget the rules.’ She slid from the bed and sashayed towards the window with newfound confidence. ‘You think anyone behind those windows over there in the distance would have a pair of binoculars?’ she said. ‘Because I thought I saw a glint of sunlight off something.’

‘I didn’t see anything,’ he said.

That’s because he’d been too busy watching her. ‘Could have been a telescope, I guess. Or a camera.’ She turned slowly, every move a subtle challenge. ‘That’s the trouble with a city this size. There’s always someone watching.’

‘We do
not
have an audience,’ he said firmly.

‘That you know of,’ she corrected with a wicked grin. ‘Better close the curtains just in case. Because if there was someone over there watching, they’d have an awfully good view of the bed.’ Nick glanced at the bed at her words and Hallie thought she heard him mutter something beneath his breath. It didn’t sound like a curse. Maybe he was praying.

‘I’m going to shower before dinner,’ he said doggedly. ‘And I’m taking my clothes in with me.’

What, no parading that glorious body of his around in a towel?

Spoilsport.

‘Go.’ Hallie waved him away. ‘I’ve already showered. All I have to do is change clothes and I’m ready for dinner. I’ll do it while you’re in the bathroom. And I’ll cut you a break and head down and find Jasmine after that. Wouldn’t want you breaking any more rules.’

Hallie tried hard not to smirk as he collected up fresh clothes and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind him with far more force than was strictly necessary.

He wanted her. Nick Cooper, womaniser extraordinaire, wanted
her
, no matter what he’d said this morning. And heaven help them both, she wanted him.

With distance came rational thought. Hallie stood on the terrace and looked out over the immaculately groomed gardens then up at the clouds gathering in the sky and thought about the situation sensibly. The heady recklessness that had come with the knowledge that Nick wanted her had settled and reality had swooped down on her like a cloak. Nick didn’t
want
to want her. He couldn’t afford the distraction, he’d told her that from the
start. Hence their deal, their rules, and the ten thousand pounds he was paying her when the week was up. He was counting on her to stick to her side of the bargain.

Don’t get too close to him. Far better if she kept to the plan and played her role and never forgot that it
was
just a role. Come the end of the week she’d never see these people again. Not John Tey or Jasmine or beautiful, enigmatic Kai. She needed to keep a greater distance between herself and them too, only that was easier said than done for it wasn’t Hallie’s way to be shy or standoffish. She made friends easily. She’d enjoyed her shopping trip and lunch date with Jasmine. Their conversation had gone beyond that of polite strangers what with all their talk of mothers and brothers and Kai. Hallie felt a certain kinship with Jasmine already.

And bless her sweet and innocent heart, Hallie suspected that Jasmine Tey was in desperate need of a friend. She could see Jasmine from the corner of her eye, hovering uncertainly by the terrace door. Probably wondering what Hallie was doing moping around all by herself.

‘Hey,’ she said by way of greeting, and that was enough to get Jasmine moving forward to join her. ‘This view is magic.’

‘Yes.’ Jasmine spared a glance for the view in question. ‘So people say.’

‘So what did you do this afternoon?’ Not a corporate wife question, and Hallie half wished she could take it back and replace it with something else, but they’d exhausted the view conversation and she really didn’t know what corporate wives usually talked about. Maybe her next comment could be about shoes.

‘I spent some time in the garden,’ said Jasmine. ‘I did some Wing Chun.’

Hallie nodded and figured that of a certainty they could talk about martial arts without danger of the conversation becoming too personal. ‘That’s the one that was developed by a woman, isn’t it? The one that’s all about the very soft hands?’

‘Yes. You know it?’

‘Only in passing.’

‘Legend has it that Wing Chun was a young village girl who caught the attention of a local warlord. He tried to force her compliance, and at the suggestion of an old village nun, Wing Chun challenged him to a fight. If Wing Chun lost, she would marry him. If she won, he would withdraw his suit. He was the best fighter in the region. She had one year to prepare.’

‘And she won?’

‘But of course.’ Jasmine’s smile made her look even younger than she was. ‘The old village nun turned out to be one of the five elders of the Shaolin temple, and she trained Wing Chun in a such a way that a small woman had a chance against a much larger, more powerful rival. The system became known as Wing Chun.’

‘I like that legend,’ said Hallie. ‘I’ll have to ask Jake if he knows it.’

‘Jake?’ Jasmine shot her a questioning glance.

‘He’s my karate brother. He runs a karate school in Singapore. Kyokushinkai is the style he favours.’

‘Very hard hitting,’ said Jasmine. ‘Very aggressive.’

‘That’s the one. Probably why he chose it.’

‘Your brother is aggressive?’

‘No.’ An instinctive answer rather than an honest one. ‘Okay, yes. Some would say yes. He has a world championship title. You don’t get that by holding back.’ Hallie smiled wryly. ‘I remember when the pressures of raising four younger siblings got too much for him he either used to go and beat on an inanimate object until he was exhausted or go and find my middle brother and spar with him. Luke’s the only one who can stand his ground
when Jake stops holding back. He’s the only one Jake trusts enough to let loose on.’

‘So if brother Jake is a world champion and brother Luke is the only one who can match him … what does that make Luke?’

‘Smug,’ said Hallie with a grin and watched as Kai came out of the garage carrying a black sports holdall in one hand and two martial arts long sticks in another. ‘What about Kai and martial arts? Is he any good?’

‘Yes. Not that I really know how skilled he truly is. As with your brother, Kai holds back.’

‘He needs a brother.’

‘He has a mother on the mainland and two married sisters.’ Jasmine hesitated. ‘I asked Kai if he had feelings for me.’

Hallie spluttered and turned it into a cough. Jasmine saw through her efforts anyway.

‘You don’t think that was wise?’

‘Depends what you want the outcome to be,’ said Hallie. ‘Did he respond?’

‘He told me to get out and see the world.’

‘Oh.’ Hallie was beginning to understand just what she might have set in motion by pointing out to Jasmine that her handsome young bodyguard might just have unexplored feelings for her. Because even if he
did
have feelings for his young
charge, there were complications aplenty when it came to acting on those feelings. Status differences and the issue of wealth. Differences in age and experience. And then there was Kai not wanting to take advantage of his existing relationship as protector to a young woman who’d barely begun to experience all that life had to offer. ‘Jasmine, have you ever had a boyfriend?’

Jasmine lowered her gaze, delicate colour stained her cheeks and Hallie had her answer.

‘Have you ever had a male friend?’

‘Distant cousins,’ said Jasmine. ‘And Kai.’

‘Female friends?’

‘My calligraphy teacher when I was younger.’

‘School friends?’

‘My schooling took place at home, for the most part.’ Jasmine bit her lip but her gaze was steady. ‘I know you think I’m too sheltered. Kai thinks it too.’ Jasmine reached around the back of her head to pull her ponytail over her shoulder. Even then her hair still fell to her waist. He thinks that the only reason I have feelings for him is because there’s no one else in my world to have feelings
for
and I have to bestow them on someone.’

Hallie said nothing. The fact that Jasmine had been so readily swept away by Nick last time he was here suggested exactly that. Which made
Kai’s suggestion that Jasmine step out and see the world kind of inspired.

‘You should do it,’ said Hallie. ‘Go travel the world. Study. Learn. Open yourself to new people and experiences.’

‘I could visit you and Nicholas in London.’ Jasmine looked hopeful and Hallie’s breath got stuck halfway down her throat.

‘You could,’ she croaked. How on earth were they going to make
that
work without Jasmine unearthing their subterfuge? ‘Australia’s a good place to visit too. My family home is in Sydney.’ Maybe if she offered that, and then Nick could be away on business somewhere and Hallie would be on home turf and capable of offering Bennett hospitality to Jasmine rather than Cooper hospitality. Maybe
that
was an option. ‘My family home is modest, but given that nobody lives there any more it doesn’t have to be very big, and it
is
very central. I know Sydney far better than I know London.’

‘But Nicholas is a Londoner, is he not?’

‘Yes.’ Damned if Hallie knew for sure. ‘And London
is
very beautiful and loaded with history. Nick’s mother’s an architect. She’s the one who can
really
show you round.’

Hallie hated this. The encouraging Jasmine to see more of the world with one breath and not
being able to say come and visit me with the next. The wanting to reach out to the younger girl and not being able to.

‘
Would
Kai have to accompany you?’ Hallie asked hesitantly. ‘Just how strong
is
the threat of you being kidnapped or … whatever? Is there still a known threat or is it mainly because of what happened to your mother?’