Single Girl Abroad (Mills & Boon M&B) (Mills & Boon Special Releases) (24 page)

‘Have you been meditating?’ asked Jake.

‘No. Why?’

‘You sound so … wise. When did you get so wise? And how did you turn out so damn
balanced
?’

‘I‘ll have to tell you about my oldest brother one day,’ murmured Luke. ‘The one who raised me and my brothers and sister. He’s quite the hero. Loyal. Generous to a fault. Fiercely protective of the people he loves. Never
ever
walks away from a person in need, even when it costs him dearly. Doesn’t always see the good in himself that others see so clearly—he’s a bit thick in that regard. He’s got this thing about always being in control and when he’s not he cuts himself up over it.’

‘Sounds like a basket case,’ muttered Jake.

‘No, just a man who holds himself to very high standards,’ said Luke gruffly. ‘Thing is, the most important lessons I ever learned I learned from him. Things like how to love. And when to fight.’

‘I have to get Zhi Fu out of Jianne’s life,’ said Jake raggedly. ‘Even if it means taking this confrontation places I don’t want to go.’

‘I know,’ said Luke gently. ‘I know.’

Men were not sensible rational beings, decided Jianne. Not when it came to protecting themselves, and definitely not when it came to Jacob realising that if he continued with the perfect husband routine for much longer, a woman might conceivably never want to leave.

They played at nesting for Zhi Fu’s viewing pleasure, visiting household electrical stores in search of the perfect TV screen for the living room or desk lamp for Po. Sometimes they spent Jacob’s money—for example, the TV. Sometimes they spent hers—namely the lamp, the bath towels, and the fifteen-hundred-threadcount sheets. The man had no idea of the sensory delight that came of lying on luxury sheets.

They played at nesting and while Jacob played his part to perfection, Jianne fell in love with the experience and had to keep reminding herself that none of it was real.

They hadn’t renewed their wedding vows. Jacob hadn’t declared undying—or any other kind of—love for her. They were united against a common enemy; that was all, and once that enemy had been vanquished Jacob fully expected her to take her leave. He’d even taken to pointing out particularly nice parts of Singapore where a single woman of good breeding and infinite funds might want to live. She appreciated his thoughtfulness, she really did. She made suitably enthusiastic noises and even checked out a couple of places with Madeline.

And then, under the cover of darkness and fifteen hundred threadcount sheets, she made him pay.

The problem was, the more entwined Jianne became in Jacob’s life, the more at home she felt. The incandescent sensuality that came of being in Jacob’s bed. The benefits
of being part of a family unit steeped in more than one culture—benefits they passed on to Po, who added their experiences to his and flourished. She loved that Po turned to her now for assistance and advice almost as often as he turned to Jacob. She treasured that she was known around the neighbourhood now as Jacob’s wife. The one—rumour had it—he’d kill for.

Or die for.

Something never very far from Jianne’s mind.

They’d been playing happy families for almost two weeks since Jacob’s encounter with Tup. She hadn’t seen Zhi Fu in that time, he hadn’t phoned her, he hadn’t sent her any gifts. The only thing he’d done was to send her a written invitation to lunch with him at one of the restaurants near her workplace. She’d refused the invitation—in writing—and had heard nothing since. She should have been relieved but instead her paranoia was growing by the day.

What if he turned his attentions to Jacob again?

Jacob was hosting a party at the dojo in three days’ time. Not a regular activity for Jacob but one of his apprentices—the one before Po—had just finished filming his first martial arts blockbuster and was returning to the dojo for a few days of rest. When word had swept through the neighbourhood that Micah was on his way home, nothing less than a full-scale celebration would do.

When the weary Micah had heard, via Jacob, how many people wanted a piece of him, he and Jacob had put their heads together and decided to let everyone get their fill all at once, right at the start of Michah’s stay, so that afterwards he might have a snowball’s chance of finding
the peace and serenity he was seeking, though Jacob doubted it.

Together, Jacob and Micah had turned a neighbourhood party into a movie preview, with a voluntary donation at the door on the night and the proceeds going towards helping displaced children acquire an education and a home.

Po had embraced the idea with fervour.

Jacob had embraced it with resignation, but he was no stranger to the power of the press or how to wield both his own reputation and Micah’s to the charity’s advantage. The party had grown as they’d invited more people to attend. People with deep pockets. Captains of industry and entertainment.

They’d invited Zhi Fu.

‘He invited you to his house-warming,’ said Jacob blithely. ‘He invited you to lunch just the other day. The man’s lonely. He needs to make some new friends and acquaintances in a safe and caring environment.’

Jianne sent Jacob a scathing glance.

Jacob countered with a cool and challenging smile of his own.

‘What exactly is it that you plan to impress upon him?’ asked Jianne.

‘That your place is not at his side,’ said Jacob calmly. ‘And it’s time he went home.’

’I
DON’T
like it,’ said Jianne to Madeline over lunch the following day. ‘Zhi Fu being so passive. Jacob getting caught up hosting this neighbourhood party and inviting half of Singapore along. What if someone slips up behind him in the dark and knifes him?’

‘You really think Jacob’s going to let that happen? Or Luke, for that matter? Or Po? Po’ll have a knife-wielding stranger picked out and possibly picked over in seconds.’

Jianne closed her eyes and shook her head. ‘You’re right. You’re absolutely right. So why am I still out of my mind with worry for them all?’

‘Maybe it’s because you’ve had more experience when it comes to dealing with Zhi Fu. Or maybe it’s because you haven’t quite come to terms yet with your love for a certain stern dojo sensei who’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.’

‘Believe me,’ said Jianne grimly, ‘I have had twelve years to come to terms with my love for that man. I‘m
good with it. More than a little familiar with it. What I’m not familiar with is fearing for his life.’

‘It takes a little getting used to, I will admit,’ said Madeline wryly, and Jianne remembered, belatedly, that in the course of his work Luke regularly put his life on the line and that if there was one person who knew all about this kind of worry for the safety of another it was Madeline.

‘Madeline, I’m so sorry,’ she said earnestly. ‘I’m not usually quite so insensitive. I’m just—’

‘Worried,’ said Madeline. ‘I know. I know exactly what it’s like to have your imagination work overtime when it comes to imagining the worst.’

‘How do you cope?’ asked Jianne.

‘One of the big tricks is to trust that they know what they’re doing,’ said Madeline. ‘Zhi Fu’s slippery, I know. And dangerous. But Jacob can be a
very
formidable opponent when he needs to be. When he’s protecting the woman he loves, for example.’

‘He never speaks of love,’ said Jianne awkwardly.

‘Do you?’

Jianne sat back and ran a hand through her hair. The hair she’d let fall freely today and to hell with her professional image. ‘I was waiting.’

‘For
what
?’ said Madeline.

‘For things to get a little less … complicated.’

‘Good luck with that,’ said Madeline dryly.

‘You think I should tell him that I love him now?’

‘I do,’ said Madeline.

‘As in today?’

Madeline nodded.

‘When I get home this afternoon?’

Madeline nodded again, her amusement on the increase.

‘After I‘ve showered, and changed, and I‘m looking my best?’

‘Trust me, he’s really not going to care what you look like,’ murmured Madeline. ‘But if it helps with the confidence, by all means frock up.’

‘I will,’ said Jianne as butterflies began to whirl in her stomach.

‘Okay,’ said Madeline.

Jacob took in his stride Jianne’s mid-afternoon call saying she was going dress shopping with Madeline after work and that Madeline would drop her home. He’d grown used to picking Jianne up from work, grown accustomed to seeing the quiet pleasure in her eyes as she walked across the crowded afternoon pavement towards him. Dress shopping, however, was something he was perfectly willing to forgo in favour of sorting out last-minute party details on the phone with Micah and then working out his restlessness on his six p.m. masterclass.

‘I‘m locking up out front and heading down to Chin’s to talk catering for this party,’ Jake told Po come seven o’clock. Jianne still wasn’t home but she’d called to say she and Madeline were at Luke’s and that she wouldn’t be too much longer. Jake figured he might as well get his meeting with Chin over with before she arrived. ‘You want to come?’

Po looked down at the bulky Chinese dictionary in front of him, and then at the messy columns of characters he’d written on a nearby sheet of paper. ‘Can I come in
a bit?’ he said. ‘I wanted to get this done before Jianne comes home.’

‘What is it?’ asked Jake.

‘It’s the words to a song, only I’m not sure about some of the words,’ said Po. Not an easy language to learn to write, Chinese. Even when you were fluent in the speaking of it. ‘Jianne’s been helping me with it. She just
knows
.’

‘I know.’

‘And she can cook.’

‘I noticed,’ murmured Jake, wondering just where the kid was going with all this, but Po knew exactly how to say only so much and keep the bulk of his thoughts to himself. Maybe Po had been taking lessons on that from Jianne as well. ‘Call me if you need me. Lock up if you go out. Jianne should be in soon anyway, and I’ll be back in about half an hour.’

He was sorely tempted to add the words, ‘and don’t go anywhere without checking with me first’ but to do that would be to let Zhi Fu dictate how they lived their lives and Jake was having none of that. He’d already turned the dojo into a fortress. Damned if he was going to give Zhi Fu the satisfaction of making Jianne and Po live as prisoners in it.

Po nodded, and Jake left and walked the two blocks down and one block over to Chin’s Chinese restaurant. The old restaurateur was expecting him. Jake and old man Chin had a long and noble association based on takeaway food, a love of karate, and the occasional Friday morning game of Mah Jong.

‘How many people?’ said Chin as they sat in the corner
booth of Chin’s restaurant, the booth he reserved for business and the surveying of the busy streetscape outside.

‘Say two hundred to two hundred and fifty, best guess.’

‘Which one is it?’ said Chin. ‘Two hundred or two fifty?’

‘I’m thinking three hundred should cover it,’ said Jake.

‘
Three
hundred now? Who’s paying for all this?’

‘The film studio, apparently. Something about it being a remarkable opportunity to showcase the humble yet suitably roughhouse reputation of their latest star.’

‘Three hundred it is,’ murmured Chin.

‘And we’ll need waiters,’ said Jake. ‘Waitwomen. Whatever. And drinks.’

‘You want a
liquor
licence now?’

‘Do I
need
a liquor licence for this?’

‘For a private party, no. For what you and Micah have turned it into, I’m thinking yes.’

They were still debating the merits of various types of licensing arrangements when Po turned up.

‘The master’s apprentice appears,’ said Chin. ‘Best kitchen boy I ever had. You going to work for me in the kitchen on party night?’

But Jacob shook his head before Po could reply. ‘He’ll be too busy keeping an eye on the crowd for me.’

‘Ah. Bouncer now, is it?’ teased Chin and Po’s smile came quick and warm.

‘Jianne’s home,’ Po told Jake. ‘She wants to know if you’re bringing dinner home or if you want her to cook.’

‘Tell her I’m bringing dinner home with me and that I won’t be long.’

‘Pretty woman, that wife of yours,’ murmured Chin as Po took off home.

‘I think so,’ said Jake.

‘You planning on keeping her this time around?’

‘Depends,’ said Jake.

‘On what?’

‘On whether she wants to stay.’

‘Have you asked her to stay?’ asked Chin.

‘Not yet, but I will. Soon.’ Just as soon as Zhi Fu was out of the picture and Jianne actually had a
choice
when it came to staying with him or not.

When the first sirens sounded, Jake and Chin looked up and watched as a fire truck went by. But the siren cut out fast and the focus returned to party catering plans. When the second truck screamed past and the siren kept on sounding and didn’t fade away with distance, they went out onto the street to see what they could see. Lots of close-built high-rise buildings around this neighbourhood and fire in them wasn’t pretty. Lots of back-alley restaurant kitchens too and sometimes they were hard to get water to.

Jake narrowed his eyes and stared down the street in the direction the fire truck had gone. Dusk had descended and neon had begun to glow, making smoke hard to see unless there was a lot of it.

There wasn’t a lot of it, but there was enough.

‘Looks like it’s over near you,’ said Chin. ‘You want to finish this later?’

Jake nodded, eyes narrowed.

Chin nodded too as an ambulance sped by. ‘Go. Send Po back for the food.’

Jake headed for the dojo, not at a run but not exactly at a dawdle either. By the time he reached the corner of his block, he was pushing his way through a crowd that had come to a standstill. His heart kicked hard as he saw where the fire trucks were positioned. It kicked harder still when he saw which building was on fire. His building, no one else’s. Not yet at any rate, for the dojo was well and truly alight. Out of control alight.

Terror found him next. Found him and cruelled him as he began to run in earnest. Past the fire vehicles and the shouting firefighters connecting hoses to hydrants. Past other firefighters already wielding hoses, past them all until he drew level with the frontline firefighter who stood shooting water through the gaping maw that had once been the dojo’s front entrance. There he stopped, eyes burning with every searing breath he took as he stared into the inferno beyond.

‘Get back,’ roared the firefighter.

‘There’s a woman living here,’ he roared back. ‘And a boy. Have you seen them?’

But the fireman shook his head and flame bellowed out the door and the searing heat pushed them both back. Not that way, then. No way in through that, or out. Side alley instead.

Every second felt like a slice of for ever as Jake ran towards the alley. But he couldn’t even get close. The entire Eastern wall had gone up in flames and the firefighters there weren’t even trying to stop it from burning. They’d turned their hoses to the walls of the buildings on the other side of the alleyway instead. Ash and water
and fuel-hungry flame. Where were they? Where the hell were Jianne and Po?

The heat drove him back, always back, never forward. Po knew a dozen ways out of the back alley. So many different ways to get out and circle back around if they’d been able to make it out of the dojo at all. Surely if they’d been in the downstairs living area they’d have made it out the side door before the entire wall went up in flames? How the hell did a building burn so
fast
?

He looked up to the second floor again, and the place where windows and blinds had once been. Looked up to the room he shared with Jianne and saw only flames.

No.

Not there. She couldn’t be up there. She couldn’t be anywhere in there.

‘Sir, you have to get
back
,’ said a uniformed voice, an ambulance officer this time. ‘We’re asking everybody to stay back.’

‘I live here,’ he said. ‘With my wife and my boy. Have you seen them?’

‘No, sir. Maybe if you come over by the ambulance and wait …’

‘There’s a back alley,’ he muttered. ‘They could have gone out the back. Through shops and buildings on the next street over.’ And then he was pushing his way back through the crowd, feet and heart pounding as he ploughed his way to the first corner and then along the street to the next. They’d begun to evacuate this street too, but the second building along—a restaurant—had a back entrance to the far end of the alley. Jake knew the owners
and they let him pass through—no, they hadn’t seen Po and they hadn’t seen his wife.

Garbage skips and shadows, the alleyway was full of them. Full of firefighters too, for they’d come through the shops further up, dragging hoses behind them in their quest to contain the blaze. The flames weren’t as bad this side of the dojo. The back bedrooms still stood. Naked flame didn’t suck every last bit of oxygen from the air.
‘Jianne,’
he roared.
‘Po.’

And something moved on a rooftop, halfway down the alley. A silhouette, and then a voice. ‘Sensei, up here.’

Jake groaned, only it was more of a sob as his legs threatened to give way beneath him and he sagged against the wall for support. ‘Both of you?’

‘Just me.’

‘Where’s Jianne?’ he said in a voice that threatened to crack.

‘I don’t know.’

And the horror began all over again.

‘I came home the back way,’ Po called down. ‘And the dojo was on fire but not as much as now. I went in through the bedrooms and made it to the kitchen but I couldn’t get into the training hall or up the stairs. She wasn’t in the kitchen. She was in the kitchen when I left.’

Jake put his hands to his knees and stared at the ground. Smoke stung his eyes. Made them water. ‘You shouldn’t have gone in there. What the hell were you
thinking
?’

‘You would have.’

Jake took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

‘I can see inside the upstairs windows from here,’ said Po next. ‘Jianne would have come out the back windows
if she’d been upstairs when the fire started, wouldn’t she? Some of the window panes were broke when I went in before. Before the whole lot blew. That’d be from her, right? That’s how I’d have got out. Out the window and onto the back bedroom roof and then to the ground. It’s not such a long way down. Not if you do it right.’

A wild hope, nothing more, but Po offered it and Jake clung to it. He stood up and moved forward a few steps, with one hand to a wall already hot to the touch. He heard a whoosh, a great muffled rush of sound, and then the dojo roof came down and flames licked the sky. He looked for Po but the boy had disappeared. ‘Po!’

He raced towards the back door of the building whose roof Po had commandeered. The door wasn’t locked. How the hell would the kid get down? How the hell had he got up there in the first place?

‘Po.’
Roaring up the stairs but there was no sound of a boy coming down fast. Out onto the street, then, and into evacuation chaos. Sirens and blockades and everyone moving out, when all he wanted was to get in.

And then the boy stood in front of him. Hair singed and filthy. Blistered skin running diagonally across one of his arms. Burnt. Jake registered all these things as he scooped the boy up in his arms and held him close. Burnt while trying to find Jianne. ‘You shouldn’t have gone in there,’ he said again, and held the boy tighter.

‘You would have.’

‘We need to get that arm of yours looked at.’