The Trouble with Valentine’s (19 page)

It was entirely possible that they both had. He looked around for John but their host was nowhere in sight. Neither were Jasmine and Kai. ‘Would you like to go out to the balcony?’

Where there was bound to be a night time Hong Kong skyline to be dazzled by, rather than the woman beside him. Hallie nodded. ‘Can you see Jasmine and Kai anywhere?’

‘They left the dance floor half an hour ago.’

‘Hopefully this is a good thing,’ murmured Hallie.

‘Why? What did you do?’

‘Nothing.’ The angelic look she sent him was in no way reassuring. ‘Nothing except dispense sound advice when it comes to dealings with the opposite sex. The kind of advice my brothers have always given me.’

‘Namely?’

‘Take your time. Be sure. Make sure the family approves. That kind of thing. My brothers would have been proud.’

It hadn’t escaped Nick’s notice that when it came to interacting with
him
, Hallie had broken all those rules and more. ‘So what happened with me?’

‘You?’ Nick couldn’t see Hallie’s face, but he thought he detected a hint of strain in her voice. ‘You kind of don’t count.’

‘Because I’m your little rebellion against your family’s over-protectiveness?’ He couldn’t keep the edge from his voice. Hell if he wanted to.

‘Nah.’ She still wasn’t looking at him. ‘Because you’re you.’

There were almost as many people on the balcony as there were inside. The air was cooler, the
faint breeze a welcome surprise. ‘What time is it?’ she asked him.

‘Ten past eleven. Not long to go now.’

No, it wasn’t. Not to midnight. Not to the end of their time together. Hallie smiled but it wasn’t a real smile. It was going to hurt to say goodbye to this man in two days’ time; she’d always thought it might. She just hadn’t realised how much.

And then the thunder of drums sounded from inside and people turned and started heading inside, Jasmine amongst them. ‘Lion dancing,’ said the younger girl, linking arms with her as they fell into step with the slow-moving crowd.

‘How was
your
dancing?’ she asked and laughed when Jasmine blushed.

‘I took your advice,’ said Jasmine shyly. ‘I chose the slow hand, and found my way.’

‘Good for you,’ said Hallie fiercely and drew the younger girl against her for a fast hug. ‘That man is toast. Speaking of which … Where is he?’

‘He’s gone to the kitchen. Something to do with checking out the wait staff.’

The drums settled into a steady, driving rhythm and a magnificent Chinese lion appeared, bigger and more elaborate than Hallie had ever seen. He strutted, roared, and considered the poles set out before him, each pair of poles that little bit higher
than the next. He disdained the lowest poles, sniffed at the next, wove his way through the third, and sat before the fourth. He groomed himself lazily as he studied the tallest of the poles, poles that were taller than Nick, and then with a flick of his tail and an unbelievable leap he was standing on top of them and along with it all came the bold beating of drums. The colour red was everywhere; on decorations, on dresses, on the jackets of the wait staff who circulated with a never-ending supply of drinks and finger food. The wait staff. Hallie stared hard at a waiter heading towards them with an empty tray. He looked familiar, irritatingly familiar.

‘Nick,’ she whispered, disengaging her arm from Jasmine’s and tugging on his sleeve. Wasn’t that the waiter from the restaurant? The one who’d served the poisoned crab? ‘Nick!’ But Nick was engrossed in the lion dancing. And then the waiter was almost upon them, one hand holding the tray aloft, his other hand close to his side and in it was something that gleamed with a dull black shine. Nick was turning towards her now but it was too late to warn him. If it was a gun, the waiter had a clear shot. Hallie did the only thing that came to mind.

She charged the approaching waiter and tackled
him, gridiron style, and they went tumbling to the ground, both of them, the crowd parting as onlookers scrambled to get out of the way. Some were quick enough, others weren’t. Two other guests hit the ground, both of them men, both of them cursing, but not nearly as much as Nick, who was wading through the wreckage, trying to get to her. The waiter scrambled to his feet and rabbited his way through the crowd, his tray and whatever had been in his hand lying forgotten on the floor.

‘It was the waiter from the crab restaurant! He was aiming something at you,’ she said breathlessly as Nick helped her to her feet. Kai was beside them now, barking orders into a cell phone. ‘I thought he had a gun!’

‘You mean this?’ said Kai, picking up a small black cylinder that gleamed dully.

It was metal. It was black. It looked like the barrel of a gun. But it wasn’t a gun. She glanced at Nick to see how he was taking this latest development. Not well. ‘It certainly
looked
like a gun,’ she said with a cheesy smile. ‘From a distance.’

‘Actually, it is a gun of sorts,’ said Kai. ‘It dispenses darts.’

‘Ah,’ she said. ‘Good to know.’

‘Are you hurt?’ asked Nick grimly.

Her head was pounding, her arm aching. It was five minutes to twelve. ‘Hurt? Me? Of course not.’

Kai was making sure no one else was injured. Jasmine was soothing ruffled tempers. Nick was looking at her, his face set. ‘I can’t believe that you crash-tackled him,’ he said at last. ‘Don’t you have any concern for your own safety whatsoever? What were you
thinking
?’

‘I was thinking of you!’ she said heatedly. ‘I thought he was going to shoot you! I couldn’t just stand by and do
nothing
.’

‘Hallie, excuse me,’ interrupted Jasmine tentatively. ‘But I thought we might go and find my father and then get you both home. He’s probably out on the balcony waiting for the fireworks to start.’

‘Who needs to go outside?’ muttered Hallie. ‘They’ve already started in here.’ But she followed Jasmine and Kai out to the balcony with Nick at her side and stood where Kai decided it was best to put them, backs to the wall in an alcove.

‘
Another
attempt?’ said John when he joined them and Kai told him of the waiter and the dart gun. ‘I had hoped we were being overly suspicious.’

‘I wish I knew who was behind it all,’ said Nick.

‘Yeah,’ said Hallie glumly. ‘Pity the waiter got
away.’ Lara Croft wouldn’t have let the waiter get away. Lara Croft would have nailed the waiter and then they’d have
known
who was behind the attempts on Nick’s life. ‘I wasn’t really thinking straight when I tackled that waiter,’ she told Nick apologetically.

‘Finally, she sees reason,’ he murmured.

‘I should have pinned him down.’

Nick stared at her incredulously. John Tey smothered a chuckle.

‘I have our people looking for him,’ said Kai. ‘We’ll find him.’

People were crowding onto the balcony. It was almost midnight, and the fireworks were due to begin. As far as Hallie was concerned it was the end of a long day with more ups and downs in it than a triple loop roller coaster. ‘Two more minutes,’ she said, glancing at the glowing neon clock set high on the hotel wall.

‘I shall wish for a better tomorrow for you,’ Jasmine told Nick earnestly. ‘One without assassins.’

‘Thanks, Jasmine.’ Nick’s features softened before hardening again as his gaze rested challengingly on Hallie. ‘You could try wishing for some more sense.’

Ha! Hallie smiled sweetly. ‘My wish is that the
vase I bought you turns up tomorrow.’ Then she could stuff him in it.

‘What vase?’ said Kai, his head snapping round as he pinned her with his gaze.

‘The one I bought for Nick at Lucky Plaza,’ she said. ‘When you and Jasmine were in the bathroom.’ Kai was looking at her in disbelief. ‘Separate bathrooms,’ she added hastily. ‘As opposed to being together in the same bathroom.’

‘You bought a vase,’ said Kai flatly. ‘For Nick. From the corner shop near the bathrooms in Lucky Plaza.’

Hallie nodded.

‘A funeral vase.’

Hallie nodded again. ‘Yes, that’s right. The one in the window.’

‘And the salesman
let
you?’ said Kai.

‘Well, he took some persuading, but yes. I arranged to have it delivered before the end of the week but it hasn’t arrived. Hopefully tomorrow.’

Kai was turning to John, shaking his head and muttering something. John was staring at her, open-mouthed, as if frozen to the spot. Nick and Jasmine looked as baffled by their reactions as Hallie felt. ‘What?’ she said uneasily. ‘What’s wrong?’

Ten.
The countdown to midnight began, in Cantonese.

Nine.
‘The shop you speak of sells funeral vases sure enough,’ said John.

Eight.
‘But they don’t sell them empty.’

Seven.
‘What do you mean, not empty?’ she said.

Six.
‘The one I bought was empty.’

Five.
‘Well, they don’t deliver them empty,’ said Kai.

Four.
‘When you bought Nick that vase—’

Three.
‘—you ordered his execution.’

Two.
‘I
what
?’

One.
‘That’s why someone’s been trying to kill him.’

Oh dear. The crowd roared as fireworks erupted in the sky, huge blasts of colour raining down from the heavens, each one more spectacular than the last and all around them people were laughing and embracing, kissing and shaking hands, their faces alight with pleasure and the glow from the fireworks.

Hallie opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. They were all staring at her; Jasmine, Kai, Nick and John; all waiting for her to speak but she had no idea what to say. Her hands were trembling, hell, her entire body was trembling with
a mixture of fear and disbelief. This was a joke, right? It had to be a joke. But the expression on Kai’s face assured her it wasn’t.

A fresh blast of fireworks opened up the sky with a crack that made her jump; a kaleidoscope of red, green and gold, while her gut roiled and her head ached with the sure knowledge that in buying Nick that damned vase she’d made a huge and deadly mistake.

‘I—’ What on earth could she say? She looked to Nick. ‘You—’ Nope, she still couldn’t find any words. She put a hand to her aching head and shrugged, still helplessly enmeshed in Nick’s gaze. Good Lord, she’d put a contract out on him. How the hell was she supposed to explain
that
?

She couldn’t. Not now. Maybe not ever. It was just too bizarre.

But they were all still waiting. Waiting for her to say something. Anything. She opened her mouth and took a deep breath. ‘Sorry about that,’ she said finally.

H
ALLIE HAD NEVER PEGGED
Nick as the coldly furious type and he wasn’t. His was more of a simmering, bubbling fury and only his iron control, and quite possibly the presence of Kai and the Teys, kept it contained. They’d left as soon as the fireworks were over and the drive home had been mercifully conversation free. Once at the villa she and Nick had said their ‘Thank You’s and their ‘Goodnight’s and headed for the bedroom, and once they were
there
, Nick wasted no time in shrugging off his jacket and tie and opening a couple of shirt buttons.

Hallie eyed him warily as she set her purse down on the counter and folded her wrap. Her brothers had tempers, all of them. She was no stranger to eruptions of the masculine variety. Pete’s was like a summer storm, all noise and flash and gone in
an instant. Luke’s involved pacing, pointing, and a great deal of arm waving. Jake’s was controlled and biting, and Tris … Tris didn’t do temper very often but when he did he flayed people raw. Hallie was hoping, really hoping, that Nick was going to be a little less like Tris and a lot more like any one of her other brothers in that regard.

A timid knock sounded on the door and Hallie opened it to find Jasmine standing there holding a tea tray.

‘Peppermint tea,’ said the younger girl, pressing the tray into her hands. ‘It’s very soothing,’ she added, and fled.

‘I knew it,’ said Nick as Hallie nudged the door closed and set the tea tray on the sideboard. He was pacing now, from one end of the room to the other. This was good. Pacing she could deal with. Pacing expended energy that could otherwise be used for yelling. Tris never paced.

‘I should
never
have gone shoe shopping with my mother,’ he was saying now. ‘She’s a bad influence. I should have gone to the country club and found Bridget instead. Bridget would have pretended to be my wife for a week. She’d have ripped Jasmine to shreds, alienated John, tried to seduce Kai, and driven me insane, but so what? At least she wouldn’t have
ordered my execution!
’

Uh oh. He’d stopped pacing. ‘Tea?’ she offered.

‘Why me?’ he roared. ‘Why you? Why
now
?’

‘I have a plan,’ she said quickly.

‘No! No more plans. I know your plans and they
never ever work!’

‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like some tea?’ Hallie sniffed a steaming cup. ‘I think she put alcohol in it.’

He stared at her. Stared at the tea.

‘I’m calling your brothers,’ he said abruptly. ‘I’m going to tell them all about this man, wife and funeral vase fiasco and then I’m going to get them to come and take you home.’

‘You can’t,’ she said pleadingly. ‘You need me.’

‘To do
what
?’ He was back to roaring.

‘To go back to the shop and cancel the hit.’

He stared at her in disbelief. And then, ‘No! Absolutely not! These people are professional killers, Hallie. They’re not going to be impressed by you saying you made a mistake and didn’t realise you were ordering my execution after all. They’ll kill you to keep you quiet.’

‘I’m not going to tell them I made a mistake,’ said Hallie. ‘I’m going to tell them I needed the job done before the end of the week and that they failed to deliver. I’m going to tell them that the
terms of our contract have been breached and that I no longer need their services.’

‘You’re going to
fire
them?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t believe this,’ he muttered. ‘It’s like living in a black comedy.’

‘Listen to me, Nick. I can fix this. First thing in the morning I’ll cancel the hit. Kai will know how to contact them. Easy as.’

‘This would be the Kai who took you to the plaza and let you buy the vase in the first place.’

‘To be fair, he didn’t know I’d bought it,’ said Hallie. ‘He’s Jasmine’s bodyguard, not mine. But I’m sure he’ll agree to help.’

Nick was pacing again. Muttering beneath his breath and raking his hand through his hair. Very Luke. She opened her mouth to explain her idea some more.

‘No.’ He held up his hand for silence. ‘Don’t talk. Don’t say another word. Let me think.’

So she closed her mouth and concentrated on pouring the tea and stirring in sugar, lots of sugar, to help with the shock. She was shakier than she wanted to admit. Horrified by the notion that she’d inadvertently ordered Nick’s execution. She’d wanted to make her own mistakes, sure enough, but she’d wanted to make her own
little
mistakes. Not huge, deadly ones she wasn’t at all sure she was going to be able to fix. ‘I’ll call Tris if that’s what you want,’ she offered quietly. ‘He’s the best one for this. I can call him now.’

Nick shot her a hard-eyed glare and Hallie looked away, looked at her tea. She was going to cry, dammit, she could feel the tears building behind her eyes. She put her hand to her cheek and hastily wiped away the first escapee. Another followed.

‘No crying!’ said Nick hurriedly. ‘I don’t do crying.’

‘I’m so sorry, Nick. I’ve ruined everything for you.’

‘Not yet, you haven’t. Let’s think about this. Maybe it
is
as simple as cancelling the contract. We could get John to call ahead to the shop. Let them know we’re coming in and that plans have changed.’

‘We? What we? There is no
we
because
you
can’t come!’ She wouldn’t let him come. ‘If I walk you into that shop they’ll shoot you on the spot and
stuff
you into that vase before I can say good morning. I need to go there alone.’

‘No.’ One word, simple and irrevocable.

‘You can’t come,’ she pleaded. ‘You have to pretend you don’t know anything about it. If they
think I’m cancelling their services because they botched the job and you discovered I ordered your execution, they may well kill you anyway. Out of sheer professional pride.’

‘How much alcohol did you say was in that tea?’ he asked.

Hallie passed him a cup and he swallowed the contents in one go.

‘I hate this,’ he muttered.

‘Yes, but it’ll work,’ she said with far more confidence than she felt. ‘Trust me.’

‘I do trust you,’ he said. ‘It’s the bad guys I don’t trust. What if your luck runs out? What if you get hurt? I’d never forgive myself.’

‘You have to think positive,’ she said. ‘Think Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.’

‘Lara Croft has big guns and multiple lives. You have no guns and one life.’

‘To live the way I choose. I choose to do this, Nick. This is my mistake. I want to fix it.’

He was closer now, close enough to reach out and touch, and the conflict between wanting to keep her safe and wanting to agree with her plan was there in his eyes. He lifted his hand to her cheek, his eyes almost black, his tension a living thing.

‘I can’t do this,’ he muttered roughly.

‘Which
this
are we talking about?’ she whispered as his lips came closer to her own and his hand slid from her cheek to cup the back of her head. ‘This as in kissing or this as in agreeing to my plan?’

‘Any of this,’ he said, and captured her lips with his own.

She expected anger from him, the remains of it at any rate, but his kiss was unexpectedly sweet, his hands in her hair so very gentle as he traced the bump on her head.

‘Does it still hurt?’ he murmured roughly.

‘No.’ She slid her hands over his chest, luxuriating in the feel of him, so warm and solid and, above all, alive. He kissed her again, deeper this time, with a needy edge to it that she matched with a helpless, aching need of her own.

‘How about now?’

‘No.’ With her hands digging into his shoulders and her skin on fire from his touch.

His hands slid to her shoulders and his long, sure fingers started toying with the straps of her gown and then he bent his head and set his lips to her shoulder in the exact place her straps had been.

Hallie gave in, gave up, shivering in pleasure as his mouth feathered over her shoulder, tracing a slow torturous path along her collarbone. He lifted
her effortlessly onto the sideboard and found her nipple with his mouth, through the thin barrier of silk that her dress afforded her, but it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. She wove her fingers through his hair, revelling in its soft, silky texture as she arched back and he slid the straps of her dress down her arms. The bodice followed and then her breasts were bared for him and his fingers grazed her puckered nipples with a touch so gentle she didn’t know whether to weep with pleasure or scream with frustration. ‘I won’t break,’ she said huskily, by way of a hint.

‘I know.’ His smile was crooked. ‘You’re probably indestructible. I noticed that today. It’s just that you look so damn fragile.’

‘I’m not fragile,’ she said. ‘I’m not even a virgin any more.’ And then he bit down on her aching, swollen breasts and she screamed her approval as sensation shot through her.

‘God help us,’ he said fervently as he swept her into his arms and carried her over to the bed.

Hallie clung to him as they tumbled onto the pillows, wanting him over her, inside of her, wanting it now. Her heart beat wildly and her breathing was fast and urgent as she undid the buttons on his shirt, pushed it aside, and surged against him, glorying in the rasp of skin on skin as her nipples
pressed hard and tight against his muscled chest. More, she craved it, demanded it, fumbling with his belt, with the fastening of his trousers, only to have him push her hand aside with a half strangled laugh.

‘No,’ he muttered. ‘Ladies first.’

‘Whatever happened to equality?’ she grumbled.

‘Equality is overrated.’ His smile was slow and wicked as he eased her gown from her body and then her panties. ‘Ladies first is a good option for you right now. Trust me.’ He took her hands and drew them above her head and she let him do it, let him do whatever he wanted. She was naked for him, utterly naked except for the diamonds at her ears and around her throat. She felt completely exposed, utterly vulnerable as he loomed over her, his eyes intent. ‘Close your eyes,’ he whispered and she did as he commanded, whimpering with pleasure as his lips traced a path from her wrist to her elbow. He stopped when he reached her elbow, stopped to curse beneath his breath before tracing the area surrounding the angry red graze with gentle fingers. Hallie shivered hard and he moved on, his hands tracing a path down her body for his lips to follow, the soft underside of her breast, the slight curve of her stomach, and everywhere he touched
her muscles contracted and the pleasure built. She knew what was coming when he spread her thighs wide and moved lower, knew it and craved it but he made her wait, made her plead while he scattered tiny kisses over her hips and his thumb circled the sensitive folds of her flesh.

‘Please!’ As his mouth moved closer and his hands held her firm. She strained against him, clutched at the sheet above her head, and finally, finally, he licked into her. She couldn’t breathe, the heat of his mouth was divine, the rhythmic stroking of his tongue an unbearably exquisite torment. He knew exactly where to lick, exactly how to please her, and she writhed beneath him, riding the wave of anticipation he built so cleverly, riding it hard. And when she didn’t think she could stand any more, when she was slick with sweat and just about to shatter into a million pieces, he concentrated his efforts and the world exploded inside her, all around her, as she shuddered her release.

‘Oh, my God!’ she gasped.

‘Told you so,’ he muttered, shedding his trousers and moving over her as she brought her hands to his hair and his lips down to hers for a feverish kiss that had nothing to do with tenderness and everything to do with raw driving need. It was his turn to groan now, his turn to shudder as he settled
himself between her legs. His turn to whimper as her need for him turned savage.

‘Ssshhh,’ he muttered. ‘Easy.’

Nick inched slowly into her, inexorably penetrating her hot, slippery flesh as her body stretched to accommodate him. He slid his fingers between them to further coax her taut, tight muscles into submission. And then he was seated in her up to the hilt, exactly where he wanted to be, his entire body on the verge of exploding as her hips slammed into his and her body climaxed around him again. He’d never seen anything more wanton, more beautiful, than Hallie lost in passion. So fearless, so utterly open for him, as he spread her legs wide, cupped his hands around her buttocks and surged into her, glorying in his possession, in the scent of sex, and the tight slickness encasing him.

‘I’ve decided that sex is better than dancing,’ she whispered as her legs encircled his waist and her nails raked his back.

‘This isn’t sex.’ He was spiralling out of control, seconds away from his own pulsing release. ‘This is madness.’

Hallie woke just before dawn, too worried about what the day held to go back to sleep. She slid out of bed and padded to the window to look down on
the Teys’ tranquil garden, wondering if John would be up soon and out there practising t’ai chi. Wondering if he did and if she watched, would some of his calm feed through to her. She shifted the curtains aside to lay her palm on the windowpane, and reached for the confidence she knew she had to have if her plan was ever going to work.

Nick stirred and she turned to watch him; saw him reach for her, and wake when he couldn’t find her. She felt the moment he saw her, felt it as a heat that licked over her entire body, and then he was out of bed and heading towards her, beautifully, magnificently naked. She knew that body now, had loved every inch of it during the night. She knew his scent, the taste of him on her tongue, the playful edge in him and the fire.

What she didn’t know was the workings of his mind. What he wanted from her and whether he was going to regret the week he’d spent with her. She didn’t want him to have regrets. She looked to his eyes to see if they were cool, to his mouth to see if it was stern, and to his jaw to see if it was set, but Nick was none of those things this morning. He snaked an arm around her waist and drew her into his warmth and his hardness, resting his chin on her head, saying nothing as he too stared out at the wakening day.

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ she murmured.