Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2) (31 page)

‘Are we going up one of the towers?’ Jessie guessed. ‘The Jin Mao Tower maybe?’

‘Nope,’ Jack replied with that same sparkle in his eye.

‘Oh.’ Jessie was putting on a brave face, but she wasn’t really in the mood for a guessing game, so she sat for the remainder of the journey in silence, pretending to focus on the passing scenery.

They exited the taxi in the heart of the financial district of Pudong, and Jack led her straight into one of the massive skyscrapers. Instead of using the regular lift lobby, which was swarming with smartly dressed people going about their business, Jack swiped them through a different gateway. This one led to another lift foyer, one which was completely empty.

‘This way,’ he said simply as he guided her into the lift. He keyed in a combination code on a touchscreen pad, most unlike a normal lift button panel.

Jessie anticipated the feeling of going up in a lift, a feeling she had gotten quite used to in Hong Kong. But instead, they were going down.

When the lift doors tinged open, Jessie found herself stepping directly into a huge, square, and perfectly white room. It wasn’t just white, it was brilliantly white. The floor and walls were a perfect bright white marble, making the light seem to reflect and multiply. As Jessie’s eyes adjusted to the brightness, she saw that the room was empty aside from one wall, which appeared to house little white drawers from the floor to the ceiling. The only furniture in the room was a plush white sofa—pulled slightly away from the wall and facing the wall of drawers—and a couple of massive displays of white roses on either side.

‘The vault,’ Jessie whispered as she looked around. The place was beautiful in a kind of film-set heaven sort of way. In their non-white clothes, Jessie felt that she and Jack both looked like out-of-place blots on the pure white landscape, ruining the peace and tranquility of the place. But the white was soothing, and Jessie felt that despite there being absolutely no natural daylight, she could quite comfortably have curled up on the sofa and devoured a book for a few hours. The place was such a contrast from the predominant grey of the rest of the city.

‘Two two seven,’ Jack said as he handed her a tiny silver key. He inclined his head towards the wall of drawers. ‘Take a look.’

Jessie slowly walked over to the drawer wall and located the drawer she was looking for in the middle of a row. She inserted the key, and to her surprise the drawer automatically sprang open. Inside, there appeared to be numerous files and brown paper envelopes, along with a dozen or so loose memory cards. With a nod from Jack to proceed, she pulled out the top file, marked
Top Secret
.

Jessie skim-read the document. ‘It’s just minutes from meetings about the opening up of China,’ she said. Her eye caught on one particular word, which seemed to be a recurring feature of the file. That word being
election
. ‘Sonia had it all wrong,’ she said, her eyes widening at the realisation of what was contained in the document. ‘The government wants to hold elections in the next ten years,’ she added in disbelief.

‘Precisely. Sonia was relying on rumours that have been rife for years about there being a list of government co-conspirators, and for some reason she latched on to the idea that I was in possession of that list. As you can see, I’m not. What I
am
in possession of are these Politburo minutes regarding the gradual democratisation of New China. That file, along with its Chinese original, have been entrusted to my safekeeping until the right time for their publication. Whenever that may be,’ Jack explained.

‘But why show this to me?’ Jessie asked, a little lost. ‘You know you didn’t need to do that.’

‘I want there to be no secrets between us, Jessie. And although you haven’t specifically asked about these documents, I know you must have been curious. I have nothing to hide from you, and I wanted you to see them with your own eyes.’

‘Thank you,’ Jessie said. She felt truly humbled that he would trust her with such information. Especially given that the contents of his secret drawer in this heaven-esque vault were no doubt extremely confidential.

‘There’s something else in there,’ Jack said quietly, moving to stand behind her. Jessie’s eye was immediately drawn to a little padded envelope pushed to one side, bulging irregularly.

‘Open it,’ Jack said.

Jessie pulled apart the seal and looked inside.

She froze.

‘I had it commissioned in Hong Kong months ago, and then last time I came to Shanghai, I left it here when I didn’t know if you were in trouble,’ he said easily. He took the envelope out of her grasp and slid out a perfect little black box. ‘I wanted to come back to Shanghai to collect it. Or more precisely, I hoped
you
would be the one collecting it.’

In one swift movement, Jack had a hold of Jessie’s hand and had dropped to one knee in front of her.

‘Jessie Slaymaker, you are the only woman for me, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?’ he asked with a shy smile as he popped open the ring box.

Inside lay a dazzling emerald-cut diamond the size of a fingernail. It was breathtakingly beautiful and had Jessie transfixed. Jessie’s first reaction was one of pure unbridled joy. This man wanted her, warts and faults and all. And then her face clouded as she realised he probably wouldn’t be quite so keen if he knew what all her faults were.

‘No,’ Jessie blurted out, and she burst into a torrential flood of tears. She’d been fighting the waterworks for the whole trip, but in that moment she couldn’t do anything to stop the flow.

‘No!’ Jack exclaimed, unable to hide his shock. It clearly hadn’t been the response he’d been anticipating. ‘But I thought—’

‘I can’t,’ Jessie managed to interrupt through her crying.

‘Why not?’ Jack asked, a frown furrowing his brow.

‘You won’t want to marry me when you find out,’ she blubbered.

‘Find out what?’ Jack asked seriously as he raised himself to a standing position again. He was shaking her arms gently, trying to decipher what it was she was trying to say. The sombre look on his face told her he was clearly thinking the worst.

‘I’m pregnant,’ Jessie blurted out at last, feeling an instant wave of relief wash over her now that she’d said the words, even if it did mean losing Jack.

Jack’s features went from uneasiness to surprise in a split second as he digested what it was she was saying. And then his expression seemed to become stuck in a single expression: pure shock.

‘I’m so sorry, Jack. I didn’t mean to be. I was on the pill and then I got sick and the antibiotics weakened the effectiveness of the contraception, but me being a complete tool I forgot that pertinent piece of information and now I’m having a baby,’ she rambled incoherently. ‘I seriously wasn’t trying to trick you. I would never do that.’

‘So why can’t you marry me?’ Jack asked deliberately. A slow smile spread across his face.

‘Because you said you’re not ready to be a father. I didn’t try to trap you, and I’m not trapping you into marrying me, just because I’m, well, you know, pregnant.’

Jack seemed to think on that for a moment. ‘But who else would I want to have children with?’ he asked. ‘If not with you, then who? All this means is that I have to share you with our child that little bit sooner. As you know I
can
be rather selfish when it comes to you, but I’ll just have to learn to be less so.’

‘So… your offer still stands, then?’ Jessie asked tentatively, needing the clarification, as she wiped away her tears.

‘If course it does, you numpty. I
love
you.
All
of you. And it’s as simple as that. But just to make it official…’ Jack dropped back down onto one knee and again took Jessie’s hand. ‘Jessie Slaymaker, will you still marry me?’

‘Yes, please! Of course I’ll bloody marry you,’ she answered happily, and stooped down to kiss him.

Jack had taken the baby news far better than Jessie had ever expected, especially considering the ugly precedent when he’d found out Sonia had been pregnant. Jessie had sensed he may have been a tiny bit caught up in the proposal moment, and it wasn’t until a good while after, when they’d returned to Hong Kong, that the penny seemed to actually drop. When it did, Jack went into a stress, fussing over Jessie, making sure her every need was met, and nervously preparing himself for his impending fatherhood. Judging by the way he cared for her, Jessie thought Jack had nothing to worry about. He was going to make a great dad when the day came.

All in all, Jessie’s life had been one hell of a roller coaster since she’d taken the plunge and moved to Asia with Jack. She’d been riding the wheel of fortune, experiencing all of life’s ups and downs. She’d missed out on her dream job, nearly split up with Jack, enjoyed some of the minuscule accommodation Hong Kong had to offer, got back together with Jack, and then lost her job. She’d nearly been kidnapped, then deliberately gotten herself captured to save Jack. She’d proved her arch nemesis Sonia Shum was far from the perfect princess she made out to be. She’d got herself engaged, and gotten herself pregnant. Though not in that order. Oh, and she’d found out her boss had been some kind of international forensic accountant super-spy.

No, her life since she arrived in Hong Kong hadn’t been at all what she’d expected. But despite all that had happened to her—all the surprises, all the detours, and all the mistakes she’d made along the way—she realised that she’d gotten exactly what she’d been looking for. She’d come to Hong Kong in search of an adventure and a challenge. And now, as Jessie surveyed not only everything she’d been through, but all the new experiences that now lay ahead of her, she couldn’t help but feel that her adventure and challenges had only just begun.

And she couldn’t be happier.

Dear Reader of Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement,

Firstly, thank you so much for getting your hands on my fourth, self-published novel.

Secondly, whilst the story is still fresh in your mind, it would be hugely helpful and immensely appreciated if you could post a quick review on Amazon or Goodreads (or both if you feel so inclined). Reviews really play a huge part in the success or obscurity of a book, so if you could spare a few moments that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you once again, and until next time,

Jo

It was tough writing my first sequel, and on more than one occasion I wanted to delete every word I'd written and throw in the towel. But a big thanks to James who made me see that I could continue Jessie's story, and I'm really happy I did. Thanks again to David Gatewood for his edits. Lastly thanks to all the people pushing and encouraging me along by continually asking me what was going to happen to Jessie next.

Jo Iles is a British novelist, living in Hong Kong. Following university she entered the wonderful and incredibly glamourous world of recruitment consultancy and quickly decided this wasn't for her. However, life got in the way and over three years later she was still doing the same thing. Something had to change. Jo and her boyfriend (now fiancé) upped sticks and set off for the bright lights of Hong Kong. That was over six years ago and they're both still there, enjoying a quiet life in the busy city.

Jo now belongs to a small family of village dogs which take up all her time when she's not writing romance novels.

If you would like to find out more about Jo and her life in Hong Kong, then feel free to have a gander at her blog
www.joiles.com
or follow her on Twitter @joauthoriles