The Trouble with Valentine’s (15 page)

‘Right,’ said Nick. ‘How many now?’

‘Two.’ Her head was starting to clear, her vision was returning. She tried to sit up, and was immediately assisted in this by a hundred helpful hands that didn’t stop at sitting but lifted her gently to her feet. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and ‘Thank you again,’ as someone handed her her handbag and the bag with the perfumes in it. There was an animated
discussion going on somewhere in the crowd, lots of shouting and hand waving. Finally a business suited Chinese man approached them both.

‘You were pushed,’ he told Nick. ‘This man says he saw it.’ He pointed to a wizened little man at the back of the crowd. ‘He says it was a man wearing a red cap, zip jacket and jeans. A young man.’

Nick nodded, thanked both men.

‘I thought I saw someone push you too,’ said Hallie. ‘But I didn’t see a face.’ She’d been too busy trying to grab him.

‘C’mon.’ He was leading her towards a quiet doorway of a shop that had already closed for the evening. ‘I think we should get you to the hospital. Get you checked out.’

‘No Nick! That’ll take hours! I fell over and you landed on top of me, that’s all. I grew up playing football with my brothers, I’m used to it.’ Okay, so she was exaggerating. Just a little. He didn’t look like he was buying it anyway. He lifted her arm for a closer look at her elbow, she turned her arm so she could see it herself. It was a nasty graze. Damn. Hallie scowled. ‘This is so not going to go with my gown.’

‘Be serious,’ he said gruffly. ‘You could have concussion.’ He threaded his hands through her
hair and tilted her head forward, examining her skull with gentle fingers.

‘Ow!’ She winced when he hit the spot that had connected with the concrete.

‘It’s swelling,’ he told her. ‘You’re going to have an egg.’

‘Not if I get some ice on it.’ Which could happen at any nearby bar, no need for a view. ‘Really, Nick. I feel okay. Let’s just … sit somewhere for a while. If I start to feel woozy you’ll be the first to know.’

His eyes were dark and searching as his hands moved from her hair to frame her face. ‘You scared me,’ he said simply. And lowered his lips to hers.

He was very gentle, very careful, and Hallie trembled at the tenderness she found in his embrace. She closed her eyes, lifted her hands to his shoulders, and opened her mouth to him, revelling in his warmth and the dark delicious taste of him. He took his time, such an agonisingly long time he took before his tongue touched hers and duelled. There was no rush, no haste and he built that kiss so slowly and surely that stars exploded in her head for the second time that afternoon.
Here
was what she’d been waiting for all her life. Passion laced with sweetness. Strength tempered by caring and she wound her arms around his neck
and drank in that sweetness and that strength with no thought for anything but the aching need to have it.

It was Nick who broke the kiss, his breathing ragged as he rested his forehead against hers. ‘We have an audience,’ he muttered. ‘And we’re in a public place. The way I figure it, we’re still within the rules here.’

‘Lucky us,’ she whispered. It didn’t feel like they were still working within the rules. It felt like they were breaking every last one of them.

He stepped back, seemingly reluctant to let her go. ‘Let’s find somewhere to sit. And in five minutes’ time exactly, according to your new watch, you’re going to let me know if you want to see a doctor?’

It was a question, couched inside an order, and drove home the point that for all the similarities between Nick and her brothers, in this he was quite, quite different. Seeing a doctor was her call, her choice to make and she was grateful for it. ‘Deal,’ she murmured, and tucked her arm around his waist, and if it was more so that she could remain close to him than for balance, well, what was one more deception amongst the many?

Nothing like a close encounter with true disaster to put things into perspective.

N
ICK HAD NEVER BEEN
more relieved to walk through John Tey’s front door. Hallie had been silent for most of the taxi trip back to the villa, and that alone had been enough to send Nick’s anxiety skyrocketing. When she’d tipped her head back and closed her eyes he’d nearly had a fit. ‘Hallie,’ he’d said urgently. ‘Hallie!’

She’d opened her eyes, shot him a sideways glance and that increasingly enchanting grin and said, ‘Stop it. I’m fine. You need to trust me on this.’

Which was a hell of a lot harder in practice than in theory.

‘What happened?’ cried Jasmine as she swept them through to the nearest sitting room and urged Hallie into the nearest chair. ‘Stay there,’ she ordered and disappeared at a run. When she
returned she had Kai and a first aid kit with her and Nick almost sighed his relief as Jasmine fished cloth and antiseptic from the kit and set to work on Hallie’s elbow. She’d scared him half to death when he’d seen her lying there on the pavement looking so small and broken and only half conscious, and her decision not to consult a doctor didn’t sit well with him. ‘She hit her head as well,’ he told Jasmine.

Jasmine’s gaze flew to Hallie’s eyes. ‘We need a torch,’ she said firmly. ‘We need to check her pupils for dilation.’

‘I’m not concussed,’ protested Hallie. ‘I’m fine.’

‘Don’t argue,’ he said. ‘Just let her check.’ And with a wry smile, ‘For my sake if not for yours.’

‘You
are
as bad as my brothers,’ she grumbled.

‘Yeah, but my delivery’s far better.’

‘What happened?’ Kai asked him.

‘I was trying to hail a taxi and stood a little too close to the kerb. Hallie pulled me back and we fell.’

‘You were pushed,’ said Hallie, and to Kai, ‘Someone pushed him off the kerb and into the path of an oncoming taxi. I only saw a big jacket and a cap but there was an old man there who saw
his face. He said it was a young man and that he did it deliberately.’

‘You were pushed?’ asked Kai.

‘Someone stumbled into me,’ he countered. ‘I don’t know that it was deliberate.’

Hallie stared at him defiantly. ‘If it was an accident, why didn’t he stick around to make sure you were alright?’

‘Maybe he was too scared to.’

‘Did you get the old man’s name?’ asked Kai.

‘I didn’t think it was necessary,’ said Nick. ‘Why?’

‘I checked on the sick diner from the restaurant. He’s in a coma. The doctors suspect some kind of poison. I took the crab meat to a private lab for testing but so far the tests have been inconclusive. If it does contain poison it’s a rare one.’ Kai paused. ‘There is another disturbing fact about last night’s incident,’ he said quietly. ‘The platter was not meant for that particular party. It was meant for us. And if it is as I suspect and only the topmost portion of crab was poisoned, that means it was meant for you.’

‘What? You’re saying someone’s trying to kill me?’ Whatever direction he’d thought Kai’s conversation was going to go, this wasn’t it. ‘Are you serious?’

‘I’m always serious,’ said Kai.

Nick had taken the news that someone could be trying to kill him surprisingly well, thought Hallie as she watched him pace their guest room later that evening. They’d stayed in for dinner. Kai and John had both been on the phone to the authorities.

‘Do you have any idea who would want to kill you?’ she said.

‘No.’

‘Maybe it’s someone who doesn’t want you going into partnership with John. Maybe they’ve invented a game just like yours and will lose everything if they don’t stop your product from hitting the market.’

‘Hallie …’ he began warningly.

‘Or a resentful distributor who failed to get your business,’ she said. ‘How many did you reject before you decided to go with the Tey Corporation?’

Nick rolled his eyes. ‘A few, but I really don’t think—’

‘Or a woman scorned. There’s a thought. I bet there are plenty of those.’

‘I do not scorn,’ he snapped. ‘I just …’

‘Leave?’

‘Yeah, and since we’re on the subject, I’m terminating your contract. I’m sending you home.’

‘Oh?’ She was prepared to be calm, at least for now. ‘And why is that?’

‘I don’t want you involved in this. I want you back home and safely out of the way.’

Now he was definitely starting to sound like her brothers. And she’d had such high hopes for him too. ‘What happened to
we’re in this together as equals
?’

‘It stopped when I found out someone was trying to kill me. You didn’t sign on for this, Hallie. I don’t want you involved.’

‘I want to stay and help,’ she said stubbornly.

‘No,’ he said, equally stubborn. ‘You can’t help with this.’

‘I did today.’

‘And look what it got you! A busted elbow and a concussion headache!’

‘I do not have a concussion headache,’ she said indignantly. ‘It’s just a normal one.’

‘Look …’ His expression softened. ‘You saved my life today; don’t think I don’t appreciate it but I don’t want you getting hurt again. Not because of me.’

‘Fine,’ she said, waving him towards the telephone. ‘Book the plane seat.’

Five minutes later he slammed the phone down in frustration. ‘You knew there wouldn’t be any seats available,’ he said accusingly.

‘Of course I knew. It’s Chinese New Year. Everyone’s travelling to visit their families. I’m betting you couldn’t get plane tickets back to the UK any earlier than the ones we’ve already got.’ Nick’s scowl told her she was right. ‘Cheer up, Nick. It’s not that bad. You’re the one they want dead, not me. And they only
might
want you dead. We’re not exactly sure about that yet. I’m probably not in any danger at all.’

‘But you
might
be. Hallie, be serious.’

‘I am serious,’ she said. ‘This turned serious the minute you almost got jostled beneath a taxi. I’m all for letting Kai and the authorities deal with this and getting it sorted. I can lie low until it’s time to go home. I can go somewhere far, far away from you if you really think that’s going to get me out of danger. I just happen to think that me staying here – in John’s already well-guarded fortress – is as good a suggestion as any.’

She stood and headed towards him. ‘I swear, you’re forever wanting to get rid of me.’

‘Not true,’ he said as she began to run her hands over his body as if checking him out for bruises or swelling. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I’m making sure you’re not hurt. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you made sure that the focus this evening was on me. I know that trick. Now strip.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I want to see the bruises. Or lack of them. And then I want you in the shower.’

‘Bennett, I’m pretty sure you could have me anywhere, but that’s not the point.’

‘Don’t make me undress you, Cooper. Because I probably can. Why is your shirt still on?’

Nick unbuttoned it and shrugged it off with an impatient sigh. ‘Do you see a bruise or a scratch?’ he asked.

‘No.’ She saw lean, rangy muscle and smooth, supple skin, and her throat went suddenly dry because, dear heaven, she wanted to run her hands all over him again and she’d used up her excuse.

‘That’s because I fell on
you
,’ he said darkly. ‘Now take
your
shirt off.’

‘Nick, I
told
you I’m fine.’

‘You wanted equality, Hallie. I’m very obliging. Shirt off.’

Grumbling, Hallie removed her shirt, careful not to wince. Nick looked at her and his mouth drew into a tight forbidding line. Not really the reaction she was looking for, given her wispy ivory
lace bra. Admiration would have been better. She looked down and saw the broad reddish bruise painted across her hip. It was still going strong when it disappeared beneath the waistband of her trousers. ‘It’s not so bad,’ she offered. ‘It’s not even purple. And I have very fair skin – you have to factor that in. It goes with the hair. I can run into a pillow and get a bruise like this.’

‘Liar.’

‘Practice makes perfect.’ Hallie let her gaze rove over Nick’s broad shoulders and flat waist and hitched an eyebrow in the direction of his trousers. ‘I still want to check out the rest of you. Take them off.’

‘You do know I’m going to demand equality.’

She knew. Hallie yawned and then stretched her arms in the air for good measure. Now
there
was Nick’s appreciation for all that expensive ivory lace.

He shucked his trousers fast. There wasn’t a mark on him.

Little bit of swelling, though.

Hallie turned her back on him as she lowered her own trousers, looking back over her shoulder to check just how bad the bruise on her hip was. Not that bad, although the dark fury in Nick’s eyes suggested otherwise. ‘I’m not fragile.’ Words to
live by. Her brothers had conceded the point eventually. Hopefully the very clever Nicholas Cooper would figure it out faster. ‘That’s not a mistake you want to make.’

He stepped up behind her and touched gentle fingers to the marks on her skin. ‘God, Hallie—’

‘A back rub, for example. That is definitely something you could do for me.’ Hallie finished shucking her shoes and trousers and crawled onto that very fine red bed. ‘I might even sleep.’

She looked back at Nick, who had his eyes closed and his hands in his hair. Could be he was praying.

Hallie was careful where she placed her grazed arm as she lay face down on the bed. Careful not to signal victory as Nick prowled up over her and eased his knees either side of her hips, settling down lightly on top of her, most of his weight on his knees as he placed those big hands of his on her waist.

‘No oil,’ he murmured huskily.

Plenty of heat, though. ‘Dry is fine.’

He started slow, warm hands and strong thumbs stroking up towards her neck, no fumbling when it came to her bra, he just unhooked it and pushed it aside and continued on his merry way.

Touch had always been welcome in Hallie’s
world. She’d always demanded a great deal of it. Touch meant care and love and connection.

Nick’s touch left her hungry for so much more.

She shifted restlessly and Nick’s hands stopped working their magic. ‘Don’t fidget,’ he said.

‘It’s my bra. It’s digging into my—’

‘And don’t talk,’ he added hurriedly. ‘For some reason the world around me gets so much more complicated when you talk.’

‘I can see why you like computer characters so much,’ she murmured, rising up on her good elbow and getting rid of her bra altogether before settling back down on the bed, arms up and her hands beneath her head on the pillow. Nick’s hands ran up and over her shoulders and halfway to her elbows before slowly reversing and then starting all over again. Hallie groaned.

‘No groaning,’ ordered Nick.

‘Your computer characters groan,’ she offered lazily. ‘I’ve heard them.’

‘My computer characters don’t groan, they grunt. There’s a difference.’

‘When Xia went down in battle she definitely groaned. I distinctly remember applauding the subtext at the time.’ Nick’s thumbs found a knot in her shoulder and dug deep. ‘Mmm.’

‘No sex noises at
all
.’

‘Absolutely not,’ she murmured, her eyes drifting closed. ‘For that there would have to be sex. Mmmmm.’

Nick’s fingers skated lightly over her hip and lingered on the bruise; he shifted his weight and suddenly Hallie felt lips where his fingers had been and that was definitely whimper worthy. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Kissing it better.’ His words were little more than a gravelly growl.

‘Is it working?’

‘It is for me,’ he said darkly, right before his lips trailed down to her panties. Those hands of his were on her upper thighs now, coaxing her buttocks off the bed and her thighs a little wider. ‘You can make sex noises now,’ he told her and set his tongue to tasting flesh, but he didn’t stop there. He dragged his mouth over the silk of her panties, nibbled at the elastic, and with every sweep of his thumbs along her inner thighs he elicited a whimper, a curse or a moan.

‘You’re a noisy lover, Hallie.’

‘Oh,
God
. Do that again.’ It stood to reason she’d have trouble staying quiet in the bedroom. She’d had to shout to be heard her entire life. Strong hands pushed her knees up under her hips as his mouth closed over the thin wisp of silk covering
her centre. Hallie cried out and pushed back against him as his tongue flicked over her, and then she cried out again as orgasm ripped through her, fierce and unexpected. ‘Nick!’

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this; this fast; she wasn’t this wanton, she
wasn’t
. It was just … she’d wanted him all day and most of yesterday and there’d been flirting and talking and that stupid fall and then there’d been touching. Hallie closed her eyes and hid her burning cheeks in the pillow.

‘Hallie—’ Nick’s voice sounded strained. ‘I—oh,
hell
.’

He reared back up over her and Hallie looked back at Nick, at his stomach muscles all bunched up tight, at his fingers wrapped around his cock, and gasped at the reckless beauty of Nicholas Cooper, eyes glittering and breath hitching as he rode out his pleasure.

‘Really not meant to happen,’ he gasped when his breath had returned enough for him to talk. ‘I just—don’t move..’

He was off the bed and headed towards the bathroom before it dawned on Hallie that she wasn’t the only one with a restraint problem.

Nick returned with a warm and wet washcloth and wiped her down with a gentle touch. Hallie didn’t moan this time. But she wanted to.

‘You’re going to be the death of me, Hallie,’ Nick said gruffly.

‘I’ve heard that line before,’ she said. ‘And for what it’s worth, everyone’s still alive.’

‘I’ll turn the shower on for you.’

‘Thank you.’

There hadn’t been any kissing, she thought belatedly. There was an order to these things, and she wasn’t a stickler for rules, necessarily, but steps had been left out and she felt the emptier for them. She watched in the mirror as Nick rinsed out the cloth. Maybe he sensed her watching, maybe the water was too hot or too cold, but his shoulders tensed and his gaze lifted to meet hers in the mirror. ‘What?’