The Trouble with Valentine’s (18 page)

She picked up her gown and shoes and brushed past him on the way to the bathroom. She shed her clothes and slipped the gown on. Makeup came next and then the shoes – dainty stilettos that added a good couple of inches to her height. Next a dab of the perfume Nick had given her at her pulse points and finally a wrap of amber-coloured silk a couple of shades lighter than her gown.

Time to see if Nick approved of the way the corporate wife was packaged. She entered the bedroom regally, only to find him staring out of the window, trying hard to exude manly patience. ‘I’m ready,’ she said.

He turned, studied her from head to toe, and the purely masculine appreciation in his eyes was immensely gratifying. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he murmured. ‘But you’re not ready.’

‘I’m not?’

‘You forgot your jewellery.’

She had her rings on, didn’t she? Yep. Hard to miss them. ‘I really hope you’re not talking about the watch you bought me the other day.’

Nick pointed towards a grey velvet case sitting on the sideboard.

‘Oh. You mean
that
jewellery.’ The jewellery
she’d never seen. The jewellery he’d chosen without her. ‘I forgot about it.’

‘You
forgot
about it?’ Nick appeared disbelieving.

‘Maybe if I’d
seen
it I wouldn’t have,’ she told him sweetly.

‘You can see it now.’

Hallie walked over to the sideboard and her hands came up, seemingly of their own volition, to stroke the long velvet box, but then she hesitated.

‘What
now
?’ said Nick.

‘I’ve seen the necklace Jasmine’s wearing tonight and it’s very simple,’ she said with a frown. ‘I wouldn’t want to go overboard in comparison.’

‘Maybe this is simple too,’ said Nick. ‘Why don’t you open it and see?’

Why didn’t she? She was nearly bursting with curiosity, wondering what he’d chosen and whether she’d like it. Worried that she wouldn’t. More worried that she would. There was only one way to find out. Hallie opened the box with careful hands. And gasped.

The necklace was like a pearl choker in design but where the pearls would have been there were diamonds, big carat-sized diamonds that glittered brilliantly in the light. As far as jewellery went it was exquisite, eye-popping even, because Hallie
was pretty sure hers were halfway out of her head. But it wasn’t simple.

‘Do you like it?’ he asked.

‘Are you serious? It’s absolutely gorgeous.’ He was taking it from the box and putting it around her neck, his fingers warm and gentle against her skin as he fastened the clasp.

‘It suits you. I knew it would.’ He steered her towards the bathroom. ‘Go take a look in the mirror.’

Hallie went and looked, made a minute adjustment to its position. There, now it was perfect and now she was thinking Audrey Hepburn in
Breakfast at Tiffany’s o
r Grace Kelly in anything, both of them as redheads, of course.

‘What do you think?’ said Nick from the doorway. He was leaning lazily against it, his smile indulgent and his eyes dark.

‘It probably wouldn’t do to bring it all this way and not wear it,’ she said, while the diamonds around her neck blazed with every movement she made. They probably wouldn’t overshadow Jasmine’s teardrop pearl all that much, she decided a touch desperately. The diamonds were stunning in a different way, that was all. They might even
complement
Jasmine’s pearl.

‘There are earrings to match.’

‘Oh, well …’ Hell. May as well do things properly. A minute later she was wearing them too. ‘Do you think it’s too much?’

‘You could always take the dress off,’ he muttered. ‘That’d work.’

‘Focus,’ she said sternly.

‘I am.’ Nick seemed to collect himself. He straightened and offered her his arm. ‘Mrs. Cooper,’ he murmured.

‘Mr. Cooper,’ she said. ‘I do believe I’m ready. Shall we go?’

T
HE BALLROOM AT THE
Four Seasons Hotel was where British Colonialism met Asian Affluence and a spectacle of such unbridled opulence that it left Hallie gaping. There were champagne-glass pyramids complete with nervous waiters, elaborately costumed opera singers with faces whiter than snow. There were five-tier chandeliers and peacock feathers by the bucketful. There was a dance band over by the dance floor, and there were Hong Kong’s finest – dressed in their finest – mingling graciously.

‘How on earth am I supposed to go back to selling shoes after this?’ she murmured, desperately trying to commit it all to memory; the colours and textures, the scents and the sounds.

‘Maybe you won’t have to,’ murmured Nick and Hallie felt her heart skip a beat.

‘You’ll have enough money after this to get through your diploma without selling more shoes, won’t you?’ he added.

Oh.
That
was what he meant. For a minute there, she’d thought that Nick had fallen in love with her and for a moment she’d wondered what it would be like to be Mrs Nicholas Cooper for real. For a moment there, she’d thought it would be just fine. But that was ridiculous. The whole point of agreeing to this charade in the first place was so she could focus on her real dream, the one that didn’t involve Nicholas Cooper and fairy tale endings. The one that involved hard work, independence and the satisfaction that came with achieving one’s goals. ‘I’ll make it enough,’ she said firmly. ‘You’re right, selling shoes is over. Asian Art World, here I come. Here’s to you for helping to make it happen.’

‘I’ve watched you, Hallie.’ There was a serious note in his voice. ‘I’ve seen the enthusiasm and the energy you bring to everything you do and I know without a doubt that when you do decide on a career, be it in the art world or somewhere else, you’re going to be a huge success. Don’t ever doubt it.’

‘Thank you,’ she said quietly. For all his faults, and yes, not falling helplessly in love with her
was one of them, Nicholas Cooper believed in her. Hallie felt her heart falter, felt it stumble before righting itself, and when it did it wasn’t altogether hers any more. Some of it was Nick’s. Not that she was inclined to let him know that.

So she pinned on a smile, a smile that became more genuine as she was introduced to friends and acquaintances of John and of Jasmine. She nodded to husbands and mingled with wives as they ogled the diamonds around her neck overtly, Nick covertly, and made laughing conversation with her.

Partnering Nick to a ball was easy. He was gorgeous, charming, and knew exactly when to leave her to her own devices and when to stay by her side. ‘You’re a very good escort, you know that, don’t you?’ she said as he whisked her half finished glass of champagne from her hand, handed it to a passing waiter, and snagged a cool glass of water as a replacement. It was exactly what she wanted. ‘How did you know I wanted water?’

‘I didn’t,’ said Nick. ‘But you hadn’t touched your champagne in over an hour and it’s getting warm in here so I figured it was worth a shot.’

‘Gorgeous, generous,
and
attentive,’ said Hallie dryly. ‘Is there anything you’re
not
good at?’

‘Rules,’ he said, his eyes darkening. ‘I’m not real good with rules. Dance with me.’

Hallie took a quick sip of her water, felt it slide, wet and cool, down her suddenly dry throat. Dancing meant touching, touching meant wanting, and when touching, wanting and Nick came together, she was inclined to forget the rules herself. ‘I’m thinking we should forgo the dancing. If I dance with you and love it, I may never want to dance with anyone else.’

‘There is that.’ And with a charmingly crooked smile, ‘Dance with me anyway.’

Jasmine watched Hallie and Nicholas take to the dance floor with something approaching envy. Hallie looked so beautiful in her gown, but it was the stars in Hallie’s eyes that Jasmine envied most. The smile on Hallie’s face that told Nicholas and the world that there was nowhere else Hallie would rather be.

Jasmine could think of dozens of places that she would rather be as she stood at her father’s side and sipped her champagne and tried not to notice that Kai, who stood on her other side, was far too busy scoping the room to have eyes for her.

One long, penetrating glance at the beginning of the evening was all Kai had spared her. After that, he’d barely looked at her at all.

So much for dazzling him with her subtle beauty
and igniting his senses with the perfume Hallie had given her. So much for finding the courage to ask Kai to dance with her … Jasmine stared blindly down at the nearly empty champagne glass in her hand. Maybe if she had another drink …

Jasmine looked around for a drinks waiter and found one and caught his eye. He started towards her. The plan was to exchange her empty glass for a full one. Such a simple plan, only Kai had a different one and when the waiter had taken her empty glass, Kai sent him away with a glance. ‘Two’s enough for now,’ he told her. ‘I need you alert.’

Which, strangely, gave her more courage rather than less.

She may not have caught Kai looking at her this evening but that didn’t make him any less aware of her.

‘Dance with me,’ she said.

‘I’m working,’ Kai said in reply.

‘Can you not do both?’

‘Not well.’

‘You’re still worried about Nicholas’s safety?’ she asked, with another glance in the Coopers’ direction.

‘Yes.’ This time Kai did spare her a glance. ‘Something feels off.’

‘You also have four more security guards here
tonight watching them. Can you not survey the room from the dance floor?’

Kai said nothing. Silence was so often his defence.

‘Bolin Sun is here,’ she said finally. Bolin’s parents were old family friends of her father’s. ‘Perhaps
he
will humour me with a dance.’

‘He’s here with someone.’

As far as Jasmine could tell, Bolin had arrived in a party large enough that Bolin’s companion would not be short of company for the duration of one dance. ‘Perhaps he’ll humour me anyway. You wanted me to broaden my horizons,’ she reminded him and made to move off, but before she’d taken two steps in Bolin’s direction Kai was blocking her, his face set and his mouth a forbidding line.

‘Not him.’ The words came out clipped and low. Vicious, even, and Jasmine rode the thrill of knowing that Meng Kai was not nearly as composed as he seemed. ‘Pick someone else.’

‘Dance with me,’ she said.

And this time Kai held out his arm for her to take and led her onto the polished wooden floor.

Hallie frowned when Kai and Jasmine finally took to the dance floor. The body language was all wrong – Jasmine looked strained, Kai looked
stiff and far too formal, none of his catlike grace in evidence now. ‘Look at them,’ she said in exasperation. ‘How does Kai even expect to dance with Jasmine when he’s not even touching her? Anyone would think he doesn’t
want
to dance with her!’

‘That would be my call,’ said Nick as he whirled her around the dance floor and Jasmine and Kai disappeared from view.

‘Not that I have anything against you being right in general but in this particular case I really hope you’re wrong.’ Matchmaking really wasn’t Hallie’s forte. What if Kai
wasn’t
in love with the younger girl? What if she’d given Jasmine the wrong idea altogether? ‘What are they doing now?’

‘Jasmine’s just put her hand on Kai’s shoulder,’ said Nick and whirled her back around. ‘See for yourself.’

Hallie glanced, and then groaned. The only thing between the other couple was tension. ‘I can’t watch.’ She turned away abruptly and came nose to chest with Nick’s shirt. ‘Out of my way. I’m going to go and shoot myself for interfering.’

‘Wait,’ said Nick, his movements smooth as he swung her back around so that they could both look.

The other couple had started dancing and if
Kai had thought to keep Jasmine at arm’s length, Jasmine had other ideas. She stepped in close. Kai’s hands rather unwillingly slid to her waist, his fingertips brushing bare skin, and then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he gathered her closer still, the longing in him unmistakable.

‘My parents used to dance like that,’ said Nick. ‘They always gave each other room to move, to be themselves, but then when they came together you could tell that at that moment in time there was nowhere else they’d rather be. It was like … magic.’

‘Nick, you’re a romantic!’ Hallie was thoroughly enchanted by his words. ‘Do you think
we’re
ever going to dance like that?’

‘No.’ His voice was firm but his eyes were warm as he swung her smoothly away. ‘We are going to avoid dancing like that at all costs.’

No one had ever told Jasmine that dancing could set a body to burning. Every breath, every slow glide of her body against Kai’s. The warmth of his fingertips on the skin at her back and the strength in his arms as he guided her over the dance floor. She wanted to remember the music that was playing and the scent of him. She’d rarely been this close to him before and not sparring. And whatever
they were doing at this moment – it wasn’t fighting.

Jasmine didn’t care that her father would only have to take one look at her to know that her heart was not her own. She didn’t care that other people might look her way and see a foolish young girl who hadn’t learned how to hide her feelings.

She was growing up and owning her emotions. Letting them show, finding her way.

Seduction didn’t have to be all about the fast tumble, Hallie had told her, and Jasmine believed her.

Sometimes seduction could be tremblingly, exquisitely, slow.

‘How long have you known of my feelings for you?’ she asked softly and when Kai ducked his head the better to hear her, she filed the brush of soft hair against her cheek away for future reference too.

‘Don’t ask me that,’ he said.

‘You recognised them before I did,’ she said, and willed the heat in her cheeks away. ‘You argued with my father the day before my sixteenth birthday. You fought for my freedom.’

‘Jasmine, I had to. I was there to
protect
you. Not—’

‘Not what?’

‘Not take advantage of you.’

‘And now? Would you take advantage of me now?’

‘No.’

‘What if I asked you to?
Wanted
you to?’

‘No.’ His voice was little more than a tortured whisper. ‘Jasmine, no.’

‘How about in three years’ time?’

Kai closed his eyes and rested his forehead gently against hers. ‘Maybe.’ They barely moved, little more than a shuffle, but this was the dance that Jasmine’s girlish fantasies were made of. This man, holding her. ‘If that’s what you want.’

‘You keep implying that my feelings for you will change,’ she murmured. ‘Why is that?’

She could feel the tension in him, the tremor in him as she touched gentle fingertips to the skin of his neck.

‘I’m easily discarded,’ he said.

‘No,’ she said fiercely. ‘You’re not. Don’t think like that.’ She knew where some of this was coming from – so easy now to see the damage his father and hers had done to this man’s sense of self-worth. ‘To hell with them,’ she said raggedly. ‘I value you, Meng Kai, and I always will. Ask me who taught me about compassion and understanding. Because it wasn’t my parents.’

‘Don’t,’ he whispered.

‘It was you. Ask how I learned about honour and strength of purpose.’

‘Jasmine, please—’

‘I watched you. Who do you think instilled in me the courage to leave this gilded cage?’ She didn’t wait for his response this time. ‘It was you.’ She’d told him these next words before, but maybe he needed to hear them again. ‘And when I return in three years’ time, all worldly and wise—’ Jasmine tilted her lips forward and let them whisper across his cheek. Words to remember her by and the actions would follow. ‘—I’m coming for you.’

Hallie danced like a dream. Like Nick had held her in his arms a hundred times before. He lost himself in the feel of her, the brush of a thigh, fingertips on bare skin; it was like foreplay, like flirting, and Hallie was a natural at it. He’d never known anyone who delighted in the moment as much as Hallie, and when a slow number began she snuggled in closer, with fire in her hair and stars at her throat.

Just his type, Henry had warned Nick, only Henry hadn’t known just how perfect a fit Hallie Bennett would turn out to be. It was so easy to
spend time with this woman. To let her into his head and to be drawn into hers and delight in the being there.

Not his doing, when Hallie slowed the dance way down, but Nick took full advantage of it and let his body savour the feel of flesh on flesh and the unspoken knowledge in her touch. She knew how to hook him, how to please him and Nick had never taken so much delight in being played.

‘Is Hong Kong everything you thought it would be?’ he asked her.

‘Yes.’

‘And the ball is to your liking?’

‘Everything is to my liking,’ she said and lowered her lashes and the dazzling smile she’d given him moments before started to fade. ‘Let’s just call it a week out of time and place. An experience I will never forget.’

She was talking as if it would all be over soon and, somewhere in the dim recesses of his mind, Nick thought he should have been glad that Hallie hadn’t forgotten their deal. The ‘I only need a wife for a week’ deal and that in a couple more days that week would be up.

He should have been glad that Hallie wasn’t pushing for more of his time in a different place. He should have been relieved.

Yes, he was temporarily besotted with the woman in his arms. Yes, she was a match for him in bed and out and he kept finding more things to like about her. That didn’t make her The One. He wasn’t ready to wrap his life around someone else’s and line their needs and goals up alongside his.

Was he?

It could have been fifteen minutes later, it could have been fifty, when the music stopped and Nick peeled her out of his arms.

She had a dreamy look about her and then she blinked, and then she was back.

‘Where were you?’ he asked.

‘Fantasy land,’ she said as warmth crept into her cheeks and she shot him a half-embarrassed smile. ‘I was having my Cinderella moment. It’s possible I got a bit carried away.’