The Trouble with Valentine's

His body stirred and he narrowed his eyes in an attempt to conceal the fierce rush of anticipation that accompanied her arrival as he stood to greet her. Kissing that smart mouth of hers into submission had been an absolute pleasure. Getting to know the rest of her was tempting, very tempting, but the truth was he couldn’t afford the distraction. He didn’t need a bedmate this coming week; he needed a partner. Someone with an opportunistic streak, a quick wit, and a deft touch with the ridiculous.

So far, Ms Bennett had impressed him on all counts.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ she said when she reached him. ‘I wasn’t sure I was coming until the last minute.’

‘What made you change your mind?’ he asked as he saw her seated and tried to ignore the quickening of his breath and of his blood.

‘Hong Kong and ten thousand pounds,’ she said, her accompanying smile drawing his attention to the generous curve of her lips, currently painted a deep, luscious rose. Her lip colour matched her dress, a sleek, cling wrap of a dress that emphasized the perfection of the body beneath.

‘I like your dress,’ he said with utmost sincerity.

‘Thank you,’ she said, her eyes lightening with a humour that was hard to resist. ‘I like it too. Have you ordered?’

‘After you.’

She chose the clam chowder. He chose the reef fish and, at her nod, a bottle of white to wash it down.

‘I’m curious,’ she said once that was all settled. ‘You’re rich, you’re handsome, you’re healthy – you are healthy, aren’t you?’

‘Perfectly,’ he said, enjoying her candour.

‘So why do you need a pretend wife for a week?’

‘I’m negotiating distribution rights to a computer game my company has developed. Unfortunately, the distributor’s teenage daughter took a liking to me and I found it extremely difficult to, er, dissuade her.’

‘You mean you couldn’t fend off one fledgling female? You? You’re kidding me, right?’

‘Wrong.’ Nick sighed. He could handle predatory women, honest he could. But a semi-naked eighteen-year-old Jasmine Tey had cornered him in his bedroom late one night and the sheer unexpectedness of it coupled with more than one glass of his host’s most excellent rice wine had rendered him momentarily incapable of sensible thought. ‘She was very young,’ he muttered defensively. ‘Very sweet. I was trying to let her down gently.’

‘You invented a wife,’ guessed Hallie. ‘And now you have to produce her.’

‘Exactly. Will you do it?’

‘Why not ask a woman you already know to help you out? She’d probably do it for free.’

‘Because then I’d have to dissuade her. Whereas you and I will have a business arrangement, a contractual obligation if you like, and once you’ve fulfilled that obligation, you leave.’

‘Ah.’

It was a very expressive ah.

‘Will you and your wife be staying with your associate and his family?’

Nick nodded. ‘They have a guest suite. And it’s only John Tey and his daughter. He’s a widower.’

‘Dining with them? Socializing? Getting to know them?’

‘All of that,’ he said.

Hallie Bennett leaned back in her chair and regarded him steadily. ‘That’s a lot of lies, Nick. Why don’t you just tell your distributor the truth? Maybe he’ll understand.’

‘Maybe.’ Nick didn’t have a good enough measure of the man to know. When it came to business, John Tey was cutthroat sharp. When it came to his daughter, the man was putty. ‘As far as I can see, John Tey gives his daughter everything she wants.’

‘I was raised by my father and four older brothers,’ countered Hallie. ‘Trust me, giving her what she wants won’t apply to men.’

She had a point.

‘Unless of course, your distributor decides that marrying his daughter off to you makes good business sense.’

‘Exactly. I can’t risk it.’ He didn’t want to marry Jasmine. He didn’t want to marry anyone just yet. And then the bulk of her earlier remarks about her family registered. ‘Four older brothers, you said.’

‘Not you too.’ Her voice was rich with feminine disdain. ‘Would it help if I told you they were all pacifists?’

‘Is it true?’ he asked hopefully.

‘No. But we were talking about you.’

‘You’re right. I need a wife for a week. It’ll be over so fast your brothers will never know. Will you do it?’ Nick waited as the waiter set their meals in front of them. Waited while she thanked the man, reached for her napkin and set it across her lap, her features relaxed, her expression noncommittal. She was more than he remembered from the shop. More vibrant. More thoughtful. Four brothers.

‘I’d need to know more about you than I do now,’ she said finally.

‘I’ll send you a fact file.’

‘I’m not a fact file person.’

Why was he not surprised?

‘No,’ she continued. ‘I’m more of a hands-on person. You’re going to have to show me where you live, where you work and what it is you do all day. That kind of thing.’

Nick groaned.

‘You can send me the fact file as well,’ she said with a placating smile. ‘I don’t suppose it can hurt. And we’re going to need some rules.’

‘What sort of rules?’ He wasn’t very good with rules. Probably not worth mentioning.

‘I want physical contact limited to public places,’ she said firmly.

‘No problem.’ His lips twitched.

‘And only when we have an audience.’

‘You’re absolutely right.’ At this rate she’d get through every sexual fantasy on his list before dessert. ‘What else?’

‘I’ll follow your lead but only within reason. I won’t be a simpering “yes” wife.’

‘But you will simper a little?’

Her chin came up, her eyes flashed warningly. ‘Can’t see it happening.’

‘Okay, I can see that simpering might be a stretch for you. Forget the simpering.’ He wouldn’t. ‘Can you do possessive?’

‘That I can do,’ she said. ‘You want the whole “hands-off-my-man”, slapping routine?’

‘No slapping,’ he said. ‘Ladies don’t slap.’

‘You never said anything about being ladylike.’

Fantasy number three. Damn she was good.

‘Oh, and there’s one more thing …’

‘There is?’ Every man had his limits and Nick had just reached his. His brain fogged, his blood headed south and he was thinking leather, possibly handcuffs, although where he was going to get handcuffs from was anyone’s guess. Silk then. No problem finding silk in Hong Kong.

‘Earth calling Nick?’ said Hallie in exasperation. She’d seen that glazed look before. Knew that Nick Cooper was definitely not thinking business. Men! They could never multitask. ‘Nick! Can you hear me?’

‘Oh I’m listening.’

He had the damnedest voice. The laziest smile. But this was a business arrangement. Business, no matter how tempting it was to think otherwise. ‘My return ticket stays with me.’

CHAPTER TWO

HALLIE COULDN’T QUITE REMEMBER whose idea it had been to tour Nick’s workplace after dinner, only that it had seemed a sensible suggestion at the time. Business, she reminded herself as they stepped from the restaurant out into the cool night air and he slipped his jacket around her shoulders. Strictly business, as she snuggled down into the warmth of his coat and breathed in the rich, masculine scent of him. The fact that his chivalrous gesture made her feel feminine and desirable was irrelevant. So was the fact that he was quirky and charming and thoroughly good company. This wasn’t a date, not a real one. This was business.

Nick’s office was only a couple of blocks away, familiar territory, this part of Chelsea, and they walked there in companionable silence.

‘I need to make a phone call,’ she said as Nick halted in front of a classy office block and unlocked the double doors that led through to a small but elegant foyer. ‘I’m sharing a house with one of my brothers at the moment. He’s a touch protective; he likes to know where I am if I’m out with someone new. I used to get annoyed with him. Nowadays I just tell him what he wants to know. No offence.’

‘None taken. It’s a smart move. Makes you a smart woman,’ said Nick.

Nice reply. Hallie pulled out her mobile and dialled Tris’s number, grateful when he picked up on the umpteenth ring. He told her he was fine and not to nag. She told him where she was and that she’d be back before midnight and disconnected fast, before he could give her the be careful speech.

Hallie slipped her phone back into her handbag. Nick ushered her into the lift, the doors closed, and it was intimate, very intimate in there. She cleared her throat, risked a glance. Impressive profile. Big feet. And an awareness between them that was so thick she could almost reach out and touch it, touch him, which wouldn’t be smart at all. He turned towards her and smiled that slow, easy smile that bypassed brains and headed straight for the senses, and then—

‘We’re here,’ he said, and the lift doors slid open.

Nick’s office suite was a visual explosion of colour and movement. Cartoon drawings covered every inch of available wall space; computers and scanners crammed every desk. There was a kitchenette full of coffee and cola; a plastic trout mounted above the microwave. The whole place was organised chaos and completely intriguing. ‘So how many people work here?’ she wanted to know.

‘Twelve, including me.’

‘Let me guess, they’re all men.’

‘Except for Fiona our secretary. Sadly she refuses to clean.’

‘I like her already.’

‘Figures,’ he said. ‘So does Clea. This is my office,’ he said, opening a door to a room that was surprisingly tidy.

‘What’s the basketball hoop for?’

‘Thinking.’

Right. ‘And the flat screen TV and recliner armchairs?’ There were two chairs, side by side, a metre or so back from the wall-mounted television.

‘Working.’

Ah. Why she’d expected a regular office with regular décor was beyond her. There was nothing the least bit ordinary about Nicholas Cooper. ‘So tell me more about this game of yours. Is it something I’d know all about if we were married?’

‘You’d know about it.’ Nick’s voice was rich with humour as he slid a disc into the gaming console and gestured towards an armchair. ‘If we really had been married these past three years you’d have banned all talk of it by now.’

That didn’t sound very wifely. ‘Couldn’t I have been supportive and encouraging?’

‘Sure you could. I was thinking realistically but we don’t have to do that. We can do fantasy instead.’

‘Hey, it’s your call. You’re the fantasy expert. By the way, how long did you tell your distributor you’d been married for?’

‘I didn’t.’ He slid her a glance. ‘I’m thinking a couple of months, maybe less. That way if we don’t know something about the other it won’t seem so odd.’

‘Works for me.’ And then the game came on. The opening music was suitably raucous, the female figure on the screen impressively funky. ‘Very nice,’ she said politely. ‘What does she do?’

‘Mostly she fights.’ He handed her a gaming handset. ‘Press a button, any button.’

Hallie pressed buttons at random and was rewarded by a flurry of kicks, spins and feminine grunts. Not, Hallie noted, that the figure on the screen even came close to raising a sweat. ‘Are those proportions anatomically possible?’ she wanted to know.

‘Not for earth women,’ said Nick. ‘Which she’s not. Xia here is from New Mars.’

‘New Mars, huh? I should have guessed. The clothes she’s almost wearing are a dead giveaway. Does she have a wardrobe change option?’

‘You want to change her clothes?’

‘Well, she can hardly kick Martian butt in six inch stilettos, now can she?

He stared.

Hallie sighed. ‘You’re losing credibility here, Nick.’

‘What did you do before you sold shoes?’ he wanted to know. ‘Bust balls?’

‘I worked a blackjack table at a casino in Sydney for a while.’

‘Why did you stop?’

‘I never saw sunlight.’

‘And before that?’

‘A brief stint washing dogs in a poodle parlour.’ The memory was dim but still worthy of a shudder. ‘Too many fleas.’

‘So are you actually trained in anything?’

‘I have a fine arts degree, if that counts for anything. And I’m halfway through a Sotheby’s diploma in East Asian Art. That’s why I came to London.’

‘Why East Asian Art?’

‘My father’s a history professor with a particular interest in dynasty ceramics and I hung out in his workshop when I was a kid, read all his books.’ It had been the crazy-cracks in the glazes that had first captured her interest. The rich history behind each of the pieces had held it.

‘So you’re following in your father’s footsteps. He must be proud of you.’

‘No, mostly my father ignores me. I learn anyway. I can spot a fake dynasty vase at fifty paces. In fact I’m absolutely certain the Ming in the Museum of London’s a fake.’

He stared.

‘All right, ninety percent certain.’

‘So why aren’t you finishing your diploma?’

‘I will be. Just as soon as I earn enough money for my last two semesters.’

‘By selling shoes?’

‘It’s a job, isn’t it?’ she said defensively. ‘Interesting, well paid jobs are hard to come by when you’re a student. Employers know you’re just filling a gap.’

‘Couldn’t you ask your family to help out?’

‘No.’ Her voice was cool; he’d touched a nerve. Her brothers would have lent her the money. Hell, they’d wanted to give her the money and so had her father for that matter, but she’d refused them all. Little Miss Independent, and it galled her that they hadn’t understood why she’d refused. None of her brothers had taken money from anyone when they’d started out. She was staying with Tris because there was more than enough room for her in his home and because London rentals were outrageously expensive. That was all the help she was prepared to accept.

No, money for nothing wasn’t her style at all. But ten thousand pounds for a week’s work … a week’s fairly unorthodox and demanding work … Well now, that was a different matter altogether.

‘How much do you need to complete your studies?’ he asked curiously.

‘Ten thousand pounds plus money to live on. But I’ve already saved five so with your ten thousand I figure I’ve got it covered.’

‘And then what?’ he said. ‘Then will you roam the world in search of ancient artefacts and long lost oriental treasure?’

‘Yeah, just like Lara Croft and Indiana Jones,’ she said, heavy on the sarcasm. ‘You know, maybe you need to get out more. You might just be spending too much time in fantasy land.’

‘See? I knew it wouldn’t take long before you started sounding like a real wife,’ he countered with a grin. ‘Don’t you want to be a Tomb Raider?’

Sure she did. She just didn’t think it very likely. And as for sounding like a nagging wife … Hah! Wait till she really put her mind to it. ‘Right now I’m thinking I want to be Xia here because she’s really good at this alien butt-kicking business, isn’t she? What does she get if she wins?’

‘Points.’

‘Points as in money? Does she get to shop afterwards?’

‘Only for a new weapon.’

‘What, no plastic surgery? Because I really think a breast reduction is a must here.’

‘Our target demographic is teenage boys.’

‘I’d never have guessed.’

‘Besides, there’s nothing wrong with her breasts; those are excellent breasts. Fantasy breasts.’

Hallie sighed.

‘Not that yours aren’t very nice too,’ Nick added politely.

‘Mine are real,’ she said dryly, slanting him a sideways glance. ‘Completely real. Just in case anyone should ask.’

‘I’m very impressed.’ His eyes were blue, very blue, and his smile was pure pirate. ‘Because they look to be in excellent shape. I should probably take a closer look; acquire a real feel for them so to speak. I’m not a fact-file person either.’

‘Is your distributor’s daughter watching?’ she countered smoothly, even as her breasts tingled and her nipples tightened at the thought of him touching her. ‘Are we in a public place?’

‘Sadly, no.’ And through eyes half closed, his attention back on the screen, ‘Man I love kinky women.’

Oh, boy. ‘So what’s in this game for us girls?’ she said hastily. ‘Other than this very cool vibrating controller.’

‘Shang.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Shang. Paladin princeling.’

Nick flicked back to the main menu and a male figure appeared on the screen. He had dark, carelessly cut hair, an exotic face, a tough lean bod, and was no slouch in the ammunition department either. ‘Is that a gun in his pocket or is he just glad to see me?’

Now it was Nick’s turn to sigh. ‘You’re not taking this seriously.’

‘It’s a game, Nick. I’m not meant to.’

‘You’re right, you’re not. My mistake. I’m the one who has to take it seriously. My people have spent three years developing this platform, Hallie, and now it’s up to me to market it. I can’t afford to make mistakes. Not with John Tey, not with his daughter. That’s where you come in.’

‘Call me naive when it comes to big business but I think lying to a potential business partner about your marital status is a mistake,’ Hallie felt obliged to point out.

‘You sound like my conscience,’ he muttered. ‘If you have a plan C let’s hear it.’

‘Ah, well, I don’t currently have a plan C.’

‘Pity.’

He looked tired, sounded wistful. As if having to deceive John Tey really didn’t sit well with him. Sympathy washed over her and all of a sudden she wanted to slide on over to his recliner and comfort him. Weave her hands through that dark, tousled hair, touch her mouth to his and feel the passion slide through her and the heat start to build as she feasted on that clever, knowing mouth and – Whoa! Stop right there. Because that wasn’t sympathy.

That was lust.

‘What?’ He was looking at her strangely.

‘Indigestion,’ she said. ‘I think it was something I ate. Probably the clams.’

‘Probably the situation,’ he said. ‘What’s it to be Hallie? Are you in or out?’

Hallie hesitated, tempted to say yes. Not for the adventure, the excitement, or the money but so that she could spend more time with Nick. The same Nick who was prepared to pay her ten thousand pounds so that at the end of the charade she’d leave.

A sensible woman would refuse him now and save herself the heartbreak, the genuine heartbreak, that was bound to come if a woman was careless enough to fall for him. A smart woman would sigh over that Hermès handbag, maybe even spend a minute or two imagining what it would look like on her arm, but in the end she’d turn away. That was what she should do.

What she said was, ‘Do you believe in destiny, Nick? Do you believe in fate?’

‘Only as a last resort. Why?’

‘I think we should let the game decide. Xia and Shang against the Martians. If we win we go to Hong Kong as man and wife. If we lose, you throw yourself on the tender mercies of Mr Tey and spill your guts.’

‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’

She was.

‘Deal,’ he said, and the fighting began.

Two murderous hours later it was decided. They were going to Hong Kong.

CHAPTER THREE

JASMINE TEY HAD ALMOST conquered her habit of stiffening with apprehension every time someone mentioned Nicholas Cooper’s name. It had taken a while. Two weeks, to be exact, and it had been a month since she’d last seen him. So much could happen in a month. New memories could replace excruciatingly embarrassing ones. Selective amnesia could happen, not that it had …

Not that it could with Kai standing in the kitchen telling her that Nick was coming back next week to finish his business dealings with her father.

And bringing his wife.

Jasmine would never have done what she did had she known about his wife.

‘So, are they staying here or downtown?’ she asked in what she hoped was a disinterested voice.

‘Here.’

‘Oh.’

‘You enjoyed Nick’s visit last time,’ said Kai mildly.

Yes, she had. Nicholas Cooper had been fun to have around. His eyes had so often been crinkled and smiling. He’d been careful to include Jasmine in his conversations and he’d paid attention to her opinions whenever she’d voiced them. She’d taken it as encouragement.

So heady, Nick’s attention.

So stupid, what she’d done next.

She’d gone to Nick’s room one night and waited for him. Not naked, nothing so shameful as that, but she’d waited, hands twisting, breathless with anticipation. She wanted to know what a man’s lips would feel like against hers. She ached for the slide of warm hands around her waist. She’d wanted someone to want her and there were so few some-ones in her sheltered world to choose from.

She’d wanted Kai to notice that Nicholas Cooper had treated her like a woman rather than a girl.

She’d been such a fool.

Nick had stepped into the guest room, taken one look at her standing to one side of the window and blanched.

He’d stammered something about leaving his computer downstairs and needing to go and get it.

‘Wait,’ she’d said. ‘I didn’t mean—I don’t mean to offend.’ She’d looked pleadingly at him. ‘I thought—’

She’d thought he might like to take their friendship further.

‘Jasmine.’ Nick’s voice had cut across hers, low and urgent. ‘God help me if I’ve given you the wrong impression, I never meant to, but if it’s romance that you want from me … I’m sorry, but I can’t.’

Humiliation had coursed through her, fierce and all consuming.

‘You’re a lovely girl,’ he’d continued. You are. And I’m honoured. And flattered. Very flattered. Really.’

He hadn’t looked flattered. He’d looked completely aghast and Jasmine had felt the hot prick of tears behind her eyes. ‘Is there something lacking in me?’ she’d found the courage to ask and he’d shaken his head and gone two shades paler.

‘No,’ he’d said. ‘No. Don’t go there; it’s not you. Don’t ever think that. I just—can’t. Jasmine, I’m married.’

Jasmine had fled his room after that and Nick had left the following day on urgent business, with enough speed to make her father frown and wonder about the merits of doing business with flighty Englishmen. Kai had just looked at her, one eyebrow raised, and Jasmine had blushed hard and looked away.

Kai didn’t know what she’d done. He merely suspected that she’d done something.

‘Jasmine?’ Kai’s voice came to her, soft, as always, and threaded through with steel. As always. ‘Something bothering you?’

‘No. Nothing,’ she said and followed through with a restrained nod and a half-smile. Too much reaction and Kai would know there was something wrong. He knew her reactions, all of them.

And she knew his.

‘Your father would like you to entertain Mrs Cooper while she’s here.’

‘Of course,’ she said. It wasn’t the first time her father had called on her to help entertain his guests. ‘You have the dates?’

Kai gave them to her and she nodded again and turned back to the stir fry she was preparing. ‘Would you like some?’ she asked, knowing that once upon a time Kai would have helped her with the cooking and thought nothing of sitting down to a meal with her in her father’s kitchen. Not so these days, and with Kai’s retreat came a loneliness that went bone- deep.

‘No, I’m going out.’

‘Oh.’ Oh, of course. ‘It’s Valentine’s Day.’ Of course he would be going out. All the beautiful people went parading on Valentine’s Day. Just because Kai had never brought a woman back to his apartment over the garage … just because he’d never introduced Jasmine to anyone … that didn’t mean he didn’t have a special friend. ‘I hope you brought her a big bunch of flowers.’

‘What?’ Kai looked momentarily puzzled.

‘Flowers. For your date. For Valentine’s Day. I hear it’s best to give them in public, and then you walk somewhere with her, while she’s holding them in her arms so that everyone can see how highly regarded she is. And you need a really big bunch.’ Kai was looking at her strangely. ‘What?’