Red-Hot Renegade

‘It’s usually a variation on “I’ve met this woman and she’s messing with my head.’”

‘Well, I haven’t met this woman,’ said Jianne, and lapsed into silence.

‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘Are you safe?’

‘I’m outside your dojo,’ she said, with a quiet dignity that only Jianne could wield. ‘And I’d like to come in.’

He was at the door within moments, opening it and stepping back to allow her entry, glancing past her to see what trouble might have followed in her wake, but the street was quiet, and the faces on it familiar ones. He shut the door behind her and turned around warily.

She looked breathtaking in a lemon coloured sundress that fell in soft waves to her knees. Her hair had been pulled back from her face with ebony combs, and she clutched her handbag in front of her like a shield.

He gestured for her to precede him through the entrance foyer and on into the training hall, and closed his eyes and prayed for mercy when he saw the length of her hair. She’d kept it long, a glossy rippling river than ran almost to the base of her spine. Once upon a time, Jianne’s hair had framed their lovemaking like a silken shroud. It still would.

His body approved of the notion, even as his mind shied away from it. Surely he’d learned his lesson the last time Jianne had come into his life? Some things were simply too fragile for a man like him to touch.

‘What did he do?’ he said harshly, bringing his thoughts back to now and the possible reasons for Jianne’s visit. ‘Your unwanted beau.’

‘How do you know that’s why I’m here?’ she said as he walked her through the training hall and out into the tiny kitchen area. He didn’t have a sitting room. He didn’t have a rec room either. Just a few sparsely furnished bedrooms out back for occasional guests and visiting students, and a loftlike crib of his own above the training hall.

‘Why else would you be here?’ he countered. ‘Last night you considered my company the greater of two evils. This morning, here you are. The balance has changed and I didn’t tip it. So what did he do?’

‘You always tip the balance, Jacob. It’s what you do.’ She looked at the shabby table and chairs and remained standing.

‘You want to sit?’ he offered, belatedly remembering Jianne’s reliance on protocols and manners and his general lack of them. ‘Something to drink?’

Jianne sat at his shabby Formica table. She decided against refreshment. Jake crossed his arms, leaned against the counter and waited.

‘He’s here,’ she said quietly. ‘Zhi Fu. An invitation arrived from him this morning to his house party here in Singapore.’

‘So he followed you.’ Jake didn’t like this latest development but, given the man’s obsession with Jianne, he wasn’t overly surprised. ‘You had to have known it was a possibility.’

‘I had hoped Zhi’s business ties would prevent it,’ she murmured. ‘I was counting on it.’

‘So what now?’ he asked somewhat more gently.

Jianne shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I was going to refuse his invitation, I always refuse his invitations, but then my uncle suggested that a stronger message might be warranted. He suggested I attend Zhi’s house-warming party. With you.’

‘Aggressive,’ murmured Jake. ‘I like it.’

A tiny smile from Jianne. ‘You would.’

‘Was that a compliment?’ he asked silkily. ‘I don’t think it was.’

‘Suit yourself,’ she murmured. ‘The thing is I find myself in need of a protector. A Shaolin in the purest sense, and I’ve only ever come across one of those in my lifetime. You. Zhi Fu’s here in Singapore. He’s renting the home directly across the road from my aunt and uncle’s house. He’ll be able to monitor my every move, just as he did back in Shanghai.’

Protectiveness kicked in hard, and with it a cold hard rage at the man’s predatory behaviour.

‘My uncle thinks that getting my own place in some other part of Singapore would be unwise,’ continued Jianne. ‘He thinks Zhi Fu would follow.’

‘Your uncle’s probably right.’ Jake eyed her steadily, noting the shadows beneath her eyes, and trying not to notice the curve of her cheek or those crushed rosebud lips. ‘Have you considered taking out a restraining order on him?’

‘He’d have to threaten me before I could do that. As I said last night, he never does anything wrong. Not in the eyes of the law.’ Jianne gave a weary shrug, her expression beyond bleak. ‘You don’t know what he’s like. He’s very very good at winning people over to his way of thinking. He’ll be charming and helpful and invoke guanxi and then they’ll be his. That’s what he does. It’s how he wins. He gives people nowhere else to go but to him.’

‘How long has this been going on?’ She didn’t answer. ‘Jianne?’ he said more gently.

‘Five years,’ she said, with an alarming tremor in her voice. ‘It took a while for me to realise what he was doing and how he was doing it. My father called me crazy at first, and then he too got caught up in Zhi Fu’s web. My father doesn’t think I’m crazy any more, only now there’s nothing he can do about it. I’m so sick of there being nothing anyone can do about it. I want my life back. I want to fight this.’ Her chin rose stubbornly. ‘I want to win.’

‘What do you want from me, Ji? You want me to accompany you to his house party? I’ll do it. What else?’

‘I want him to think we’re in the process of renewing our relationship.’ Hot colour stained Jianne’s cheeks but she held his gaze. ‘I want you to give off signals that we’re…that you’re…’

‘Protective?’ he offered gruffly.

‘That too.’

Jake Bennett had never considered himself a twice-cursed man. Until now. ‘What else?’

‘I can’t stay at my uncle’s any more, knowing Zhi could be watching every move I make. I can’t.’ Twelve years ago Jianne’s calm reserve had seemed to run soul deep. Either she’d come out of her shell somewhat over the intervening years or she was deeply spooked by Zhi Fu’s latest move. ‘I need a place to stay. Somewhere that fits with the overall plan. Somewhere I can feel safe.’

She looked at him then and he knew, he just knew what was coming next. ‘Oh, no,’ he said. ‘No,’ and ran his hands through his hair for good measure. ‘You can’t be thinking of staying here.’

‘Madeline says you have a row of rooms out the back that you put people in.’

‘Yes, but…have you seen them? We’re talking no frills here, Jianne. Not one.’

‘I don’t need much.’

‘No cook, no maid, just me and Po and four or five karate classes a day, starting at six and running through until late. The kid hardly sleeps. Sometimes if I’m awake we’ll train during the night. And this is the kitchen. It’s also the dining room, lounge room, and Po’s study.’

She stared at him steadily.

He couldn’t believe she thought this would work. That they could make it work. Escorting her here and there on occasion was one thing, but this…‘Wait till you see the bathrooms.’

‘If you don’t want me here, just say so,’ she said calmly. ‘It’s a lot to ask of you. An invasion of your privacy that makes going through your wallet look like child’s play. I know that. I will understand if you say no, Jacob.’

‘And if I do say no?’ he countered. ‘Where will you go?’

She had no answer for that.

‘You won’t like it here. There’s no softness here,’ he warned her one last time. ‘It’s sweaty and hot and noisy and raw. The street is two steps away. It’s not a particularly peaceful street.’

‘I’ll manage.’

He couldn’t believe he was even considering her request. Thinking forward to where to put her and how best to protect her. He paced the tiny kitchen with growing agitation. He scowled for good measure. She looked like a fragile fairy-tale princess. Snow White in need of a haven. He, on the other hand, was wearing black track sweats, a ratty grey T-shirt, and he wasn’t wearing shoes. Where the hell were a bunch of pickaxe-toting dwarves when you needed them?

‘Come with me,’ he muttered and led her up a narrow staircase to one side of the training floor, and opened the door to his crib.

It was spacious. Space he had in spades, which was something of a luxury in Singapore. A huge expanse of polished wooden floorboard covering an area the same size as the training hall below. A bed made up with white sheets, a navy-coloured coverlet and a couple of pillows graced the far corner. He’d had a shower and toilet plumbed into the opposite corner, with a half-wall and a makeshift screen providing some semblance of privacy. A highset band of slatted warehouse windows ran the length of both longways walls. He’d covered one of those walls with a row of silk tapestries depicting a battle scene, heavy on the death and destruction. A reading chair, a reading lamp, and a not-quite-straight bookshelf crammed with books completed the tableau. Narrow storage space behind the far wall hid his belongings and his clothes.