The Trouble with Valentine's

‘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?’

‘How do you know all this?’

The question stung, mainly because of all the things he didn’t say. You’ve only ever been on one date, and that was arranged by your father and the boy in question never asked for another, he could have said. And you’ve certainly never been given a gift on Valentine’s Day. He could have said that too. Instead, he’d gone with ‘How do you know all this?’ and shamed her anyway.

‘I see what people do,’ she offered tightly. ‘I know what’s expected. Just because—

Just because she’d never had a proper boyfriend and barely knew kisses …

‘Just go,’ she said.

But Kai had never been one to take orders – at least, not from her. He stood there watching her; so many secrets behind those beautiful black eyes. Kai had been her bodyguard for eight years now, ever since she was eleven, and there’d never not been secrets in those eyes.

Nicholas Cooper’s laughing blue eyes had been refreshingly devoid of secrets.

Well … except for the fact that he had a wife.

‘It’s not a Valentine’s Day date,’ Kai offered finally. ‘I don’t have a Valentine. I’m not buying flowers. I’m going to watch a martial arts demonstration. Wing Chun style versus Aikido.’

‘Oh.’ The bean shoots were burning. Jasmine turned down the heat and gave the food another stir. ‘May I accompany you?’

‘It’ll be hot and crowded.’

This was Hong Kong. It often was. ‘I don’t mind. I wouldn’t treat it like a Valentine’s Day outing, or anything. I mean—that’s not how I think of you. At all.’

Much.

Kai just looked at her and then with a flicker of something in his beautiful black eyes, he looked away.

‘No, Jasmine,’ he told her quietly. ‘The answer’s no.’

Hallie’s bedside phone was ringing. She rolled across the bed, arm outstretched, groping wildly. Because no way on earth were her eyes going to open at this hour. She’d spent most of last night watching bad action adventure movies with Tris. She’d planned on a ten a.m. wake-up time, minimum. It wasn’t ten a.m. It was still dark, not even dawn. She found the phone, found her ear. ‘‘Lo,’ she mumbled.

‘Can you get some time off work this afternoon?’

‘Nick?’

‘Yes. Nick.’ He sounded impatient.

‘Couldn’t this have waited till morning?’ she mumbled.

‘It is morning. Were you still in bed?’

Hallie slitted her eyes open to glance at the glowing red numbers of her bedside clock. Five-fifty! A.m! Ugh, he was a morning person. The notion was going to take some time to digest. She held the receiver to her breast and took several deep breaths before putting it back to her ear. ‘Nick, it’s the weekend. I have one day off a week and this is it and there’d better be a good reason for this call. What do you want?’

‘To let you know we have an appointment at Tiffany’s at two this afternoon to get your rings.’

‘Rings?’ Hallie’s eyes snapped open. ‘Tiffany’s? As in Tiffany and Co. the jewellers?’ She was wide awake.

‘Wedding ring, engagement ring. It’ll be expected. The manager of the store on Old Bond Street’s a friend of mine; he’s going to let me borrow some pieces,’ said Nick. ‘After that we’ll go shopping. You’ll need suitable clothes as well.’

Shopping for clothes? This coming from the lips of a man? ‘You’re gay, aren’t you?’

‘No,’ he said, with a smile in his voice that curled her toes.

‘Cross dresser?’

‘Nope.’

‘Have you been drinking?’

‘Nor am I drunk.’ Exasperation in his voice this time, giving her toes a chance to relax. ‘The way we present ourselves in Hong Kong is going to be important and I’m guessing there’s nothing in your wardrobe that’s suitable.’

‘Suitable how?’ she snapped as visions of tailored suits and pillbox hats floated through her mind. ‘You’re going to dress me up like Jackie Kennedy, aren’t you? You’re having make-over fantasies!’

‘I wasn’t until now.’ The smile was back in his voice; yep, there went her toes. ‘And I’m not thinking First Lady exactly but we can’t have you looking like Marilyn Monroe either.’

She should have been insulted. Would have been except that this was a sex goddess he was comparing her to. ‘Who’s paying for these clothes?’

‘I am. Consider it a perk.’

‘I love this job,’ said Hallie. ‘I’m in. Two o’clock sharp at the jewellers. Oh, and Nick?’

‘What?’