‘If you want to kiss me and make people think we’re together again, now’s the time,’ he muttered.

‘Are you sure?’

‘No, but do it anyway.’

Sometimes it simply suited a woman to do as she was told.

The touch of a tongue, the remembrance of a taste once savoured and never forgotten. One stunningly erotic kiss to fill the need inside her. One steamy open-mouthed caress to make all those years of loneliness fade away. She wanted that from him.

She took it.

Jake thought he could control this. Here on the pavement in front of strangers Jake figured he could curtail his response to the woman who’d once held his heart. But he hadn’t counted on Jianne’s absolute surrender to the moment. The way she fed the passion that flared between them. Savoured it. Savoured him. With lips and with tongue and a single-mindedness that left no room for holding back. The deeper he fell, the hungrier he got, and the more she gave—until finally he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, his heart thundering and his senses reeling from her taste.

He closed his eyes and kept them closed. Kept one of his senses firmly closed to her as he struggled to regain his mind and some small measure of control. ‘Put your helmet on,’ he whispered. ‘We’re leaving.’

Red-Hot Renegade

By

Kelly Hunter

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Accidentally educated in the sciences, Kelly Hunter has always had a weakness for fairytales, fantasy worlds, and losing herself in a good book. Husband…yes. Children…two boys. Cooking and cleaning…sigh. Sports…no, not really—in spite of the best efforts of her family. Gardening…yes. Roses, of course. Kelly was born in Australia and has travelled extensively. Although she enjoys living and working in different parts of the world, she still calls Australia home. Visit Kelly online at www.kellyhunter.net

Kelly’s novel SLEEPING PARTNER was a 2008 finalist for the Romance Writers of America RITA® award, in the Best Contemporary Series Romance category!

Recent books by the same author:

UNTAMEABLE ROGUE

*REVEALED: A PRINCE AND A PREGNANCY

*EXPOSED: MISBEHAVING WITH THE MAGNATE

PLAYBOY BOSS, LIVE-IN MISTRESS

TAKEN BY THE BAD BOY

SLEEPING PARTNER

Dear Reader

My first Mills & Boon®, WIFE FOR A WEEK, featured a heroine with four over-protective big brothers. That heroine helped launch a new editorial stream called Modern Heat™. Those brothers helped keep my writing on track, and every now and then one of them would declare his story ready to be told. I left the hardest story ‘til last, but eventually I took a deep breath and put Jake on the page.

Did I save the best ‘til last? I suspect I did.

Am I a little wistful now that Jake’s story has finally been told and there are no more Bennett stories left to write? I am.

But mostly I’m just thrilled that readers enjoyed the stories and that I had the opportunity to finish what I’d started.

With thanks

Kelly Hunter

The five titles in the Bennett Family series are:

WIFE FOR A WEEK

PRICELESS

TAKEN BY THE BAD BOY

HONOURABLE ROGUE

RED-HOT RENEGADE

Chapter One

IT was all about saving face. From the tailor-made dinner suit and austere white dress shirt he wore, to the antique gold cufflinks at his wrists, to his hard-won air of indifference. Every breath Jake Bennett took this evening was directed towards getting through his brother’s engagement party without incident and with honour intact.

‘Where’s your tie?’ murmured his soon-to-be sister-in-law as she stopped beside him, her eyes sharp and her smile wry. ‘The one I gave you earlier this evening. The one you’re not wearing.’

‘In my pocket.’ Where it was staying.

Not what Madeline Mercy Delacourte wanted to hear. ‘Something wrong with it?’ she enquired ever so sweetly.

‘Maddy, it’s lilac.’ He liked Madeline. He did. But lately she’d gone a little insane.

‘It’s lilac for a reason, Jacob. Seriously, if you looked any more formidable this evening I wouldn’t have any guests left.’

‘Well, I try,’ he murmured. ‘And stop trying to corrupt my apprentice.’

‘Po?’ Maddy’s eyes narrowed with concern. ‘What’s he done?’

‘You want to know what I found in the dojo showers this afternoon?’

‘Xena warrior princess?’

‘Soap.’

‘The horror.’

‘Lavender soap. Little squares of it, imprinted with fat naked cherubs. Have you any idea what sort of message soap like that sends a class full of black belts?’ A snigger from Madeline. Clearly she did. Clearly Jake’s formidable façade needed work. ‘Po said he got them from you.’

A peal of laughter this time. ‘Sorry,’ murmured Madeline once she’d managed to collect herself. ‘Have you enlightened Po as to the soap’s unsuitability for that particular bastion of rampant masculinity?’

‘I thought you might have a word with him.’

‘What? And deny you the opportunity? What sort of future sister-in-law would I be if I did that?’

‘A helpful one?’

‘That’s me,’ she said. ‘I’m all about the help. Tell you what. You manage a smile in the next twenty minutes and I’ll find Po and talk soap. Deal?’

‘Deal,’ he said and smiled.

‘Damn,’ she said, and Jake’s smile widened.

Shooting him a decidedly dirty glare, Madeline swanned off to mingle with the elegant throng gathered in the glittering cocktail bar of Singapore’s Delacourte Hotel.

That Madeline and Luke’s engagement needed to be celebrated in such moneyed style was a function of Madeline’s insane wealth and of a society that expected such an introduction to her betrothed as their due. The proud presentation of family, the underlying tow of big business, and, most importantly, the forging of profitable alliances—all would take place here tonight. Singapore demanded no less of its inhabitants and, for the chance to do business and grow rich here, Singaporeans willingly paid the price.

As far as the proud presentation of family was concerned, the Bennett siblings and their partners were here en masse. Tristan and Erin had flown in from Sydney. Hallie and Nick and their month-old daughter had arrived this morning from London. Serena and Pete had flown in from Greece early afternoon and hit the ground running. Serena was currently immersed in the crowd somewhere. As for Pete, he’d just moved silently into position at Jake’s side.

Did they think he hadn’t noticed the way they were shielding him? The way they’d taken it in turns to keep him company all evening? Monitoring his mindset and his attitude and heaven knew what else. Fussing over him, as if he couldn’t be trusted to take care of himself?

It was enough to give a man a stabbing headache.

‘Look,’ he said to Pete as another ripple in the evening air announced the arrival of yet more guests to the party. ‘I’m fine. Everything’s under control. She’s not even here.’

‘Nice if you were right,’ said Pete with a heavy sigh. ‘But you’re not. Jianne’s just arrived, along with her aunt and uncle if Luke’s description of them is anything to go by.’

Jianne’s aunt being married to Madeline’s most powerful business partner.

Jianne having recently settled in Singapore and Madeline having met her and taken a liking to her.

Jianne Xang-Bennett.

Jake’s estranged wife.

‘You want a beer?’ asked Pete.

‘No.’

‘Something stronger?’

‘Later.’ A prickling sensation at the back of his neck almost caused Jake to turn around and see for himself what twelve years’ worth of living apart had wrought in his wife, but he resisted the notion as he’d resisted the thought of alcoholic fortification and endured the sensation of being observed as best he could.

Pete nodded unsmilingly, his piercing blue gaze stabbing across Jake’s shoulder. ‘She’s seen us.’

This was not news.

‘Madeline’s herding her towards Hallie and the baby,’ continued Pete as the prickling sensation at the back of Jake’s neck subsided and silvery laughter graced the room. ‘What is it with women and babies?’

‘Says the man whose niece had to be prised from his arms earlier this evening a full hour after she’d fallen asleep.’

‘Hey, just because she fell asleep on me and not you,’ said Pete. ‘Face it, you haven’t got the touch. Besides, it was my turn.’ More of that deliciously female laughter sounded in the background. ‘Jianne’s becoming better acquainted with our niece. Her niece too, come to think of it. You probably don’t want to look.’

‘You’re probably right.’ But Jake did turn and look, and cursed himself for his weakness as the image of an older, breathtakingly beautiful Jianne arrowed into his brain.

She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Flawless skin, with an abundance of glossy black hair piled high on her head, Jianne had been built slender and carried with her an air of innocent sweetness that Jake had worked hard to forget. Beauty aside, Jianne Xang had also been born into a family whose personal wealth surpassed that of small countries. A minor detail she’d neglected to mention until after they were married.

Not that he was resentful or anything.

It was just that had he known her background he’d have thought twice before asking her to share his common life. Too sheltered for the household full of motherless half-wild siblings that had been in Jake’s care. Too gentle to cope with the rawness of their emotions and his. They’d broken her.

He’d broken her.

It was a wonder she’d stayed as long as she had.

It wasn’t curiosity that made Jake keep watching her. Curiosity was a mild emotion, easily mastered. This need to drink down every tiny detail of Jianne’s appearance clawed at him with the strength of hauntings too long denied.

Jake watched in silence as baby Layla waved tiny fists at Jianne from the safety of her mother’s embrace. Jianne’s rosebud lips curved. Hallie said something and Jianne looked up, startled, and shook her head. No. Whatever the question, the answer was no.

He wanted to look away. He would look away. Soon.

And then Jianne turned her head and looked straight at him through the eyes of an enchantress. Dark as night and deeper than oceans, the western tilt to them a legacy from a great-grandmother who’d been half British on the outside, but on the inside wholly Chinese. Just like Jianne.

Jianne’s smile faltered. Jake couldn’t even begin to summon his.

He was only vaguely aware that beside him one brother growled beneath his breath, and that across the room another had stilled.

And then Luke stepped into the line of sight between them, bearing orange juice for Hallie and champagne for his guest. Attentive host or the first line of defence? Jake didn’t much care. The manoeuvre allowed him to breathe and regroup and smile tightly at Pete, who refused to smile back.

How long would he have to endure this party now that Jianne and her family had arrived? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? Because he didn’t belong here in this rarefied world of extreme wealth and ever so polite society. He suffered it, that was all, while the beast inside him paced its cage and craved escape.

He looked to the vast wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, wishing for wings and for freedom from duty. He looked for a service entrance, another way out, though he knew he wouldn’t take it.

He needed to get this over with. Meeting Jianne. Conversing with her. A polite ‘how are you’—nothing less would do. An honest ‘you’re looking well’. Small talk about the weather. Something. Anything. And then he’d ask her the question that had taken hold of him and wouldn’t let go until he got an answer.

‘I told Madeline and Hallie that this was never going to work,’ said Pete from his post at Jake’s side. ‘I argued this not insignificant point at length but did they listen? No.’

‘I’m fine,’ said Jake, squaring his shoulders as the prickling sensation between his shoulders beleaguered him once more. ‘Everything’s fine.’

Pete scowled his dissent. But he said no more.

They were all of them here—the Bennett siblings Jianne had once tried to nurture as if they were her own. Every last one of them, here in this room. Jianne had hoped, had clung to the hope, that time and maturity on her part would lessen the daunting impact they had on her, but that wasn’t to be. Jianne watched them exchange glances at the sight of her. She watched them move to protect what was theirs.

Jacob, the centre. The heart of this family. The strength, first son.

First love.

The man she’d once given her body to and with it her heart and her soul.

Jacob, with his back turned towards her.

Current husband, a dozen years estranged.

They didn’t know, no one knew, how hard it was to put one foot in front of the other and enter that room with her composure in place. Timid rabbits had no place in a room full of watchful waiting tigers. Not if they wanted to survive.

I’m not a rabbit. Not a rabbit. Jianne closed her eyes and let the silent litany wash through her before opening her eyes again and pasting a smile on her face as her aunt and uncle moved to her side and Madeline came forward to greet them. Madeline welcomed Jianne’s aunt and uncle first, hierarchy understood and respect given, before turning to Jianne and drawing her into a perfumed embrace.

‘You look stunning,’ said Madeline approvingly.

‘Thank you.’ The strapless floor-length ivory and blood-red gown, made from the finest silk, was a gown meant for extroverts, not wallflowers. The saleswoman had assured her that the wearing of such a gown would give Jianne all the confidence she needed and more, no matter how awkward the social encounter. The saleswoman had been dead wrong. ‘I shouldn’t have come,’ murmured Jianne. ‘This wasn’t a good idea.’

‘Stay,’ coaxed Madeline softly. ‘I happen to think it’s a very good idea. Come, I’ll introduce you to the newest Bennett warrior. The Bennett uncles are still in shock.’ Smiles came easily to Madeline these days, and Jianne made an effort to respond in kind. ‘It’s a girl.’

Baby Layla was a tiny darling with sapphire-blue eyes, alabaster skin, and a shock of auburn hair. Hard to stay distant when a baby smiled a toothless smile and promptly filled her mouth with her fist.

‘Layla, this is your auntie Jianne,’ said Hallie with a courtesy Jianne hadn’t expected. And to Ji, ‘Would you like to hold her?’

‘Me?’ Jianne blinked. ‘Yes! I mean, no! I mean…what if she cries? That wouldn’t be good.’ A vision of her cradling a wailing Layla while all around her wrathful Bennett uncles closed in on them was not an image she wanted to make reality. ‘Your brothers would descend.’

‘They wouldn’t dare,’ said Hallie, shooting at least two of them a warning glare. ‘They promised me their best behaviour this evening and there are wives enough here to ensure it.’

The notion that those wild-edged Bennett boys had finally allowed themselves to be tamed held a great deal of appeal for Jianne, but as she glanced away from baby Layla and scanned the room she figured Hallie’s statement for optimism rather than reality.

Tristan watched her coolly from his position by the window. Pete stood beside Jacob, his expression grim. As for Jake…Jacob wasn’t looking her way at all, and because of it Jianne allowed her gaze to linger.

Jacob’s suit clung to broad shoulders, powerful legs, and a lean and elegant torso—a testament to the glories of dedicating oneself to the martial arts. His hair was still thick and black and cropped shorter than ever. The lines and planes of his profile had grown sharper but it was still a face to put angels to shame.

From him came an almost visible aura of raw power kept on an incredibly tight leash. Undiluted power had always been an intrinsic part of Jacob’s make-up.

The leash was new.

She looked away, just for a moment, just to regroup, and when she looked back Jacob’s gaze clashed with hers, those vivid blue eyes of his coldly dismissive and his face set and stern. Jianne stilled, a rabbit caught in a hunter’s crosshairs. She wasn’t wanted here. She didn’t belong here. She’d been wrong to come.

‘Stay.’ A broad-shouldered man stepped in front of her and broke her eye contact with Jacob. Luke Bennett, Madeline’s intended, those golden eyes of his warmly encouraging as he handed her a glass of champagne. ‘Please.’

‘Please,’ echoed Hallie anxiously. ‘Jake needs to see you again. He does. He just…he doesn’t quite know it yet.’

‘Perhaps you could give me a call when he does,’ said Jianne with a strained smile. ‘I really don’t see what a forced meeting will achieve. Not harmony.’

‘Harmony’s overrated,’ said Luke. ‘Occasionally it’s best just to step back and let it all explode.’

‘Luke defuses bombs,’ said Hallie by way of explanation. ‘Or not.’

‘I’m sure you know what you’re doing,’ Jianne told Luke politely. ‘Just as I’m sure you know what happens to those at the centre of such explosions.’

‘We can protect you,’ said Luke.

‘I don’t doubt it.’ Certainty enveloped her and firmed her footing. Here at last in this place that glowed with new life and promise was old familiar ground. ‘But you won’t.’ They’d act instinctively to shield the one they loved. They’d shield Jacob. And Jianne would bleed.

‘Trust us,’ said Luke.

But Jianne was no longer the hopeful young bride who’d once thought she could shower love on a wild and broken family and receive love in return. ‘Trust must be earned,’ she countered quietly.

‘All right, don’t trust us.’ Grim determination replaced Luke’s earlier encouragement. ‘But stay, and watch us do everything we can to make you feel welcome here this evening.’

Jianne stayed, and before half an hour had passed Tristan had greeted her and introduced her to his wife, Pete had done the same, and the small Chinese youth in the smart western suit, who seemed to be being passed around from Bennett to Bennett, had found his way to her side.

‘Hello,’ she offered warily.

After careful appraisal the boy decided to speak. ‘I’m Po. The sensei’s apprentice,’ he said in flawless Cantonese. When she didn’t reply at once he repeated his introduction in Mandarin.

‘Which sensei would that be?’ Jianne chose English as her language of reply and the boy did not disappoint.

‘Sensei Jake.’ And when again she didn’t reply immediately, ‘Bennett.’

‘And does Sensei Jake Bennett also teach you English?’

‘I know it already,’ said Po. ‘And Tamul. And some Malay.’

‘I’m impressed. How do you come to be fluent in so many languages?’

Just like that the boy’s openness disappeared. ‘I just do.’

‘Well, then.’ She offered up a smile. ‘Hello, Po. I’m Jianne.’

‘Hello.’ Fathomless black eyes regarded her steadily. ‘You’re prettier than your picture.’

‘Thank you.’ Coherent thought followed the automatic reply. ‘What picture?’

The light from a nearby lamp dimmed as someone moved into place beside her. Jianne knew before she looked up that Jacob had joined them, a silent brooding presence bringing new tension to her already overloaded senses.

‘Hello, Jacob,’ she offered, and if her voice shook, and her insides trembled, well, it was only to be expected. He always had been able to unnerve her. ‘I’ve been making the acquaintance of your apprentice.’

‘So I see.’ Jacob turned his gaze on the boy. ‘What picture?’ he echoed grimly.

Po hesitated as if caught between devil and demon. Jake’s gaze hardened. ‘Po?’

‘The one in your wallet.’

‘You’ve been in my wallet?’

‘I didn’t steal anything,’ the boy said hurriedly. ‘It was ages ago. The day I came to the dojo. I—’ The boy stuttered his way to silence beneath the weight of his sensei’s glacial glare. ‘I wanted to know more. About you. Wallets are good for that.’

Boy and man stared at one another in fraught silence.

‘You dishonour me,’ said Jacob finally, in a flat, measured voice.

With a stricken glance for Jianne, Po bolted into the crowd. Jianne stared after him, wishing she could do the same.

‘He’s yours?’ she asked tentatively.

‘After a fashion.’

Not Jacob’s by blood for the boy was wholly Chinese, but there were plenty of other ways a child could become a man’s responsibility. Po’s mother could be dead. Jacob could have been seeing her, living with her even, and then when she died…and in the absence of other relatives…responsibility for Po could have fallen to him. ‘How?’

‘Ask Madeline.’

Hardly a comprehensive answer. ‘Will you punish him?’

Jacob’s lips tightened. ‘He took my wallet and went through it. He deliberately invaded my privacy. You don’t think he should be disciplined for that?’

‘Yes, but…Jacob, he’s just a child.’

‘What? No beating him?’ The deadly edge in Jake’s voice flayed her. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe. Jianne ducked her head and stared blindly at her champagne glass.

‘For heaven’s sake, Jianne, I’ve never raised a hand to either a child or to you and I don’t intend to start now. So why don’t you just drink your champagne and stop behaving as if I’m about to crucify you? I’m not. I won’t. And the sooner you and everyone else watching us realises that, the better.’

Jianne lifted her glass to her lips and sipped. It seemed as good a suggestion as any. Another sip and her champagne half gone while she tried to think of a way to rescue a conversation that had plunged to hell with effortless inevitability.

‘You look well,’ she offered. Nothing but the truth. ‘More formidable than ever.’

‘Was that a compliment?’

‘I meant it as one.’

‘I don’t think it was a compliment.’

More champagne seemed as valid a response as any. ‘Congratulations on your successes,’ she said next. ‘The world titles. The master classes. Madeline tells me students come from all over the world to learn from you.’

‘You hate karate.’

No, she’d hated the time he’d dedicated to karate. She hadn’t realised that, for some, karate was a way of life that bordered on religion or that without it there would have been no way for Jake to restrain the fire that raged inside him. ‘I don’t hate it. I just never quite understood it. There’s a difference.’

‘And do you understand it now?’

‘A little.’ For what it was worth. Nowhere for this topic of conversation to go but downhill so she tried another tack. ‘Madeline and Luke seem well suited.’

‘They are.’

‘And your other brothers…and Hallie…They all seem so civilised now. You did a good job with them.’

‘It wasn’t my doing.’

Well, it certainly hadn’t been hers. She dragged her gaze away from Jake and scanned the room. So many eyes upon them. Not one person inclined to join them.

‘Excuse me,’ she said after an eternity of silence. ‘I think my aunt’s looking for me.’ She started to walk away.

‘Wait,’ he said gruffly.

One word, with nothing to follow, but she stayed her ground and waited. Obedience or curiosity? Courage or self-destruction? She did not know.

‘How are you enjoying Singapore? Are you settling in?’

That was his question? He’d held her back for that? ‘Singapore’s lovely,’ she said warily. ‘And I’m settling in well enough.’

‘Your aunt told Luke that you had an unwanted suitor.’

Her aunt talked too much.

‘She implied that he’s pressuring you into considering his offer of marriage.’

‘Jacob, I really don’t see how this is any of your business.’

‘You don’t? How very blind of you. Wife.’ His voice was soft and measured and fooled her not. Beneath the surface calm Jacob Bennett simmered.

‘Thing is, I’ve only heard from others that you have no interest in marrying this man. Maybe you do want to marry again. Maybe I’m just standing in your way.’ Jacob looked down at her with those arctic eyes. ‘Do you want a divorce?’

‘No!’ Her reply came too fast, too frightened. While the estranged husband she’d never quite managed to cut from her heart watched her through narrowed eyes. ‘I mean…Do you? Po’s mother—’

‘Is a woman I’ve never met and Po never mentions. Po’s a pickpocket, one of Madeline’s strays. She brought him to the dojo so that he’d at least have a roof over his head and a skill to learn.’

‘Oh.’ Po mystery solved, with Jianne none the wiser about Jacob’s current romantic entanglements.

‘Your aunt seems to think that if this man doesn’t get what he wants, he could become a danger to you,’ continued Jake. ‘Madeline thinks the same. They’re concerned for your safety.’

‘They really shouldn’t worry so much.’ Jianne had done enough worrying these past few months for all of them.

‘Has he followed you to Singapore yet?’

‘I haven’t seen him here.’ Yet. No need to burden her husband in name only with the knowledge that Zhi Fu had indeed tracked her down. That the unwanted gifts just kept coming.

‘Jianne, is this man a danger to you?’

‘In all honesty, I don’t know. He never does anything wrong.’ Frustration had crept into her voice, she knew it had, and she tried to bring her demeanour back to even. ‘He plays games, that’s all.’

‘What kind of games?’

But Jianne had said far too much already. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Mind games?’ Quiet. Lethal.

‘Jacob, this isn’t your fight.’

‘You don’t think that it’s up to me to protect my wife from a stalker?’

‘Estranged wife,’ she said softly. ‘Twelve years estranged.’

Jacob’s lips twisted bitterly. ‘So you want the protection my name affords you and nothing else. Nothing else from me.’

It sounded so wrong when he put it like that but that was exactly what she wanted. She’d thought, hoped, that everything could stay the same and that their travesty of a marriage could continue on as before. She hadn’t once considered Jacob’s needs. ‘Jacob, if you want a divorce just…get one. If there’s someone else…’

He stared at her broodingly. ‘What would your unwanted paramour do if he knew you were free of me?’

‘I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it. If you want a divorce, do it. You shouldn’t have to consider my needs in this.’

‘You know, one of these days, Jianne, you’re going to realise that martyrdom isn’t what people want from you,’ he said with quiet viciousness. ‘That it’s perfectly okay to state your needs and expect them to be considered.’

‘Okay, then.’ She took a steadying breath and stated her needs straight. ‘I do need to stop Zhi Fu’s pursuit of me. Coming to Singapore has helped with that. I’m staying with my aunt and uncle, and they’re not inclined to encourage his pursuit. He’ll not have the access to me here that he had in Shanghai. He’ll tire of his games soon.’ Surely he would tire of his games soon. ‘And I’ll be free of him.’

Jake stared at her broodingly.

‘Jake, I’d rather not involve you. Not unless I absolutely have to.’

He didn’t like that. He jammed his hands deep in the pockets of his dress trousers, ruining the line of his suit or enhancing it, depending on one’s preference. He looked away, to the window. He looked anywhere but at her. ‘Will you at least call someone if you think you’re in danger and need help?’ he said finally.

‘I will. I have my cousins and my uncle to call on. Maybe even Madeline or Luke. But I’d rather not call you. Surely you can see why it can’t be you?’

‘Because I’m as unwanted as he is?’

‘What? No! For pity’s sake, Jacob. You and Zhi Fu are nothing alike. Him, I don’t want at all, whereas you…you I once wanted too much.’ It was hard to admit that. Her failings. Her flaws. But he deserved that courtesy from her, this husband who asked if she was in danger.

‘Do you think I can’t protect you?’ he said next.

‘Have you always been this self-effacing?’

‘It’s new,’ he said grimly. ‘I hope to hell it’s temporary.’

‘I’ve seen you fight to save your family, Jacob. I’ve experienced firsthand what you can do, and will do, to protect the people in your care. I know you’d protect me if I asked it of you.’

‘But you won’t ask.’ He looked at her then and she gathered her courage and held his gaze. Timid rabbit, staring down the tiger.

‘I can’t.’

‘Why not?’ Always such absolute focus on the issue at hand or the person he was with. When he’d taken her in his arms and made love to her, ecstasy had rained down on them from the heavens. And when his attention had shifted to other responsibilities, Jianne’s demons had surfaced and demanded their due. Obsessive love was like that. Incandescent. Unforgettable. And ultimately destructive. ‘Jianne, I need a reason. Why won’t you let me help you?’

‘How? By pretending to be the happily reunited couple? By bringing you back into my life again until Zhi Fu goes away?’

‘If that’s what it takes,’ said Jake. ‘We could set boundaries.’

Jianne smiled mirthlessly. ‘So we could.’ And she would break them. ‘Have you ever been so addicted to something that it nearly destroyed you to give it up?’ she asked gently. She held his gaze. He didn’t hold hers.

‘Yes,’ he finally muttered.

‘So have I.’

This time when she moved away he made no move to stop her.

Chapter Two

JIANNE managed her goodbyes to Madeline and Luke well enough. She offered up a wistful smile for a sleeping baby Layla and deftly sidestepped Hallie’s invitation to lunch the next day. She told her aunt and uncle that she was heading home and watched with affection as her uncle phoned his driver and arranged for her collection. Uncle Yi was taking no chances with her safety—not on his watch—and for once she didn’t mind his protectiveness.

A half-grown boy in a carefully pressed suit stood in the shadows cast by hotel towers as Jianne made her way to the waiting car. She slowed her steps until finally she came to a stop beside him. ‘Not a party person?’ she queried gently.

Po shook his head to signal no, his gaze not leaving her face. Looking for something, wanting something from her, but what? She’d never been good with children. Jake’s younger brothers and sister could attest to that. ‘I’m sorry our conversation got you into trouble.’

Anguish flickered briefly in Po’s dark eyes. ‘Me too.’

‘Is this the first time you’ve dishonoured him?’ Him being Jacob, stern sensei and keeper of strays. Would-be protector of the weak.

‘No,’ said Po. ‘When it comes to honour and what it is, sometimes I don’t get it.’

‘What do you get?’

The boy considered her question for a very long time. ‘Need.’

‘Then you and I are more alike than you know.’ Jianne offered up a smile, one needy soul to another. ‘It’s been a pleasure making your acquaintance, Po from the dojo. If ever you have need of me, look me up. Madeline knows where to find me.’

‘What if Jake needs you?’

‘Po…’ How to tell a child something she’d never before put voice to. ‘Jake’s always known where to find me.’

With a dignity born of desperation, Jianne Xang-Bennett took her leave.

Five minutes after Jianne took her leave from the party, Jake took his. Finding Po took some doing for the kid had skipped out of the hotel. Not far. Not Bugis Street or any of the boy’s old haunts. Instead Po had taken refuge in the shadows a few steps beyond the glamorous hotel façade. Tolerated by the hotel doorman because of his smart suit and his shiny black shoes. Mistrusted by the doorman because of those all-seeing eyes.

Hotel staff had fetched Jake’s ride up from the hotel’s underground parking area. Too much horsepower for practical purposes. Too few opportunities here in Singapore to let speed have its way. Two helmets, the smaller one recently purchased. And a boy who watched him through desolate black eyes. ‘You coming?’ he asked and held out the kid’s helmet.

‘Am I still your apprentice?’

‘Do you still want to learn karate?’

The boy nodded jerkily.

‘Then here’s the deal. You steal, you’re gone. You make other mistakes, you get one warning about them. Go through anyone’s private possessions again and you’re gone. Are we clear?’

Another nod.

‘Then get on.’

The boy clung on tightly all the way home. And when Jake hit the training floor around two a.m., unable to sleep and needing to work off the tension that came of dredging up old memories best forgotten, a half-grown shadow joined him.

Brothers were useful at times. Jake hadn’t expected to see Luke at the dojo the day after Luke’s engagement party. He certainly hadn’t expected to see Luke waltzing into the dojo at six-thirty a.m., daisy fresh and whistling cheerfully.

‘What time did the party finish?’ asked Jake.

‘Two-ish.’

‘So you’re here this morning why? Maddy kick you out?’

‘Madeline opted for Tai Chi by way of morning exercise.’ Luke yawned hugely. ‘Me, I’m looking for something with a little more kick. It occurred to me that I knew exactly where to find it. You good for a little one on one?’

Jake smiled, slow and sure. ‘I guess I could indulge you.’ No holding back with brothers the way he held back with students. Blood bond between brothers and unspoken comprehension of intent. A man might spar for exercise or to perfect his warrior’s art. A man might spar to compete and to win. Sometimes a man sparred in order to tame the beast inside him. And sometimes he fought to forget.

This morning, Jake was all about the forgetting.

‘So how’d it go?’ said Luke as he shed his T-shirt and shoes and waited for Jake to do the same. Bare chests, bare fists, black cotton trousers, and neither of them giving a damn about the colour of their belts.

‘How’d what go?’

‘Last night. Seeing Jianne again.’

‘About as well as expected.’

Luke rolled his shoulders. Worked his way into a stretch. ‘You talked for long enough.’

‘You here to fight or to gossip?’

‘Either. Both. Whatever. I’m here for you, precious. Never forget that.’

Jake favoured his brother with a smile a smart man would have been wary of. ‘When’s the wedding, again?’

‘Three weeks.’

‘I’ll try not to mark you up.’ Jake let his fist connect with Luke’s unprotected jaw. ‘Much.’

Luke countered with a knee to Jake’s groin and followed up with an elbow that would have taken a rib out had it connected. Game on, with Luke’s reckless smile signalling that if Jake wanted to play by nobody’s rules, Luke was perfectly happy to comply.

They fought with fury and catlike grace. Jake had the edge when it came to technique but Luke had a knack for delivering the unpredictable. They both had a generous supply of killer instinct. It was exactly the kind of mindless pleasure Jake needed to take his mind off the living, breathing ghost that was Ji.

It was always going to end in bruises. Jake’s meeting with Jianne. This bout with his brother. They hit the floor hard, no mats for the wicked, and Luke groaned and Jake saw stars on the ceiling that he was pretty sure hadn’t been there earlier.

‘Are you going to look out for her?’ asked Luke as he fought free and staggered to his feet.

‘She doesn’t want me to.’ Jake didn’t bother to get up, just kicked out with his leg and took Luke down again with ridiculous ease. ‘Why do you never guard the backs of your knees?’

‘Because I like looking at your ceiling.’ This time Luke did not get up.

‘Hnh.’ Jake attempted to rise and decided against it.

‘I think you should watch out for her,’ said Luke.

‘She doesn’t want me to.’

‘Yeah, like that’s ever stopped you.’

‘You’re family. It was my job.’

‘And Jianne’s not family? So you’ll be divorcing her, then?’

Jake had his knee to Luke’s chest and his hand to Luke’s throat before his brother had time to draw breath.

‘Guess not.’ Luke’s words emerged breathless and strangled.

Jake loosened his grip, and staggered to his feet. He held out his hand to help his brother from the floor. ‘Sorry about that.’

‘It’s fine,’ murmured Luke hoarsely as Jake hauled him to his feet. ‘I’m fine. Are we done yet?’

‘Yes. You staying for breakfast?’

‘Only if it comes with painkillers.’

‘Wimp.’ As they hobbled towards the door.

‘Moron.’

Jake slid his brother a sideways glance. ‘That bruise on your cheek is never going to clear in time for your wedding.’

‘Dimwit,’ muttered Luke. ‘Idiot.’ And after a couple more shuffles towards the door, ‘So you’ll be seeing her again, then. Calling her. Asking her along to some highbrow show or charity do?’

‘She’ll never agree.’

‘Not if you don’t ask. Maybe I’ll get Maddy to call Jianne this morning,’ said Luke as they hobbled towards the kitchen. ‘See if she’s had any unexpected callers. Or gifts. Jianne’s suitor’s big on gifts, according to Maddy. A week ago he sent Ji a wedding dress. Custom made by some fancy fashion house to her exact measurements. She sent it back to him by courier.’

‘He sent her a wedding dress?’

‘It gets better,’ said Luke. ‘The courier company said they couldn’t deliver it because they were told that no one of that name lived at that address. Ji checked with friends in Shanghai. Her gift giver hasn’t moved house. But the dress is back with her because the courier company is no longer willing to deliver it. Ji’s uncle reckons he’s going to hand deliver it. He’s currently debating whether to slice it to pieces first.’

‘What’s to debate?’ rasped Jake. ‘The size of the scissors?’

Luke smiled ever so slightly. Jake scowled and turned to the fixing of breakfast. ‘Jianne doesn’t want my help. Besides, her uncle’s looking out for her. So’s Madeline. And so are you. What more does she need?’

Luke reached for a couple of mismatched coffee cups and the tin of instant coffee. ‘Some would say you.’

Luke headed out of the dojo some time after nine, fully fed and limping only a little. Jake closed up behind him, for the dojo was closed to the public on Sundays. Nothing to do with prayer and everything to do with rest and retreat and time he could call his own. The dojo phone rang not ten minutes later. Hallie trying to organise a Sunday evening meal for the Bennett clan before everyone headed off to their various destinations the following day. Then it was Madeline on the phone arranging an impromptu lunch at her place. When the phone rang for the third time Jake glared at it and almost didn’t pick up, but Tris and Pete were around too and they hadn’t checked in yet this morning and like as not they would.

Jake loved his siblings, unconditionally and always, but when everyone got together it reminded him of days long gone when his first priority had been to keep them together and inevitably his thoughts would turn to Jianne and then the guilt would kick in that he should have done more, that he could have done more to help her fit into the chaos that had been his life.

When he picked up the phone and Jianne said hello he almost dropped it. When she said hello again because he still hadn’t spoken he put his fingers to his temple and summoned a reply. ‘Are you in trouble?’

‘Is that a regular greeting for you?’ came the softly spoken reply.

‘Regular enough.’

‘What’s the usual answer?’

‘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.

‘It’s still not much but it’s better than what’s on offer downstairs,’ he said curtly.

‘But…’ Jianne gazed around her in silence and he gritted his teeth at how sparsely furnished his home no doubt looked to her eyes. ‘This is your space.’

‘I’ll clear out. I can stay downstairs.’

‘No! There’s no need to turn you out of your bed. I never meant to do that. Have me stay downstairs. Whatever’s there, it’ll do.’

‘This is what I’m offering, Jianne. It’s the only offer you’ll get from me when it comes to accommodation. You, up here, out of the way.’

She hesitated.

‘Take it or leave it.’ On this he would not bend.

‘Okay.’ She took a deep breath, as if shoring up her resolve. ‘I’ll take it. I’ll pay rent, of course,’ she added hurriedly, and named a weekly rate that would have kept her in six star luxury, not a warehouse bedsit atop a downtown dojo.

‘Keep your money,’ he grated. ‘I don’t want it.’

Jianne recoiled as if he’d struck her.

Jake gritted his teeth and prayed for mercy. ‘Must you flinch every time I look at you?’

‘Must you glare every time I open my mouth?’ she replied in kind. ‘People pay rent when they live in a place that’s not their own. Why is my offering to do so such an insult to you? Is your pride such an enormous thing that there can be no room for mine?’

Money had been a sore point between them from the moment Jianne had revealed exactly how much of the stuff she had. Tens of millions, probably hundreds of millions by now. A tiny detail she’d waited until six months into their marriage to let slip, when she’d offered to pay for a housekeeper to come in each day and help clean the Bennett family house and prepare healthy meals for a hungry family.

She’d been drowning in household chores she had no idea how to cope with and all Jake had seen was the blow to his pride. The housekeeper hadn’t eventuated. Jianne’s drowning had continued.

Not the Bennett family’s finest moment.

‘Fine,’ he amended. ‘Contribute something to the running of the place if it makes you feel better. A cleaner comes in daily—I can have him do up here too, that’s not a problem. But a couple of hundred Sing a week will cover your stay. If you still don’t think that’s enough, I’ll give you an account you can put some money into. It’s one I’ve set up for Po. Put however much you want in there.’

He thought it a fair compromise, the accepting of her money on Po’s behalf. Never let it be said that Jacob Bennett didn’t learn from his mistakes.

She sent him a long, considering look, before nodding slightly. ‘I’ll do that.’

Jake could move fast when he wanted to. Ask any opponent he’d ever faced in a championship match. Hell, ask Jianne—their courtship had lasted all of five minutes before he’d put a ring on her finger. Ever since then he’d tried to slow down some and think when it came to life-altering decisions. ‘Does your uncle know that you want to move in here?’

‘He does.’

‘And he approves?’ Jake had faced Xang family disapproval before. He knew its power. He needed to know on how many fronts he’d have to fight.

‘He does. Whatever you need, you’ll have his full co-operation.’

‘And your father?’

‘My father can’t help me,’ she said flatly.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to think about this some more?’

‘If I think about it I won’t do it.’

‘Doesn’t this tell you something?’ he said in a last-ditch effort to sway her to another—any other—course of action.

‘Yes.’ A faint smile tilted her luscious lips. ‘Don’t think.’

They agreed, over a scalding-hot cup of tea back in the shabby kitchen, that Jianne would move in later that afternoon. Jake figured, in an ‘if I’m going to be damned I may as well burn’ kind of way, that Jianne had better accompany him on his lunch and dinner rounds. No way was he leaving her here on her own while he went out. Not going to happen. Not until her unwanted paramour had learned the meaning of the word no.

‘I need to go get cleaned up,’ he muttered, running a hand over the stubble on his chin for confirmation. ‘I’m heading over to Maddy’s soon for lunch. You may as well come too. Your uncle can have your belongings delivered there.’

‘Who else is going to be at this lunch?’ she asked warily.

‘Luke and Po. Probably everyone else as well.’

‘Everyone, as in all your siblings and their families?’

Jake nodded. ‘It’s not often we have a chance to get together these days. When we do get the opportunity we take it. Hallie’s booked us in somewhere for dinner too. I’ll get her to change the reservation to include you.’

‘Don’t. Please. I really don’t want to intrude on your family meals.’

Jake smiled bitterly. Everyone had their little crosses to bear. His siblings had always been one of Jianne’s. ‘I know what you think of them, Jianne. That they’re too wilful, too bent on trouble, too unrestrained. But that was then and this is now and I’m proud of them, all of them, and you should know something. In asking for my help, you don’t just get me on side, you get them too. Whatever they can do to protect you, whatever needs doing, they’ll do it, and that’s worth something. You could try being grateful.’

‘I am grateful.’ She squared her shoulders and held his gaze, something she would never have done twelve years ago. ‘But you need to know something too. About your brothers and your sister…and me. There are no unconditional ties of love between us, no bonds of trust or acceptance. If they follow your lead I’ll be grateful, but I’ll never make the mistake of thinking that they’re helping me because they want to. They’ll be doing it for you.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘No.’ She sent him a careful smile but the shadows in her eyes spoke of deeper, darker, memories. ‘I’m not. I’ll come to Madeline’s for lunch but I’ll not join you all for dinner. I’ll stay at my uncle’s tonight and sort out a few things I need to sort out like transport and the belongings I want to bring with me. I’ll move in tomorrow. That way you can join your family for dinner without thinking you have to be responsible for me, and everyone will be happy.’

The suggestion was quintessentially Jianne and dredged up memories of her making similar suggestions, over and over again during the course of their ill-fated marriage. Forfeiting her needs in an attempt to accommodate his needs and the needs of his siblings. And they’d let her. Every last one of them, Jake included, had let her do it. ‘No,’ he said grimly. ‘Lunch at Madeline’s if you want to, and only if you want to, and then we’ll go to your uncle’s and get your stuff and then we’ll come back here and get you settled. Dinner with my family doesn’t have to happen.’

‘But—’

‘No, Jianne. Just…no,’ he said, and glared at her for good measure, before stalking out of the room and making his way to the dojo showers. He stripped down and stepped beneath a measly drizzle of lukewarm water. The spray from the next showerhead wasn’t any better. Sighing, he added new showerheads and possibly new plumbing to tomorrow’s work list. He shoved his face beneath the spray and rubbed it hard before looking down at his decidedly aroused anatomy.

‘No.’ The ‘no’s were coming thick and fast today. ‘No way.’ He would not give into his desire for his lovely and ever so vulnerable wife no matter how much his body urged differently. Get clean. Get dressed. Get Jianne’s unwanted suitor off her back and get her out of here. That was his plan. And if he could show her in the process that he knew these days how to respond fairly to the needs of those around him, well, so much the better.

This time round Jianne’s needs would not come last.

He wouldn’t let them.

Chapter Three

MADELINE’S luxury penthouse was about as far removed as a person could get from Jake’s spartan existence. Madeline’s gracious hospitality was legendary and she didn’t disappoint when she opened the door to him and Jianne shortly after midday, blinked once, and swung smoothly into a warm and welcoming hostess routine.

Luke stilled when he saw Jianne at Jake’s side and so did Hallie. Pete shot him a searching glance. Tristan just watched. Not one of his siblings said a word.

‘Jianne’s staying at the dojo for a while,’ he said to no one in particular, and you could have heard a butterfly breathe in the silence.

Thank heaven for partners. Serena, Pete’s wife, swung into action first, smiling and moving and making some kind of small talk that involved Tris’s wife, Erin. A gentle reminder that astonishment was no cause for rudeness and that the Bennett siblings needed to lift their game.

‘She’s nervous,’ he said to Madeline as he watched Jianne interact with the other Bennett wives.

‘Why wouldn’t she be?’ countered Madeline. ‘With the exception of Serena and Erin—to whom I’m eternally grateful—not one of you knows how to relax around her. What’d she do? Torture puppies?’

Jake glowered at her.

‘All right, don’t confide in me,’ she murmured. ‘But if you want my advice on how to make Jianne relax in this company I suggest you look to yourself. If you can relax, the rest of them will. Beer or spirits?’

‘Beer.’

‘Perfect,’ she said with a sunny smile. ‘I’ll go and see if I can tempt Ji to a champagne. And I still think a lilac tie would help a lot.’

‘Never going to happen.’

‘Objection noted.’ Madeline sent him a considering look that Jacob had learned to be wary of. ‘Fortunately I’m a woman of uncommon inventiveness when it comes to bringing out a man’s softer side.’ Moments later an angel-faced baby girl had been deposited in his arms and there was nothing for it but to keep on holding her and let Po hover protectively over them both and suffer Madeline eyeing him with evil glee as she headed towards Jianne.

Jianne had been doing all right during those first few minutes of her arrival at Madeline’s lunch gathering. Right up until the moment someone had seen fit to deposit baby Layla into her uncle Jacob’s arms. Everything started hurting after that.

Watching the husband she’d once loved so fiercely cradle his niece with such gentle authority and fend off all attempts to get him to hand her over scraped at Ji’s heart. She’d wanted children once. Not immediately following her whirlwind marriage, but at some stage in her and Jacob’s future she’d imagined them. Imagined Jake with them.

She accepted the champagne Madeline handed her and smiled and hid the assault on her heart as best she could. If she wanted to continue this charade she’d have to get used to being in Jake’s company again and the company of his siblings. And that meant conversing with them.

Bracing herself, Jianne turned her attention once more to the small knot of people that now included Luke and Tristan as well as Serena and Erin. She summoned a smile and admired the design of the glittering rings on Erin’s fingers, and discovered that Erin was a jeweller and had made the rings herself. Small talk between strangers, the kind that made people relax, and it was working, sort of, until Jake and a sleepy baby joined them, and all conversation ceased.

When the silence grew beyond awkward, Tristan pinned her with his golden gaze and asked her if she’d ever managed to finish her visual design degree.

‘Yes,’ she stammered, startled that he’d even remembered such a thing. ‘Yes, I finished it. I make my living nowadays doing design work for various organisations. International companies in need of multilingual branding, mostly.’

‘Do you need to make a living?’ asked Jake quietly, his blue gaze unreadable. ‘What happened to your trust fund?’

‘It matured, I reinvested it, and now there’s more of it,’ she said calmly. ‘If you’re asking me if I need the money my work brings in the answer’s no. If you’re asking me if I like to work and imagine that what I do is of value to people, the answer’s yes.’

Jacob stared at her through those unreadable eyes, until finally Tristan spoke up again. ‘Will you be able to work from Singapore?’

‘Easily. I’ve clients here as well as in Hong Kong and Shanghai. My travelling schedule should stay about the same.’

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