The Trouble with Valentine’s by Kelly Hunter Read Free Book Online Page A

concerned he was neither the boring geek Hallie had accused him of being when he made her get the dove-grey suit, nor the skinflint his mother claimed. No, for a man to endure so much and complain so little, he was quite simply a saint.
    ‘So where to now? Are we done?’ said Hallie after they’d seen Clea to her Mercedes and watched her drive away. ‘Is there anything
you
need?’
    ‘A bar,’ he muttered with heartfelt sincerity.
    ‘Good call,’ said Hallie. ‘I’ll come too. I never realised boutique shopping was such thirsty work. Mind you, I’ve never bought more than a couple of items of clothes at any one time before either. Who knew?’
    ‘You’re not going to rehash every dress decision you just made, are you?’
    ‘Who, me?’ She was grinning from ear to ear. ‘Only if you insist.’
    Nick shuddered, spotted a sports bar a few doors up and practically bolted for the door. He needed a drink, somewhere to sit. Somewhere with dark wood, dark carpet, dim lighting, good Scotch and no mirrors. He needed it bad.
    ‘Ah,’ said Hallie as she slid into the booth beside him. ‘Very nice.’
    ‘You don’t find it a little too … masculine?’
    ‘Nope. Feels pretty homely to me. I have four brothers, remember?’
    ‘Trust me, I hadn’t forgotten. Where do they live?’
    ‘Wherever their work takes them. Luke’s a Navy diver midway through a three-year stint in Guam, Pete’s flying charter planes in Greece, Jake runs a Martial Arts Dojo in Singapore, and Tristan lives here in London. He’s the one I’m staying with while I do my course.’
    ‘Tristan?’ After Pete, Luke and Jake, a brother named Tristan sounded somewhat incongruous. ‘What does Tristan do?’
    ‘He works for Interpol.’
    ‘Paper pusher?’
    ‘Black ops,’ she corrected. ‘Somewhere along the line Tris was seconded by some special law enforcement group. I forget the name.’ Not quite the truth. Truth was, Hallie had never been told who Tristan worked for these days. She tried not to let that bother her. ‘But he’s a pussycat really.’
    Sure he was. All black ops specialists were pussycats. It was such a caring, non-confrontational profession. ‘You know, maybe I need a differenttype of wife for Hong Kong,’ he said. ‘Maybe I need a brunette.’
    ‘I was a brunette once,’ said Hallie. ‘The hairdresser was a young guy, just starting out and we decided to experiment. He left the salon not long after that.’ She sighed heavily. ‘I’m sure Tris wouldn’t really have castrated him.’
    Maybe he was doomed. ‘Or a blonde,’ he muttered. ‘I could always replace you with a blonde.’
    ‘Ha. You can’t fool me. You’re not going to replace me now; you’d have to go clothes shopping again.’
    Nick shuddered. She was right. Replacing her was out of the question.
    ‘Besides,’ she continued blithely, ‘It’s not as if I’m going to be telling any of my brothers the finer details of our little arrangement. They wouldn’t understand.’
    On this they were in total accord.
    ‘So tell me about
your
family,’ she said, deftly changing the focus back to him and his. ‘When did your father die?’
    ‘Two years ago. He was a property developer.’
    ‘And Clea? You said she wasn’t a corporate wife. What does she do?’
    ‘Many people find it hard to believe but she’s an architect. A very good one.’
    ‘Is that how they met? Through their work?’
    ‘No, they met at a birthday party. Clea was in the cake. I try not to think about it.’
    ‘What about brothers and sisters?’
    ‘There’s just me.’
    ‘Didn’t you ever get lonely?’ she asked.
    ‘Nope.’ She looked like she was struggling with the only child concept. ‘I had plenty of friends, plenty of company. And whenever I had any spare time there was always a computer handy and a dozen imaginary worlds to get lost in.’
    ‘And now you create fantasy worlds for a living. I guess that means you always knew what you wanted to do, even as a