LITMIR.BIZ

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business plans, the Delacourte diamonds hung heavy around her neck, and, above all, she was hungry.

      They found their hosts and said their goodbyes. Elena looked pale and anxious. Luke looked grim. Madeline badly wanted to be outside where there was warmth and air, or back at the dojo where there was honesty and care. Not this. She didn’t like the strain inherent in this interaction, even if everyone was on their best behaviour.

      Madeline unclasped her necklace and slipped off her earrings as they descended the escalator. ‘Got an inside pocket in that jacket of yours?’ she asked Luke.

      Luke unbuttoned his jacket silently as she turned towards him. He did have one, and it even had a button to keep it closed. Fiddly thing.

      ‘You get the button, I’ll hold the rocks,’ he murmured, so she dumped them in his palm and set to work easing that stubborn little button through its buttonhole. The jacket felt warm to the touch, Luke’s formal white shirt—as the backs of her fingers brushed over it—felt even warmer. Plenty of heat inside this jacket. Plenty of hard and corded muscle beneath that fine white shirt.

      They stepped off the escalator and stepped to one side of it while Luke slipped the jewellery in the pocket and Madeline buttoned it back up, before pressing his jacket closed and buttoning that up.

      There. Those jewels were as safe as they were going to get, and for now, Madeline was free of their weight.

      ‘Care to tell me why the jewellery had to come off now?’ he murmured, watching her through guarded golden eyes.

      ‘There’s a tapas bar around the corner,’ she said. Misdirection being by far the better option than confessing how truly undeserving the Delacourte diamonds made her feel. ‘It’s not exactly classy but the food is good and the atmosphere’s relaxed and I need both of those elements right now. It’s not the place for diamonds.’ She tried a smile.

      Luke didn’t return it.

      ‘Or we could head straight home if you’d rather get back and talk to Jacob. He’s probably waiting to hear from you. I’m sorry. I didn’t think—’

      ‘It’s okay,’ he muttered. ‘I haven’t said anything to Jake about meeting Bruce Yi. Yet. Jake’s big on inner harmony and peace. I figured I’d wait until I had something concrete to offer by way of information before I shattered the calm.’

      ‘Protective,’ she murmured.

      ‘When it comes to my family’s well-being, yes. You have a problem with that?’

      ‘No.’

      The tapas bar was darkly sexy and deliberately intimate. Neckwear seemed optional, and, given that Maddy had already ditched hers, Luke loosened his tie and undid the buttons of his shirt collar so that a man might breathe in comfort. Madeline smiled wry approval at him as they found a couple of seats at the bar. Madeline took a perch. Luke elected to stand.

      ‘You wear black tie extremely well, don’t get me wrong,’ she said. ‘But you wear informality better.’

      ‘Says the woman who wears diamonds as if she were born to them and then ditches them the minute she can. Personally, I prefer you without,’ he countered. ‘Did you get what you wanted from Bruce Yi?’

      ‘I’ve no idea.’ The barman headed their way and they ordered drinks and tapas. The drinks came fast and the food order went in. ‘Did Elena say what Ji wanted of Jacob?’ Madeline asked him.

      ‘No, but she did say what she wanted of Jake. She seems to want him back in Ji’s life. Says it’s for Ji’s protection.’ Luke studied her intently. ‘How many months after you bought the vase did William die?’

      ‘A year or so,’ said Madeline, blinking at the rapid change of topic. ‘What is it with you and William’s funeral vase? I assure you, the funeral and the cremation—everything happened as it should. It’s not as if I torched him.’

      ‘Never mind,’ said Luke with a shake of his head as he took to his beer and drank deeply. ‘It’s nothing. I’m over it.’ Mostly. Could Madeline really have it in her to arrange her husband’s demise? He thought not. Definitely not. Probably just a coincidence, her purchase of a funeral vase …

      Curators like Arthur sold antique funeral vases to wealthy collectors all the time.

      And delivered them empty.

      Tapas, champagne, and Luke Bennett’s company made for an easy combination, and Madeline let herself relax into the evening and bask in the warmth of those gleaming tiger eyes. He’d surprised Madeline tonight with his ability to move comfortably through Bruce Yi’s world of high finance and high-priced art but there was no mistaking that he was more at home here. So was she, truth being told. She’d never courted high society, for all that she’d experienced her fair share of it at William’s side. She’d never returned to it after his death.

      An orphan’s sensitivity for knowing she would find little welcome there.

      A woman’s dislike of moving through such a world unprotected.

      She hadn’t been unprotected tonight. Bruce Yi, in the making of important introductions and staying on to guide the conversation, had extended his protection and made sure others noticed it.

      And Luke, with his watchful warrior presence, had offered his.

      It was enough to send a sensible woman’s thoughts tripping down roads they really shouldn’t go. A short-term light-hearted relationship was the only way to travel when it came to dealing with this man. To consider even that much was risky.

      ‘Tell me,’ she said lightly. ‘If you had a family of your own one day—a wife and children—would you still disarm weapons for a living?’

      ‘It’s what I do,’ he said. ‘What else would I do?’

      ‘I don’t know. Ship salvage work? Return to your deep-diving roots? Something safer.’

      ‘Neither of the occupations you just suggested are particularly safe, Maddy.’

      ‘Maybe not, but I really can’t see you in an office. I was extrapolating backwards just a step or two.’

      ‘Thanks,’ he said dryly. ‘The salvage work I could do. It just wouldn’t have quite the bite of what I do now.’

      ‘What do your siblings think about your choice of career and the dangers involved?’

      ‘You mean the brother who pilots air-sea rescue Seahawks or the one who runs black ops for Interpol? Or are you asking me what Jake thinks?’

      Madeline wasn’t sure she wanted to know what any of them thought. ‘What does your sister think?’

      ‘She thinks we’re all guts and glory. She retaliated by marrying a computer whiz with brains instead.’ Luke’s grin came wide and wicked. ‘He does a little creative programming for Interpol on the side these days.’

      ‘Bet that went down a bomb.’

      ‘You have no idea,’ said Luke with a shudder. ‘Carnage.’

      ‘Are your other brothers married?’

      Luke nodded. ‘And before you ask, Tris removed himself voluntarily from fieldwork and took a desk job once he got married but Pete still flies air-sea rescue missions. Pete had a habit of not phoning Serena the minute he set foot back on land. Serena broke that particular habit by getting her own helicopter licence so she could have better access to remote photographic locations. She accidentally lost radio contact one day when she went up alone. She was in a dead zone and she knew it, but she stuck around for a twilight shot and didn’t get home until well after dark.’

      ‘Simple yet effective,’ said Madeline. ‘I like it.’

      ‘Absolutely ruthless,’ said Luke. ‘The man was a wreck.’

      ‘And what do you

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