LITMIR.BIZ

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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

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