Wife for a Week(30)

‘Er, no. Is that a problem?’

‘Not exactly.’

Hallie watched the activity at the next table as the waiter deftly served the topmost whole crab to a dark-haired European man and then distributed various bits and pieces of crab to his Asian companions.

‘The first serving always goes to the honoured guest,’ said Jasmine, noticing her preoccupation. ‘It is the best.’

Hallie nodded. The Chinese were one of the most widespread and successful cultures on earth and force had nothing to do with it. Why use force when flattery and business acumen worked better? Only this time the flattery didn’t seem to be working well at all. The dark-haired European was making strange choking noises and his face was turning an unnatural shade of purple. His hands were clutching at this throat; his eyes were glassy with tears.

‘Just how hot is the chilli crab?’ she whispered to Jasmine.

‘Not that hot,’ whispered Jasmine as the man toppled to the floor, foaming at the mouth, his chair sliding out from beneath him to ram into a half-full tub of crabs and knocking it over.

The rest was chaos.

Diners fled. Crabs scuttled beneath nearby tables, some with their pincers tied, some with them snapping. Nick was over by the fallen man and Kai with him. John Tey was barking what sounded like directions into his mobile phone and the crabs…the crabs were on the run.

‘Feet up,’ said John, and neither she nor Jasmine wasted any time arguing that it wasn’t very ladylike. Jasmine leaned over and dangled her chopsticks in front of a crab and, when it bit, deftly lifted it up and shot it back into the tub.

‘Don’t do it again,’ ordered her father.

Jasmine just smiled.

The kitchen staff descended; the apron-clad cook protesting loudly that this wasn’t his doing, while nimble-fingered kitchen hands scooped escapee crabs into buckets.

By the time the paramedics arrived, the crowd around the fallen man was six deep. Hallie stood well out of the way as he was stretchered into an ambulance that zoomed off with its sirens wailing. He hadn’t looked well. Truth be told, he’d looked practically dead.

‘Probably just a reaction to seafood or something,’ muttered Jasmine, worrying at her lower lip.

‘Yeah,’ said Hallie, reaching for Jasmine’s hand and watching in silence as Kai casually liberated a piece of crab from the victim’s plate, wrapped it in a napkin and pocketed it. He did the same for a crab claw from another plate. ‘Reckon he’s going to get them tested?’

‘I think so,’ said Jasmine, her attention all for Kai as he rejoined them.

‘What?’ he said, eying her warily.

‘Go wash your hands.’





CHAPTER SIX




NO ONE was hungry after that. Not for crab. John’s suggestion that they return to the house and eat there met with instant approval although Jasmine looked a little panicked.

‘Do we need to stop by a supermarket on the way home?’ Hallie whispered as they headed for the wharf and the ferry terminal. Her brothers could strip a fully stocked kitchen of its food in less than two days; she knew what it was like to be asked to cook up a little gourmet something when the cupboard was practically bare.

‘I have noodles,’ whispered Jasmine. ‘I can’t feed guests noodles.’

‘Of course you can,’ countered Hallie. ‘Nick loves noodles.’ And if he didn’t, he’d eat them anyway. ‘May I help you prepare them?’

‘My father will have a fit if you do,’ said Jasmine.

‘I’m taking that as a yes,’ she said with a grin. ‘Leave him to me.’

‘Jasmine’s going to give me a cooking lesson,’ she told John cheerfully when they reached the house and he tried to usher them into the formal sitting room. ‘She’s going to show me how to cook stir-fry noodles. They’re one of Nick’s favourite dishes.’

Which was how they all came to be in the kitchen, every last one of them, with John fixing them drinks, Jasmine raiding the fridge for ingredients, and Kai setting a wok to heating and a huge pot of water to boiling on a gourmet gas stove.

‘What are you up to now?’ Nick asked her, pulling her aside when she would have headed over to help Jasmine.

‘John’s really embarrassed about the restaurant incident,’ she whispered. ‘I’m trying to avert disaster.’

‘By eating in the man’s kitchen? He’s old school, Hallie. He probably thinks this is a disaster.’

‘We’re going to have a simple meal in simple surroundings and we’re all going to enjoy it,’ said Hallie firmly. And when he still looked uncertain, ‘John Tey won’t relax until you do. Trust me, it’ll be fun.’