Wife for a Week(38)

‘Lucky us,’ she whispered. It didn’t feel as if they were still working within the rules. It felt as if they were breaking every last one of them.

He stepped back, seemingly reluctant to let her go. ‘Do you want to see a doctor?’

It was a question, not an order, and drove home the point that for all the similarities between Nick and her brothers, in this he was quite, quite different. Seeing a doctor was her call, her choice to make and she made it. ‘I’m fine,’ she said firmly. ‘Just fine.’

‘C’ mon.’ Nick didn’t know whether to curse her stubbornness or applaud her spirit. ‘Let’s get you home.’





CHAPTER SEVEN




‘WHAT happened?’ cried Jasmine when she opened the front door to them, sweeping them through to the sitting room and settling Hallie into the nearest chair. ‘Stay there,’ she ordered and disappeared at a run. When she returned she had Kai and a first-aid kit with her and Nick almost sighed his relief as Jasmine fished cloth and antiseptic from the kit and set to work on Hallie’s elbow. She’d scared him half to death when he’d seen her lying there on the pavement looking so small and broken and only half conscious, and her decision not to consult a doctor didn’t sit well with him. ‘She hit her head as well,’ he told Jasmine.

Jasmine’s gaze flew to Hallie’s eyes. ‘We need a torch,’ she said firmly. ‘We need to check her pupils for dilation.’

‘I’m not concussed,’ protested Hallie. ‘I’m fine.’

‘Don’t argue,’ he said. ‘Just let her check.’ And with a wry smile, ‘For my sake if not for yours.’

‘You are as bad as my brothers,’ she grumbled.

‘Yeah, but my delivery’s far better.’

‘What happened?’ Kai asked him quietly.

‘I was trying to hail a taxi and stood a little too close to the kerb. Hallie pulled me back and we fell.’

‘You were pushed,’ said Hallie, and to Kai, ‘Someone pushed him off the kerb and into the path of an oncoming taxi. I only saw a big jacket and a cap but there was an old man there who saw his face. He said it was a young man and that he did it deliberately.’

‘You were pushed?’ asked Kai.

‘Someone stumbled into me,’ he countered. ‘I don’t know that it was deliberate.’

Hallie stared at him defiantly. ‘If it was an accident, why didn’t he stick around to make sure you were all right?’

‘Maybe he was too scared to.’

‘Did you get the old man’s name?’ asked Kai.

‘I didn’t think it was necessary,’ said Nick. ‘Why?’

‘I checked on the sick diner from the restaurant. He’s in a coma. The doctors suspect some kind of poison. I took the crabmeat to a private lab for testing, but so far the tests have been inconclusive. If it does contain poison it’s a rare one.’ Kai paused. ‘There is another disturbing fact about last night’s incident,’ he said quietly. ‘The platter was not meant for that particular party. It was meant for us. And if it is as I suspect and only the topmost portion of crab was poisoned, that means it was meant for you.’

‘What? You’re saying someone’s trying to kill me?’ Whatever direction he thought Kai’s conversation was going to go, this wasn’t it. ‘Are you serious?’


‘I’m always serious,’ said Kai. And with his next breath, ‘Let me know if you still wish to attend the ball tonight and I’ll arrange extra security.’



Nick had taken the news that someone could be trying to kill him surprisingly well, thought Hallie as she watched him pace their guest room not ten minutes later. ‘Do you have any idea who would want to kill you?’ she said thoughtfully.

‘No.’

‘Maybe it’s someone who doesn’t want you going into partnership with John. Maybe they’ve invented a game just like yours and will lose everything if they don’t stop your product from hitting the market.’

‘Hallie…’ he began warningly.

‘Or a resentful distributor who failed to get your business,’ she said. ‘How many did you reject before you decided to go with the Tey Corporation?’

Nick rolled his eyes. ‘A few, but I really don’t think—

‘Or a woman scorned. There’s a thought. I bet there are plenty of those.’

‘I do not scorn,’ he snapped. ‘I just…’

‘Leave?’

‘Yeah, and, since we’re on the subject, I’m terminating your contract. I’m sending you home.’