‘Wait,’ said Nick, his hands on her shoulders as he urged her back around.
The other couple had started dancing and if Kai had thought to keep Jasmine at arm’s length, Jasmine had other ideas. Her small hands slid up his arms to rest on his shoulders. Kai’s hands rather unwillingly slid to her waist, his fingertips brushing the bare skin of her back and then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he gathered her close, the tension and the longing in him unmistakable.
‘My parents used to dance like that,’ said Nick. ‘They always gave each other room to move, to be themselves, but then when they came together you could tell that at that moment in time there was nowhere else they’d rather be. It was like…magic.’
‘Nick, you’re a romantic!’ Hallie turned towards him, thoroughly enchanted by his words. ‘Do you think we’re going to dance like that?’
‘No.’ His voice was firm but his eyes were warm as he swung her smoothly into her arms. ‘We are going to avoid dancing like that at all costs.’
He danced like a dream. As if he’d held her in his arms a hundred times before yet still delighted in the feel of her. The brush of a thigh, fingertips on bare skin; it was like foreplay, like flirting, and Nick was a master of both. It was his fault Hallie snuggled closer when a slow number began. His fault that she slowed it way down and let her body remember the feel of flesh on flesh and the pleasure his hands and lips could bring. He had the most wonderful touch, she thought dreamily, a lover’s touch, and she savoured the moment and the man who gave it to her.
It could have been fifteen minutes later, it could have been fifty, when the music stopped and Nick peeled her out of his arms.
‘I was having a Cinderella moment,’ said Hallie, warmth creeping into her cheeks as she eyed Nick warily. ‘It’s possible I got a bit carried away.’
‘It’s all right,’ said Nick with a heavy sigh. ‘I’m getting used to it. Do you want to go out to the balcony?’
Where there was bound to be a night-time Hong Kong skyline to be dazzled by, rather than the man beside her. Hallie was all for it. ‘Can you see Jasmine and Kai anywhere?’
‘They left the dance floor half an hour ago.’
Hopefully this was a good thing.
There were almost as many people on the balcony as there were inside. The air was cooler, the faint breeze a welcome surprise. ‘What time is it?’ she asked him.
‘Eleven-thirty. Not long to go now.’
No, it wasn’t. Not to midnight. Not to the end of their time together. Hallie smiled, but it wasn’t a real smile. It was going to hurt to say goodbye to this man in two days’ time, she’d always thought it might. She just hadn’t realized how much.
And then the thunder of drums sounded from inside and people turned and started heading inside, Jasmine amongst them. ‘Lion dancing,’ said the younger girl, linking arms with Hallie as they fell into step with the slow moving crowd.
‘How was your dancing?’ she asked and laughed when Jasmine blushed. ‘Where’s Kai?’
‘Recovering,’ said Jasmine impishly. ‘Actually he’s gone to the kitchen. Something to do with checking out the wait staff.’
The drums settled into a steady, driving rhythm and a magnificent Chinese lion appeared, bigger and more elaborate than Hallie had ever seen. He strutted, roared, and considered the poles set out before him, each pair of poles that little bit higher than the next. He disdained the lowest poles, sniffed at the next, wove his way through the third, and sat before the fourth. He groomed himself lazily, as he studied the tallest of the poles, poles that were taller than Nick, and then with a flick of his tail and an unbelievable leap he was standing on top of them and along with it all came the bold beating of drums. The colour red was everywhere; on decorations, on dresses, on the jackets of the wait staff who circulated with a never-ending supply of drinks and finger food. The wait staff. Hallie stared hard at a waiter heading towards them with an empty tray. He looked familiar, irritatingly familiar.
‘Nick,’ she whispered, disengaging her arm from Jasmine’s and tugging on his sleeve. Wasn’t that the waiter from the restaurant? The one who’d served the poisoned crab? ‘Nick!’ But Nick was engrossed in the lion dancing. And then the waiter was almost upon them, one hand holding the tray aloft, his other hand close to his side and in it was something that gleamed with a dull black shine. Nick was turning towards her now, but it was too late to warn him. If it was a gun, the waiter had a clear shot. Hallie did the only thing that came to mind.