sighed. Bruce Yi materialised beside his wife and greeted Madeline and Luke with warm cordiality. ‘What do you make of the paintings?’ he said.
‘We’ve only just begun to look at them,’ said Madeline smoothly.
‘Who knew an art show could be so enlightening?’ added Luke.
‘Bruce, why don’t you introduce Madeline to those project managers you wanted her to meet?’ said Elena. ‘Luke can stay here with me for a time.’
Divide and conquer. Luke knew the ploy well. He wasn’t the middle child of five for nothing. Madeline shot him a questioning glance. Luke gave a tiny nod of assent. Go, he told her silently. Go do business.
‘I tried to persuade Jianne to attend the reception this evening,’ said Elena as they strolled slowly towards the next painting. ‘She’s over from Shanghai and visiting with us at the moment. Alas, she had a prior engagement.’
Luke said nothing, just watched Madeline move off, with an innate elegance and dignity about her that he doubted she even knew she had.
‘She does send you her fondest regards,’ said the little raven.
‘She has mine,’ said Luke.
‘It could be that Jianne will choose to reside in Singapore permanently, soon.’
Now there was a comment to capture his attention. He wrenched his gaze away from Madeline and focused on what Elena Yi had to say. ‘Ji has business here?’ More to the point, would Singapore be big enough for both Jake and Ji?
‘Not exactly,’ said Elena as they moved on to view the next painting. ‘I rather suspect she’s moving away from something unpleasant, as opposed to actively moving towards something good.’
Luke smiled wryly. ‘She does that.’
Auntie’s eyes flashed. Luke didn’t give a damn.
‘My brother,’ said the little raven, ‘Jianne’s father, wishes to see his daughter remarried.’
‘To who?’ said Luke.
‘The only son of a business associate.’
‘So it’s a business merger?’
Elena nodded. ‘A very profitable one for both families.’
‘Are you asking Jake for a divorce on Jianne’s behalf?’
‘No,’ said Elena quietly as they stared at yet another painting. Two sets of circles within circles this time. Demon’s eyes. ‘I want him to save her from that monster.’
‘Mr Yi, before you introduce me to these people I need you to know something,’ said Madeline, knowing her next move for business suicide but knowing too that she’d made up her mind and would not relax until she’d spoken.
Bruce Yi looked at her but kept right on walking.
‘I have no influence over Luke Bennett or his brother so whatever you want from them, I can’t help you get it. Even if I could influence them to your advantage, I wouldn’t.’
‘Why not?’
Madeline smiled ruefully. ‘Because Jacob Bennett’s a friend. He’s also one of the finest men I know, and I’m sorry but I won’t let you use me to get to him.’
‘Not even to grow Delacourte?’
‘I’ll find another way to grow Delacourte. I like big business, Mr Yi. I’m usually quite good at it.’ Tonight, of course, being the exception.
This time Bruce Yi stopped. Madeline stopped too, and squared up to him, eye to eye. ‘I can’t help you,’ she said quietly.
‘Then why are you here?’
‘Because Luke wants to find out what you want. What Ji wants. From Jacob.’
‘Rest assured, Madeline. He will.’
Madeline glanced back at Luke and Elena, who looked deep in conversation, but even as Madeline looked away Luke glanced at her, those golden eyes dark and guarded.
‘My wife has more finesse in these matters than I do,’ said Bruce Yi. ‘Women generally have more patience with such things, although you certainly don’t seem to. You should have waited, Madeline. You should have waited to see whether Jacob Bennett’s needs coincided with those of the house of Yi.’
Yes, well. Too late now.
‘Honour is a rare and admirable quality in this world of changing values,’ continued Bruce Yi, he of the thin-lipped smile and the sharp, sharp eyes. ‘But I’ve always found it best when served with patience. Come.’ Bruce waylaid a passing waiter and moments later Madeline found herself with a champagne in hand. ‘I would have you meet my business partners. It will save time should we ever decide to do business together.’
Reprimanded and outmanoeuvred in one smooth stroke, Madeline sipped at her champagne. She learned fast when it came to the machinations of big business, but there was no denying that the head of the house of Yi had at least a thirty-year head start.
Time to lift her game.
Squaring her shoulders and summoning a smile, Madeline turned her mind to business.
CHAPTER SIX
‘HAD enough?’ asked Luke as he materialised by Madeline’s side some half an hour later.
‘More than enough.’ The paintings weren’t to her taste, Bruce Yi’s partners had grilled her to within an inch of incineration about her future 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
