Wife For A Week. Kelly Hunter

wood, dark carpet, dim lighting, good Scotch and no mirrors. He needed it bad.

      ‘Ah-h-h,’ said Hallie as she slid into the booth beside him. ‘Very nice.’

      ‘You don’t find it a little too…masculine?’

      ‘Nope. Feels pretty homely to me. I have four brothers, remember?’

      ‘Trust me, I hadn’t forgotten. Where do they live?’

      ‘Wherever their work takes them. Luke’s a Navy diver midway through a three-year stint in Guam; Pete’s flying charter planes in Greece; Jake runs a martial arts dojo in Singapore and Tristan lives here in London. He’s the one I’m staying with while I do my course.’

      ‘Tristan?’ After Pete, Luke and Jake, a brother named Tristan sounded somewhat incongruous. ‘What does Tristan do?’

      ‘He works for Interpol.’

      ‘Paper pusher?’

      ‘Black ops,’ she corrected. ‘But he’s a pussycat really.’

      Sure he was. All black ops specialists were pussycats. It was such a caring, non-confrontational profession. ‘You know, maybe I need a different type of wife for Hong Kong,’ he said. ‘Maybe I need a brunette.’

      ‘I was a brunette once,’ said Hallie. ‘The hairdresser was a young guy, just starting out, and we decided to experiment. He left the salon not long after that.’ She sighed heavily. ‘I’m sure Tris wouldn’t really have castrated him.’

      Maybe he was doomed. ‘Or a blonde,’ he muttered. ‘I could always replace you with a blonde.’

      ‘Ha. You can’t fool me. You’re not going to replace me now; you’d have to go clothes shopping again.’

      Nick shuddered. She was right. Replacing her was out of the question.

      ‘Besides,’ she continued blithely, ‘it’s not as if I’m going to be telling any of my brothers the finer details of our little arrangement. They wouldn’t understand.’

      On this they were in total accord.

      ‘So tell me about your family,’ she said, deftly changing the focus back to him and his. ‘When did your father die?’

      ‘Two years ago. He was a property developer.’

      ‘And Clea? You said she wasn’t a corporate wife. What does she do?’

      ‘Many people find it hard to believe, but she’s an architect. A very good one.’

      ‘Is that how they met? Through their work?’

      ‘No, they met at a birthday party. Clea was in the cake. I try not to think about it.’

      ‘What about brothers and sisters?’

      ‘There’s just me.’

      ‘Didn’t you ever get lonely?’ she asked.

      ‘Nope.’ She looked as if she was struggling with the only-child concept. ‘I had plenty of friends, plenty of company. And whenever I had any spare time there was always a computer handy and a dozen imaginary worlds to get lost in.’

      ‘And now you create fantasy worlds for a living. I guess that means you always knew what you wanted to do, even as a kid.’

      ‘I always did it. Is that the same thing?’

      ‘Probably. My brothers always knew what they wanted to do when they grew up too.’ Hallie’s smile was wry. ‘With me it was different…every week a new idea…astronaut, race-car driver, professional stunt-woman…My family’s still not convinced I won’t change my mind about wanting to work in the art business.’

      ‘And will you?’

      ‘Who knows?’ she said with a shrug. ‘I love the thrill that comes with finding something old and beautiful, and I love discovering its history and the history of the people behind it. Hopefully I’ll find work with a respectable dealer in Asian antiquities and it’ll be fascinating, but if it’s not…well…I’ll do something else. At least I’ll have given it a try.’

      ‘You want to make your own mistakes.’

      ‘That’s it!’ There was fire in her eyes, passion in her voice. ‘Do you have any idea how hard it is to make your own decisions with four older brothers all hell-bent on guiding you through life? I mean honestly, Nick, I’m twenty-four years old and I’m not a slow learner! So what if I make a mistake or two along the way? I’ll fix them. I certainly don’t need my brothers charging in to straighten me out every time I step sideways.’ Hallie’s chin came up; he was beginning to know that look. ‘I can take care of myself. I want to take care of myself. Is that too much to ask?’

      ‘Not at all. What you want is freedom.’

      ‘And equality,’ she said firmly. ‘And it wouldn’t kill them to show me a bit of respect every now and then too.’

      Right. Nick quelled the slight twinge of sympathy he was beginning to feel for her brothers and concentrated on the bigger picture. Freedom, equality, respect! He could manage that. It wasn’t as if she was asking for the sun, the moon and the stars to go with it.

      ‘I want you to know that even though I’m paying you a great deal of money to deceive my future business partner you have my utmost respect,’ he stated firmly. ‘We’re in this together as equals.’

      And to the drinks waiter who had appeared at his side, ‘Two single-malt Scotches. Neat.’