The Jade Temptress by Jeannie Lin

Author:Jeannie Lin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2013-06-15T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“YOU’RE STILL HERE.” Kaifeng sounded surprised.

“I’m still here.”

Mingyu curled up against him, seeking warmth against the chill of the early morning. She liked the way he sounded, his deep voice muddled with sleep and every breath rumbling in his chest.

Languidly, he rolled away from her and propped himself up on his elbow. The action was immediately followed by a yawn. She was reminded of a lion drenched in sunlight.

“So this is what you really look like,” she mused.

“Frightening?” he asked, his voice tight.

“Not at all.”

She reached out to trace the line of his arm. Kaifeng was lean and spare of build, not one bit wasted. When poems spoke of masculine beauty, they prescribed a cultured appearance—light skin, arched eyebrows, an inoffensive chin and forehead which didn’t draw too much attention to one or the other.

Kaifeng was far from an example of male beauty. His features were striking, his skin bronze. The cords of sinew and muscle that defined his body spoke of toil and labor rather than refinement, but the effect was undeniably powerful to the eye. At least to her eye.

“I’ve been studying your face,” she said, resting her head over one bent arm.

He didn’t say anything, though he did shift to face her while he waited for her to continue. They mirrored one another as they reclined upon the pallet, engaged in a lover’s conversation.

“It’s not an unpleasant face,” she observed.

Kaifeng frowned at her.

“It’s not a bad face at all, really, in its parts,” she went on. “People find your features unusual because of your lack of emotion.”

He displayed such statuelike control now, though there was a gleam in his eye. Perhaps she only saw those little nuances now that she was accustomed to looking at him and was no longer afraid to meet his gaze.

“It would be easier if you were prone to scowling or snarling, but you never do that, either.” She eased closer to touch her fingertip to his collarbone. From there, she traced the shape of it toward his throat then down his breastbone. From the rise and fall of his chest, she knew he wasn’t unaffected, but such knowledge wasn’t easy to come by. Wu Kaifeng gave away nothing without a price. “You don’t show anger, or happiness, or fear. No one knows how to react to that.”

“I’ve always suspected that I did not feel things the same way others did,” he admitted. “Emotion never seemed to overwhelm me as it did others. I didn’t feel as much or as strongly. It’s always been that way.”

She was insistent. “But you do feel things.”

“I do when I’m with you,” he said begrudgingly.

Kaifeng certainly felt passion and desire. She had seen both in his eyes last night. She had also seen loneliness, something she understood too well.

A lump formed in her throat. For the next few moments, Kaifeng did nothing but hold her while Mingyu rested her head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat. She tried hard not to rush the moment, to become impatient, but the sun was rising too quickly.

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