The Pingkang Li Mysteries Complete Collection by Jeannie Lin

Author:Jeannie Lin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

HUANG SAW YUE-YING the moment he opened the gate. She was sitting on the bench beside the peony tree. It had been days since he had seen her and there she was like a cool breeze; an unexpected gift in the middle of the summer heat.

“You’re here,” he said.

He went to her and she made room on the bench for him to sit. “I am.”

Her hand found its way into his and he was flooded with relief and happiness. He’d been holding in his breath for days and he could finally exhale.

“I’m happy to see you,” Huang said.

She turned to him and graced him with a smile that was crooked and mysterious. “I’m happy as well.”

She never smiled for him completely, without reservation. She always held something back and it made him even more determined to make her eyes light up and hear her laughter.

They rose and retreated to the bedchamber. Then, not caring that it was the middle of the day or that the windows were open, he slipped off her robe and made love to her. Afterward, they lay together in the languid heat of the afternoon. His fingers played with the strands of her hair as his eyes traced every inch of her face. She no longer flinched from his gaze. He couldn’t hide the truth from her any longer.

“When I went to ask my father’s help with Mingyu’s case, we spoke about other matters as well.” His throat closed around the next words. “I mentioned the two of us.”

She rose to sit over him. “Us?”

“I told him that I wanted you to be my wife.”

She was bare from head to toe, presenting too pretty of a view as she stared down at him in astonishment.

“You know that can’t be.”

“It’s the truth. It’s what I want here.” He tapped a hand to his chest. “My father said he would disown me if I insisted on it.”

His voice rasped low, grating against his throat. His father could have threatened to kill him and it would have hurt less.

“I couldn’t let you do that,” Yue-ying said softly.

“You wouldn’t run away with me? We can find a place in the woods,” he teased. “Raise chickens. Catch fish.”

She managed a laugh. The sound of it was enough to lighten his heart just a little, even if she did it only for his benefit. She touched a hand to his chest.

“You’ve spent the past three years redeeming yourself in your father’s eyes. You won’t leave your family. It’s not what you truly want…here.” She placed her hand against his heart and it beat even faster.

His heart was selfish and entitled and greedy and he had always assumed, despite his father forbidding it and despite Yue-ying’s insistence that she never wanted to be owned again, that somehow everything would fall into place for him. He’d taken a knife to his gut and had survived. Heaven smiled on him. He was privileged from birth and he was invincible.

But he wasn’t invincible now.

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