Bloody hell.
Years of training allowed Wei to prevent heat from rising in his face.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he said.
“Ha, I knew it.” Yao slapped the table. “That still-as-a-windless-pond expression might work with other people but not with me. It’s a dead giveaway, shihing: you’re hiding something.”
“There is nothing to hide.”
“You like the little lady.”
Wei…did. As wrong as it was, he couldn’t bring himself to deny it. Lady Glory had countless charms, the most endearing one being her obliviousness to her own appeal. I am the opposite of popular, she’d said. Plain, she’d called herself. The men of her acquaintance must be stupid indeed not to recognize what a rare jewel she was. Her curiosity, intelligence, and desire to help others made her even more special. As the English would put it, she was the genuine article, inside and out.
The knowledge that he’d been the first man to kiss her filled Wei with dark and unspeakable pride. A word had flashed in his head, one he knew to be dangerous and impossible. One that he’d never before applied to any woman. But, hell, he’d wanted to kiss Glory in that sun-drenched garden and give the little tigress another lesson in the ways of desire.
He cleared his throat. “The lady in question has many fine qualities. But that does not mean I have designs upon her.”
“She is pretty, spirited, and rich.” Yao counted on his fingers. “And, for some reason, she seems to like you. You could do worse, you know.”
“She is the daughter of a duke. She belongs to a different world.”
Wei’s experience with Chun had taught him that love did not conquer all. On the contrary, love had rules like everything else. Breaking those rules—violating the laws of the universe—was an invitation for trouble.
“Don’t be so old-fashioned. These are modern times.” Modernity was one of Yao’s favorite topics, one he could wax poetic about for hours. “Here in England, working-class folk are demanding reform. Women are too. People are questioning the so-called natural order of things. You don’t have to settle for your lot in life; you can take on the establishment, make a change.”
Instead of arguing, Wei said, “As it happens, I am taking on the lady in question. As my pupil.”
Yao’s jaw slackened. “You idiot. Why would you do such a bloody stupid thing?”
“Because it sets the proper boundaries,” Wei replied.
“It erects a bleeding steel wall is what it does.” Yao shook his head. “Now that she is your pupil, you cannot court her.”
“Precisely. In the end, she will thank me for doing the right thing.”
“Well, your cock certainly won’t,” Yao said with a snort. “A lifetime of kung fu at dawn and cold plunges is a lonely way to live, shihing.”
Wei ignored the clenching in his gut.
Whatever it takes. I will sacrifice anything for my family’s honor…and that includes letting go of my selfish desires.
“I have my purpose,” he said. “Everything else is irrelevant.”
“An unyielding army will not win,” Yao said loftily.
At the familiar precept, Wei raised his brows. “You read the Tao Te Ching? All the way to chapter seventy-six?”
“Of course not. But Shifu Lam told me that if you ever start acting like a rigid oak…or was that oaf—”
“Get on with it,” Wei said curtly.
“No need to shoot the messenger.” Yao held up his hands. “Those are Shifu’s words, not mine. He said that if you ever got too, ahem, inflexible, I should say that bit about the army. Which I just did.” He scratched his head. “Can’t believe I remembered it, actually.”
Frustration knotted Wei’s insides. The cryptic message was typical of Master Lam.
The stronger the will, the weaker the result. The doing is in the not doing.
Wei curled his hands on the table. “How in blazes am I supposed to avenge my family without hunting down the murderer?”
