He looked upward for a moment, but he was already familiar with the view. What he wanted this night was to see her as she looked around. Even in the dark, he could see the outline of her body, guess at the way she held her breath, and watch as she slowly turned to see the whole vista.
“I have never seen so many stars,” she said, her voice awed. “London is never like this.”
Definitely not. “Do you feel small?” he asked. “I used to beneath that sky, but now I feel like the universe is very big, very impressive, and that I am part of it.”
She looked back to him. “You are a tiger, majestic in your way and powerful over your corner of the jungle. But this…” She looked back up. “This is a very large jungle.”
He didn’t fully understand what she said, but he loved hearing her speak it. “If I am a tiger, what are you?”
“Squiggles,” she said. “I am the source of squiggles and shadows. And in a universe like this, I could pour out every bit of my darkness, and still not dim the light. Not one tiny bit.” She laughed and spun around, her arms opening as she moved. Slowly at first, but then she raised them high as if stretching for the stars. “Thank you for showing me this!”
He watched her turning, her head thrown back. She was happy, and her joy sparked his.
She laughed. “We could be the only people in the world.”
That would be enough for him. Her and him in a whole, wild world.
That was a jarring thought given how little he knew of her. And yet at this moment, he felt it with his whole being. Some of her hair had escaped its pins and now spread out behind her as she looked up. Her body was arched, her arms twisting above her as she seemed to stroke a brush through the sky. Was she painting what she saw? What she felt? Did she even realize that her body was as much art as the things she drew? She was a woman absorbed in what she lived, and he was mesmerized by the experience.
He didn’t know how long he stood there watching her. Long enough for the cold to set in. Long enough for her arms to dangle and her eyes close with a happy sigh. Long enough for him to want to touch her. He wanted to hear that same sigh come from his caress and his kiss. It was natural, he supposed, to want to possess her in so carnal a way. And yet he kept himself back from her as if his touch would spoil the beauty of what she was.
And yet the longer he stood there watching her, the more his body throbbed with desire. He longed to experience her in every way possible, but only if he could do such a thing without altering who she was inside. It was impossible, of course. No man could possess a woman without changing her. But oh, how desperately he wanted to try.
Against his will, he began to plot her seduction. He wanted not only her art, but her heart and her body as well. Not tonight, of course. It was too soon. So he stepped back and lost himself in her beauty. But in the back of his mind, he stalked her as carefully as any tiger.
Chapter Thirteen
Li-Na dreamt ofa tiger watching a star-filled sky. The stars moved, the tiger waited, and she stayed hidden behind a shadow of her own making. She watched everything from behind this dark shield until—tired of doing nothing—she stepped out into the moonlight. At least that was her intention. Except the moment she moved from behind the shadow, it expanded to cover her. And it continued to blanket her no matter how far she ran, how high she leaped, or how low she scrambled to get around it.
That would have been bad enough but eventually the tiger heard her. He turned his head and she saw his eyes fix on hers. She knew it when his body rippled as he gathered his strength. Then he leaped, claws fully extended, straight at her.
She woke with a frightened cry and her feet tangled in her own bedding. Just a nightmare, she told herself, then she waited for her heart to steady and the squiggles to either push her into action or quiet inside her as they eased her back to sleep. It took a moment for her to realize that there was light coming in through the slats between boards in her window. Just how late was it?
She climbed out of bed and winced as she used her stiff muscles. She never did much physical work in London. There was some, of course. Up and down stairs, carting water for bathing, and the monotonous work of cleaning her bedroom. Here she’d climbed a cliff and walked for miles. No wonder she’d overslept.
She dressed as quickly as she could then headed out of her room into the workroom. No one was there. The doorway into his lordship’s bedchamber was open and the room empty. She was halfway through his room when she heard him outside. His voice carried, as well as that of Stefan. Curious, she stepped through the great room into the courtyard, walking slowly as she listened to their conversation.
It was filled with words she didn’t understand: mortar, talus, machicolations.
She found them soon enough squatting over a pile of rocks while holding sticks in their hand. If she had to guess, they were discussing architecture and ways to rebuild the crumbling side of the castle. She didn’t try to understand. Instead, she watched the way her tiger moved as he gestured or taught. He seemed to favor posing questions and waiting while the boy figured out the answer. He even got down on his knees and carefully balanced rocks on their small pile. And as Lord Daniel rocked back on his heels and waited, she was reminded of the tiger in her dream.
He watched. He waited. And when roused, he attacked. Or in this case, he challenged the boy beside him. He asked questions of the child, but never gave answers beyond a nod or a smile. It was all to make the child think and Li-Na found it surprising. The tutors in China had always forced the Zhong children to memorize names, dynasties, and important poems. They rarely challenged the children to think beyond the repetition of other people’s conclusions. And they always gave an indication ofcorrectorincorrect.
Lord Daniel continued to surprise her, and this made him intriguing enough to enter her dreams. Or so she guessed. She watched them for a while, searching for similarities and differences between the two. She saw the way Lord Daniel straightened to his full height with one hand on his hip and another to gesture. She noted when Stefan stood in the exact same pose. She appreciated the sunlight as it turned his lordship’s brown hair to gold. She saw that he and Stefan both had light freckles and strong jaws. And most telling of all, they seemed to share a secret smile. It was in the tilt of the head matched with a twist of the lips. Not a full grin, not a deeply thoughtful expression, but a half-amused, half-intrigued kind of smile that reminded her of a cat in the cream.
And it was on both their faces as Lord Daniel turned to speak to her.
“Good morning. I hope we didn’t disturb you.”
“I apologize for sleeping late. I will begin work immediately.” She dipped in a bow. It was an old habit from childhood. She’d always done that whenever she’d been caught in a place she should not be.
“Don’t be silly,” he returned. “You worked extra hours yesterday, so you deserved this morning’s extra sleep. It’s my fault for looking at the stars so late last night.”
He hadn’t been looking at the stars. He’d been looking at her while she marveled at the night sky. And while she’d gloried in the sheer expanse of the heavens, a part of her had enjoyed the idea that he watched her. It reminded her of when she was young in China. She was fair enough of face and body that the boys had seen her. And though plenty of men had tried to get her attention in the gaming hell, Lord Daniel was the first to watch her without comment. He’d smiled in that cat-in-the-cream way while she stretched up on her toes as if to touch the sky.
And thought about kissing him under the star-filled sky.
He didn’t press her for more, and she didn’t give into temptation. Eventually, he’d extended his arm to her as they continued the walk back to the castle. He talked about sleeping on the moors as a boy and how he’d learned the names of the constellations by heart. It had been enchanting to hear his deep voice mix with the night. She listened to him while she continued to watch the sky, secure in the knowledge that he guided their steps. He would not let her fall.
