She smiled, flushing in pleasure. Most men would roundly damn her father for allowing a woman into men’s affairs. That he understood her mother’s value made her blood flush hot. Then all thoughts of her parents fled as Bo Tao tightened his hold on her.
“If you are discovered, I cannot help you. It would go worse for you if I claimed knowledge of your presence here.”
She swallowed, beginning to understand what she riskedin this. But she had never seen a white man before and was most anxious to view her first. Plus, when Bo Tao held her like this, when she felt the strength in his arms around her, she could think of nothing but staying close to him no matter what the cost.
“I will not disappoint you,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said as he dropped his forehead against hers. She could feel the tension grow in his body. This tight against her, she could feel his dragon root push into her belly while her women’s petals grew moist. Never before had she felt so much, so fast.
He groaned, low in his throat. She heard the sound and echoed it as she lifted her mouth to his. His kiss was deep and possessive, but she had learned much last night. She knew how to toy with his tongue, to suck it deeper into her mouth, and to nip whenever possible at his lips.
His hands slipped to her bottom, cupping her there as he pulled her roughly against his groin. His thickness was hot and hard, but there were too many layers of clothing between them. Then his hands slipped upward, over her breasts, pinching through the fabric. She rubbed her hands over his chest, slipping beneath his court coat, but he had on a tunic beneath. No flesh, no access, only layers of silk over hardened muscle.
“No,” he gasped as he abruptly broke away. “The Emperor has noticed. He is watching me. And you,” he added. “He watches you as well. It is why the Dowager Consort hates you. She knows his interest is piqued.”
Ji Yue froze and pulled slowly back, thoughts tumbling through her head like heavy stones. The Dowager Consorthatedher? And the Emperorwatchedher? The very idea was incredible. But if they saw her, if Emperor Xian Feng watched her, then being here was madness! She should leave immediately! And yet she did not stir from Bo Tao’s arms. Whydid she not leave?
She had no explanation except for her lust. She wanted Bo Tao’s lips on hers. She wanted his hand inside her body. And she wondered–oh how she wondered–what it would be like to have his jade stalk planted deeply inside her.
“Do you want me to foreswear you?” he whispered. “Do you want me to take you back to the virgins’ palace right now? We can stop this madness here.”
“No,” she whispered. “No, I want to...” She couldn’t finish what she wanted. No virgin could admit those things aloud. She waved to the inkstone and brushes. “I want to help you. I was raised to be a political wife, helping my husband in this manner.”
He nodded. “Then so be it.” He stepped away, moving quickly to the door. But then he paused, his expression earnest. “I am not a hanger-on, Ji Yue. I understand these foreigners as no other in China. One day, the Emperor will make my position official. I will be the advisor on foreign affairs, perhaps an ambassador, but he likes having someone unofficial to meet with these people. Someone smart who can arrange things unofficially.”
She smiled. “I am a woman. I understand how things can be arranged without the menofficiallyknowing anything at all.”
“Soon things will change for me. Perhaps very soon, but–”
“But not yet,” she said. “I understand.”
Then their time was up. At his gesture, she extinguished the candle. He waited in the darkness a moment longer, and in that time she heard his breath exhale with such longing that tears sprang to her eyes. Except that could not be true. She could not hear longing in a man’s breath. Perhaps it was her own need that she felt, her own anguish.
He had not even left the room, and yet she ached for the loss of him. Her body felt cold without him beside her. And her womb cried at its emptiness. She took a step forward to say...shedidn’t know what. But before she could form a word, he was gone. He slipped out of the room leaving her alone.
It was just as well. Her thoughts were impure, her virginity in danger. She knew better than to think of anything but becoming an Empress. Her mother had said she was not beautiful, so she needed to be smart. A smart woman would tuck her feelings away, put aside her memories as well as her wishes. She did it with a firmness that would please her ancestors.
Then she went to the window and pulled open the latch. Very soon, she would see a white man for the first time in her life. Would he look like a monkey, as she had heard? Would he truly have a stench like a pigpen in August? She could not wait to see.
But as she scanned the receiving hall on the other side of her hidden room, her eyes looked not for the white envoy but Sun Bo Tao. What would he say to the foreign devils? How would he treat their insolence? She held her breath in anticipation.
She didn’t have to wait long. The Dutch group was ushered inside–six men in all. She took careful note of their attire. She knew that distinctions in color and insignia were important in China, so they could be equally vital to these foreigners. As they grumbled and argued in their strange tongue, she had time to make rough sketches of their faces and attitudes.
One was obviously their leader. His gestures were more refined, and he had a habit of stroking his beard or his coat lapels when he spoke. The others fawned upon him in subtle ways. They maintained their arrogance as all men must, but they kept their chins just a bit less pronounced and their eyes shifted left and right more often.
Then Bo Tao appeared. He was magnificent. From his gestures to his sneering lip, he moved to impress. Hebrought his own retinue of underlings–double the Dutch envoy’s numbers–and all bowed and scraped as Bo Tao sat in the throne chair. It was not the Dragon Throne, of course. This was a lesser hall, but Bo Tao wore the auspices of power with a majesty that must match the Emperor himself. The sight of him stole her breath away.
The preliminaries had begun. A Dutch underling offered a gift: a metal timepiece, she thought, but it was hard to see. Bo Tao accepted it with causal neglect, waving it aside as merely his due. Tea and dumplings were served, and the Dutch ate. Bo Tao did not. Then after a polite interval, the Dutch turned and began the true purpose for their meeting.
But then the oddest thing happened. The one whom she thought led stepped back as if unimportant. The one who stepped forward was the one she thought most ape-like with his dark curling hair and his wide nose. Surely this was a subordinate, but he spoke in their bizarre tongue and a ship’s captain translated his words into guttural, dock-side Cantonese.
Bo Tao, of course, did not speak such dialect. It would be far beneath his dignity, but Ji Yue did. Her old nurse had been raised in Canton and she used to sing songs in that tongue. While another translator changed the Cantonese words into Mandarin, Ji Yue wrote down both what was said in Cantonese and what was passed to Bo Tao.
And so it went with negotiations back and forth until Ji Yue thought her hand would break for the strain. The Dutch wished for more treaty ports. Bo Tao refused. China had no interest in Dutch goods, he said. The envoys brought more delightful presents–strange fabrics of string woven in interesting patterns, crockery and machinery of bizarre colors and shapes. How Ji Yue wanted to inspect them all, but from her angle, she could only see tiny pieces.
Bo Tao yawned. Then with a sigh, he glanced atthe window and promised to discuss their proposal with the Emperor, but he made no move to leave. At first Ji Yue did not understand why, but then his craftiness became obvious. The real gift had not yet been offered.
The ape man came forward and his eyes took on a gleam of arrogance. Ji Yue did not like his manner even though he obviously thought he was acting especially refined. At his gesture, two men came forward with a medium-sized chest. It was placed in the center of the room. Then the ape man crossed to it and with thick fingers he pulled open the lid.
