Her Master's Touch by Patricia Watters Read Free Book Online Page A

averted her gaze. "Well, yes," she said, hesitatingly.
    "Do you pen your poetic fancies?" he
asked.
    "No," she said. "I don't want to imprison my
fantasy world by putting it into words." She dipped her needle into
the vial. "And you, my lord?" she asked, completing a Lilliputian
eye. "Do you get lonely when you are alone?"
    "I'm rarely alone," he said. "My home is not
lacking for human occupancy."
    Eliza's hand holding the bamboo needle
paused, and she looked into eyes that flared with sparks of intent
as he moved closer, until his breath tickled her face. "My lord...
no..." Her heart beat wildly with the realization that he intended
to kiss her. And when he did, her eyelids fluttered closed, her
lips parted, and a ripple of pleasure rushed through her. But
during the kiss, she started giggling. "I'm sorry, my lord," she
said, patting her lips, "but it's the first time I've kissed a man
and it made my mouth tingle."
    Damon gave a short, sardonic laugh, and said,
"Let's dispense with the game, Eliza."
    He moved to kiss her again, but Eliza pressed
against his chest and turned her cheek to him, and said, "Games, my
lord?"
    "Yes, games," he replied. "You don't expect
me to believe that a woman of your wandering nature has never been
kissed?"
    "You may believe whatever you wish, my lord,
but the fact is, gypsy girls are far more chaste than gorgio girls. The bride-price requires chastity."
    "There was nothing chaste about the way you
dressed at the horse fair," he said.
    "It was a warm day," she replied. "I did not
want to be overcome by the heat."
    Damon said with irony, "So, what did you
think of your first kiss?"
    Eliza struggled to find the words to describe
what she'd felt. It was as if she had been tickled all over. A
warm, delightful tickle she'd like to experience just one more
time. Was there something in the way Lord Ravencroft kissed that
was different from other men? Or did all men kiss that way? The odd
thing was, she felt no desire to try it with any other man. She
also knew he did not believe that she'd never kissed a man before.
But living on the fringes of the kumpania as she did, and
carrying in her veins gorgio blood, she was not a prize. Old
Zelda's words shortly before she died affirmed it. ‘ You always
be outcast, Eliza, but if you earn much money, you might find man
who marry you ...’
    "My kiss?" a deep voice interrupted her
musing. "What did you think of it?"
    "It was... different than I expected."
    "Different good, or different bad?"
    "Just... different," Eliza said. Anxious to
be done with this particular tattoo, she dipped the needle into a
vial, braced her hand against his chest, and began pricking out
short wisps of hair. In an attempt to dispel the unsettling effect
of his nearness and her yearning for another kiss, she broached a
subject that had hovered in her mind ever since she'd arrived. The
whereabouts of her father. Not to sound eager, she said, while
pricking out a diminutive foot, "How long have you lived here?"
    "About four years," he replied.
    "Did your family originally own Shanti
Bhavan ?" she asked.
    The muscle beneath her palm went rigid. "Why
did you call my house that?" he asked.
    Eliza looked into sober eyes and realized her
blunder. Shrugging with an air of indifference, she replied,
"That's what the servants call it."
    He looked at her intently. "I only heard it
called that once," he said, "and that was by Lord Sheffield, the
man I bought it from."
    Eliza's hand holding the needle jerked,
leaving a scratch. She hadn't heard her father's name in years. She
hadn't wished to hear it. By now he'd probably have forgotten she
existed. Still, he was her father, and she had a certain curiosity
about him. She gave Damon a nervous smile. "This Lord Sheffield…"
she asked, tentatively. "Was he a government official?"
    "No," Damon replied, "he was the second son
of a Marques. He returned to England in search of his daughter,
who'd been kidnapped from school. He gave me a good price for