The Dragon and the Pearl by Jeannie Lin Read Free Book Online Page A

continued.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘This…this was left at the house last night.’
    She hated the desperation of her one-sided conversation. Every time they engaged one another, she seemed to have lost any ground she’d gained previously. The last time they had spoken, he’d kissed her—though it was more a challenge than a lover’s kiss.
    He had scandalously proposed she spend one night in his bed. Her thoughts wandered back to it every night while she slept far away from his chamber, but now that she was here, the proposal came back to her with a sharpness that stole her breath.
    Swallowing past the sudden knot in her throat, she held out the box. ‘Is this a gift?’
    ‘Open it.’
    The ribbon pulled free easily and she let the tail of it run from her fingers as she unwound the silk wrapping to reveal a rosewood box inlaid with a circle of jade on the lid.
    ‘Look inside.’ His voice pulled tight around each word.
    Slowly, she lifted the brass clasp and nearly dropped the box when she caught the gleam of the blade. It was a dagger, the triangular blade thick and wickedly tapered. She set the case on to the table with trembling hands and backed away quickly.
    ‘Flattering that the old man should send such a pretty weapon,’ he said.
    His attention focused singularly on to her, his icy demeanour vastly different from the man who had pressed his lips to hers so seductively. A thin, shadowed object lay across his palm.
    ‘I always knew he had people hidden close to the heart of the empire.’
    Her stomach lurched. It was a knife in his hand. He twirled the weapon carelessly between his fingers.
    She backed away from the box one step at a time. ‘You’re mistaken. I had nothing to do with this.’
    It was useless to beg. That was his reputation, wasn’t it? When Li Tao came for you, your pleas fell upon deaf ears. The blood drained from her face while her mind fumbled for an escape.
    ‘Did he also find you in Luoyang?’ he asked.
    His question caught her off guard. He rose to his feet and she stumbled back, her shoulders coming up against the alcove of the bed.
    ‘He would see how your beauty could be used.’
    ‘Gao?’ Had he somehow guessed her connection to the old warlord?
    She flinched when he took hold of her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. ‘The rulers of this empire are so drawn to beauty.’
    There was no compliment in his words. The knife remained poised lightly in his free hand. The threat of it brought her to another time and place. The same haze of fear had choked her then. The men who had come for her had looked at her with cold eyes as they’d held out two choices, a knife or poison.
    ‘Gao doesn’t own me.’ Whatever ploy this was, she knew nothing about it. She’d been snared in it somehow and she had to convince him.
    ‘No, not Gao.’
    Faster than a serpent’s strike, he had her arms pinned against the bed frame. He still held the knife. She gasped as the bone handle dug into her wrist.
    ‘Did Lao Sou send you?’ he demanded.
    ‘Who?’
    ‘Did the old man send you?’
    ‘I don’t know any old man. No one sent me.’
    ‘Someone wanted you here. With me.’
    His face was a rigid mask above her, jaw taut, his mouth a harsh line. If she called for help, Ru Shan would come storming in, but then Li Tao would kill them both. He held her pinned and there was nothing she could offer, nothing she could bargain with. She had never felt so helpless.
    She was only alive at his whim. Nothing could sway him. Not vulnerability or tears or lies. Her desperate plea came out in a flood of words.
    ‘You think anyone would send me to kill you? That I would walk in and do it while you were watching? You took me from my home. All I want is to go back.’
    He had her caged against the bed, overpowered by his size and strength. A glimmer alighted in his eyes, a spark of passion amidst the blind anger. His hold loosened enough for her to slip her arms free.
    She thought he would kiss her again. He was