Heart of the Dragon (19 page)

“Someplace safe and private, where I can take care of you.”

Her muscles turned to jelly, and she slid down until her head was pillowed on his thigh. He stroked her temple. Feeling queasy with relief and exhaustion, she sighed groggily as sleep closed in on her. She had to force her tongue to move. “Won’t the police … look for us?”

“No. I bribed the right people. And who I couldn’t bribe, I blackmailed or threatened.”

She frowned at his ruthlessness, but only because she wondered what kind of danger he’d put himself in to rescue her. Kash played by rules he hadn’t chosen willingly. Like Rungsima. And like herself, because the rules for a sheltered, small-town girl had been just as hard to break, though they were built on love.

“You broke the rules,” she mumbled. Her mind was drifting peacefully, soothed by his caress, his nearness, and the comfort of his strong body.

He bent over her, and the last words she heard from him, troubled and hard, registered dimly in her mind. “I never promised you a hero,” he whispered.

Rebecca made a sound of rebuke, fumbled for his hand, and brought it to her lips. He still doesn’t understand, she thought sadly. Rebecca listened to the low hum of his breath as he kissed her ear. A dragon’s purr lulled her to sleep.

It was the middle of the night, in a forest so deep nothing else seemed to exist except the delicate bamboo house with its thatched roof and rice-paper sliding
doors. Kash held Rebecca close to his torso in the big, claw-footed bathtub, his legs drawn up so that her hips fit closely between them. Her head lay back on his shoulder. She was half-asleep, and though he’d fed her a nourishing meal of rice and fish soon after their arrival, her face still had a pinched, ashen look that stabbed him with concern.

She’d seen more ugliness in the past two days than even her vivid imagination could have conjured, he thought angrily. But now she knew, at least a little, about the reality of some people’s lives, and how different they were from hers. What memories would she take away from her time with him? Loving ones, like now, but she’d never forget the others, either. It would have been easier to tell her about his childhood if she hadn’t glimpsed the brutal reality of that life.

“Becca?” He brushed his lips over the side of her neck, and her soft murmur of appreciation made him put his arms around her in a fierce hug. “I’m going to wash your hair. You’ll have to lean forward a little.”

“Hmmm.” She clasped her arms around his knees. Kash slid his hands up and down her naked back, frowning at the welts from insect bites, wishing that he could massage away all the small injuries and humiliations she’d suffered. He poured shampoo over her hair from a small ceramic bottle that sat among an array of oils, soaps, and medicines on a small table beside the tub.

As he worked his hands through the tangled strands, she raised her head and stretched her neck back. “You should open a beauty parlor, bub. Women would pay thousands for this kind of ecstasy.”

Pleased to hear the humor in her voice, he lifted sudsy brunette hair from the nape of her neck and massaged the muscles there. “Good Lord, there’s a beautiful babe under all the dirt. Not only is she brave, kind, and smart, she’s got sexy freckles on her shoulders.”

To his dismay she gave a low, racking sob. “I wasn’t
brave. I was scared to death. I was ready to do whatever anyone told me to do, just to stay out of trouble. I saw a guard hit somebody. Just the idea of being hit was enough to terrify me.”

“Being scared doesn’t matter. It’s what you do about it that makes you brave. And you did fine.”

“Rungsima told me all about her work. She’s never had a chance to be anything but a slave. The things that people have done to her made me sick. I felt so helpless and so angry on her behalf. No one should have to suffer as she has.”

Kash leaned over her, numbly attempting to soothe her with his caresses. If a bar girl’s stories could sicken Rebecca, his background would disgust her even more. “It’s terrible to be at the mercy of heartless people.” His voice was more raw with sorrow and memories than he’d expected.

Rebecca shivered in his embrace. “I kept thinking about Madame Piathip. I wanted to strangle her for using her power to hurt me. Put my hands around her throat and choke her. I’ve never felt that way about a person before.”

“It’s only natural.”

“Not for me.” Her shoulders slumped. She rested her cheek against his knee. Her eyes were shut tight, and defeat mingled with the fatigue in her face. “I can’t take this emotional roller coaster anymore. I’ll never convince her that I’m Mayura’s half sister. The Nalinats will probably get me next. They’ve already kidnapped me, shot at me, had me followed—what will they do to top that? I think I’ve reached my limit. I’m so confused. What if I’ve been wrong? Maybe my father was lying about everything. Maybe he
was
involved in smuggling. Maybe there was no marriage, no baby—”

“Stop.” Kash held her tightly and rocked a little, trying to soothe her. “This isn’t how you really feel. Where’s that undying optimism I love to make fun of?”

“I left it in jail. People really are cruel to each other.
And terrible things happen without any meaning or justice.”

“That’s reality. But reality is also hope, and compassion, and people like you, who help strangers like Rungsima.” He was surprised to hear such optimism from his own lips. But it was true—Rebecca made him see how one kind person could undo some of the world’s evil.

“I don’t know,” she said wearily. “Right now I’m afraid to learn anything else about reality.” Her voice broke. “If my father was lying, I don’t know how I’d stand it.”

“I don’t think he was. I believe him.” Kash recalled the information Audubon had given him about Rebecca’s father. It might not be true, but if it was, the most stunning rumor of all was that Reverend Brown had inherited a few thousand dollars and invested it in Vatan Silk at a time when the company was no more than a small family business; that Reverend Brown’s modest investment had bought him a majority share of the stock.

He couldn’t tell Rebecca that story until he’d confirmed it. If it was true, she’d inherited a lot of money, maybe millions. Madame Piathip had deceived her for the most selfish reasons.

“I wish I knew the truth,” Rebecca said brokenly. Kash stroked her arms, then ran his hands over her breasts and stomach, not in a sexual way, but in a desperate attempt to convey his sympathy. “I believe your father was as decent and honest as you’ve said. That he loved Mayura’s mother, married her, and lost Mayura to the Vatan family against his wishes.”

“But there’s no proof.”

“You didn’t need proof before. You had faith.”

She shoved her hands into her soapy hair and bowed her head in despair. “I know, I know. I still want to believe in him. But why are the Vatans so against me? Why would Madame Piathip hide the truth after all
these years? I can’t hurt her, or Mayura. I don’t have any power.”

Kash tried to calm her by pulling her hands down and cupping them in his own.
You don’t have any power unless you’re the heiress of Vatan company stock
, he told her silently. All serenity gone, he warred with his secretive nature.

If he told her, he’d ease her pain and confusion temporarily. But what if the story turned out to be spurious? What Rebecca didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. Unproven truths were worse than none at all. She needed cheering up, but he wouldn’t take the risk of giving her false hope. She’d been through too much disappointment already.

She wanted proof, not hearsay. Maybe in the bright, simple world she came from, rumors would be enough, but from Kash’s point of view only absolutes counted. He made a hard decision not to tell her anything he’d discussed with his father. For now he’d do his best to distract her. He’d remind her that together, at least for tonight, they could create a beautiful world of their own.

“Becca, listen to me,” he ordered gently. He let go of her hands and leaned back so he could rub her shoulders. “You can’t judge your feelings right now. You need rest. You need to stop thinking about everything that’s happened. Tomorrow you can worry about the future. But not tonight.”

“I can’t stop thinking.”

“I’ll help. I went through hell to rescue you. Don’t I deserve some attention? Concentrate on pleasing me.” He made his voice sound solemn and quaint. “You barbarian women don’t know how to take care of a man.”

She twisted to look at him. Tears and flecks of shampoo suds clung to her cheeks. The blue of her eyes was dull from crying. But her expression became thoughtful, and one corner of her mouth curved down
in droll consideration as she studied his patient attitude. “If you weren’t so smug about it, I’d tell you how much what you did meant to me.”

“I knew you’d get around to showing your gratitude as soon as your mind cleared.”

“You’re right.” She rubbed the heel of one hand over her teary cheeks in a gesture that was unconsciously childlike and vulnerable. It tugged at his heart. Her strength and determination had never revealed their tender underside so poignantly, and in that guileless moment he realized one reason he’d fallen in love with her so quickly and deeply. Whatever was left of his innocence had reached out to her with a survival instinct stronger than he’d ever believed possible.

She swiveled around with her knees drawn up tight so she could face him. Slipping her arms around his neck, she studied his face as if seeing him for the first time. The devotion in her eyes was a magnet. It drew him with unwavering power. No one had ever looked at him with such hope before.

“What you did made me love you more than ever,” she said softly. “When I was in jail, my worst fear was that you’d get yourself hurt trying to help me. I’d rather have something terrible happen to me than to you.”

Shaken, he struggled with a fierce need to say that he loved her, too, but lifelong habits died hard. He had always hoarded his emotions and rationed them out as small, casual gifts. She asked for his whole heart, and she offered hers, but she didn’t really know him. For the first time he put a name on the bleak feeling inside his chest. Fear. Pure, deeply ingrained fear. He was horrified by the fear that someday she’d regret loving him.

“I told you I wouldn’t leave you,” he answered. “I meant it. You needed me, and I was there for you.”

Disappointment darkened her eyes at his unsentimental reply. Her crestfallen look stabbed him. Kash fought for better words. “I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I kept picturing you in a dirty jail cell, scared, confused,
and being mistreated. I thought I’d go crazy if I didn’t get you out.”

She murmured his name and put her arms around him. “The important thing is that we’re together again. ” Then she kissed him tenderly, letting her mouth linger on his and giving a tiny moan when he caressed her breasts. Loving her brought an overpowering hunger for her touch and an even more powerful need to please her.

He rinsed the fragrant shampoo out of her hair and smoothed his thumbs over her features with exquisite care. She tilted her face up for the gentle exploration. Her parted lips stole his attention, and he sank his mouth onto hers, teasing her with deep, thrusting motions of his tongue.

She drew her fingers down his body as if she’d never get enough of him. Her greedy caresses were delicate but confident; her wildness excited him even more. Her hands slid into the water and played over his thighs and belly, unhurried, tantalizing, bawdy. Kash inhaled sharply with pleasure.

He paid her back with the same uninhibited stroking. Her passion made her writhe and stretch out until she lay on her stomach with her body atop his. Kash sank deeper into the water. It lapped at their shoulders. His body rose to meet her soft belly as she rubbed against him.

She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, kissing him, then nipping his skin gently. When he arched under her, she smiled against his throat and pressed kisses upward until she reached his mouth. As he shifted with pleasure, she slid her hands between their bodies, then urged him into a quiet frenzy with her intimate cuddling.

Kash heard himself make a gruff sound of surrender. He brought one hand to the back of her head and held her hair tightly while he ground his mouth on hers. She
opened to him hungrily. His savage response took the mood to a different level, one of primitive seduction.

Beneath the surface of the warm, sudsy water he grasped her bottom and delved into her with his fingers. She called his name and raised her lips to his forehead, then trailed small kisses over his eyes and cheeks. Kash lost himself in the desire blazing from her half-shut eyes. She smiled with provocative intent, but her eyes remained serious. “Catch me, if you want me.”

She pushed herself upright and stood, then stepped quickly out of the tub and picked up a white towel from a wooden rack nearby. The bath area was separated from the sleeping room by a folding rice-paper screen. Drying herself slowly, her eyes never leaving his, she walked away. “You’ve taught me well,” she called over her shoulder as she disappeared around the screen. “I know when to take charge.”

Kash was too aroused to smile at her tactics. He climbed from the tub and followed her, dripping water and suds on the woven rugs, his body tight with need, his mood turbulent.

She waited beside the bed. It was only a mattress covered in white sheets atop a low platform. The stark simplicity suited the emotions churning between them. Rubbing her breasts with the thick towel, she quietly watched him approach, but he saw the swift rise and fall of her chest and the pink flush of excitement on her face. Her eyes flashed with challenge. “See? You followed me.”

“Don’t ever walk away from me again,” he told her, snatching the towel out of her hands.

“If you don’t like it, then don’t ever let me leave.”

“If you want to play games, then let’s play mine.” He grasped her wrist and pulled her swiftly to the mattress. Pinning her with his body, he latched his hands around hers and pushed them above her head. Her breath fanned his face as he bent his head to kiss her. She
raised her mouth to his and nearly destroyed him with her welcome.