Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Mrs. Merriweather rose and took Chen’s hands, smiling to Anhe.
“I’m so glad you are here. Chen, you can translate for me with Miss Li.
Tell her I’m thrilled to have finally found someone skilled with a needle.
My gowns are too expensive to leave the house with, and I desperately need her help.
Nancy,” she called to her maid. “Bring in my gown and give it to Miss Li.”
A maid appeared and laid a gorgeous silk sapphire gown over the couch next to the girl. A basket of threads was brought in by another maid.
“Chen, please tell Miss Li I’ll compensate her well if she can repair my gowns.”
“Mrs. Merriweather,” the butler intoned. “Mr. Brown has arrived for your meeting. I have led him to the rose room.”
“Oh, dear. I forgot the meeting with my solicitor. Chen, would you be so kind as to remain until Miss Li is finished? I do need this gown posthaste. If Anhe needs anything else, please ring the maid and she’ll obtain it for her.
” Mrs. Merriweather left the room in a whirl, glancing over her shoulder.
Chen stood and bowed. “There is charity in the fox.”
The old woman tittered, the soul of innocence. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Like a hurricane, Mrs. Merriweather entered the rose room. Elizabeth stood. “Has our plan worked?”
“There is charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable. I thought Chen would drop through the floor when I departed, and leaving the two of them alone. Miss Li commenced sewing. I peered through a crack in the door, and the object of Chen’s adoration glanced up and smiled at him.
Chen looked like Icarus flying to the sun.
Oh, the delicious torment I’m putting the monk through. ”
“Tell me more,” Elizabeth begged.
“The man has fallen under a spell of infatuation. His gaze does not leave her, as if she’d dissolve in the mist.”
“Do you think our shy Chen will say anything?”
“I have a very bubbly maid, Nancy, who will take them tea. She has been instructed to force Chen to say something to Miss Li.” Mrs. Merriweather clapped her hands together.
“Oh, this shall be a fun afternoon, Elizabeth. To think I’m compelling a celibate monk to reject his vows. I will go straight to hell.”
“Mrs. Merriweather, you are wicked.”
“Delightfully so. I wonder how many gowns I must damage before they tie the knot.”
Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open. “You deliberately damaged your gown? I’ll make sure not to fall into your sights.”
“Oh, no?” Mrs. Merriweather clucked. “I seem to remember being dropped off at my house first where a certain young couple could have a few minutes alone.”
Elizabeth wagged her finger, sat down, and then poured tea. “You are a schemer.”
“When two people truly belong together, I become part of the universe that conspires to make it happen.”
Chen returned to the brocade sofa where he sat silent, unable to speak. He was not afraid of anything. He could stare down the Comanche. Survive a mountain collapsing on him, survive the years of rigor with Shaolin monks. Fearful he was of Anhe. How did he talk to her?
He drew a breath and then released it. Anything to bring back the years of discipline that controlled his racing heart.
Anhe sat in the corner. A veil of light enthroned her.
Chen had a distinct view of her whole figure and countenance.
She was slender and barely into womanhood, presenting a pleasing form that Chen, a self-confirmed bachelor, had the pleasure to behold.
She had long, black hair that shone like obsidian, hanging loose on her delicate neck, almond eyes, agreeable in expression that were irresistible for his suddenly susceptible heart, and the only sentiment that it evinced hovered between scorn and a kind of desperation.
His Buddhist training forbade touching a woman and suddenly he wanted to touch her and keep on touching her.
With one stroke you entered my soul, not a thing of metal or gold, yet a sensation of love that comes through the light in your eyes, steady breaths and sweet words.
We are so different, you and I. Yet together are balance. As yin and yang, both beauty, both strength, a perfect match, a perfect bond.
She lifted her head and smiled. Had she heard his words?
Buddha would not approve of his fear. The words stuck in his throat.
Anhe bowed her head and returned to her stitching.
A maid came in with a tray, served them tea and scones. “It is so quiet in here. Someone must say something, or the air will crack in half from the silence.” She laughed and left the two of them alone.
Chen translated the maid’s words for Anhe.
“Why don’t you talk to me? Am I not pleasing?”
How painful his silence was to her. Never would he allow her unhappiness.
His mouth went dry. His fingers tingled as he absently tapped his knees.
How he struggled to summon the courage to speak, to sweep away the hurt he caused her.
Senses heightened, he centered on her entire being.
Closed his eyes. Breathe. Opened his eyes.
His voice cracked. “You are so luminous and beautiful that the moon would disappear, embarrassed to show its face.”