The scent of the camellias grew stronger, as if the flowers she had brought Luisa wished to personally welcome the fair, blue-eyed man standing just inside the doorway.
Liling finished out the chapter and returned the book to the drawer before she greeted Luisa's only other visitor. "Hello, Mr. Jaus."
"Good evening, Miss Harper." The mellow voice, with its eastern European accent, brushed against her ears like velvet.
Valentin Jaus was of average height, not towering over Liling's petite five-foot frame, but the broad shoulders and powerful build under his exquisitely tailored clothes mocked anyone who might label him as small.
Then there was the matter of his spellbinding, unearthly good looks. A Prince Charming mane of golden hair framed features strong and handsome enough to make the heart of any breathing female skip a beat. Rather than making him look sickly and wan, his pale skin bestowed an unearthly quality on him; as flawless as a god, as alien as a star traveler.
Liling tried not to stare openly at him—handsome people, she imagined, disliked being gaped at—but she often wondered if he even had pores, veins, or mortal flaws.
Jaus also projected an unapproachable aura for other reasons. His mouth, hard-lipped and very male, never gave away his emotions. He had beautiful white teeth, judging by what Liling could see when he spoke, but he never smiled. She couldn't tell if he was in pain; she had never had occasion to touch Jaus. She sometimes imagined she could feel it anyway. The man seemed surrounded by invisible walls; had he built them to keep himself in, or the rest of the world out'?
The nurses speculated endlessly about Jaus, but no one seemed to know anything about him. The man never talked about himself at all, and neither did Luisa. It didn't bother Liling, who had enough secrets of her own to appreciate the desire for privacy. That her hands itched whenever she shared the same room with him was only a minor annoyance. She never tried to touch him, not even casually. Jaus was not the sort of man to whom casual things happened.
She saw no indications that he was dangerous in any way, but his eyes, a blue so light they looked like glass, sometimes made her slightly uneasy. She had never seen a man with eyes that might have been carved from some iceberg found at the ends of the earth.
The uneasiness came whenever Valentin Jaus regarded her directly. His eyes changed, not in color, but in intensity. His gaze took on a piercing quality, so unequivocal and merciless that Liling felt as if he could see into her soul.
As he did now.
Jaus went to stand on the other side of the bed and removed his coat. He had some difficulty, as apparently he could use only one of his arms; the other barely moved at all. "How are you feeling, Miss Lopez?"
Luisa shrugged. "They been walking me like… I have been walking three times a day, and I've not yet fallen. Still won't let me go outside, though."
"Your physicians tell me that your skin grafts are still healing," he reminded her as he draped his coat over his good arm. "You cannot be exposed to sunlight just yet."
Luisa muttered something grammatically incorrect under her breath.
Jaus took pains to hide his disability, but Liling wondered what could have been responsible for crippling his arm, and if that were the source of his steely aloofness. She thought he might have been badly burned, as Luisa had been. It would explain why a rich, white European businessman came to visit a poor multiracial girl from the projects.
Jaus caught her staring at him. "Do you suggest that Luisa go outside, Miss Harper?"
"Not if it will harm her," Liling said, trying not to cower under the crystalline gaze. "I could put in a request to administration to allow me to install some spotlighting around the garden paths and flower beds. That way patients like Luisa could enjoy them in the evening, after the sun sets."
"How kind of you." He turned back to Luisa and began discussing the physical therapy she was having to help build up the muscles in her legs, which had become atrophied during her long hospital stay.
Liling sat quietly as the two talked, but she soon forgot to follow their conversation. Watching Jaus even from across the room made her imagination go off in wild directions, taking her to other places that were not so modern or civilized. She could easily picture Jaus as a marauder at the helm of a Norse ship, or issuing orders from the throne of a barbarian king, or even riding at the front of an ancient army of warriors as he led them into battle. Whatever he did, he would be in charge—he had the self-control and watchfulness of a leader.
Something inside Liling responded to that, too, but not with unease or fear. To combat her loneliness, Liling fantasized a great deal, and over time Jaus had come to figure prominently in her most private daydreams.
She gave herself to Jaus in her fantasies, but she made herself different women. An innocent taken from her village by the marauders and claimed by Jaus as his thrall. A slave girl made to dance naked before Jaus at a victory feast. The princess of a defeated land, brought bound and helpless to Jaus's tent…
She fell back onto cool, soft furs. Among them his slaves had scattered talismans of gold and copper, all etched with his profile. Sleeping with himself, was he? Not this night.
Sand shifted under the furs, under her palms, as she tried to brace herself for the weight of him. She couldn't see his face, but she could smell the wine on his breath and the lust on his skin. He did not jump on her, still watching, still looking for weakness. She sensed that although he didn't trust her, he still wanted her, the beautiful, traitorous harlot princess who had come to him begging for mercy. He had accepted her, but only after his men had stripped her veils away from her countenance. She intended to use her prettiest words to plead with him.
His tent was his throne room here in the desert, so she knew the guards would not disturb them. They had already staggered off to their bedrolls, half-drunk on the sweet, heavy wine taken from the last raid on her lands.
He did not fall upon her, but lowered himself to recline at her side. He did not grab; his big hand moved only to cup and caress her shoulder.
"You please me." His voice wrapped around her, indulgent, perhaps to mask his suspicion.
She knew that after three months in the desert with no woman to relieve his need, he was hungry for sex. She saw him breathe in the scent of her skin, the sight of her half-bared breasts. She longed to touch him with her cool hands and offer him her ripe lips.
He pulled back her head, covering her mouth with his. She opened to the press of his tongue, feeling soft and helpless as he gathered her close and feasted. He took her mouth as a starving man ate, greedy and desperate, the sound from his chest like the throb of his heart under her fingers, deep and heavy, and when he lifted his head she gasped his name.
Master.
She gave herself to his hands and mouth, holding nothing back. She wanted him to ravish her, to treat her not as a princess, but as a lowly body slave. She wanted his tongue in her mouth and his hands on her breasts and his thighs pushing hers apart. Deep inside her barren belly, she wanted to feel the thrust of his flesh, the clench of hers around him, the rush of his release.
He was her enemy, and yet he was beautiful to her eyes, a man carved from the whitest, rarest stone, as remote as the snow atop the mountain that cannot be climbed, as chilling as the frost upon the winds, as potent as the seed spilled by the high priest's hand on the altar stone. Only then did she understand that his need was not born of months alone in the desert but of a lifetime alone and wandering. His hunger was her hunger, and—
"Lili?"
"Hmmmmm?"
"You falling asleep over there?" Luisa asked.
Liling opened her eyes to see Luisa and Jaus both looking at her.
Thank God he can't read my mind.
"Just daydreaming again." She made a show of checking her wristwatch. "It's time for me to get home. I'll be back to see you on Friday."
"Don't forget," Luisa said, closing her own eyes. "I got to… I'd like to know what happens next." She drifted off into a relaxed sleep.
Jaus followed her to the door. "Thank you for visiting Luisa, Miss Harper."
He hardly ever spoke to her other than to offer a greeting, so she wasn't sure how to reply. "I enjoy reading to her, Mr. Jaus." Did he want her to stop? "I hope I'm not intruding on your time with her."
"Not at all. There is a leaf in your hair. Hold still." He lifted his hand to her hair, moving his fingers through the straight black strands before resting his hand against her neck.
A garden of unseen camellias surrounded her, paralyzing her by wrapping her in layers of soft white silken petals. Jaus always smelled of camellias, as if he had them hidden under his beautiful suits, just out of sight…
"What is the real reason behind your visits to Luisa, Miss Harper?" he asked.
"You asked me to bring fresh flowers to her room each day," she said truthfully. "Luisa wishes to speak better English. Administration approved the time I spend with her."
"I know these things," Jaus said. "Why do you wish to visit her?"
"Luisa is lonely," she heard herself say. "So am I. She is the only friend I've made since I came to Chicago."
He brought his hand up to her cheek. "Why did you suggest taking Luisa outside to see the gardens? Have you made arrangements to have her removed from the Lighthouse?"
"I've made no arrangements. I don't want to remove her. I want her to see my gardens." She smiled. "It's spring, and all the flowers are beginning to bloom. Luisa loves flowers."
He was silent for a long moment. "What is your first name, girl?"
"Liling."
The pad of his thumb made a gentle circle against her temple. "Forget the questions I have just asked you, Liling. If you are ever in need of help, you will come to me first."
"Forget." Liling nodded. "Friend. Come to you."
Jaus took his hand away. "Here it is." He handed her a stray laurel leaf and opened the door. "Do you need a ride into the city, Miss Harper?"