He threw her a look of mild impatience. ‘I do not need to know what everyone knows, my lady.’
The strength of his face fascinated her. She had never seen anything like it. From his sun-darkened skin to the short crop of his hair, he looked nothing like the cultured ministers of the court. He was staring at her intently, willing her to reveal her secrets. There was an almost frightening beauty to his harsh features.
‘Should I write you a list? Recall every plot he’s orchestrated? Every man he’s sent to the executioner? Gao has built his influence over the reign of three emperors.’
‘Then what do you have that could possibly be a threat?’
She had to be careful. The secrets she kept were enough to cut her own throat. ‘Do men like you need a reason?’
He grew very quiet. ‘Men like me.’
He met her eyes with a look that took her breath. She had no answer. Li Tao had raised a strike force so fierce that no one dared to challenge him directly, not even Emperor Shen. But he had saved her life.
She would not play these men against each other. She had never used the art of secrets in that way. All she’d ever wanted was to stay alive. And, as single-minded as Li Tao was, she wasn’t even certain he could be manipulated.
‘Gao is cunning,’ he continued when she said nothing. ‘More clever than I. Probably cleverer than you. It could be that he planted you here, so conveniently in my hands.’
She’d had the same thought, but she denied it vehemently now. ‘Gao is nothing to me. We haven’t spoken in all these years.’
Her view of the house was suddenly blocked by the expanse of his shoulders. She tried to slip past, but the sharp drop of the gorge prevented her escape.
‘You have been trying to seduce me from the moment we met,’ he accused lightly.
‘That would be foolish.’ And dangerous.
‘No? Then why are you looking at me like that?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
She had spent so many years presenting a face to the world. Beckoning glances and secret looks. Perhaps it had simply become a part of her.
He prowled a step closer and her mouth went dry. Every breath came with great effort. She shouldn’t have allowed herself to be cornered. A predatory glint lighted his eyes.
‘I might consider it.’ His voice was a low strum in her ear. ‘If the situation were different.’
Her cheeks flushed and she couldn’t deny the dark thrill uncoiling within her. But this wasn’t about desire. It was about control and Li Tao wielded it meticulously. She assessed the impenetrable fortress of a man before her.
‘I might consider it as well,’ she replied. ‘If you were not on the brink of death.’
His expression darkened. There was too much risk becoming involved with a man like Li Tao. A man who had no fear of consequences. His hand circled her arm as she attempted to move past him. His grip wasn’t forceful, but she couldn’t break free.
‘Is this all an act?’ he asked.
‘Yes. All of it.’ Her voice held steady, though her pulse jumped erratically.
She was used to being watched. Being admired no longer moved her, but Li Tao’s black gaze penetrated despite her defences. The heat from his hand seeped through the thin material of her robe. Everything about him overwhelmed her with quiet power: his commanding height, the hard shape of his mouth as he regarded her. With just the pressure of his fingers, he drew her closer.
She expected the descent of his mouth, but never would have anticipated the gentleness of the kiss. Her lips parted as his explored hers. His fingertips lifted to her cheek in an undemanding, but undeniably possessive caress. She nearly allowed her eyes to fall closed. She almost yielded against the heat and pressure and the slow stir of his mouth. Instead she dug her nails sharply into the flesh of her palms. She fastened her eyes on to his, permitting the kiss, but never surrendering.
He lifted his head a mere inch, hovering close. His breath caressed over her as if the kiss hadn’t yet ended. ‘All deception?’
‘I have been wooed by kings and poets, but you, only you, have ever touched my heart.’
She mocked him with a lover’s whisper, but he smiled in response.
‘I like the lie.’
The low roughness of his voice stroked down her spine. If she didn’t remain focused on his face, she would stumble helplessly into the abyss. Li Tao was an impossible man to read. His gaze smouldered with desire; the scant space between them grew laden with it. But there was something else in his eyes, insurmountable control and calculation.
‘With a face like this you must have had countless lovers.’
Surprisingly gentle fingers traced a line along her jaw and a fever rushed over her. She needed to free herself. He had her cornered in every way possible.
‘You are mistaken,’ she whispered. ‘I choose my lovers very carefully.’
‘I would never expect something for nothing. Especially not from you.’
‘From what I have heard, you’re not much for negotiation,’ she said.
‘Give me one night.’
Her retort caught in her throat. His suggestion, presented with such cutting clarity, shouldn’t have caused a flood of heat in her stomach or the trail of yearning that slipped between her legs like a slow curl of smoke.
Li Tao himself seemed troubled by the proposal. ‘You can’t be surprised,’ he taunted, but it came out hoarse, without his usual force behind it.
‘I already told you, I am not on offer.’
For the first time, her feminine instincts failed her. She should have turned this negotiation to her advantage; instead she wondered how Li Tao would feel crushed against her, skin to heated skin. His kiss wouldn’t be so controlled then.
But she knew what this was beneath the rise and fall of his chest, beneath the heat of his touch. It was only the desire of a powerful man pursuing an unattainable prize. The moment she gave him what he wanted, her appeal would fade.
He smiled faintly. ‘The answer is no, then.’
‘The answer is no.’
She brushed past, careful not to touch him. Her knees threatened to crumble with each step.
‘If I had not come for you, you would be dead,’ he reminded, catching up with her easily.
‘Li Tao.’ There was a misplaced intimacy in addressing him so directly. ‘I know very well you were not acting out of kindness. Now show me the rest of this prison since it appears I might be here for a while.’
He walked beside her with his hands clasped behind his back. To anyone observing, they might even appear companionable. Between him and Gao, she was caught between an old cunning tiger and a young fierce one.
Chapter Four
Luoyang—ad 737 22 years earlier
The streets of Luoyang never slept. After the evening gong, the section gates would close, but the drinking and gambling within the wards would continue until dawn. All the harder to scratch out survival as a thief.
During the day, Tao could snatch a yam from a pedlar’s basket and push his way into the web of alleys behind the shopfronts. He would tuck himself into a dingy corner and devour it raw, chewing through the coarse skin. When he was waist-high and stick-thin, he could hazard such recklessness and suffer only a beating if caught. The welts toughened