Despite himself, Harvey walked the few steps to the delicately painted wardrobe in the corner. He pulled open the door, his eyes dropping to the fine Oriental silk garments inside. The pale shades were in sharp contrast to the brilliant colors worn by China Mary. They reflected a refinement of taste that was yet another cause of his fascination for…
The sound of a light step at the door alerted Harvey to a presence in the hallway the moment before the knob turned. Closing the wardrobe, he turned as the door opened slowly.
His breath catching in his throat, Harvey watched in silence as a tall, delicately boned young woman paused in the open doorway. The exquisite planes of her face remained momentarily still before moving into a smile. With a characteristic grace of movement, the woman completed her entrance and turned to close the door gently behind her. She took two short step forward and bowed slightly before she spoke. The soft, musical tone of her voice heightened his desire as it touched his ears.
''I was informed that you requested my presence. I am most happy to see you again, Mr. Dale."
Momentarily unable to respond, Harvey indulged himself in the total visual assault that was this young woman. More delicate than a fine Oriental porcelain figurine, she never failed to fill him with a sense of awe. Hair the color and texture of black silk was carefully braided and twisted above her ears in an elaborate hairstyle that he would have viewed with disdain on any other woman. But the coiffure only added to the delight of Lily's beauty, calling attention to her smooth unlined skin, the fragile contours of her face. His gaze touched the fine straight brows, delicate slashes above mysterious eyes, which never failed to intrigue him. He let his eyes trace her fine features and the scrupulous line of her cheek before they moved at last to her thin, well-drawn crimson lips, lips he had tasted many times.
Oriental perfection was Lily, truly the exquisite flower for which she was named. It seemed inconceivable that this tall, slender beauty was daughter to China Mary.
Harvey made an effort to rein his growing passion. In his attempt to rationalize the irresistible allure Lily held for him, he had decided the fact that she was the coveted daughter of China Mary definitely played a part. Strangely, considering his natural abhorrence of all others of her race, he had desired Lily from the moment he first saw her. In his wildest dreams he had never contemplated taking a woman of an inferior people to his body, but Lily was different. There was nothing inferior about Lily… nothing but the color of her skin, and even that was beautiful. Smooth, even-toned, it was softer than any he had ever touched. He remembered how this incomparable flower had come into his hands.
China Mary had come to him for financial aid several years before, after having been turned down by every other source in town. He had sensed a silent strength in her, his shrewd business mind immediately judging her a good risk, but he had not stopped there. A second sense had caused him to look further into China Mary's background, and in a maneuver of incredible brilliance, he had managed to lay his hands on some papers that could send her back to her native land to suffer harsh punishment. He had obtained those papers and concealed them in a spot where they would be immediately brought to the attention of the authorities should anything unexpected happen to him. That action, as well as the money he had ultimately advanced her, had earned him China Mary's unqualified cooperation and unfailing compliance with any request he made of her.
He was still applauding the stroke of genius which had guaranteed him that when financial considerations had been repaid, she would still be bound to him.
China Mary's power within the Chinese community had grown. Her control of work contracts for her people, the fact that not a person of her race worked in town without her permission, gave her access to information that was unavailable to most people, and Harvey found occasion to use that fund of knowledge to his advantage. But he did not realize the full potential of his power over China Mary until he first saw Lily.
He still remembered China Mary's protests when he indicated his desire for her darling daughter. She went into a silent rage, and after several controlled clashes between them, he was certain she was planning to abandon all she had achieved rather than allow him access to her precious jewel. Then, on the night when he was all but sure Mary was planning to leave, Lily had come to his office without her mother's knowledge and offered herself to him. She had come to him because she was unwilling to allow her mother to sacrifice all she had achieved in this new land.
A chill passed down Harvey's erect spine at the memory of his discovery that Lily was a virgin. He experienced again in retrospect the same sense of exhilaration he had experienced that first night. Lily, an exquisite Asian flower, plucked from the garden of innocence by his own experienced hand.
His body responding predictably to his thoughts, Harvey quickly covered the distance between himself and the beauteous Oriental woman. He looked down into Lily's magnificent countenance, his eyes moving over her perfect smile. A sudden uncomfortable realization assailed him. He had indeed conquered this young woman, taken her innocence and bound her to him but fate had played a ghastly trick on him. It was now Harvey himself who was truly subservient, a slave to the need she had fostered within him. Hard as he had tried to deny his hunger for her, he knew that only Lily's smooth, flawless, golden flesh could satisfy him. The mere thought of her was enough to whet an appetite that seemed to grow rather than diminish with time.
Perversely, he had begun to hold China Mary accountable for his unexpected addiction to her daughter. He was driven by a desire to punish someone for his dependence, and that someone was China Mary.
Unwilling to hold himself separate from Lily any longer, Harvey did not choose to respond to her greeting. Instead, he reached out and drew her silently into his arms. He held her close to him, aware of the rapid thudding of his heart against her breast, revealing more than any words he might speak. Yes, China Mary would suffer for this addiction, for he most surely could not blame this splendid young blossom who turned to him as if to the sun, yielding to his slightest whim, like a slender flower swaying in the breeze.
Unable to speak for the emotion that choked his throat, Harvey set Lily away from himself at last. His trembling hands moved to the closure of the modest silken garment she wore. He released the small silver buttons that secured the neckline of her robe, untied with clumsy hands the wide silk sash that bound her narrow waist. He pushed the garment from her shoulders, his breathing becoming more ragged as the shimmering fabric fell to the floor around her feet. He stripped away her undergarments with obvious impatience and stepped back in silence so he might observe her nakedness more clearly.
His eyes moved hotly over Lily's willowy body, taking in the gentle slope of her shoulders, her small round breasts. Graceful, slender, like a delicate reed…
Lily's musical voice brought his eyes to her face, then to her small mouth as she spoke.
"Do I please you, Mr. Dale?"
Realizing he had not yet spoken a word, and unwilling to allow this near-child to realize the full power she had over him, he nodded. Anger at his own debility forced a new harshness to his tone. "You know I like what I see, Lily."
"Yes, I know." Not bothering to conceal her satisfaction at his response, Lily raised her small hands to her hair. Her eyes moving to his mouth, she undid the plaits slowly, her pink tongue flicking out to wet her lips in a manner that increased his heartbeat to a thunder in his ears.
When the unbound silk of Lily's raven tresses spilled over her pale flesh, Harvey was near to gasping. As she raised her hands to him in silent invitation, he realized that she had again effortlessly reduced him to mindless desire.
"Do you want me, Mr. Dale?"
It was a game they had played many times before, but the thought touched Harvey that this time there was a subtle difference. Control had shifted. Control now lay in the delicate hands raised so innocently toward him. He could do no more than nod his response.
"Then you must take me, Mr. Dale. Come, I will help you."
The graceful hands moved to his chest. Her movements free of subservience even in the service they performed, Lily stripped away his coat. Her fingers moved to his cravat, his waistcoat, his shirt, and they were discarded. Lily's light touch moved to his trousers, releasing the closure. She knelt to strip his body free of the remainder of his clothes. Still on her knees, she straightened her slender back to enclose his tumescence between her palms. She kissed it lightly, her small mouth curving in a smile as his spontaneous gasp broke the silence of the room. It occurred to him that Lily was enjoying her power over him, but he was helpless against the realization.
Slowly, with great deliberation, Lily touched him again with her lips. Harvey murmured a short protest. No, he needed to control, not be controlled. Hating himself for his weakness, he submitted to her ministrations.
Ecstacy
rose, began to flower, filling his mind with fragmented pictures, colors… Lily… Lily… she was
And then the
ecstacy
was withdrawn. Left teetering
unsated
at the apex of rapture, Harvey opened his heavy eyelids to see a subtle difference in Lily's demeanor as she rose to stand before him.
"Lily…" His voice a hoarse gasp, Harvey shook his head. "Lily, please"
Her dark gaze holding his, Lily interrupted softly, "'Please,' Mr. Dale?"
Hating himself, Harvey heard his voice rasp once more, "Please…"
"You must be more explicit, Mr. Dale."
Harvey shook his head. "You… you cannot go so far without… You must…"
"I do not understand."
Realizing he was shuddering, Harvey felt rage touch his helpless state. "You will not play this game!"
"I do not know what you mean, Mr. Dale."
Harvey shook his head, his breathing too irregular for him to continue.
Lily's hand moved to stroke him. Harvey stifled his vocal reaction, but Lily urged softly, "Speak, Mr. Dale."
Lily's hand was moving knowledgeably against him, and Harvey's eyes weakly closed. He heard a low, musical laugh and opened his eyes.
"Mr. Dale, I am waiting for you to tell me how I may please you."
Harvey's voice was grating, unfamiliar to his own ears. "Bring me ecstasy, Lily, and I will give it to you in return."
Lily's brief hesitation was a calculated, silent threat that did not escape him even in his agitated state. When she spoke again, her voice held a coy note, "Mr. Dale, is that all you wish to tell me?"
Harvey paused to catch his breath. "Lily… I can bear little more."
"Yes, Mr. Dale, I know."
She turned and moved quickly toward the broad bed in the corner of the room. She lay gracefully upon it and, turning, raised her arms to him in invitation. Her voice touched his ears in a softly sensual appeal.
"Come to me, Mr. Dale. Come, and I will give you what you seek, and more… so much more."
Within a moment Harvey was standing beside Lily's bed. He stared down at her naked, unblemished beauty and stifled a contemptuous laugh. But his contempt was self-directed. Oh, yes, he had taken Lily's innocence, and he had tutored her well in the ways of love… too well. In her subtle anger at being summoned with arrogance, she was demonstrating that he, who manipulated people to his own end, could be manipulated in return. The realization that his exquisite Lily did indeed possess such a startling of measure of control over him was difficult to accept.
For a few brief moments longer, Harvey stood drinking in Lily's naked splendor. She raised a skilled hand to stroke the back of his thigh, the curve of his buttock. His anger melted and his desire grew. Even as he lowered his body over hers, he rationalized that the control she exercised was a loving, giving control. She practiced it on him alone, and as long as it did not grow too strong…
Harvey's body was melting into hers, and a thrill shot up his spine as Lily released soft, ecstatic sigh. Oh, yes, he would allow her to enjoy her manipulation, for he enjoyed it as well.
Drawing back, he thrust deep within her, his elation rising at her breathless gasp. He thrust again and again. A voice in the back of his mind drummed with the familiar rhythm of his passion,
Enjoy… enjoy… enjoy…
Yes, he would enjoy
enjoy
his Oriental flower. He would savor the nectar of his magnificent blossom… and yes, he would, for a time, cast aside all thought of the pain its thorns could inflict.
In the hallway outside her daughter's bedroom door, China Mary's short, broad figure paused. She listened in silence to the sound of her daughter's cooing voice. She knew that tone well, and a bitter smile crossed her lips.