Books by Jade Lee
Tempted Tigress by Jade Lee
A DANGEROUS CURRENT
China's Grand Canal saw all kinds of transport-food, slaves, even deadly opium. And when one woman planned to sail it to freedom, her flight would end in the arms of a Mandarin prince. There her true journey would begin.
Orphaned and stranded, Anna Marie Thompson could trust no one, especially not her dark captor. Not when his eyes held secrets deadlier than her own. Though his caress was liquid fire, his arms a steely shield, Anna was still an Englishwoman and alone. She could not trust him when he swore they could tame the dragon, could together unearth the riches of the sweet cinnabar cave. But sadness and fear could be cleansed by soft yin rain, he whispered; safety and joy were but a breath away. And perhaps love. All was here for the taking, if she would just give in to temptation....
Excerpt
"You stink," he snapped in English.
"You're cruel," she shot back before she think better of it.
He reared back as if struck. "Prisoners are to stay silent," he roared in Chinese. Then he folded his arms across the richly embroidered tunic the proclaimed him the Emperor's Enforcer. "Name!" he snapped.
She lifted her chin and did not answer. Before she completed the motion, the servant crossed the room and backhanded her with a brutal hand.
"You will answer!" the man boomed in Chinese.
"He said prisoners do not speak!" she cried out, furious to realize that her eyes watered from pain and humiliation.
"You are not a prisoner," the Enforcer responded evenly.
She blinked, completely thrown. "I'm..."
"Name!" bellowed the servant.
"Sister Marie," she answered in total truth. Except, of course, it wasn't the full truth. Marie was her religious name and the one she had been given the day she began swabbing the floors of the Shanghai mission when she was eight. "Why aren't I a prisoner?" she demanded. Then she frowned and rephrased in Chinese. "People who are not prisoners should not be shackled." She held out her arms as if expecting the chains to be removed.
The Enforcer made no move toward her. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and inspected her in a long, leisurely fashion, a grim smile on his face. "You are not a prisoner," he said coldly. "You are my concubine. And as such, I can legally do much worse than shackle you."
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