Read Online Lover Beware by Christine Feehan, Eileen Wilks - Free Book Online Page A

kiss on one thin cheek. "Happy birthday."
    "You are late. How could I enjoy my celebration without my favorite granddaughter?"
    Lily smiled. "Last week Liu was your favorite granddaughter."
    "Ah! You are right. Liu is never impertinent. She must be my favorite."
    Two pairs of eyes met—both black, one wrapped in wrinkles, one surrounded by smooth young skin—in complete and affectionate understanding. The old woman patted her granddaughter's cheek. "I like you anyway," she announced. "What have you brought me?"
    Lily handed her the prettily wrapped box. She opened it with hands that showed her age more than her face did, though the nails were long and painted screaming red. "Ah!" Her smile was as delighted as a child's. "A graceful piece, and the jade is good quality. It will go in my collection." She handed the little statue of a cat to a middle-aged woman who sat beside her, addressing her in Chinese, then turned back to Lily. "I am pleased. You may introduce your escort now."
    Lily rose and moved to one side. "Zhu Mu, this is Rule Turner, prince of the Nokolai. Rule, I am honored to present to you my grandmother, Madame Bai He Tsang."
    Rule knew an audience when he was granted one. He stepped forward, clamping down on the anger. "Madame Tsang, I am honored."
    Keen black eyes took a head-to-toe journey over him. "So you're the lupus my granddaughter chose to bring to my party. You're terribly pretty."
    "Thank you."
    "It wasn't a compliment."
    "I know," he said gently, as one might to a child who flaunted her poor manners.
    Unexpectedly she chuckled, and he glimpsed Lily in the amusement in her eyes. "You have style, I'll give you that. Much more durable than mere prettiness. More entertaining, too. That doesn't mean I approve of my granddaughter allying herself with you."
    "Respectfully, Zhu Mu," Lily said, "one date is a very temporary alliance. And entirely my own choice."
    "I wasn't speaking to you." The old woman glanced back at Rule. "I don't like the way you treat your women."
    "You know nothing about how I treat my women." He couldn't smell a damned thing. Anger curled in him, stretching, trying to reach past his control.
    "You are lupus. This means you treat them in the plural, I
    know that much. You wish to keep them ... what is the saying? Barefoot and pregnant." Her thin lips curved in a feline smile. "I hope the smoke from the incense isn't bothering you. Some people don't care for the scent."
    "I can't say I notice the smell." Not anymore.
    Lily glanced from the brazier to her grandmother. Her eyebrows lifted as if she'd figured out what was happening.
    "Ah, do you not? I find it a trifle strong. Hong," Tiger Lady said, turning her head toward the fiftyish man to her left. "Take the brazier away. I am tired of it." Then, without another word to Rule, she began conversing with the woman on her right in Chinese.
    He was dismissed. Rule wondered if he was supposed to salute or retreat backward so as not to turn his back on Her Highness. He ought to be amused, but felt more like snarling than laughing.
    Lily spoke quietly. “The incense had some effect on you, didn't it?"
    "Nothing permanent." He sounded more grim than he wanted to. "I won't smell anything for a few hours."
    "I am sorry. Grandmother... well, she is a law unto herself. I suppose losing your sense of smell is as disturbing as it would be if I were suddenly deafened or blinded."
    "It doesn't truly incapacitate me." It just made him feel vulnerable. Bereft. And angry with himself for not having obeyed his instinct to retreat to the beach. "And it is only temporary."
    "Can you stand meeting one more of my relatives? My father's here. He's much nicer than Grandmother, I promise."
    Of course he had to meet her father. Walter Yu turned out to be a pleasant man not much taller than his daughter, with clever eyes, a wispy mustache, and gold-framed glasses. He was a stockbroker, and soon engaged Rule in talk of the market, which had yet to recover from its