then down with relentless patience, his fingertip just parting her. She moaned softly. He adjusted the angle of his hand beneath her skirt and pressed deeper so that his touch slicked directly over the hidden pearl of her sex.
Sensation shot up her spine and her body went weak. Her lips parted helplessly in pleasure and he kissed her in her abandon, touching her intimately until she cried out. Her hands clutched at his robe and her legs parted of their own accord in a silent plea. All the while, Fei Long watched her intently.
She blinked up at him. His breathing had increased, but his expression remained hard and inscrutable. Her eyes glazed over as his fingers tormented her flesh. His touch was a constant now, teasing her relentlessly. If he stopped, she would die. If he didn’t stop—she didn’t know.
Her head fell back in surrender, but Fei Long was there to catch her. His other arm circled her now with his hand splayed against her back to keep her upright. She closed her eyes, shaking her head in denial, because the sheer torture of this was senseless. He commanded her with nothing but this single, unending caress and it became everything. Cruelly, inexplicably, everything.
She cried out as her body tightened. Fei Long crushed his mouth to her and she sobbed against his lips. Her inner muscles clenched and unclenched as she shook inside and out.
His touch became gentle on her now. Soothing. But even that was too much. She communicated to him with a small murmur of protest. All speech had left her, but he understood. He removed his hand and soothed her skirts back in place. Then he enclosed her in his arms and squeezed tight, exhaling in one long sigh as if he’d been holding his breath the entire time.
When she dared to open her eyes again, she saw the familiar study lit by the warm glow of the lanterns. But everything looked different. Her head was tucked beneath Fei Long’s chin. Her cheek rested against his breastbone. His heartbeat thudded against her ear. His muscles remained coiled and tight.
Listlessly, she reached for his robe. There was no strength left in her body as she went through the motions of undressing him, but he wasn’t co-operating. He stopped her hand with his own and she looked up at him questioningly. She didn’t know much about coupling or the art of the bedchamber, but she recognised that Fei Long had introduced her to pleasure while denying his own satisfaction.
Before she could doubt herself, he kissed her again. Each kiss was different, she realised. The same simple construct with an infinite number of ways to render it. The papers on the desk rustled as he lowered her feet to the floor.
‘Wait here,’ he said.
He went to extinguish the lanterns and then came back to take her hand. They emerged from the study and Yan Ling could hear the servants carousing out in the courtyard and the banquet room at the opposite end of the house. Not much time had passed, though it felt like an entire lifetime to her.
Fei Long walked ahead, scanning each passage before leading her through. His hand was warm over hers while their fingers intertwined. As they turned the last corner, even as he pushed the door open, he didn’t let go.
Inside his bedchamber, darkness enfolded her as soon as the door closed. The air rushed out of her when Fei Long snatched her up. Her legs were weak from what had happened in the study. Her skin was still flushed and sensitive.
‘Light a lantern,’ she said.
‘But you’re right here. I know how to find you.’ She loved how intimate his voice sounded in the dark.
‘Indulge me.’ She was too shy to admit she wanted to see what he looked like.
He left while Yan Ling felt her way towards the far wall. Her hands found the woodwork of the alcove. She moved along it until she found the opening and sank down onto the bed.
Fei Long lit a single oil lamp and brought it to the bedside table. It cast an orb of light about him, leaving her on the outside watching him.
‘I want you to ruin me,’ she said as he came to the bed. ‘Take everything. Render me unsuitable for anyone else.’
Her voice trembled. She’d never spoken such scandalous words, not even secretly in the privacy of her thoughts. The two of them had danced so carefully around one another for months. She didn’t