She shook her head, not even knowing what she meant by it.
“It’s true then,” he continued. “You are a virgin. You must be. No one has—”
“Stop it! Just stop it!” she gasped.
Stephen swallowed and slowly straightened. He smoothed out his tie, readjusted his pants. She could see the bulge there despite the perfect tailoring. He was shaken, his movements betraying an anxiety she guessed he rarely showed. But in his eyes she saw an insatiable hunger—dark and predatory. It scared the hell out of her. Not because he so obviously wanted her, but because she felt an answering cry inside her. The lust had nothing to do with her mind, but everything to do with power calling to power—male energy reaching for female—and she hated it.
“I don’t even know you,” she panted.
“Tigress training is not about knowing one another,” he answered, his voice slowly readjusting from a husky rasp back to smoother, more cultured tones. “It is about power mixing, mating and—”
“Heaven. Yeah, I know. I’ve been there.”
“And you can go back,” he coaxed, stepping up before her again. Thankfully, he didn’t touch her. “With me, we can both go back to heaven many times. This I know.” He took a deep breath. “The hardest part will be keeping your virginity intact. That must be the reason you are so strong.”
“No.” She forced the words out quickly before she changed her mind. “I’m not an animal. No offense, but it’s not what I want. It’s strong, really strong, but I’m not a beast to be controlled by lust.” She looked up at him and saw him staring at her in dumbfounded shock. Then he closed his mouth, bowing his head slightly in acknowledgment.
“I forgot you are new to this. Such power…” He shook his head. “You are quite right. We must first get to know each other. Talk. You can attend some classes. Then we will speak again.”
She was tempted. Lord, how she was tempted. But primal power without emotion? Without a mind guiding it? “No,” she repeated. “I…I’m not doing any of this.”
He nodded, his eyes canted down. “As you wish,” he said. His tone and body posture said he was bowing to her wishes, but Tracy knew it was a lie. He was waiting, stalking, biding his time until the right moment to strike. And God help her, her belly tightened at the thought. Stalked by a rich, handsome man? How awesome was that?
“I…I think I’m going to the kitchen now. I think I need something to eat.”
He nodded again. “An excellent idea. And I shall find Nathan. He and I have some business to discuss.”
Tracy felt her breath trap in her chest. “Business?”
“Nothing important. I’m sure you have enough to handle right now without trying to sort through the complex financial matters of the temple.”
In other words, she shouldn’t worry her pretty head about it. Of course, he was right. She had no business poking her nose into their finances. Still, she stayed in the hallway, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot as she tried to make sense of her thoroughly alien environment. “Nathan never mentioned anything about you and the business side of the temple.”
Stephen shrugged. “I support the temple in a variety of ways. Up until now, my financial support has been relatively modest.”
She frowned, looking outside. “I thought you built the road up here.”
He shrugged. “A calculated risk.”
“I see.” She did, actually. Or guessed she did. “You’re the one buying the temple, aren’t you?”
His gaze sharpened with a gleam that had nothing to do with sex. Suddenly his smile shifted to a more professional competence that was even more devastating because it showed total confidence and a glint of pride. “I’ve waited a long time for this opportunity. I will ensure that the temple survives for another hundred years.”
She wanted to find out more. She wanted to know his plans for Nathan’s family. But in the end, she shook her head. “I’m sure I’ll learn more in time. Right now, I would like to go to the kitchen.” And Nathan. She wanted to see Nathan.
Stephen nodded, but he didn’t move. Instead, he hesitated. When he finally spoke, his voice was low as if he was confiding in her. “He does not love you, you know. Not how you think. Not forever, not the marrying kind of love.”
She gasped, startled by his words. How could he know she was thinking about Nathan?
He reached out and touched her arm. She felt the tingle there, of power arching from him into her. “A man knows when a woman is thinking of another man. But Nathan is a dragon, and we do not love that way.”
She stepped backward, trying to find clarity in her thoughts. But that would take more than just distance from this charismatic man. “I thought Nathan was kicked out of the temple.”
Stephen shrugged. “He was. His mother did not like him controlling her spending. But that has nothing to do with his training. He was trained as a dragon, trained as someone who touches women and moves on.” He shook his head sadly. “Nathan is in a difficult place. He had no example of marriage, normal love. He does not know his father, never heard of weddings until he was ten. He trained since birth to touch a woman and then move on.”
“He says he is not a dragon,” she said.
“His natural inclination is to attach too easily. This traps him in a place between—too flighty for marriage, but too attached to earth to attain heaven.”
“That’s not true,” Tracy said. “Nathan’s very stable. He’s taking care of his family, studying to get a good degree.” A list of his many admirable qualities formed in her mind while Stephen rocked back on his heels.
“Do not fall for him, Tracy. He is not your future.”
She folded her arms across her chest. Everything was happening too fast. She had wanted to learn more about Nathan’s family, not plunge headlong into temple politics. But then again, perhaps they were one and the same. Meanwhile, Stephen did not ease up his campaign to win her.
“Every tigress, every dragon must choose between earth or heaven,” he said. Then he touched her face, skating a finger over her lips. “Choose heaven and I can give you everything you want.” He let his hand drop away. “Choose earth and we will have no more to discuss.”
She bit her lip, finally understanding what she had been missing. “Nathan chose earth. That’s why he says he’s not a dragon. He chose to manage things here on earth.”
Stephen shrugged. “Someone has to make sure the bills are paid, the food is cooked. There is great honor in that path.”
“But it is not a dragon’s path?”
Stephen’s smile grew sensuous, and his entire demeanor shifted into that dark, primal place that called to her on an animalistic level. “I am the dragon path,” he said.
She swallowed, her options crystal clear: Stephen or Nathan. Except according to Stephen, Nathan was too flighty to be a real life mate on earth. “You’re a persuasive man, Mr. Chu. You make it sound like you’re my only choice.”
“Don’t you long to return to heaven?” he pressed. “I can take you there. Again and again, we can both dance with immortals.”
She was tempted. The urge to run with Stephen was like a mythical call. But she was more than just her sexual side, and she would not make a decision like this without thought.
“Nathan said he’d be in the kitchen,” she said. “Can you show me where that is?”
“Over here,” he said in a normal voice. His sexuality abruptly masked beneath his smooth, urbane, ultrarich persona, Stephen escorted her to the largest kitchen she had ever seen.
Tracy stepped inside and was hit by the delightful scents of soy sauce, spicy pork and herbs. Heat crackled across her face, but her attention was on scanning the huge room. She saw movement everywhere: people chopping or stirring or steaming things along a huge wood table or by an equally huge stove. Gleaming pots cluttered her vision, and strange roots dangled from the ceiling. But in all that, she focused on one person: Nathan. He sat at a large wood table and sipped tea. A dumpling lay half-eaten on a plate before him.