by Maura Seger
Although he had always found her almost unbelievably beautiful, several weeks of good care and rest had made her lovelier than ever. "I don't have to ask how you are," he said at length. "It's obvious you haven't missed me at all."
Erin's head darted up, a quick denial on her lips. She bit it back as she met his teasing gaze. Shrugging, she said, "Oh, I don't know about that. Once or twice I noticed you weren't around."
"How gratifying," he muttered dryly, taking her arm and guiding her toward his room. "You can tell me all about it while I change. Half of Japan seems to be clinging to me."
Although she went along without protest, Erin could not help but be struck by his casual attitude toward her. They might have been an old married couple, for all the concern he showed for propriety. Not that she minded. It was far too good just to be near him again to object to anything he might do.
Or so she thought until, having dismissed the little serving girls who brought him hot water and towels, Storm matter-of-factly stripped off his jacket and shirt and began vigorously to scrub himself.
Erin could not tear her eyes from him. The burnished expanse of his heavily muscled torso fascinated her. She could almost feel the silken roughness of chestnut hair covering his chest and tapering down his lean abdomen to disappear beneath the belt of his trousers.
Her hands clenched spasmodically as she fought against the almost irresistible urge to touch him. Everything in her longed for the feel of his warm skin against hers, to know again the strength of his arms holding her close and the latent power of his body pressed to hers.
"Something wrong?" Storm asked, eyeing her above the towel he was using to dry himself. His sardonic look made it clear he had a good idea what was going through her mind.
At any other time, Erin would have been embarrassed by the obviousness of her feelings. But thanks to her conversation with Odetsu, she was better able to overcome her own inhibitions.
Meeting his eyes calmly, she said, "Not that I can see. You're easily the best-looking man I've ever encountered."
Storm's response was as gratifying as it was amusing. His mouth dropped open and a dull flush stained his chiseled cheekbones. For a long moment he could do no more than stare at her.
Just when he thought he had finally begun to understand her delightfully complex character, she did something totally unexpected. Was this the same young girl he had watched teetering on the brink of womanhood, unaware of the full power of her sensuality and uncertain of her feelings? She seemed suddenly more than confident about both.
"Uh . . . I'm glad you think so." His pewter gaze softened as he watched her bite her delectable lower lip. She glanced away, unconsciously trailing a small foot across the floor. Storm laughed gently. "Do you realize that's the first time you've ever paid me a compliment?"
"Oh, no, it can't be."
"I assure you, it is. Does this mean you no longer find me an unredeemable blackguard?"
"I never thought that," Erin protested softly.
"Which? That I was unredeemable or a blackguard?"
Spurred by his teasing tone, she faced him saucily. "I confess there were times when I considered you a bit of a rogue, but not once have I thought you were beyond redemption."
"Oh, Lord," Storm groaned, "don't tell me you harbor hopes of reforming me?"
Erin shook her head firmly. "Not at all. I just think sometimes you have tried to appear harder and more ruthless than you really are."
In the act of pulling on a fresh shirt, Storm paused. Though he tried hard to glare at her, he could manage only a semblance of a frown as he said, "I warned you once before about attributing motives to me that I do not possess."
"Yes, you did. But it seems to me that you have also gone out of your way to make me feel comfortable and happy here, without receiving much, if anything, in return. That is hardly the act of a ruthless man."
"How do you know I'm not simply lulling you into a false sense of security before taking advantage of your faith in me?"
Erin shrugged, unperturbed by the implied threat. "Are you?"
"If I am, I'd hardly tell you now."
"And if you aren't, which is far more likely, you'd die before admitting it. No, I'm afraid you will just have to put up with my high opinion of you, since you seem disinclined to do anything to change it."
Storm frowned, unsure of how he should take that. On the one hand, he was delighted that Erin thought so well of him. But on the other, it left him in more of a quandary than ever. His restraint of the last few weeks was beginning to tell. He didn't share her absolute confidence in his fortitude, yet he was loath to disappoint her.
"Just don't go around telling everyone what a nice person I am," he muttered gruffly. "My reputation couldn't stand it."
Erin laughed softly. As he buttoned his shirt and tucked it into his trousers, she picked up the clean jacket laid out on the bed and held it for him. The service, offered instinctively, was received just as matter-of-factly. Only as Storm slid his powerful arms into the sleeves did both suddenly realize what they were doing.
Their eyes met in silent acknowledgment of the new, companionable intimacy enriching the sensual tension that had existed between them from the beginning. When the jacket was in place, Storm turned to her. A big bronzed hand reached out, the knuckles gently brushing the curve of her cheek.
Erin trembled beneath his touch, but made no effort to move away. Her breath became shallower as ripples of pleasure darted through her. The feather-light caress moved her more than she would have believed possible. Without even knowing that she did so, she swayed toward him.
Storm hesitated only an instant. His self-control was precarious at best, yet he could not deny himself some small relief for his raging hunger. All the weeks of pent-up desire came together in a burning firestorm of need that threatened to consume him.
His hand slipped to the nape of her neck beneath the silken fall of her ebony hair. Drawing her closer, he breathed her name like a whisper on the cool night air.
"Erin ... do you really understand what you're doing?"
Beyond speech, she could only nod. The luminescent glow of her indigo eyes told him more eloquently than any words how much she wanted him. A low sigh of thankfulness escaped him as he brought her tenderly to him.
Erin nestled against him, infinitely secure and content in his embrace. Her head rested just below his broad shoulder; her arms were wrapped snugly around his taut waist beneath the soft wool of his frock coat. She could feel the rapid beat of his heart under her cheek and knew it matched her own.
Storm savored the feel of her in his arms. She was so delicately formed, yet lacked nothing of a woman's attributes. Her body might have been made for his, so perfectly did they fit together. He was struck by an overwhelming desire to cherish and protect her, even as he yearned to plunder her beauty without restraint.
The urge to lay her down on the bed where he had come so close to taking her just short weeks before was almost irresistible. Only his concern for her innocence, and for how she would feel afterward, stopped him. Ruefully he acknowledged that he was putting her well-being above his own. Scruples he hadn't known he possessed were in firm control.
For all his thoughts about wanting revenge for the hurt she had done him eight years before, he was incapable of harming her. What happened then seemed singularly unimportant. All that mattered was the woman he held in his arms, who he was at last willing to admit bore no resemblance at all to the shallow girl he remembered.
Tilting her head back, Storm touched a gentle kiss to her lips. Erin's eyes were closed, so that she could not see the sweeping tenderness of his expression. But she felt it in his touch, and knew it signaled a turning point in their relationship. Whatever doubts she still had about her own course of action vanished at that moment.
A radiant smile curved her mouth as her eyelids fluttered open. Gazing into quicksilver depths, she murmured, "You don't have to go away again soon, do you?"
Storm
shook his head a bit dazedly. "No ... I don't think so."
"Good, because even though Odetsu did her best to keep me occupied, I was very lonely while you were gone."
"I thought you didn't miss me."
"No, you didn't. You knew I was fibbing."
He laughed softly, delighted by her candor. "Maybe I hoped a little."
Unwilling to let her go completely, he kept an arm around her shoulders as they left the room and walked down the hallway to the enclosed veranda where dinner would be served. As they did so, Erin glanced up at him, her eyes sparkling. "Did you miss me?"
Storm hesitated. He was tempted to tell her the truth—that he had ached for her every hour that they were apart, that the journey had been made in record time not just because of safety considerations but because he couldn't stand to be away from her a moment longer than necessary, that he had lain awake every night thinking of her and longing for the feel of her next to him.
But he was concerned that the full revelation of his passion might frighten her, so he said only, "It's a good thing Takamori is such a good friend. Otherwise he would never have been able to put up with my impatience and eagerness to get home."
Erin was content with that. She was still smiling as they entered the room overlooking a garden of gnarled pines beside a slowly winding stream spanned by a latticed bridge. Odetsu and Takamori were already seated before the low lacquer table. They broke off their conversation when the other couple arrived, but it was clear from their tender expressions that whatever had been said was satisfying to them both.
"You look much more cheerful, my friend," Takamori said. "Should I attribute that to the serene atmosphere of your home, which banishes all care?"
"Attribute it to whatever you like," Storm advised good-humoredly. "But don't belabor the point or I will feel compelled to point out that you look rather more relaxed and content yourself."
Erin watched in fascination as the rugged samurai warrior blushed. He cast a hurried look at Odetsu, who was struggling to hide a smile. Wryly Takamori shook his head. "I regret to say that we are not very good examples of the inscrutable Oriental. For myself, I can at least claim the years I spent at school in California are to blame. But Odetsu has no such excuse."
"Why do I need one?" she parried teasingly. "If I must hide my thoughts from Davin-san and Erin, I will have no energy left for anything else. Besides," she admitted guilelessly, "it would do no good to try."
Storm laughed as they all took their places around the table. Eyeing Takamori, he asked, "Did you really think I came after you just because our politics happen to agree? The truth is, I knew that Odetsu would never forgive me if you ran into trouble and I wasn't around to help get you out. I faced a lifetime of cold tea, stale rice and lumpy beds. Compared to the havoc this gentle lady could wreak in my house, the shogun's warriors pose no threat at all."
They were still chuckling over that as the serving girls entered with bottles of sake, ceramic cups and a wicker basket full of small steaming towels, which they set in the center of the table.
As Odetsu handed the towels around, she explained to Erin, "These are called oshibori. They are scented with eucalyptus and are intended to refresh the weary traveler."
When each had been used to clean hands and faces, they were returned to the basket and quickly whisked away by an attentive maid. Moments later, small dishes of soy sauce, chopsticks and tiny ceramic bars for holding the sticks were placed before each of them. The soothing music of a samisen, the three-stringed instrument played by geishas, picked up in the background as the sake cups were filled and the first course arrived.
Although Erin had helped to prepare the meal, she was still surprised by its complexity and elegance. Bamboo mats held a tempting selection of appetizers, including shrimp wrapped in seaweed, chestnuts cooked in green tea, slices of steamed duck, and marinated asparagus.
Black-and-gold lacquer bowls were filled with a clear soup flavored with bits of sea bass and garnished with thin slices of lime. Next came wooden trays decorated with rice kernels and seaweed to resemble a miniature seashore suited to the paper-thin slices of raw fish arranged like the petals of a white-and-red flower.
Erin had at first balked at eating uncooked fish, but she quickly learned why sashimi was so popular. Accompanied by the potent green horseradish aptly called wasabi, or tears, it made a delicacy she could not resist.
By mutual agreement, a brief respite was taken before the next course.
As lovely dancing girls appeared from behind a screen at the far end of the room and began to perform their slow, ritualistic movements to the accompaniment of the samisen, Takamori said quietly, "It has been a long time since I was able to relax like this. I had almost forgotten how good it could feel."
Storm nodded somberly. "Perhaps soon your efforts will be rewarded. From what I can see, the shogun's power is beginning to crumble."
"I hope you are right. This new spirit that is abroad in our land will not be contained much longer. If it is not soon released in positive action, we may be in for an orgy of violence that will surpass anything that has gone before."
At Erin's dismayed look, he smiled gently. "I don't really believe there will be great bloodletting. Some, certainly, but not the sort of civil upheaval your own country endured. We in Japan learned much from that."
"I'm glad you did," Storm murmured. "I doubt if anyone else can say the same."
"You are understandably bitter," Odetsu interjected softly. "But there must be some consolation in the knowledge that you are working to prevent a similar tragedy here."
"There is," he admitted, "but that isn't the only reason for my involvement. I believe in what the reformers hope to achieve—a new form of government which will encourage development of the entire country instead of just lining the coffers of a chosen few."
Takamori nodded firmly. "Otherwise, Japan will never be able to make the advances we need to become truly equal with the Western powers. We will evolve into little more than an international colony."
"How can anyone object to changes that will make you stronger?" Erin asked. "Surely the shogun would approve of that?"
"Unfortunately not," Odetsu said. "He sees any change as a threat to his power, and really he is right about that. Much of the nobility wants to do away with the shogunate entirely and build a new government around the emperor."
"Does the emperor support this?"
Storm nodded to the serving girl who waited to bring the next course before he answered. "Who knows? He is little more than a child and he has been trained from birth to defer to the shogun, who is the true ruler. But I think that perhaps, with the proper encouragement, he could be made to see the importance of reform."
As lacquer trays of batter-dipped shrimp and vegetables were placed before them, Erin remembered something Odetsu had mentioned to her several days before. Dipping one of the deep-fried morsels into a bowl of sauce set beside it, she said, "I understand that Takamori's family is one of those in the forefront of the reform effort. But isn't there another, the Choshu, who also wish to defeat the shogun?"
Takamori and Storm glanced at each other worriedly as Odetsu's soft black eyes clouded over with sadness. Very softly she said, "Yes, the Choshu are working secretly toward that end."
"If their efforts are secret, how do you know about them?"
Odetsu hesitated. She put down the tempura she had been about to taste. Her gaze went to Takamori, who reached out and gently covered her hand with his. His touch gave her the encouragement she needed to go on.
"I know because I am Choshu. So was my late husband, who was also my distant cousin. Three years ago, he and a group of other well-meaning but hotheaded young men were accused of plotting against the shogun. It is true that there had been some conversations about the need for change, but it had not gone beyond that. Nonetheless, my husband and the others were ordered to commit seppuku" At Erin's puzzled look, she explained softly, "That is the ritual form of suicide. Ther
e was no choice but to obey. To refuse would have disgraced our entire family and given the shogun even more reason to be suspicious of us. So my husband died, but that was not enough. The shogun was so enraged that he also ordered all wives and children to die as well."
Erin's eyes widened in horror. The image of her friend's little boy, Saido, who was a joy to everyone in the household, sprang into her mind. Odetsu must have been pregnant with him at the time. It was inhuman to think that anyone would have expected her to take her own life. "Surely your family refused to let you be harmed?"
Odetsu shook her head sadly. "Like many Japanese men, my father and brothers place their honor above all. They felt my husband's precipitate action had brought shame to them, so they wanted all reminders of it blotted out. They also realized that by obeying the shogun in this matter, they could lull him into a false sense of security. Therefore, I was ordered to comply."
Her throat tight with horror, Erin asked, "How did you get away?"
"With help from Takamori and Davin-san. They had known my husband and when they heard what was happening, they offered their assistance. Not only did they rescue me, but Davin-san also gave me shelter in his home so that I could bring up my son safely."
The extraordinary level of devotion Odetsu showed toward Storm was now explained. With Erin's new understanding of the situation also came embarrassment. For a few days after she realized Storm did not intend for her to be bis mistress, she had wondered if that position might not already be occupied by the beautiful woman he called his housekeeper.
Such an arrangement was certainly not impossible, especially in a country where the will of men was supreme and women were expected to be accommodating. But even before she learned the truth of how Odetsu came to be in his home, Erin had realized that Storm was far too decent a man to ever take advantage of a woman who was dependent on him. She herself was living proof of that, much to her exasperation.