The Grandmaster’s Legacy: Masters of Love and War (A Taylor Lee HOT Historical Romantic Suspense Collection) (The Grandmaster's Legacy)

by Taylor Lee

  He had a fleeting thought that she didn’t seem to understand what he meant when he taunted her about how wet she was. He shrugged it off. He reminded himself that she was a child, a spoiled, disobedient child. But her body was anything but a child’s body. And hell, a little spitfire tease like she was certainly knew her way around men – of that he was sure.

  ~~~

  Elena lay on her bed. She buried her face in the pillow, sobbing as if her heart would break. She didn’t know it was possible to hate anyone as much as she hated Bai. She was furious he spanked her. How dare he? He took her pants down and turned her over his knee like she was a child. He called her a naughty child and spanked her on her bottom, her bare bottom. Oh God, how could he? She knew she could never tell anyone, even, or maybe especially, her grandfather. She was too embarrassed, too ashamed.

  She’d looked at her bottom in the mirror and was shocked at how red it was. She could see the marks of his hand on her stinging skin. It hurt so much that she couldn’t lie on her back. But there was more, even worse. When she first got back to her room, she felt up between her legs. He was right; she was wet. Oh God, how mortifying. Why was she wet there? And why, oh God, why had she wanted him to keep kissing her, touching her? She finally fell asleep, tormented by confusing dreams she didn’t understand. She woke with tears on her face, her bedcovers twisted tight around her.

  Hearing a knock on the door, she lurched back in fright. She gave a sigh of relief when Angel called out, telling her that she had a dinner tray for her. She opened the door, then remembered what she must look like when Angel’s eyes widened in surprise.

  “I… I’m sorry to wake you, Miss. But Mr. Bai told me to bring you your dinner… since you can’t come down. I told him you ain’t had nothing to eat today that I know of. He said he was sure you must be hungry. You need to eat something, Miss Elena. You don’t look good, honey. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but I don’t want this food. Please take it away.”

  Ignoring the concerned look on Angel’s face, she pushed her out the door, then closed the door hard and locked it.

  The next morning, Angel knocked on her door to tell her Mr. Bai said she could leave her chambers. She said he wanted her to come down for breakfast. Elena refused and slammed the door in Angel’s face. She was furious that the servants knew that Bai had sent her to her chambers and horrified they might know he spanked her. She desperately wanted to avoid him. She decided that she would stay in her chambers until she was sure he had left the villa. By lunchtime, hunger drove her to change her mind. She looked in the mirror and grimaced at her pale face. She had ugly purple smudges under her eyes, but she was too hungry to care. She slipped down the back stairs to the kitchen. To her dismay, Bai was waiting for her as she came down the hallway. When she tried to run by him, he reached out and caught her arm. “Elena, stop. I want to talk to you.”

  At that moment, Francine and Angel came from the kitchen. She broke away from him. Shaking with fear, she ran back upstairs to her room and locked the door. That evening, she ate with the maids in the servant’s quarters, terrified to see him, but desperately hungry. He saw her coming from the kitchen and caught up with her. This time he held her firmly. He didn’t let go when several of the maids walked by, avoiding eye contact with both Elena and Bai.

  “Elena, come in my office. I want to talk to you.”

  She shook off his hand. Trembling with a mix of anger and fear, she glared at him. It took everything she had to keep her voice from shaking.

  “That’s too bad, Bai, because I don’t want to talk to you, and I’m not going to. Moreover, I am not interested in anything you have to say to me.”

  She drew herself up and added as firmly as she could, “Now, will you please get out of my way and leave me alone?”

  He stepped back. A sardonic smile twitched at his mouth. “Mais oui. Certainement. May I presume this is yet another version of your temper tantrums, oui? Instead of screaming and crying, you refuse to speak? Once again, either might be appropriate for a two year old child, but not particularly attractive in a twenty year old. Let me know when you are able to carry on an adult conversation. I have several things I wish to say to you.”

  She started to speak, but then whirled around and headed upstairs. She glared back at him over her shoulder. “Don’t hold your breath.”

  He laughed. “I will leave that to you, cherie. The rest of us outgrew that tactic by the time we were five.”

  A bright flush stained her cheeks, angry tears blurred her eyes. She hesitated, then ran to her room, slamming the door behind her.

  Bai stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at her door deciding whether he would follow her. He wanted to apologize to her. He was glad he spanked her. He would do it again in a minute. God knows, she needs it. But he was sorry he grabbed her, taunted her. It was inappropriate. He wanted to tell her that. But it was clear she was unwilling to talk to him. He decided it was just as well. There was so much anger and emotion between them now that any conversation would likely result in more upset.

  To be honest, he wasn’t sure he could trust himself to be alone with her. Since he spanked her, he couldn’t think of anything but her gorgeous ass. Damn, it was beautiful. Christ, he was a connoisseur. In all his conquests, he’d never seen a more enticing ass. Just thinking about those sweet firm cheeks made his cock throb. His groin clenched, remembering how good it felt to press his hard prick up between her bare thighs. Merde! This was precisely what he had promised himself he wouldn’t do: get trapped wanting her, needing her, lusting after her. Shaking his head in frustration, he walked back to his office and closed the door.

  When Wan returned the next morning with Wyatt and Lei, everyone’s attention turned to final arrangements for the ball. Elena stuck close to Lei. She fled the room whenever Bai entered, refusing to look at him or speak to him. When she caught him watching her, she looked away, ignoring his slight mocking smile and knowing eyes. She made up her mind that she would not permit him to run her off. She would ignore him, stay away from him, until it was time to go to the university. In the meantime, she had to make it through the ball Wan had planned to celebrate her. She thought with a rueful sigh, if her grandfather only knew how little she had to celebrate.

  Chapter 18

  Lei sat in the armchair in Elena’s bedchamber and admired her beautiful stepdaughter. Elena allowed Francine and Angel to style her hair and put luscious colors and glosses on her face and body. She seemed unaware of how beautiful she was. Both the maids and Lei gasped when Angel put the final jeweled pin in her hair and Elena turned to show them the result. The maids had swept her glorious hair up on her head in a riotous display of red gold-tinged curls. They knew it was impossible to completely tame her hair and had not tried. Rather, they allowed runaway curls to fall in captivating tendrils around her face and neck. With jeweled pins artfully tucked in various places, the result was stunning. Francine swept a slight brush of color on Elena’s already naturally rosy cheeks and a pale rosy gloss on her full sensuous lips. She brushed a darker shade on her brows and lush, dark eyelashes, intensifying the startling violet blue of her eyes.

  Elena stood and raised her arms as Francine slipped her gown over her head. In direct contrast to her fiery hair, her dress was a stark white cascade of diaphanous silk. It was shot through with tiny sapphire crystals that floated and sparkled over her body, clinging to every luscious curve and valley. Elena’s breasts were beautiful, full and firm. The draped neckline fell cunningly in the well between them. It took little imagination to see what lay behind the silken drape. The fabric mimicked her every move, flowing, then clinging to her curves. The thin sapphire studded straps were for decoration, as it was clear that the dress was held in place by the curvaceous body beneath. In the latest style seen only in Paris and New York, the hem of the dress was intentionally uneven. At some points, it was as audaciously high as her knees. It revealed her daring crystal studded high heeled slippers that made her
glorious legs even more mesmerizing.

  Lei glowed in admiration.

  “Elena, I have never seen you look more beautiful. Your father is going to weep when he sees you. I never knew your mother, and although her hair was blond, I know it was much like yours. These splendid untamed curls are stunning.”

  “Thank you, Lei. But you know that the glory of the dress belongs to you. All my life your exquisite taste and unerring sense of fashion has made me the belle of every ball, but the credit is yours. And, Lei, as you know, I never met Vivian, my mother who bore me. But, you are the mother who raised me and loved me most of my life. I love you, Lei, with all my heart.”

  “Thank you, my darling.”

  Lei turned to Francine and Angel and said, “I want to be alone with Elena for a few minutes. Will you please go and tell her father that he can come up in ten minutes to see his beautiful daughter?”

  When they left the room, Lei turned to Elena with a concerned smile.

  “Elena, I know you, sweetheart. You remind me of myself at your age. Like you I had an overpowering but wonderful father who protected me to a fault. I had everything a girl could ask for but I was terribly sheltered. Honey, the reason I am saying this is that I know something is bothering you. I hope you will tell me what it is. I never had a mother to ask about the things that were new to me or that I didn’t understand, but, my darling, you do. You have not been yourself since the attack at the waterfall, which is understandable. But something significant and troubling has happened since then. Please tell me what is bothering you, Elena.”

  Elena flushed and looked at Lei in amazement. “Am I that transparent, Lei?”

  “No, honey, only to me and probably your father. You’ve never tried to hide anything from me before. I hope you won’t now.”

  When Elena continued to look down at her hands, Lei said, “Come now, honey. It is obvious something has upset you. Please talk to me.”

  Elena looked at her and her lips trembled. Lei could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She smiled at her and said softly, “Talk to me, honey.”

  Elena took a deep breath. When she spoke, her voice shook.

  “Lei, I’m… I’m not ready to tell you everything. But… but I do have some questions that… well… that I don’t know the answers to.”

  “Sweetheart, are these questions that have to do with things between a man and a woman?”

  Elena nodded. Her cheeks flushed, her tears threatened to fall.

  “Lei, I… I feel so stupid. There are so many things I don’t understand. I have been surrounded by men all my life. Most of my friends are men. But I have never had a boyfriend. You know - a boy or a man who is more than a friend. And then those awful men at the waterfall… Oh, God… There is so much I don’t know or understand.”

  “I know that, Elena. I had a feeling someone has come in your life. He is forcing you to think about things you haven’t dealt with before. But, honey, that can be a good thing. You are twenty years old. Tell me, is it someone I know?’

  “Please, Lei, I don’t want to talk about him. Actually I hate him, despise him. But things have happened that I don’t understand.”

  “Hmm, that is complicated. Well, let’s forget about him for now. Why don’t you ask me about the things you don’t understand?”

  “I don’t know if I can,” she whispered. “You might think I am bad.”

  “Honey, you can ask me anything, but before you do, know one thing; I could never think you are bad because you are not. So let’s hear it. What is question number one?”

  Elena looked up and said in a fierce voice, “Okay, you asked for it… Lei, if a man… kisses you and you get wet… down there; does that make you a bad person?”

  Lei hid her smile and responded in a matter of fact voice, “No, that makes you a lucky person. Being a responsive woman, sexually, Elena, will bring you much happiness in the future.”

  “But what if the man knows that you got wet, is that bad? Will he think that I am not a nice person?”

  “Oh, my darling, let me tell you. There is nothing a man likes better than to know that he has made a woman respond to him. One of the ways she shows that is to get wet and open in special places.”

  They heard footsteps signaling Wyatt was coming up the stairs.

  “What’s your next question; quick, while we have a moment?”

  “Okay, but… okay. Whose fault is it when a man gets hard… you know where… that part…?”

  “If you mean when he gets an erection, it is not about fault, Elena,” she said with a gay smile. “It is much more about credit. When a man is with a beautiful woman and he gets an erection, it is because he finds her attractive. He desires her. It is a huge credit to a woman when a man finds her desirable.”

  There was a knock at the door and Lei said, “Elena, let’s finish this conversation later. It’s clear there are many things we need to talk about. But I warn you. I am going to be fierce trying to find out who is the lucky man.”

  “You don’t understand, Lei. He hates me, or, at the very least, he dislikes me greatly.”

  “I find that hard to believe, darling. How do you feel about him?”

  “That’s easy. I hate him… but sometimes… sometimes I am not sure.”

  “Honey, we definitely are going to talk later.”

  Wyatt spent several minutes with Elena. As Lei predicted, her beauty brought Wyatt to tears. He gave her precious sapphire earrings the color of her eyes. With trembling fingers, and tears in his eyes, he helped her put them on. When they finished, the three of them walked to the head of the stairs. They had agreed that Wan would escort Elena in to the ball and Wyatt would accompany Lei.

  Wan come to the bottom of the stairs to greet Elena. Like Wyatt, tears welled up in his eyes when he saw his beautiful granddaughter. Elena smiled at him and extended her hand. When Wan bowed low and kissed her hand, Lei saw Elena’s face pale, then flush. Following the path of Elena’s gaze, Lei saw Bai standing off to the side of the hallway, leaning against a column. His arms were folded across his chest. His face was taut, inscrutable. When he saw Elena, his eyes flashed dark with appreciation, and then, with what looked to Lei, like a mix of anger and lust. Lei was startled. She smiled to herself thinking, well that is one mystery solved. Hmm, we are in for some interesting times, indeed.

  ~~~

  “You look sinfully handsome tonight, Bai,” Lei said, marveling at his black tail coat and trousers, dark grey patterned waistcoat and silver and grey striped shirt with a stiff white wing collar.

  “How cunning of you to choose a silver ascot tie rather than those silly white bow ties that for some reason are the rage. You’ll notice that neither Wan nor Wyatt is wearing one of them.” She added with a smile, “And you didn’t even have me advising you!”

  “Thank you, Lei. That is high praise from the woman who has defined fashion for the last ten years. I am filled with pride that your beautiful Chinese face has come to be the standard for grace and beauty in the most prestigious salons in the East. My understanding is that even the European designers are now coming to you for advice.”

  Lei smiled. “Thank you, Bai. You and I understand the challenges and opportunities for mixed race Chinese people like ourselves. Thanks to the standard my father set for us both, the opportunities have been much more apparent than the challenges.”

  Bai nodded in agreement.

  Lei smiled and said with a twinkle in her eye, “As extraordinarily handsome as you look, Bai, I think you might be even more handsome if you could force the semblance of a smile across your face.”

  “Thank you, Lei. I guess that is a compliment. I will make an effort to look as though I am enjoying myself if it will please you.”

  “I know it will please my father to know that you are enjoying his party. But tell me, is there a reason you are dismal?”

  Bai ignored her question and motioned a servant over to them. “Will you have a glass of champagne, Lei?”

  �
��That will be lovely, thank you.”

  They sipped on their champagne and stood watching the dancers.

  Lei said, “Speaking of lovely, have you ever seen Elena look more beautiful? I know I shouldn’t boast about my daughter, but the only thing lovelier than her dress is her gorgeous body.”

  Bai grimaced and said in a flat voice, “Yes, she looks very nice tonight.”

  “Come now, Bai, she obviously looks much more than nice.”

  “I said, very nice.”

  Lei smiled. “I won’t ask you again why you look as though you are being forced to attend a hanging rather than a beautiful party. Instead, I will ask you to dance with me — given that there are at least seven men waiting in line to dance with Elena.”

  “The only line I intend to stand in tonight, Lei, is the one in front of you. Shall we dance?”

  They danced by Elena and Peter Sampson. Elena and Lei exchanged friendly waves while Bai glared at Peter. When they had passed by, Lei said in a casual voice, “Sometimes I think we made a mistake sending Elena to college in Wyoming. She insisted she wanted to be close to home and both Wyatt and I agreed.”

  When Bai didn’t answer, Lei added, “She has led a sheltered life — certainly compared to you, Bai.”

  “So it would seem,” Bai said.

  Lei continued, “It always surprises me that young people who grow up on a ranch and watch animals all their lives can be ignorant about the facts of life.”

  “Do you have something you wish to say to me, Lei? If so, please say it. One of the things I like best about you is that you don’t dissemble like most women I know.”

  “Thank you. As you would say, I guess that is a compliment. You are correct. I do have something I wish to say to you. I will be direct. Elena asked me if a woman gets ‘wet,’ does that mean that she is a bad person.”