Free Tarnished Angel by Elaine Barbieri

the same sense of exhilaration he had experienced that first night. Lily, an exquisite Asian flower, plucked from the garden of innocence by his own experienced hand.
        His body responding predictably to his thoughts, Harvey quickly covered the distance between himself and the beauteous Oriental woman. He looked down into Lily's magnificent countenance,    his eyes moving over her perfect smile. A sudden uncomfortable realization assailed him. He had indeed conquered this young woman, taken her innocence and bound her to him but fate had played a ghastly trick on him. It was now Harvey himself who was truly subservient, a slave to the need she had fostered within him. Hard as he had tried to deny his hunger for her, he knew that only Lily's smooth, flawless, golden flesh could satisfy him. The mere thought of her was enough to whet an appetite that seemed to grow rather than diminish with time.
        Perversely, he had begun to hold China Mary accountable for his unexpected addiction to her daughter. He was driven by a desire to punish someone for his dependence, and that someone was China Mary.
        Unwilling to hold himself separate from Lily any longer, Harvey did not choose to respond to her greeting. Instead, he reached out and drew her silently into his arms. He held her close to him, aware of the rapid thudding of his heart against her breast, revealing more than any words he might speak. Yes, China Mary would suffer for this addiction, for he most surely could not blame this splendid young blossom who turned to him as if to the sun, yielding to his slightest whim, like a slender flower swaying in the breeze.
        Unable to speak for the emotion that choked his throat, Harvey set Lily away from himself at last. His trembling hands moved to the closure of the modest silken garment she wore. He released the small silver buttons that secured the neckline of her robe, untied with clumsy hands the wide silk sash that bound her narrow waist. He pushed the garment from her shoulders, his breathing becoming more ragged as the shimmering fabric fell to the floor around her feet. He stripped away her undergarments with obvious impatience and stepped back in silence so he might observe her nakedness more clearly.
        His eyes moved hotly over Lily's willowy body, taking in the gentle slope of her shoulders, her small round breasts. Graceful, slender, like a delicate reed…
        Lily's musical voice brought his eyes to her face, then to her small mouth as she spoke.
        "Do I please you, Mr. Dale?"
        Realizing he had not yet spoken a word, and unwilling to allow this near-child to realize the full power she had over him, he nodded. Anger at his own debility forced a new harshness to his tone. "You know I like what I see, Lily."
        "Yes, I know." Not bothering to conceal her satisfaction at his response, Lily raised her small hands to her hair. Her eyes moving to his mouth, she undid the plaits slowly, her pink tongue flicking out to wet her lips in a manner that increased his heartbeat to a thunder in his ears.
        When the unbound silk of Lily's raven tresses spilled over her pale flesh, Harvey was near to gasping. As she raised her hands to him in silent invitation, he realized that she had again effortlessly reduced him to mindless desire.
        "Do you want me, Mr. Dale?"
        It was a game they had played many times before, but the thought touched Harvey that this time there was a subtle difference. Control had shifted. Control now lay in the delicate hands raised so innocently toward him. He could do no more than nod his response.
        "Then you must take me, Mr. Dale. Come, I will help you."
        The graceful hands moved to his chest. Her movements free of subservience even in the service they performed, Lily stripped away his coat. Her fingers moved to his cravat, his waistcoat, his shirt, and they were discarded. Lily's light touch moved to his trousers,