She nodded, and he ached that he had no way to reassure her. “Li-Na,” he said, as he pressed his forehead to hers. “Do you want to go back?” he asked. It hurt to offer such a thing. Without her, he feared he could not lure Prinny to interfere on his behalf. Without her, he doubted he could convince the prince that the artwork was good. That wasn’t a rational or even a learned reaction, but Prinny was moved by presentation. He liked the drama of discovering a new talent. And without her there to package the art, he had no hope of convincing the prince to help in this other matter.
But he would not sacrifice her for his nephew. Lord Gordon was a bastard, to be sure. He might even beggar the earldom with his bad management. But lost fortunes could be recovered, and she was too important to Daniel to risk hurting her. He couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t.
He squeezed her hands. “I cannot turn the coach around now. I need to go there, but you can remain inside the carriage. You can go back to the Lyon’s Den and—”
“No.” Her voice was firm. “I will not stay the woman I was, cowering in a gaming hell, unwilling to risk speaking with a soul. If I am to live again, then I must face these fears.” She took a deep breath. “I will meet your prince, and I will hold my head up high.”
“Thank—”
“And if I am harmed by this, then my ghost will haunt you until you tear out your own eyes from madness.”
He blinked.Well, that was certainly graphic.“You will not be harmed. I swear.”
“Then I will show your prince my painting, but you will have to explain the art to him. For me, it is only my thoughts shaped in ink.”
He pulled her hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss there. “Thank you,” he breathed. And then there was no more time as the carriage arrived at Carlton House.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Li-Na had neverseen anything so opulent. Lush red carpet on tiled floor. Paintings of every kind along the walls. Stained-glass windows and arching ceilings the likes of which she had never imagined. It froze her tongue. It made her feel small and ugly. And she worried that the prince would take one look at her and throw her out as the dirty servant she’d once been.
“You are more beautiful than anything here,” Daniel murmured to her. “And you paint better than most every artist whose piece hangs on the wall.”
Such words—probably lies—but they bolstered her nevertheless. Of course, she did feel beautiful in this dress. The fabric slid across her skin like a sensuous caress. And if the footmen eyed her with lust in their eyes, well, then that only proved that she was beautiful.
She stepped closer to Daniel, feeling his strength beside her. He would keep her safe. She trusted him rather than her past. He was more solid than any fear.
He pointed to a painting high on the nearest wall. “I’ve always thought that one a ridiculous waste of paint.”
She looked and had to blink twice. She was not a student of English paintings nor even that of the artists from the Continent. But even she could see the odd brush strokes that created an image of an overly endowed woman with strange-colored skin. She blinked her eyes and peered closer.
“Your eyes aren’t deceiving you,” Daniel said. “Her skin is definitely orange.”
“Daniel!” boomed a voice from behind them. “Daniel, I cannot believe you are here right when I am feeling so low. You cannot believe the trials I suffer.”
They turned together to face the large man who was waddling his way into the room. Footmen surrounded him, a couple courtiers trailed along behind, but Li-Na was consumed by her first sight of royalty.
“Your Majesty,” Daniel intoned as he dropped into a deep bow. Li-Na, too, dropped into a curtsey as Bessie had taught her. She dropped as deep as possible and yet still managed to flash the dark shadow between her breasts.
“Come, come,” Prinny said with impatience as he sat down on a chair brought forward just for his use. “My leg aches abominably today. Distract me with something interesting.”
The man eyed her from head to toe, and Li-Na froze. It was the same look as from the English captain. The same greed in his eyes as he—
“Chinoiserie, your majesty,” Daniel cried. “Of the most exquisite kind.”
“I can see that,” the Prince Regent intoned.
“Quite,” Daniel agreed as he stepped forward and blocked the Prince Regent’s view of her. Then he gestured to the side where a footman had set up an easel with her painting on it. The prince, however, was twisting and turning to get a better view of her.
Daniel refused to allow it, deftly keeping himself between her and Prinny. It didn’t keep the other men in the room from studying her, but it gave her respite her from the most powerful one. And all the while, Daniel kept a steady patter about how he’d first seen her painting in Hyde Park and had been mesmerized. About how he’d pursued her, but that her modesty had kept her hidden from him. Indeed, he said, it took him months to find her.
“Then step out of the way, Daniel,” the royal huffed. “Let me see her as you did.”
“Of course, of course,” Daniel began, but just when he would have slipped to one side, he gestured instead to her covered painting. “Do you know, I had to learn a great deal about Chinese art before I could fully appreciate her work. It is exquisite, done with a single ink, thickened when appropriate and nearly invisible when not. So unique, so enchanting to the educated mind…”
The Prince Regent wasn’t buying it. He twisted his body left and right in a desperate attempt to see her. Even if she couldn’t see the frustration on his face, she could hear it in his impatient huffs. This was not going to work if she cowered in Daniel’s shadow. It was time to step forward and reveal herself, not just to the people in the room, but to the most powerful man she’d ever met. A man who could destroy her life on the slightest whim. He could throw her in jail, take her as a concubine, even order her killed. And yet she would do it for Daniel. She would face her biggest fear.
Her heart was beating like frenzied squiggles, but she took a breath and stepped out from behind Daniel’s shadow. She even moved to the edge of her painting and stood there while the air cooled the exposed flesh above her breasts and her breath came out in short, tight gusts of anxiety.