Autumn Bridge Read Online Free PDF Page B

ire. But though he did not smile, he did play along with her.
    “Doubly dangerous, Lady Heiko, doubly dangerous. Without question. And when you are asleep, you will be even more dangerous than that. Which is why I am urging my lord to send you and your companions home.”
    The exchange amused Genji. Not even a samurai as deadly serious as Saiki was immune to Heiko.
    Genji said, “In political matters and on the battlefield, I will always follow the advice of my Lord Chamberlain. Where geisha and sleeping arrangements are concerned, I must most humbly claim the greater expertise. Have the south wing prepared for our guests.”
    Saiki did not continue to protest. Like the old-school samurai that he was, once his lord made a decision, obedience was the only path.
    He bowed and said, “It will be done, lord.”
    During Genji’s brief conversation with Saiki, Heiko had emptied two more cups of sake. She had imbibed prodigiously all evening. Had he indulged as much, he would have become unconscious long ago.
    She was not entirely steady as she sat on her knees in the classic posture of attendant subservience. That, and the slightly sleepy way she blinked, made her look as if she might topple over at any moment. He was ready to catch her if she did, but he doubted she would. That would be too clichéd an action. The few minutes he had known her were enough to tell him that she would never do the expected. Even the visible effects of her condition were unusual. Most women, including the most practiced geisha of the first rank, tended to become less attractive when excessively intoxicated. A certain sloppiness of appearance and behavior tended to reveal too much of the human reality beneath the fairy-tale beauty.
    But wine had quite the opposite effect on Heiko. Though she swayed slightly from side to side and front to back, not a strand of her hair was out of place, and her makeup, much less heavily applied than was traditional, remained flawless. The silk of her kimono flowed over her body as perfectly as it had done when she had arrived. Her elaborate sash and bow were as elegant as ever. While many of her fellow geisha had grown much less formal in behavior as they had grown less sober, Heiko had become more prim. The neck of her kimono was more tightly closed, its skirt well tucked around her thighs and under her shins, and she continued to sit quite properly on her knees. What would a man need to do to penetrate such disciplined reserve? Large quantities of alcohol frequently gave women a bloated look. In her case, all it did was perfectly suffuse her eyelids and earlobes with a vivid blush, emphasizing the seductive, inner-chamber paleness of her complexion. Inevitably, it made him wonder where else she might be blushing.
    Genji did not invite Heiko to spend the night with him. He was certain she would decline. While in such a state, she was far too elegant to yield to any man, even one on the verge of becoming a Great Lord. Perhaps more to the point for him, it would have been distastefully crude to even ask it of an intoxicated woman. The potential depth of the relationship they had begun called for patience and subtlety. For the first time in the dozen years he had been pretending to be a dilettante, he was truly fascinated by a woman’s character. The opportunity for a genuine exploration must not be destroyed by haste. Would he have been so interested had she not been so beautiful? He knew himself too well to imagine that. He might have had the patience of a bodhisattva, but he was far from being one.
    “My lord?”
    The housemaid who was preparing his bed stopped and looked at him. He had laughed out loud thinking of his motives.
    “Nothing,” he said.
    She bowed and resumed her task. The other two housemaids continued to help him undress. When they were done, the three young women knelt at the doorway and bowed. They remained just inside the room, awaiting his further instructions. Like all the women of the inner