Linnear 02 - The Miko Read Online Free PDF Page A

that tumult most expeditiously.”
    Nicholas smiled inwardly at the endearing awkwardness of her English. He watched her as she bowed again, returning her gesture automatically, murmuring, “There was no discourtesy, Miss Yoshida. Both Mr. Tomkin and I appreciate your thoughtfulness,” in idiomatic Japanese.
    If she was at all startled by his use of her language she gave no outward sign of it. Her eyes were like glass, set in her oval, seamless face. In any other country she might have made millions putting that countenance on display before the camera. But not here. Sato Petrochemicals was her second family, and she owed it all the loyalty she devoted to her blood family, Nicholas knew. What it asked of her she performed flawlessly and without question. This, too, was tradition handed down from the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
    “Won’t you please take advantage of the car’s comforts?”
    “Jesus, I could use some real comfort,” Tomkin growled as he ducked his head and entered the black gleaming limo. “That trip’s a ball breaker.”
    Nicholas laughed, pretending it was a mysterious gaijin jest, relieving Miss Yoshida of her embarrassment. She laughed lightly in concert with him, her voice musical. She wore a rather severely cut business suit of raw silk, its forest green contrasting nicely with the toffee-colored blouse with its deep maroon string tie at the tiny rounded collar. On one lapel she wore a discreet gold and lacquer pin emblazoned with the feudal design of Sato Petrochemicals. On the lobes of her ears were gleaming emerald studs.
    “It must feel good to be home again, Linnear-san,” she said, pronouncing it “Rinnearu.”
    It would not have been good manners for Nicholas to have acknowledged her oblique reference: she had cleverly told him that she had been briefed on his background without ever having said it outright.
    He smiled. “The years have melted away,” he said. “Now that I am back it seems only moments since I left.”
    Miss Yoshida turned her beautiful face away from him. Junior was emerging from the terminal, loaded down with their luggage. Her eyes returned to his and her voice lowered, became less formal for an instant. “There will be a car for your use,” she said, “should you desire to light joss sticks.”
    Nicholas struggled to hide his surprise. He now knew the extent of the briefing Miss Yoshida had been given on him. Not only had she said that Sato would provide transportation for him if he chose to visit his parents’ graves but also that he would want to light joss sticks on his mother’s stone. It was not widely known that Cheong had been at least half Chinese; “joss stick” was a peculiarly Chinese term, though the Japanese, being also Buddhist, lit incense at the graves of family and friends.
    Miss Yoshida’s eyes lowered. “I know I have no right to offer, but if it will be easier for you to be accompanied on such a journey I would make myself available.”
    “That is terribly kind,” Nicholas said, watching Junior approach out of the corner of his eye, “but I could not ask such an enormous inconvenience of you.”
    “It is no bother,” she said. “I have a husband and a child buried not far away. I would go in any case.”
    Her eyes met his but he could not say whether she was telling the truth or simply employing a Japanese lie in order to make him feel more comfortable with her offer. In either case he determined he would take her up on it when a lull in the negotiations permitted it.
    “I would be honored, Miss Yoshida.”
    Inside the car, as Junior hurled them into the stifling traffic on
    the outskirts of the city, Tomkin leaned forward, staring out the gray-tinted windows at the growing expanse of the steel and glass forest rising from the borders of the farmers’ green fields. “Jesus,” he said, “it’s just like New York. When the hell’re they gonna stop building? I come twelve thousand miles and I feel like I never left