Page 18 of Shadow Lies

They were all dressed alike, but she could spot Kane without any trouble. His height for one. His bulk for another.

Then there was the fact that she’d seen him so many times in her mind—in her dreams—during all those years she’d been in love with him while he’d dated her sister. She’d memorized his form. She’d know him anywhere, even now after all this time.

She would have liked to stay longer and watch their synchronized movements, but the car and driver had been waiting to take her down the mountain and to the hotel Charley had arranged.

Maybe tomorrow she’d stay and watch. If he let her.

There was a good chance he’d tell her and Charley to both take a hike and go back to playing monk.

Against all odds, Kane Lee, bad boy of CUNY College, appeared to be thriving here.

Then again, Kane was also a dedicated son to his parents.

He’d been born in the States, but his parents had been born and raised in China. They’d lived their lives there until they’d married and moved to New York to have their son.

As much as the Lees had embraced American custom and tradition, their Chinese heritage was still a major part of who they were. Who he was.

“Take your time.” Charley’s purred instructions interrupted her thoughts and took her by surprise.

Take her time here at the monastery convincing Kane?

“Really?” she asked. “I figured you were in a rush.”

“Mmm. A bit. But for the right person, I’m willing to wait.”

Funny. That’s how Alexis felt about Kane. She’d had a crush on him ten years ago when she’d been a gawky, insecure teenager and he the college boy dating her older sister.

Seeing him now that they were both older, she realized she had changed, but her feelings for him had not.

ChapterSeven

She was there.

Alexis had returned to the monastery, as Kane knew she would. She was nothing if not persistent.

She arrived earlier than he’d specified, but then she always had been an eager one when she’d been younger. Apparently, she hadn’t changed since.

How old had she been back then? About fifteen when he’d ended things with her sister after dating for two years, he guessed.

Kane knew she was there, and over an hour early, because he’d seen a long black town car through the trees. It wound its way up the road that led to the mountain monastery where the monks lived and trained above the public temple at the base of the mountain.

His suspicion was confirmed when one of the brothers rushed out of the kitchen door, wide-eyed, while he was splitting wood in the yard before lunch. When one of the other brothers questioned the flustered brother, the one word that filtered to Kane, spoken excitedly in the local Henan dialect with which he was becoming more familiar, waswoman.

He had no doubt it could only be one woman invading this sacred male domain for the second day in a row.

Alexis.

Shaking his head, he smiled to himself as he swung the axe one more time and split the last piece of wood. He carried what he’d split to a wheelbarrow, then moved the load to be stacked for use in the kitchen fire.

He couldn’t spend time with her, not until after the noon meal, but he was very aware of her presence as he moved through his mid-day routine.

Washing up first, he then went to the kitchen to retrieve the pot from which he served the soup to his brothers before sitting himself to partake of the silent lunch.

After a life of chaos, violence and noise, explosions and traumatic brain injuries, the ritual silence of the monks’ three daily meals was nice.

Usually, he found it peaceful. Today he longed for the watch he’d stopped wearing to check the time.

Rather than enjoying the meal and the respite, he waited for the hour to end so he could help clean-up, then get to the waiting Alexis.

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