Seven years later

Jiyong slowly lowered his arm and gazed dispassionately at the crumpled figure of Mr Lee lying motionless on the ground. Jealous husbands were a damned nuisance, Jiyong thought  almost as troublesome as their vain wives. Not only did they frequently leap to totally unwarranted conclusions, but they also insisted on discussing their delusions at dawn with guns. His impassive gaze still resting on the elderly, wounded opponent, who was being tended by the physician and seconds, he cursed the beautiful, scheming young woman whose relentless pursuit of him had caused this incident.

At twenty-five, Jiyong  had long ago decided that dallying with other men's wives often resulted in more complications than any ual gratification was worth. As a result, he had long made it a practice to restrict his frequent ual liaisons to only those women who were unencumbered by husbands. God knew there were more than enough of them, and most were willing and eager to warm his bed. Flirtations, however, were a normal part of life amongst the ton, and his recent involvement with Sohee, whom he had known since they were both children, had been little more than that harmless flirtation that sprang up when she returned to Seoul. The flirtation had begun as nothing more than a few bantering remarks admittedly with ual overtone exchanged between two old friends. It would never have gone further, except that one night last week Sohee had slipped past Jiyong's butler and, when Jiyong came home, he found her in his bed all lush, , inviting woman. Normally, he would have hauled her out of his bed and sent her home, but that night his mind was already dulled by the brandy, and while he deliberated over what to do with her, his body had overruled his sluggish mind and insisted he accept her irresistible invitation.

Turning toward his Bentley, Jiyong glanced up at the feeble rays of sunlight that streaked the sky. There was still time to get a few hours of sleep before he began the long day of work and social engagements that would culminate late tonight.

At the party..

"It's disgraceful!" Yuri said to the group of elegant young men and women who composed her personal retinue. Casting a condemning look in the direction of the doors through which the couple had just exited, she added, " Sohee is behaving like a strumpet, chasing after Kwon, with her own husband lying wounded from his fight with Kwon this very morning!"

At that moment, the object of this and dozens of similar conversations throughout the party was lounging against the stone railing of the balcony, "Your reputation is being shredded to pieces in there, Sohee. If you have any sense, you'll retire to the country with your 'ailing' husband for a few weeks until the gossip over the fight dies down."

Sohee shrugged. "Gossip can't hurt me,Jiyong.  Never mind that my husband is thirty years older than I. My parents have another partner in their company, which is all they wanted."

"There's no point in regretting the past," Jiyong said, restraining his impatience with an effort. "What's done is done."

"Why didn't you offer for me before you went off abroad?" she asked in a suffocated voice.

"Because," he answered brutally, "I didn't want to marry you." Five years ago, Jordan had casually considered offering for her in the distant, obscure future, but he hadn't wanted a wife then any more than he did now, and nothing had been settled between them before he left for US. A year after his departure, Sohee's father, intent on adding another business partner, had insisted she marry Lee. When Jiyong heard the news, telling him she'd been married off to Lee, he'd felt no keen sense of loss. On the other hand, he'd known Sohee since they were in their teens, and he had harbored a certain fondness for her. Perhaps if he had been around at the time, he might have persuaded her to defy her parents and refuse old Lee’s  suit. Or perhaps not. Like nearly all females of her social class, Sohee had been taught since childhood that her duty as a daughter was to marry in accordance with her parents' wishes.

Four years after departing for USA, he planned to return to Seoul to resume the duties and responsibilities of being the heir of the Kwon Company. The Jiyong who had returned to Seoul was very different from the young man who had left. The first time he walked into a ballroom after his return, many of those changes were startlingly evident: In contrast to the pale faces and bored languor of other gentlemen of his class, Jiyong's skin was deeply tanned, his tall body rugged and muscular, his movements brisk and authoritative; and, although the legendary Kwon charm was still evident in his occasional lazy white smile, there was an aura about him now of a man who had confronted danger and enjoyed it. It was an aura that women found infinitely exciting and which added tremendously to his attraction.

"Can you forget what we've meant to each other?" Sohee raised her head, and before Jiyong could react, she leaned up on her toes and kissed him.

His hands caught her arms in a punishing grip and he moved her away. "Don't be a fool!" he snapped "We were friends, nothing more. What happened between us last week was a mistake. It's over."

Sohee tried to move against him. "I can make you love me, Jiyong. I know I can. You almost loved me a few years ago. And you wanted me last week”"

"I wanted your delectable body, my sweet," he mocked, "nothing else. That's all I've ever wanted from you. I'm not going to kill your husband for you, so you can forget that scheme. You'll have to find some other fool who'll purchase your freedom for you.”

 "I don't want my freedom, Jiyong, I want you," she said in a tear-glogged voice. "You may have regarded me as little more than a friend, but I've been in love with you since we were fifteen years old."

The admission was made with such humble, hopeless misery that anyone but Jiyong would have realized she was telling the truth, and perhaps been moved to pity her. But Jiyong had long ago become a hardened skeptic where women were concerned. He responded to her painful admission of love by handing her a snowy white handkerchief. "Dry your eyes."

The hundreds of guests watched their return to the ballroom a few moments later, noted that Sohee seemed tense and left the ball at once. However, Jiyong looked as smoothly as ever as he returned to the beautiful ballerina name Sulli who was the latest in his long string of mistresses.

"But then that is always the way," Yuri said to her friends as they studied the pair in fascinated admiration. "Kwon always makes the woman he is with look like his perfect mate. " "Well, he won't marry a common stage performer no matter how excellent they look together," said Sunny. "And my brother has promised to bring him to our house for a morning call this week," she added on a note of triumph.

Her joy was demolished by Yuri: "My mama said he plans to leave for Busan tomorrow." "Busan?" the other echoed blankly, her shoulders drooping.

"His grandmother's estate," Yuri clarified. "It's to the south, beyond some godforsaken little village called Morsham."