The Frenchman's Revenge (12 page)

Wyatt and
Lei
both
moved forward between the two men with a warning look at Alex.
Wan stood quietly in the background.

Bai nodded to them all
,
acknowledging the tension in the group
,
then turned away to greet a group of business leaders who had come from
New York
.

~~~

Elena
stared
at Alex
.
“Alex, I don’t understand. What
are you saying
...?
”

Lei
took
hold of
Elena’s arm
.
“Let’s give Alex and Bai
a chance to work through a couple of things
, Elena.”

She nodded to the
governor and the
group of people
with him who,
overhear
ing
Alex’s harsh words
, had turned in surprise
to watch the scene.
Lei smiled at them
, linked arms with
Elena
,
and moved
toward the
governor.

“G
overnor
Sampson was j
ust commenting on your herb garden, Elena.
I told
him you
have more medicinal herbs in your garden than the University of San Francisco has in their botanical
research center
.
I promised him that you would give him and Ginny a quick tour.”

Elena
stared
at her
,
then back
at
Alex and Bai.
Turning
to the governor
she
said in a bright voice, “Of course,
g
overnor.
Any excuse I have to visit with you and Ginny is always welcome.
Shall we find her now and go out to the garden?
Bai gave me the garden as a gift
. It is astonishing.
I have yet to catalogue all of the herbs.
”

~~~

Bai watched them leave
,
then
excused himself from the
conversation with
the
New York
businessmen and walked back to face Alex.
Wyatt interposed himself
between
the two men and the rest of the crowd, using his body and presence as a buffer. Wan stayed where he was,
gazing
at his son and grandson,
his stern face troubled
.
Alex continued to glare at Bai
,
oblivious to the concerned looks
from
his father and grandfather.

In a gesture Alex had seen his father make all of his
life
,
Bai reached in his pocket
for
his gold cigarette case with the embossed wolf’s head.
He took out a cigarette, lit it
,
and blew the smoke up in the air.
When the smoke cleared
,
he looked at Alex through half closed eyes
.

“
Alex
,
may
I
presume
that you are not happy that Elena and I are going to marry
?”

Alex snorted
.

“
How can you tell
?’

A slight smile tugged at the corner of Bai’s mouth.

“
More than likely
by
y
our rudeness, your
rather
i
nsufferable rudeness
.”

Alex responded with a tight grimace.

“
It
is i
ronic
, at best,
to hear the word insufferable come f
rom
your lips
,
Bai
.”

Seeing the
disdainful
smile on Bai’s face, Alex lost
what little
control
he had
.
In a harsh whisper only his father and Bai could hear, he growled, “I don’t care about your custom clothes, your goddamn accent.
I don’t give a fuck if you speak five languages or ten and the governor of California wants to
suck
your dick. You
think you
look
and
act like
a goddamn banker.
You may have fooled my sister
,
but
you don’t fool me
.
I know wh
o
you are
, wh
at
you are.
You’re nothing but a two bit criminal
. Y
ou’re not worthy of being in the same room with my sister
--
much less marrying her!”

Wyatt stepped forward, his face and voice hard, “Alex,
stop…”

Bai put up his hand and shook his head.

“It’s all right, Wyatt.
Let the boy vent.
He apparently needs to have his temper tantrum.
Perhaps when he has had a chance to
kick and
scream and hold his breath, he will be more able to have an adult conversation.”

Bai turned to join the group of people who were pretending they weren’t interested in the conversation
but had
edged
closer
. Alex’s face was red, his eyes flashing.
He moved toward Bai
,
his voice filled with fury
. He
spoke
loudly enough for
those
around them to hear
.

“I
f anything happens
to my
sister because
of who you are
, y
ou
will have
to deal with
me
.”

Bai
turned back to him and
his eyes
narrowed
.
He
said in a c
ool
clipped voice, his accent
heavier,
more
apparent.

“There are those among us, Alex, myself included,
who think it is less likely
for anything to happen to Elena
because of who I am
.”

The guests who were close to them had now given up any pretense of no
t listening and pressed forward,
staring
at the angry young man confronting
t
he Frenchman.

Alex
brushed at
the angry tears
on his face
and said in
a
harsh
whisper, “I
don’t
care if you are a grandmaster.
I
may
be
only a
k
ung fu master
,
but I have been
studying
in
C
hina with the best
. N
ot only that, I’m twenty
years old
and in my prime. You’re
a fucking old man
. I’ll
take you on any time
,
any place
!” he boasted
,
glaring at Bai.

Bai turned to see Elena approaching
. S
he was
pale
,
trembling
. I
t was clear
from the pained look on her face
that
she heard what her brother had said.

Bai took her hand and squeezed it hard. He smiled at her
.
“
Ah
,
bien
.
My
lovely
fiancé
e
has re
turned
.”

He bowed low and brought her fingers to his lips.

“May I have the honor of this dance, Elena?”

She looked over h
is
shoulder at Alex with a
n aggrieved
expression. Bai tugged on her hand
and
she turned back to him
. S
eeing the
challenging
look in his eyes
,
she
gave him a tenuous
smile
.

“I would love to dance with you, Bai.”

He
grinned
at her and gave her a quick wink
,
then went to make a request to the orchestra leader.

As he passed Alex, he said, in a soft voice,
his eyes gleaming,
“Later
,
b
oy
, later
. Tonight.”

Chapter 5

Bai
stepped back f
rom
the orchestra leader
, took off his jacket
,
and
handed it to
Nianzu
with a wicked grin.

“Will you be my second in this dual, Nianzu?”

Folding
Bai’s
jacket
over his arm
, Nianzu winked at him and stepped to the side
.

Bai smiled to himself
,
thinking
this w
ould
be
an erotic
duel
between lovers
. It would
not be fought with
pistols, knives
,
or swords
. R
ather
,
the
ir weapons w
ould be
the thrusts and parries of
their aroused bodies.

He
rolled up his sleeves
,
revealing the promise
of strong
muscular
arms
and shoulders.
H
e
strode across the room
in his fitted black trousers
. He
felt like
a toreador
st
epping to the middle of the arena
,
confident all eyes were upon him.
He nodded over his shoulder to the musicians and the soft
sensuous
sounds of Latin music whispered across the ballroom.
H
e
sought out Elena and t
he dance floor
cleared as he moved toward her. R
eaching for her hand, he bowed low with a
rakish grin.

“Shall we dance,
cherie
?”

A
hard tremor
shuddered
through
Elena’s
body
when h
e
eased
his hand
to the small of her back and led her to the center of the ballroom. His eyes twinkled
. W
ith a charming grin
,
he pulled her close to him.
Urged on by the pulsing music,
he stepped back and held out his hand
,
palm up.
Elena
hesitated
,
then her eyes
darkened
a
nd
she nervously bit her bottom lip.
A shy smile tugged at her lips as she
placed her hand in his.

They moved slowly at first
,
allowing
the music time to flow through them.
He steered her
across the room
in large graceful circles
. His
hand
s
cradl
ed
her hip
s,
her hands
rest
ed
on his shoulder
s
. Even with her four inch high heeled slippers she came just
to his shoulder
and had to t
ip
her head back to meet his eyes. As she gazed up at him
,
her eyes shining with excitement
,
the
music changed.
The tempo increased and the beat
began to pulsate, a
sultry invitation
.