The Frenchman's Revenge (21 page)

Deshi had
been the
most
beautiful
child
Bai
had
ever
seen.
Everyone who saw him raved
about him. He had
his parents
’
black
hair
,
Lei’s golden skin
,
and
Wyatt’s incongruous blue eyes
.
He was
as
beautiful as
L
ei
when he was a child
,
but as he grew to manhood
,
Wyatt’s rugged good looks kicked in and ensured that
Nicolas Deshi
would be as stunningly handsome as his father.

Bai grinned at his nephew and came to his rescue.

“That’s not all bad,
Deshi
.
I’m pleased that you know how to dance
. I
f Mariel is that pretty blond girl I’ve seen hanging around the stable trying to get your attention
,
that is even better.”

Deshi
glanced up and confirmed Bai’s assumption with a shy nod.

“
Y
eah, but
I think
he
kissed her
!”
Gabe
said. “You saw him didn’t you,
Jacob
?”

Deshi
blushed when
Jacob
nodded vigorously confirming
he had seen
the dastardly deed.

“That’s not true.”
Deshi insisted
weakly
. “I took her outside to show her the
k
ung fu center.”

“Yeah and when you were outside
,
you kissed her,”
Gabriel
taunted.

Lei stepped in and said, “All right, boys.
That’s enough.
Does anyone have anything to contribute to this conversation that doesn’t involve what
Deshi
did or did not do with a
n
attractive young woman?”

She smiled at
Deshi
and winked when he grinned back at her
,
obviously
grateful for his mother’s intervention and understanding of the delicate situation.

Jacob
looked up and said in a serious voice looking over at
Elena
, “
Well,
Tobias said his mama
thinks
you
are
a bad girl
,
Elena
. She said
your dance was a bad girl dance
.
”

All the adults looked at him startled.
Bai had just taken a sip of tea and choked on it
. The
other adults
reacted similarly
, either
chortling
or
starting
in surprise
.

Bai regained his composure and
with a twinkle in his eyes
,
wiped
his lips
with
his napkin
and
said,
“
Hmm,
Tobias
said that
,
did he?
”

Jacob
looked at
all the adults smiling or
grin
ning
outright
,
as
in the case of his father and Bai. His face flushed bright red and
angry tears
flooded
his eyes.

H
e insisted, “No, really.
He did say that, he did
! He said his mama
said
that
Elena
is
a ve
r
y naughty
girl
,
that
she danced a naughty dance
and
that nice girls don’t dance like that
!”

Elena flushed
,
but couldn’t hide her smile.

Seeing
Jacob’s
upset
,
Bai sai
d as seriously as he could, “
Well
Jacob
,
let me
say this
. You
can tell
Tobias
and
especially
Tobias’s
mother
,
that
she is absolutely
correct
.
Elena is
une
très
mauvaise petite fille
, une
méchante
fille
,
” he said
in ribald French
,
indicating that Elena was indeed a
bad little
girl
,
a naughty
girl.

Elena flushed
when she
saw Alex clench
his teeth and said,
“
Bai stop it.
Jacob
doesn’t understand that you are teasing me.”

But Wyatt, Wan
,
and
Lei
who all spoke French
,
couldn’t hide their amusement.
Wyatt
grinned
at Bai and
shook his head a
nd Wan allowed the glimmer of a smile to cross his face
.

Jacob
said
“
What does that mean
? What did you say,
Uncle Bai
?
You know I don’t understand French
.”

Bai said,
“
That’s
quite
all right
,
Jacob
.
I
said
that Elena is a lovely
young
woman and I love her exactly the way she is
.
” He added under his breath with a twinkle in his eye,
“L
e
vilain
,
le
meilleu
r. The naughtier, the better.”

“You might also
suggest that
Tobias
ask his father his opinion of Elena’s dancing,” he
said
with a grin.
“It might not square with his mother’s.”

Elena shot him a warning glare just as Nianzu came to the door.

Nianzu
excused himself to the others
at the table
and said, “I need to
speak
with you, Bai.”

Bai was still grinning from the Tobias conversation
,
but with a wink at Elena,
he
folded his napkin and excused himself.
He and Nianzu stood outside the door
way
and talked quietly for several minutes.

Bai
came back to the table and gave Wyatt and Wan a meaningful nod.

“I’m sorry to interrupt our breakfast, but it seems as though we have visitors.
Sheriff Thompson and the Lt. Governor
Quince
are here
,
among others.
I’ve asked Nianzu to show them to my office.”

Before he finished speakin
g
,
both Wyatt and Wan move
d
to the door.

Bai
caught Elena’s eye
and said, “Elena, please stay here with
L
ei and the boys
. A
t least for the next while, all of you stay in the family quarters
.
D
on’t go out
side and
don’t go near
the infirmary.
Quitin and Manzu are at
the
door and will escort you back to
your
chambers
when you finish breakfast
.
”

Elena and Lei both nodded their understanding.

As the men started to leave the room, Bai said,
“
Why don’t you join us
,
Alex
?”

Lei reached over and gave him a little push
.

“Go, Alex, go with them.”

Alex look
ed
down and shook his head
,
but his father came up beside him and
said
, “L
et’s go
, S
on
. I want you to come with us.”

Alex rose reluctantly
,
t
hen
along with
Wyatt
and
Wan
went
with Bai to meet with their
guests.

Chapter 9

Nianzu
returned
to the group of men who were waiting in the courtyard. He
spoke
to
Sheriff Thompson
.

“Jim, Bai will be with us in a moment
. I
n the meantime
,
he asked that I show you and the others to his office.
We
will
meet there.”

Looking at the fifteen or so deputies
with
the
s
heriff and other dignitaries, Nianzu turned to
Quitin
,
who was standing off to the side with a group of cold-eyed Sing Leon members.

“
Quitin
,
will you and the men
please take the deputies to
the
c
enter
c
ourt dining room.
We’ve arranged for refreshments to be served while they
wait
to return to San Francisco with the
s
heriff and our other distinguished guests.
We wouldn’t want them to come all this way
for nothing
and then turn around without experiencing our
particular
brand of hospitality,” Nianzu said with
a
slightly mocking smile.

Nianzu was Bai’s right hand man and constant companion. As Bai rose through the ranks of the Sing Leon
,
he brought Nianzu with him.
Nianzu was
the same age as
Bai, a
k
ung fu master with handsome Chinese features
. L
ike Bai
, he
was taller than most Chinese men. But in most other ways
,
he was Bai’s alter ego.
Where Bai was hard, Nianzu was thoughtful. Where Bai commanded, Nianzu preferred to lead behind the scenes. Where Bai was arrogant, Nianzu was unpretentious. But he was smart with a sly sense of humor. And while Bai was sophisticated and had lived a privileged youth, Nianzu had grown up as a
Poo Tow Choy
,
or h
atchet boy, in the hard streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown. He would have died there
,
but Wan plucked him out of that cesspool when he was nine years old and made him Bai’s apprentice. Nianzu idolized Bai and would kill his mother
,
if he had one
,
if she threatened Bai.

Turning to the
s
heriff and
the
others, Nianzu motioned for them to follow him.
He led them across the courtyard to Bai’s
business
center
.
None of the dignitaries had been
to
the center
and
their eyes widened in amazement
at the
magnitude of the enterprise inside. T
hirty
to forty
Chinese men were busy at work at desks or clustered in small groups around large work tables
.
The whir of
telegraphs spoke to the international scope of
the
business
ventures
and a hum of activity filled the room.
The walls were crammed with maps
,
all mark
ing
the
worldwide
locations of
Bai’s
o
perations
and large clocks surrounded the work space indicating the
current
time
in
major
cities around the
globe. Telephones
,
a luxury that w
ere
just beginning to be seen in th
e large business centers
in the East
,
sat on every desk
and most of the staff members sitting at the desk
s
were talking on the telephone.
A careful ear would
reveal
that as many as eight different languages were being spoken by
various
members of Bai’s business team.