The Frenchman's Revenge (53 page)

She
hadn’t seen him coming and looked startled
when he stepped in front of her,
both by him and
,
he was sure
, by
the
hunger
on his face
. If he looked anywhere near as
ravenous
as he felt
,
no wonder he’d
scared her.
He overcame his momentary loss of speech and a rumbling laugh bubbled up in his chest as he confronted the vision in front of him. Years of captivating women and his carefully honed blarney stood him in good stead.
He pasted his biggest Irish grin on his
mug
and put up his hands
to show good faith
.

“Glory be
, lass
!
When they ask me at the pearly gates if I’ve been good, I’ll say, I must have been a saint,
Mary’s chosen
lad
,
because I saw heaven itself before the
y
sent me
off
on
my way
to hell!”

Rory’s Irish brogue and banter
brought a smile to
the woman’s
full
red lips
and she
laughed
--
a soft, delicious sound.

“I don’t want to frighten you, lass, but
,
Mother of God, when I’ve come face to face with
a lass as
haunting
as the Irish
Sea
,
you’ll have
to forgive me for being so forward.
”

Elena smiled at the big ma
n in front of her.
He was tall
and his hair was a
s
red as hers and his eyes almost as blue.
He
towered over her
,
all male, big
and
strong,
the kind of man who knew how to
sweet talk
a woman
.

Rory
moved closer to her and looked deep in her eyes
,
as if he was searching for the answer to her beauty.

“Tell me, lass, which part of God’s country
produced a
beauty like
you?
Killarney?
County
Cork?
Dublin?

“I’
m sorry to disappoint you, sir,
but I was born and raised in Wyoming.”

“Ah, that explains it.
You must be related to that Gov. McManus I’ve
heard about
.
Now
,
lass
,
with
the
fire
raging
in your hair and
the blue of the Shannon
River
in
y
our eyes,
you can’t deny it
. T
hat
’s an I
rish name
if I ever heard
one
.
”

“You’re right about my father, but again, sir, I’m sorry to torpedo your theories.
The McManus
name was the last one on the register at the flop house where some man d
umped
the squaw who
gave
birth to my father. The only heritage I’m aware of on my father’s side is
Apache
.”

She tossed her head
,
freeing more of the unruly curls
from the jeweled pins
restraining them
,
and turned to walk away.

“Ah, lass, no, no,
no.
Don’t
leave.
Tell me what room you
’
re in
. A
fter I finish my dinner obligations I will
come to
you.
I can
na
let heaven on earth walk away now that I’ve found you.
The angels protecting their Irish lads would never forgive me.
”

Rory reached out to touch her, knowing if he did nothing else
,
he had to run his fingers through those
riotous
curls.
His hand was a scant two inches above her head when
he heard a “
shtick
” and a knife flew from nowhere
and pinned
his sleeve to the wall.
He looked up
,
startled to see a young Chinese man standing twenty feet away, his hard
gaze
locked on Rory’s face.

As stunning as the woman was who stood next to him, Rory knew he had never seen a more
striking
man.
He was
tall
,
slender
and
,
yes, elegant.
His
expensive
casual
cloth
ing
was made for
his
lean muscled body.
His dark hair hung carelessly close to his collar and his mixed Chinese European features were as arresting as they were
stunning
.
But
it
was his eyes, hard
, fierce
,
and gleaming yellow that snatched Rory’s breath.

Within seconds
,
the twenty feet that separated them
evaporated
as the young man moved next to him a graceful
,
dangerous predator ready to take down his prey.

Taking a deep breath
,
Rory said in as calm a voice as he could muster, “May I presume you are
t
he Frenchman?”

“You may.”

“And may I also presume this lovely lass is your woman?”

“
Oui
.
Elena is my woman
…
and my wife.”

Seeing the deadly possessiveness in the other man’s eyes,
Rory
’s
stomach lurched
as
the ground
fell
out from
under
him
. C
all
ing
on the
saints
,
or more like
ly
the
devils that
had
protected
him all his life
,
he
forced h
imself to
breathe
deep
.

“May I make one more
ass
umption?
”

The Frenchman nodded.

“For
some reason
,
you have chosen not to kill me?”

Bai’s eye
s
twinkled
and a sly smile tugged at the corner of his mouth
.

“
Not at this time.”

Rory straightened and turned back to Elena.
He reached for the nine inch blade impaling his sleeve to the wall
,
but as he
went
to remove it
,
Elena
grabbed it
. She twisted
the blade hard against
Rory’s
wrist
and
pulled it out
,
leaving a
bloody
gash
on the inside of his wrist
.
Without taking her eyes off his startled face, she handed the blood
spattered
knife to
t
he Frenchman
,
who wiped it off
on a fine linen handkerchief
and returned
the knife
to a hidden place in his boot.

Accepting the bloodied cloth
t
he Frenchman
handed him, Rory wrapped it around his bleeding wrist and hoped his expression was as impassive as both of theirs. He said as grace
fully
as he could, “I am pleased to see
this beautiful lass
has found someone worthy of her.”

Then nodding at his bandaged wrist
,
he added, “And that you have found someone worthy of you.”

~~~

At that moment
,
the door opened and Sean
Byrne
strode out
.
A thoughtful man
,
Sean had
quieted
his
colorful
Irish heritage
and relied
instead
on his reputation
as a
power
broker
in
San Francisco
’s
financial circles. But there was nothing like kinfolk to bring out the blarney in the most subdued of the brethren.

Sean saw them and his ruddy faced flushed with pleasure.

“Ah, good, you are all here. Bai, Elena, Rory… great, please come in. Patrick and Mike
and the Governor and Nianzu are already inside
.
Rory,
I see that you have met Bai and Elena
.”

He shook Bai’s
hand and then
Rory’s
. He leaned
over
and took
hold of both of Elena’s hands
,
then bent down and kissed her on her cheek.
Looking back at his towering red-haired guest, he grinned at the
awed
look on his face.

“
Tell me, Rory, in all your days of chasing
after
the skirts of
sweet Irish lasses, h
ave you ever seen anything more beautiful than this woman
?”

Rory’s response was careful, reverent
.

“Never in all my life.”

Chapter 2
4

Rory was accustomed to spiking any dinner conversation
with raucous stories
and
jousted with
Sean, Patrick
,
and Mike
in their efforts
to outdo one another with outrageous tales.
The whisky flowed
as
freely as the
ir
blarney
.
Rory
caught
Wyatt wink
ing
at Elena
throughout the evening as
Rory
and the other Irishmen
preened
, fighting for her attention
, while
ke
eping
a cautious eye on her understandably p
rotective
husband
.
He saw
Elena occasionally look at Bai
as if
to see how he was handling
their
awestruck
overtures
. L
ike the men
,
she
seemed
relieved that the cordial
smile
never left his lips.

Christ, i
f anything
, Rory thought,
Bai was the most charming of them all.
He smiled at their
stories;
knowledgably discussed
New York
politics
and added to their understanding of the East
Coast
gangs
,
making it clear he knew his rivals far better than they did.
The ultimate weapon in his charm offensive was
his intimate knowledge of Ireland
. He
regale
d
them with episodes
of himself
as a young Chinese
boy
trying to understand the ways and lore of the
Emerald Isle
,
seeking
desperately
to fit in.
He
admitted
that
he finally earned his place with his fists, learning that even brawny Irish lads couldn’t withstand the
charm
of
a
s
avate
kickboxer.