The Frenchman's Revenge (76 page)

She
regretted
what happened tonight
. She
wanted to reach out
and
tell
him she
also
l
ove
d
someone
who
was in constant danger
. I
f anyone understood his fear
, she did.
But
she also knew that
Bai didn’t know fear the way other people did,
which made his fear for
her terrifying
.

Bai turned and saw
Elena
in the doorway. He reveled in the sight of her.
She was wearing the trans
lucent
gown and robe
L
ei and Wyatt
gave
her for
her
wedding
night
. The iridescent folds shimmered over her glorious body hiding and then revealing every lush curve, every soft valley.
Goddamn,
what a little minx she was.
She had refastened the sapphires to her nipples and he caught glimpses of the diamond
s
flashing over her clit.
Even without the erotic jewels
,
she was without a doubt the most
desirable woman
he had ever
known
.
Christ, just the sight of her and
his
fucking cock r
ose
up to greet her.
He grinned to himself
.
Why should he be surprised? His prick had been at full staff since the family meeting when she twitched her saucy little ass at him just begging to be spanked – something he would see to in good order.

Seeing her standing there looking anxious, concerned about his reaction to her behavior, he remembered the events of the evening and an involuntary shiver shook his body.

He reached in his shirt
pocket and took out his wolf’s head case.
He lit a cigarette and blew the smoke up in the air.
He leaned back against the fireside hearth and
let a smile tug at his mouth.

“
I planned to beat the hell out of you
tonight,
cherie
,
spank you so hard you couldn’t sit down for a week
.
”
He
paused and
took another deep drag off of his cigarette
,
without taking his eyes off of her.

“I don’t know when I have ever been as angry, Elena, as eager to paddle your ass. You know that, don’t you, Elena? You know you deserve that, don’t you?”

She flushed and moved
back against the edge of the parlor table.
Her
expression
was earnest, her voice contrite.

“
I’m sorry Bai
.
I’m
sorry about what happened, what I did
.”

Bai shook his head and went to the liquor cabinet and took out two glasses.
He poured brandy in both
. Handing one to her he
raised his glass to her
,
then took a deep swallow.
He
met her eyes
and gave a slight shake of his head
,
trying to rid himself of the memory.

“I confess,
Elena
,
I don’t know
when
I have been as afraid as
I was tonight
when
I knew you were
gone
.
That y
ou
weren’t
with Lei
.
”

“I know,
Bai, I know
.
Even when I went with Greg
,
I knew I shouldn’t
.
I knew I should find you
first.
God, darling,
I’m sorry
. A
nd
Bai, I’m
sorry that I didn’t listen to you
, that I
dismissed your concerns about him
.
I
thought you were just jealous. I’m so sorry.
”

Bai
smoked quietly for a moment then said in a wry voice, “
Elena
, for the next few days
you will have to pretend as though you can’t
sit down.”

“
Why is that
?”

“
Because I promised your father and your grandfather that I would spank the crap out of you
tonight.
Nianzu asked that his
imprint
be included
,
as well.
H
ell, Elena, Nianzu would walk across the
River J
ord
a
n and face
the armies of Canaan single handed
if he thought anyone hurt you.”

Elena smiled at that thought
and
nodded, knowing it was the truth.

“
But you aren’t going to do that
,
Bai?
You’re
not going to spank me?
”

He shook his head no.

“
Why
? Why
aren’t you
?”

He put his glass of brandy down on the cabinet and ground out his cigarette.
He moved toward her and pulled her
into his arms
.
He breathed in the citrusy smell of her
damp
hair and the combination of jasmine and h
oneysuckle that drove him crazy. He nuzzled her neck
then
nipped the soft skin
on the pulse of her throat
.
He moaned at the sound of her whimper and held her tighter.

“Goddamn, Elena, I
wanted to
.
Hell
,
yes
! A
ll through the night I kept my sanity imagin
ing
your beautiful ass
over my k
nee
and me
blistering it,
spanking
it
bright red
.
”

She nestled up
closer
to him and ran her hands over his
hard chest. She
gripped the front of his shirt
and slipped one of the buttons from its tether
.

“
You’re not going to do that now?
”

“
No
.”

“
Why
?”

His voice was harsh, tight with emotion.

“
Because
more than I want to spank you
,
I want to kiss you
…
”

He lifted h
er
face to his and looked in her eyes. He didn’t try to hide the pain he felt or the passion.

“
I want to
hold you
, Elena. I want to
…
taste you,
suck on
you
…
and
thrust up
inside of you
.
So d
eep inside of you
r pussy
,
bebe
,
you can taste my cock.
”

He pulled her even tighter and heard her gasp for air.

“
I want to
bury myself in
your sweetness
. And when I do
,
I w
ill
thank
G
od
that
you are safe
, that you are here with me
and that you
a
r
e
mine
. Mine
,
Elena
,
always mine
.
”

He held her
soft
lush
body
tight against him
and kissed the tears on her face, ran his hands over
her
lushness, her
softness
. He shook his head in wonder
,
remembering
her fierce spirit yell
when she threw herself against the governor. He saw h
er flying body, her pummeling
fists
,
the
fierce
men attacking her
. They were
shocked
that th
is beautiful woman dressed in silk and satin
with
a fortune
of jewels
gracing her neck
had
hiked
up
her dress,
tucked
it
in her underwear
and freed
her legs to strike them, d
riv
e
them to the floor.
They had laid there stunned
, disbelieving
that this
gorgeous
woman, this firebrand of a woman
,
had taken them down.

Bai picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the
ir
bed.
He
lay
beside her and held he
r
close.
After several minutes, he murmured in her ear.

“
D
o you think I will
ever
learn, Elena?”

“Learn what, darling?”

“Learn that there is nothing I can do but accept you as you are – who you are.”

“Is that such a bad thing, Bai? Am I that hard to accept? To love me the way that I am?”

“No,
cherie
, not hard
--
just the goddamn
most
difficult thing I have ever done in my life!

“
Do you know what it is like to have the woman you love
, the woman
you would give your life to protect
,
take on a crazed man
waving
a gun in her face,
fight
two armed
guards
,
and then blatantly taunt a deranged monster
daring
him to attack her?
Oh
,
and I forgot to mention that the deranged monster also had a loaded gun in h
is hand
.
And
,
of course,
none
of these actions were
in
t
he carefully laid plans that she
agreed
to.”

Elena buried her face in his shoulder
,
but when she looked up
at him
her eyes were shining and she didn’t hide her grin.

“Did I really do all that, Bai? Wow, you must have been proud of me.”

He shook his head
with a smile
.

“
Oui, cherie.
I was so fucking proud of you I thought I might weep.
Christ, Elena, what other woman could watch me take out a monster’s eyes and be disappointed that I didn’t
hand her the
poker?
”

Elena blushed.

“You knew that, Bai?
That I wished I could be the one to blind him?”
“
Bebe
, it was written all over your face.”

“
And… and you don’t think I am a bad person, to be so vindictive, revengeful?”

“Hell no,
cherie
. It is like I told Alex, you understand something that few women and damn few men understand
. T
hat killing evil men is honorable.
Now blinding them with a fire poker –
I
have to admit
,
pushes against the edge of honor, but Greg earned that punishment when he invaded our love.”

Even as he spoke, Bai knew that he was up against the truth of what it meant to love this woman, this woman he loved more than life. Once again
,
he acknowledge
d
that what drove him crazy with fear was also what made him love her the way he did.
That dichotomy, the fear he felt
for her
fighting against
his pride in her
. It was
the challenge and the privilege of
loving
the most miraculous woman in the world
.