The Frenchman's Revenge (17 page)

Elena
frowned
when she saw the
hard
grimace
on his face
and
inched toward him. He
shook his head and held up his hand stopping her.

“Not now, Elena,” he said
and
turned to refill his glass.

Elena looked at him
surprised
,
unable to hide her
hurt
.

“What’s wrong, Bai?”

He shook his head and scowled at her
.

Elena had seen that
level of
hard anger on
his
face before and knew it masked an undercurrent of rage.
She didn
’
t know why he had arrived so late at the party
,
but
suspected
that something bad had happened.
She had felt the tension in his body and
had seen the serious expressions on both her father and grandfather’s faces when they went to Bai’s office after the dance
. She
assumed Bai would tell her about it when they were
alone
.

She
stepped back
,
knowing from experience
that
it was better not to
push him.
But w
hen he didn’t speak
,
instead just glared at her from
under
hooded eyes
,
she took a deep breath and said quietly, “Where have you been, Bai?”

He took a large swallow
of the potent liquor
,
emptying
the
glass
,
and quickly poured another.
He toed off his boots and kicked them against the wall.
He rose up on his toes and flexed his bare feet
,
the way he did before he fought.
He raked his eyes
insolently
over her body
. S
he resisted the
protective
urge to cover
her
taut
nipples and the
vee at the apex of her
thighs
,
clearly
visible through her sheer gown.
H
e leaned back against the table
,
resting on his hands
,
a move that
emphasize
d
his
hard muscular thighs and equally
hard erection. His eyes narrowed and a sneer curled his lips
when he saw her eyes dart to the prominent bulge in his trousers
.

Ignoring her open gaze, he answered her question with a dismissive nod.

“
Where have I been?
Beating the shit out of your brother,
why
?
”

Elena was startled, then stammered
,
“Bai…
uh…
I…Really?”

“
Ye
s
, really
. And d
on’t tell me the little fucker didn’t deserve it
,” he said glaring at her.

“Bai, h
e’s jealous and he’s worried about me
.”

“Y
e
s
,
and he’s a little spoiled prick
. L
ike someone else I know
. He
deserve
d
to
have his ass kicked
.”

Elena turned away
,
hiding her concern for
Alex
,
trying to decide how to
respond to
Bai’s
anger. She waited for a moment
.
“Bai,
Alex i
s just trying to protect me.”

“Y
e
s
,
and if
he wasn’t your brother
,
he’d probably be trying to fuck you like every other goddamn man was tonight
,” Bai said, his voice shaking with a quiet fury.

Elena shudder
ed, knowing he was taunting her,
purposely exacerbating
their argument
,
but
she
c
ouldn’t
hold back a sharp retort.

“
Bai, stop
!
You know that isn’t what this is about
.”

“Ah,
w
hat
is
it about
,
Elena?
What’s it about? I come to our party
tonight
and see my
fiancée
--
the woman I’m going to marry three days from now
--
surrounded by what would you say
,
maybe thirty men? Is that about right
,
Elena
? O
r were there more
? T
oo many for me to count?
What was it? Forty? Fifty?
”

He shook his head in disgust
,
his face tight with anger.

He added with a
snarl
,
“
And then I have to listen to your goddamn brother complaining about how I make a living
…”

Elena broke in, “
Bai, I’m not going to listen to this
. You obviously need to be alone.
I’m going to go to another room
for the night.”

She turned and started toward the door.

Bai laughed
,
a
ruthless
taunting laugh
. He
stepped
in front of her.

“Like fuck you are.
You’re not
going anywhere except right here
.”

He
moved toward
her with a menacing growl.

Elena kept her voice as calm as she could
and
said in a harsh whisper, “Don’t touch me, Bai.
I’m leaving and you can’t stop me.
”

She
turned
away
from him
and ran out to
the
side
garden
,
slamming the French doors behind her.

~~~

Bai growled a low
primitive
sound
. Tossing
his glass against the wall,
he
shoved
through
the doors and chased after her. She was fast
,
but her long gown and robe hampered her
escape
. W
ithin
seconds
,
he
was on top of her
, grabbing her, holding her
s
truggling
body against his rigid chest.

Breathing hard he rasped in her ear,
“Damn you, Elena. I told you to stay.”

She twisted
fiercely
,
t
rying to break his hold.

“I am not a goddamned dog, Bai.
No one tells me to ‘stay
.
’”

He
laughed
a harsh ugly
sound
.

“Hmm.
No one except me
,
oui
,
mon amour
?
”

They struggled for a minute and
Elena almost escaped his hold
.
Bai
tightened his grip
pinning
both
of her arms b
ehind her back with one strong
hand
.
With his other arm tight around her chest
,
he hauled her over to a nearby stone bench and bent her over the back.
She shrieked and tried to break free
,
but he held her firm
, pressing her stomach
against the
rough
stone
. He
mutter
ed
to her to hold still,
then
jerked her gown
up over her hips
and
pressed
his groin against her
bare
bottom.

She
strained
against
his
aroused cock
grinding
against her ass
and hissed furiously,
“Bai, for God’s sake, what are you doing
?”

“What am I doing?
I will tell you what I’m doing
, bebe
.
First
,
I’m going to bend you over like this and then I’m going to rip this goddamn
night
gown off of you and
when you are naked
,
I’m
going
t
o fuck you!
Any other questions?”

“
Bai, let me go.
S
omeone will see us.
Damn you!
We can’t do this here!”

“We can’t, Elena?
Why not?
I told you to stay. But no, you wanted to run
outside--
to the garden
.
I think you like the idea of
an audience
, don’t you
,
cherie
?
You want to drive
all those men crazy?
Taunt
them? Teas
e
them?
You might be
right
,
ma
putain
méchante
petite
, my
naughty little whore.
Rather
than putting a brand on your
ass
,
perhaps
I need
to
fuck you in front of the world.
That may
be the best way to claim you
.
Make it clear
that
you are mine!
”

She twisted
hard
and
managed to roll
away from him.
She
stood up to run
,
but her feet
tangled in the hem of her gown
and she stumbled.
He reached
out for her and caught
the back of her robe.
The sound of tearing fabric mixed with angry grunts filled the air
as he
trapped
her
. He
threw her to the ground
,
bracing her body with his, breaking her fall
.

With a quick motion
,
he flipped her over to her back and with both hands
tore the flimsy robe and gown
down the middle
. Shoving
the tatter
ed fabric
a
side
,
he bared
her
naked body.
Grunting, h
e
ripped
open the placket
on
his trousers and freed his
engorged
prick
. With a deft twist of his hips
,
he shoved his pants past his
knees
and kicked them off.
He shrugged out of his shirt and loomed up over her, his bare torso straining with hard delineated muscle
. H
is raging cock pressed up against his gut
, the
swollen
head flaring
,
purple
and swollen
.

Ignoring the
angry
look on her face when he thrust his
frenzied
naked body over her, h
e grabbed both her hands in one of his strong hands and held them above her head.
She writhed and twisted under him
,
but with his other hand he forced her knees apart and rose up above her
,
wedging
his knees between her legs
.