The Frenchman's Revenge (42 page)

~~~

It was after
three
o
‘
clock
and
the
ceremony
was
due to start at f
ive
when Lei made
her way
back to h
er chambers to
dress and
smiled to see Wyatt waiting at the doorway
.

The two long term lovers looked at each other with delight and barely suppressed lust. Wyatt helped her slip the red satin dress over the silk of her skin and let his fingers hover over her hips and thighs
to
rest on her high proud breasts
.

“Goddamn, darlin
,
’
you look like a bride yourself. You don’t look any older than Elena. Jesus
,
baby, every
time I’m next to you, I want to smell you, taste you, come up inside that sweet pussy of yours. Lei
,
I can still remember the first time
I made love to you
. I
n that moment
,
I
knew heaven
,
and I
never wanted to
leave.
”

Lei tipped her head back and ran her fingers over his face
her eyes shining.

“
Vivian will be happy
today, Wyatt. She will be
happy when she sees her daughter with a man who loves her
.
A man who is as
strong, as
powerful
…AND
as demanding
and poss
essive
as you are
.”

Wyatt smiled.

“
Yes
,
she would be
. Th
e only thing that would make her happier is knowing how you have mothered Elena and Alex
.
How you’ve loved them as though they are yours
…
because they are
.
”

He led her close and whispered to her.

“
T
hank you
,
Lei
,
for t
eaching me that the gr
eatest tribute I could make
to
Vivian’s
memory
was to find a woman who
w
ould love me as well as
she
did
. Hell, let’s
face it
,
better. You tamed me
, Lei.”

He laughed when she quirked an eyebrow.

“
Well
, as much as anyone could. Baby, you took away my pain,
you took away my bitterness
. B
ecause of that
,
you made me a better father and a better man.
I love you
,
Le
i.”

“
I love you
, Wyatt.”

They
held
each other
,
reveling in their love.

Wyatt pulled out his pocket watch and grimaced.

“
Did Elena g
o
to her chambers?
”

“Oh goodness, I hope so
,
but
I don’t know
.”

Wyatt
rolled his eyes and
swatted Lei on her bottom.

“I better go round her up.
We
both know she won’t leave until every last one of those girls
is decked
out.”

Wyatt kn
ocked on
Alex’s
door as he went
by
and hollered
to him
.

When Alex came to door
,
Wyatt said with a
hearty
laugh,
“
Come
help me kidnap that sister of
yours
.
It’s
less than
two hours until the wedding
and she is still at the infirmary
helping
the young girls dress
.”

When they arrived
at the infirmary
,
they
were astonished to
a
bevy of young girls
dressed in lovely gowns
chattering
,
laughing
,
and flitting
about
.
Their hair was bright and shining
,
smelling of
jasmine shampoo
and adorned with fresh flowers and sparkling jewel
ed pins
.
S
ome
of the girls
had fancy braids, others were wearing their hair hanging
loose
down their backs
like
the
finest black s
atin
.
T
he older girls had
more e
laborate
upswept
arrangements.
It was as though
a swarm of
glittering dragonflies
landed
i
n their courtyard.
In the center of
the
throng the
final seven girls
waited impatiently. They
were dressed and ready except for their hair
.
Elena and two
of the older girls
were working as fast as they
could
,
armed with hairpins, flowers
,
and other
hair styling
paraphernalia
.

Elena looked up and laughed when she
saw her brother and father
. H
er cheeks
were
bright with excitement
,
her eyes were dancing.

“
What’s the matter
, F
ather
,
did
you
think I was going to
skip
out
on
my wedding
?
”

Wyatt looked at the disheveled young woman
,
her
unruly
hair flying
free,
her clothes wrinkled and
unkempt. Unshed
tears burned his eyes.

“Honey
,
I gotta tell you
,
I
’ve
seen
a lot of
brides
,
but I have never seen one that
looks the way you do now.”

Elena laughed managing to talk and hold hairpins in her mouth at the same time.

“
What way is that
, F
ather
?
”

“
Beautiful,
honey
.
More beautiful than you can imagine
; like sunrise over a Wyoming canyon.
”

Alex
’s face was flushed and he
blinked back the
tear
s
i
n his eyes
.

“F
ather is right
,
Elena
. Y
ou are stunning
.”

Wyatt
’s dark blue eyes twinkled and he shook his head in mock dismay.

“
H
oney
, you’re
goin
g
to be married in less than two hours and as good as you look
,
there is no question that
you need a bath
.”

“
Oh
,
my
G
od
,
is it really that late
?
Oh no
!”

Madam
Chin
stepped up
,
a disapproving look at the dirt on Elena’s feet and
legs
,
warring
with
the amusement in her eyes
.

“
Miss Elena
,
please go
to your chambers
.
You are the only one who hasn’t
begun to dress and your father is right
, y
ou do need a bath
.
”

Jeng Ming stepped out of the crowd
. H
er expression was firm, admiring.

“Please
,
Elena
,
go get dressed
.
I promise
you
we will
finish
getting
all of the girls ready.”

Several moments later
,
Elena ran back
through
the garden
, not seeing
Bai and Wan sitting
together hidden
in the shadows.
They were both
dressed in their
formal
evening wear
.
Bai
shared a look
of
delighted surprise
when the
disheveled
young woman r
a
n by.
She
’
d
dragged h
er skirt up
above
her knees to
allow
her
to
run
faster
.
Bai thought with a gri
n
,
somewhere in the course of the day
,
she
must have lost her shoes
,
because her feet and legs were bare.
He
r
hair was an even more
boisterous
mass of curls than usual and
a prominent
splotch
of dirt
smudged
one cheek.
M
o
st
noticeable
w
as the joy on her face
and
the excitement in her eyes
.

She
waved gaily
to the
three
frantic maids w
aiting for her in the doorway
a
nd
called out
, “D
on’t worry. We have lots of time
. B
esides
,
Bai know
s
that I
may
be late
.”

She did a little dance as she ran up the steps to her chambers to dress for her wedding – a wedding that would take place in less than two hours.

Bai and Wan
puffed on
their cigar
s
at precisely the same moment
,
blowing
a cloud of aromatic smoke
over their heads
.
Bai chuckled.
It would be hard to decide who
was
more proud of the girl who ran by
--
t
he groom or his father.

Chapter 1
9

Lei,
Alex,
Deshi
,
and the twins joined
Nianzu and Quit
in at the entrance of the garden where the ceremony would take place.
Strains of haunting music
wafted across the breeze.
Under
the bower
at the end of the garden
were three small altars
with
chairs on either side.
The two chairs
at the
side
s
of the altars were reserved for Wan and Wyatt, the fathers of the bride and groom.
When Bai and Wan arrived,
Lei, Alex
,
and the boys went to their seats; Nianzu and Quitin
followed behind and
bowed to Lei
,
then sat down across from
her
.
When they were seated
,
Wan and Bai entered the garden.
Both men stopped and bowed low before
Lei
,
then
went
to stand in front of the altar
s
.