The Frenchman's Revenge (75 page)

“C
ome here
,
Jeng
Ming. You
may not be a child
,
but you have a lot to learn.”

Jeng Ming stood
still
. She felt
surprisingly uncertain.

His voice was soft, commanding.

“That wasn’t a request
.
”

She hear
d the
authority
in his voice and noticed for the first time how tall he was, and how strong.
The moonlight caught the streaks of gold in his dark blond hair
. E
ven in the dark she could see the intensity in his eyes. She never noticed how much Alex looked like Wyatt. His hair and eyes were the opposite
colors
of Wyatt’s, but his high cheekbones and strong chin
was
Wyatt’s.
She
realized she
had never really looked at him
.
Rather, she categorized
him
,
put
him
in the group of men she hated
and
feared. White men.

Although she had to admit Wyatt
was
challeng
ing
some of her beliefs
.
Since that day in Bai’s office
,
Wyatt
was making her rethink h
er
feelings about men
,
particularly white men.
She watched
Wyatt
with Lei
.
Alex was right.
Wyatt
loved Lei
deeply
.
But it wasn’t only
how he was
with
Lei;
it was the way
Wyatt
was with her.
He insinuated
himself in her daily life.
Every morning after breakfast
,
he came to the infirmary to “catch up with her” as he said.
He
brought
her books, told her stories about his life in Wyoming, introduced her to horses
,
and
encouraged her to
learn to ride.
At first
,
she resisted but
found herself looking forward to being with
him
and Lei and the young boys.
She had never seen a man who loved his wife and children the way that Wyatt did.
Two
days ago they
all
had gone on a picnic and
swam in the pond.

Alex was always there usually at a distance, quiet, watching. Whenever he got too close
,
she made a point of rebuffing him.
He made her nervous. It was the way he looked at her. The way he was looking at her now, only now he wasn’t letting her rebuff him.

She tried to make her voice
casual
,
nonchalant
.

“What do you want, Alex?”

“
To begin with, I want to kiss you.
Which is why you need to do as I told you and come here.
It is difficult at best to kiss someone who is five feet away.
”

He paused,
a slight grin tugging at his lips,
but when he spoke his voice was low, insistent.

“F
or the last time, Jen
g
Ming
, c
ome here.
”

Jeng Ming felt a little like she was in a dream.
Without understanding why
,
she found herself moving toward Alex.
It was as though he was willing her to come closer, like his arms were
powerful
magnets
attracting
her to him
.

When she was next to him, Alex put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer.
H
e was struck
by
how tiny she was.
She
stood
just below his shoulder. She
was
delicate,
fragile. There was no way she weighed even a hundred pounds
. And she was as skittish
and
high-strung
as a
n unbroken
filly
facing a bit
.

“
That’s
better.
N
ot
only
can I
kiss you
now
,
but I can hold you in my arms.”

Ignoring her rigid body, Alex tipped up her
chin and ran his thumb over her lips. When she tried to pull
away
he
said, “Uh uh, Empress.
Not like that, l
ike this.”

He
leaned down and put his lips
on
hers.
He breathed in her spicy exotic smell and longed to
press against her body
hard, fast.
He couldn’t ignore his cock bursting at the seam of his jeans and knew that Jeng Ming felt his arousal.
Unlike Elena
, when she met Bai,
Alex wasn’t innocent to the lures of
the opposite sex
. Consistent with the difference in the way young men
grew up
as opposed to young women
, s
everal years ago
,
unbekno
wn
st to Elena
,
he and his male friends had found their way to the saloons in Cheyenne
. There they
tasted the forbidden fruit offered by willing whores. In China
,
he had tested and added to his incipient skills.

Relying on what he had learned from
the
young women
in China
,
Alex
forced his lips to be soft, gentle
,
probing
.
He slid one hand down
Jeng Ming’s
back
,
tracing the
ladder
of
her
s
pine
. W
hen she didn’t
resist
,
he rested his hand in the small of her back just above the swell of her hips
. After a careful moment
,
he let his fingers drift in small circles over the curve of her ass.

He chuckled w
hen she gasped in surprise
,
then
teasingly began nipping at her lips.
When she opened her mouth to protest, he slipped his tongue inside. For several moments
,
he played with her tongue,
her
teeth
and the corners of her mouth
. Little by little
,
her body rel
ented
and
moved in closer.
When he heard her moan
,
he pressed his advantage and pulled her
hips up tight against him
,
driving his knee up between her thighs until
her groin rested
on the
hard ridge
of his cock.
She cried out
in
surprise
,
but didn’t pull back.

Her breath was coming faster and when he pressed his thumb against the side of her
cheek
,
she opened her mouth and
her tongue met his in an erotic tangle.
Alex moaned and pulled her up against him.
His cock was killing him
;
he longed
to grind it in her pussy and not stop until he was deep inside. But he contented himself with running his hands over her chest until he found the
swell
of her breast. She
whimpered
when he cupped one small perfect breast in his hand
and tugged
at her nipple through the silk of her dress.

“Oh
,
yes, God yes
, Empress
.
You are
enticing
, lovely.”

She
tried to push him away
but he felt
the desire in
her trembling body, heard
it in
her gasping breaths
and didn’t let her go
. She
groaned against his ear and
her voice
quavered
.

“What
…what
are you doing, Alex?”

He stepped back but still
held
her in his arms.
He
held
her
chin
so that she was forced to look in his eyes. His voice was a husky whisper.

“I’m teaching you
,
Jeng Ming.
Teaching you things you need to learn.
”
H
e kissed her again softly, tenderly, “
This
is the first thing you need to learn about me and about yourself.
This is
how
a kiss feels when
the man kissing you
honors you
. It is
the way you fe
e
l when you care about him
.”

Alex
ignored her gasp and
forced himself to step back.
He
smoothed her dress
and
walked her
over to
her door
holding her hand in his
. He smiled at her wide eyes, her
flushed face,
her
swollen lips and
her
shaky breath.
He leaned down and kissed her lightly on her forehead.

“Good night, Jeng Ming. I’ll meet you at the barn
after breakfast for another lesson.
I convinced Bai and my father that you are ready to
learn to ride
.
I
’
ve
picked out the perfect horse for you.
I’ll introduce you to her in the morning.
”

He smiled
and his eyes twinkl
ed
the way Wyatt’s did when he was amused.

“
You will like her.
She is
almost as
beautiful and prickly as you are.
”

He
tipped his hat to her then
turned and walked away, whistling.

Jeng Ming stood in the doorway watching him go. After several long minutes she went inside closing the door behind her
.

Chapter
3
5

Elena stood
at
the door to their bedroom
watching
Bai
.
He was
leaning against the
mantelpiece
staring
at the fire.
He had taken off his waistcoat and rolled up
his silk shirt
sleeves.
There were
smears of blood on the sleeve
and the back of his shirt
.
It was a residue, a reminder of the
horrific
events of the evening. He was fastidious about his appearance and
Elena
was sure he was unaware of the blood stain
s
,
an indication of the strain he felt
.
She saw the tension in his shoulders, the tight muscles of his neck.
His head was cocked to one side
at a painful angle
and he seemed lost in his thoughts.
His
dejection
saddened her.

Elena saw
Bai
as
few people
did.
Like everyone s
he saw his
strength
,
his power.
But she also saw his v
ulnerability
.
She knew
that
Wan and certainly Wyatt and
maybe
Nianzu knew
that side of
him.
T
hey
doubtless
knew that
she was his greatest
vulnerab
ility.
She knew
that
she was
and
it
saddened her
.