by Taylor Lee
Incredulous, Gabe could only stare at the distinguished man who seemed amused. Hell, he looked like he might laugh at any moment, at Gabe, about Ana. What the hell?
Chao smiled outright. As though conceding a point, he acknowledged, “While you are skilled in the ways of the world, of dealing with other people, the good and more often the bad, Ana has been sheltered. Although, the worst person I hope she ever encounters in her lifetime is at the center of our family circle.”
The chilling image of a viper writhing in a nest preparing to strike made Gabe shudder. But Chao stole his thoughts with his words.
“And, yes, Gabe, I know what you are feeling. Perhaps more than you do. My daughter is an astonishingly beautiful woman. She is also a handful in very special ways. Today you saved her life,” He brushed aside Gabe’s demurral. “No, Gabe, you know you did. Even if Ana had managed to survive the attack from those vicious men, she would never have been the same.”
He closed his eyes against the hideous image his words invoked. After a moment his hard expression softened and he grinned slightly. “Not to minimize the fact that after saving her life, you confronted the most challenging person in Ana’s life. That viperous woman who by an ugly twist of fate is the sister of the only woman I have ever loved.”
Gabe was humbled by the pain he saw in Chao’s eyes at the thought of his dead wife. It was just a flash of emotion, gone as quickly as it came, as though Chao had learned over many hard years how to quickly bury the anguish that still tore at him.
Smiling again, Chao winked at Gabe.
“I would be remiss, Gabriel, if I did not mention that I was intrigued to see you pluck my daughter up and cart her off to her chambers. To put it mildly, Ana, and me by extension, are not used to such high-handed behavior. I heard you call her Princess. In some ways she is, which makes this whole affair even more interesting to this man who knows more about life than you give me credit for.”
When Gabe frowned and mumbled “not so,” Chao waved his response aside.
“I know you expect me to warn you not to mistreat Ana. I don’t feel the need, Gabriel. Your rather peculiar honor that plays out in an interesting way will prevent you from dishonoring Ana.”
He took another puff off his cigar and then blew out a hard sigh.
“No, Gabriel. I’m more concerned about you. You may find my daughter more than you can handle.”
Gabe felt like the village idiot, eyes rolling in his head, staring open-mouthed at the composed man smiling at him. What the hell was Chao saying? What could he be thinking? Didn’t he know anything about Gabe? After all these years? There was no way he hadn’t heard about Gabe, his reputation. All of it and more, well-earned.
Gabe swallowed hard, hurdling the lump in his throat with difficulty. He raised his hands and conceded. Chao had taken him completely off guard and he felt vulnerable to his gaze in a way he couldn’t remember ever feeling.
Grasping for what remnants he could find of his usual humor, he conceded.
“Hell, Chao, you sure know how to throw a man a curve. Guess I don’t have to tell you, this is not what I expected to hear tonight.”
He gave a diffident toss of his head. “But you are right about at least one thing, Chao – I’ll have to think on the rest. You have an unusual daughter and, yeah, she’s gotten under my skin in a way I’m not used to. I’ll take your warning to heart. After all, what the hell am I but a man? The playing field never has been even. No matter what women pretend otherwise.”
Gabe jumped up. He couldn’t contain his emotions. He’d been struggling since he left Ana. More than anything he wanted to march out of Chao’s office and go bang on her door, insist that he see her, talk to her. Damn, he would do anything to wipe that hurt look out of her eyes. But he knew it wouldn’t do any good. Chao might not be put off by his reputation, but Ana sure as hell was.
He paced across the room and ended up in front of the liquor cabinet.
“Mind if I find some off your harder stuff, Chao? I’m not an easy man to surprise, but you came damn close to shocking me. I think the only thing that will give me my sea legs back is the strongest damn whisky you’ve got hidden away in here.”
He found a bottle of Maker’s Mark. When Chao nodded in agreement to his unspoken question, Gabe grabbed the bottle and two glasses and sat in the chair in front of Chao’s desk. He accepted the cigar and light Chao offered, and sunk back to think, get his thoughts in order. An outrageous plan had occurred to him after he met with Gunnar and Eagle. Even though he hadn’t talked it through with them, he knew he was on the right track.
“I’m gonna propose an idea, Chao. I hope you’ll go along with it. First, my partners and I are convinced that whoever is masterminding this outrage is close to your home. It’s someone you know well, and who knows your family well. Gunnar and Eagle and a couple of my other men have been checking out the list of disgruntled assholes you’ve excoriated over the last year or so. The ones who do business with Dominic are at the top of our list. As we agreed, Dominic is unlikely to be masterminding this. He hates your guts, but he’s not going to go after your son and daughter. At least I don’t think so. I’m gonna have little chat with Dominic in the next couple of days. I’ll know more after that.
“So here’s my idea. I want you to host a dinner party and a dance. A big shindig, a dance, rite of spring, I don’t give a damn what you call it. But I want you do schedule it for Friday. Make up some excuse why it needs to be done now. Then I want you to go down the list Gunnar and Eagle made and invite every one of those men and their wives. The wives will make sure they get here. No woman, at least the ones I met a couple of days ago, wants to be the one who wasn’t invited, or whose husband balked at attending. My goal is to get them all in the same room and see if between me and my men we can smoke out the perpetrators. We have some ideas how we might do just that.”
Gabe waited to give Chao a chance to respond, and was pleased when he did. As usual, he didn’t contest, didn’t probe. If Chao saw he wisdom of an idea, he never stood in the way. And over the years, Gabe’s ideas had been damn good and the money Gabe saved Chao made Gabe’s healthy fees seem like a bargain.
“That’s an interesting idea, Gabriel. Of course, it frightens me that you believe the perpetrator is close to our family. That is unsettling, as you know. I do have an idea of how we might make the affair seem more probable. Senator Webster sent me a telegram a couple of days ago indicating that he would be in San Francisco. Wanted to meet some of my ‘friends.’ Having grown up in a political family, Gabriel, you know that means he’s stalking campaign funds. No U.S. Senator wants to host a group of mob leaders or gang members, but he is always willing to come to an event where he can rub a shoulder or two and, coincidently, leave much wealthier than he came.”
“That’s an excellent idea, Chao. Gives an excuse why it is late notice. It also gives us cover. Webster is key to many of the issues affecting tax policy, mineral rights, land issues – all dear to the hearts of the California underground. Brilliant, Chao.”
While they finished their whisky and cigars, Gabe fleshed out more of his plans.
When they were finished, he got up to leave. A grin tugged at his mouth.
“Don’t know that I am much in favor with Penelope at this point, but I’m willing to be an ambassador, indicate that it is my idea.”
Chao shook his head.
“That won’t be necessary, Gabriel. Mention power, influence, and money and Penelope becomes a whirling dervish. She’ll have this party pulled together in days. And trust me, she will ensure that all the ‘important’ men in San Francisco attend. Corralling moneyed men is one of her skills.”
Chao joined him as Gabe walked to the door.
“Now, getting Ana to attend may be the hardest part of this shindig. I presume you want her there.”
“Yeah, Chao, I do. I hate like hell that we are using her for bait, but I don’t know what else to call it. We’re using all three of you. You, Ka
i, and Ana. Just know that no one, and I mean no one, will threaten any of you. You have my word.”
“That’s a given, Gabriel. You’ve never let me down and you won’t now.”
Gabe nodded in agreement. As they stood in the doorway, he turned back to Chao. He felt like a fool saying it, but damned if it could go unsaid.
“One more thing. Make sure Ana doesn’t wear that damn red dress she wore the other night. You now the one, Chao, the one she made sure didn’t restrict her.”
“Why Gabriel, I thought you were intrigued by that slit she put in the front of her dress.”
Gabe’s grin didn’t reach his eyes.
“I was. And so was every other lecherous asshole at the party.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“Yeah, Chao,” he said with a grin, “That’s a hell of a big problem.”
“Shall I put her in a nun’s costume, a monk’s robe?”
Gabe laughed. “I know you are a powerful man, Chao, but you’re also a smart one. You know better than trying to contain an exotic bird in an artificial cage.”
“That I do, Gabriel. I’ve had a great deal of practice over the years trying to protect that little bird without annoying her.”
“Someday when you have time, I’d like to learn some of those tactics. The only thing I seem to be able to do with your daughter is infuriate the hell out of her.”
Chao put his hand on Gabe’s shoulder, “That’s a start, Gabriel. Means you have her attention.”
“Hmm. Ever the optimist, right, Chao?”
Chapter 18
Gabe headed out to the barn, resisting the impulse to look back over his shoulder to see if Ana was at her window. He knew it was unlikely. She’d looked exhausted when he left her. He wavered when he got to the barn and looked up at her window. Her room was dark. He was surprised at how disappointed he was. He chided himself. What did he think she would do? Hang out longingly at the window to catch a glimpse of the man who had embarrassed her? Hurt her?
Thirty minutes with Clem and his hands convinced Gabe that the foreman and those close to him were not involved in the plot. Clem was furious that the two men he’d hired had planned to attack Ana.
Sympathy tugged at Gabe, watching the tough wrangler struggle with his guilt.
“How do you think I feel, McKenna? You think I like knowing that the sons of bitches who planned to rape that little girl and then kill her were working for me?”
Gabe shuddered at the description. He’d refused to let himself think about what could have happened. If he did, he didn’t know how he could keep himself from storming the jail and killing the two mongrels with his bare hands.
“Clem, let it go if you can. The best way you can help Chao and me and Ana is to tell me everything you can about how those assholes came to be here. Who hired them? Who sent them?”
“That’s the hell of it, McKenna. I’ve been wrackin’ my brain. The only thing I remember is they just showed up. We’d lost a couple of men to the Harcourt’s spread and those two showed up at just the right time. They looked like any other sorry asshole I hire and I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Harcourt? Peter Harcourt? Are you talking about that supercilious prick I met at the dinner party the other night?”
“If you’re talkin’ about a foppish pale fella that no more deserves ownin’ a ranch than I do. Doubt he knows the tail end of a cow from the front leg. He’s a smarmy one. From what I hear, their place is going down fast. Wouldn’t put it past him to try and hire away from us. I ain’t braggin’, but I do have a reputation. Chao Li has the biggest spread around here, in California. Some say it’s the best run.”
Gabe persisted. “I thought Harcourt was a financial guy. That was the impression he gave me. Sure never mentioned anything about a ranch. But I can tell you he’s making money somewhere, from the looks of his clothes and the like.”
“I dunno. Gabe. I just know he hangs around here a hell of a lot more than I like. Like we don’t know that he’s sniffin’ around Miss Ana. But shit, that only makes him like eighty percent of the men within five counties.”
Gabe felt his stomach clench. Why would he be surprised? He had seen what happened at the party. Ana didn’t want to be there, that was clear, but every man there was glad she was. Hell, it was like watching a swarm of bees circling the queen.
~~~
He said good night to Clem, then headed into the barn to saddle up Wild Card, his stallion. He planned to meet Gunnar and Eagle at Shorty’s. A big bottle of whisky sounded pretty damn good. He heard a noise and assumed Clem had remembered something else. He turned to see Kai standing in the shadows,
Gabe shoved down his annoyance. Christ, this was all he needed tonight. First, an altercation with Ana, and now her damned brother. What did he want? A rematch? From what he could see in the shadows, Kai’s eye was swollen shut, his lip was split, and there was a nasty bruise on one cheek. Hell, Gabe thought, if this is what he looked like after the healers got him cleaned up, no wonder Chao thought he didn’t look human? The worst part was that Gabe was intentionally easy on the kid’s face. Sure, he’d wanted him to have marks. Something he couldn’t hide, couldn’t run from. But the real damage was on places that didn’t show. He’d be surprised if Kai didn’t have at least a couple of broken ribs. And that shoulder joint; if he hadn’t dislocated it, then Gabe was losing his touch.
Gabe reached in his vest and took out his cigarette case. May as well enjoy a smoke, while the kid decided if his was brave enough to take him on again. In the flair of the match, he got a closer look at Kai. He didn’t look angry. He looked scared.
“What can I do for you, Kai?” Gabe made a point of calling him by his name. Think he’s earned the right to not be called kid. Hell, at least he was walking. That showed something. Guess he’d find out soon enough if he was talking.
Kai stared at him for a long moment. The tension vibrated off of him.
“What was that you were doing?”
“Ah, can you be a little more specific, Kai? What was I doing other than beating the shit out of you?”
Kai’s face flushed, and a spark of anger flared in his eyes. He took a visible breath and muttered, “What were doing to me when you had me down on the ground?”
Gabe nodded. “Oh, yeah, that. It’s called savate, French kickboxing. I picked it up in the alleyways in Boston. Used it to throw off those big tough Irish brawlers who thought it was fun to beat the crap out of a kid smaller than they were.”
When Kai didn’t speak, Gabe shrugged, and went on.
“It’s a nice addition to Kung Fu. Unexpected. Especially if your opponent is Chinese trained. Now I use it to surprise a fighter like you.”
“Will you teach me?”
Gave studied him for a long moment. He saw the determination on his face. Fierceness had replaced anger. He looked earnest. Young.
“Yeah, Kai, I will. I told you last night, you have the potential to be a great fighter. I have a partner I’m gonna introduce you to. I taught him for the same reasons I’m willing to teach you. I needed him, bad. To protect me, watch my back when I’m absorbed in my poker gambits. Only problem was, he had so much anger that I couldn’t count on him. Savate is a terrific rage reducer. You’d be amazed how twenty minutes kicking the shit out of someone can burn off tension. And what it does to the other guy isn’t pretty. An added bonus.”
~~~
Gabe nudged Wild Card to a gallop. His stallion couldn’t go fast enough to satisfy Gabe’s churning gut. Getting as far away from Chao Li’s ranch as possible was critical, essential. His brain was buzzing like a hive of wasps had taken up residence, scaring away rational thought. Riding hard and riding fast would help. So would meeting with Gunnar and Eagle.
His partners had been his lifeline to sanity for years now. Somehow, the unlikely trio of damaged men had created a safe haven, a sanctuary where the demons that drove each of them were held at bay. It wasn’t a physical place. It was more than that
. It was an unspoken agreement. Whomever was the strongest at the moment stepped in to beat back the devils tormenting his partners. The beauty of the unlikely arrangement was that none of the three ever mentioned it. It was too sacred, too necessary to discuss. It was just there, making sure that each of them would survive, hell, maybe even thrive. Given the specters that haunted them, each man was relieved to survive. Thriving was an impossible goal, better left to better men, more deserving men.
Gabe allowed his frustration to boil up. What the hell was wrong with Chao? If anyone besides his partners knew who Gabe was, it was Chao. And here he was practically giving him permission to court his daughter. Jesus, didn’t he know? Gabe didn’t court, he dallied. No, that was too fine a take on it. He fucked. As many women, and as often as he felt the need. Thinking back over the last decade, that need had damn well driven his life. The more anonymous the sex, the better. Names weren’t necessary, and repeat performances sure as hell weren’t. That didn’t mean he wasn’t polite, a gentleman. Women raved about him, not only his skills, but his courtesy. He didn’t make them feel cheap; just lucky to make the infamous Angel’s roster.
Now, somehow, some way, a haughty little princess was making him take a fresh look at that roster and the behavior that created it. Looking at it through her uninitiated eyes, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Anger swept over him. Who did Ana think she was? A reformer? The one woman who was going to make Angel rethink his wanton ways? Ha! That was an unlikely scenario.
Ana didn’t know how natural, how ingrained, how unexceptional his behavior was. She didn’t know Rory McKenna, U.S. Senator Rory McKenna. But that conniving wimp Peter Harcourt did. Peter was right about his father. Senator McKenna was a household name in every brothel on the east coast. It wasn’t just whores that enticed the unrepentant Irishman. In fact, his primary passion was society matrons, the wives and daughters of other powerful men. The better to underscore his power, rub his prowess in the face of his peers, establish his reputation as the most consummate lover Boston’s upper crust had seen. And the best way to torment his wife.