Last Night (13 page)

Between two slides was a grotto concealed by a thicket of ferns. Jason and his friends played on the rocks, jumping off them into the pool or sliding
down the mossy boulders as if they were on some amusement-park ride. When they tired of this, they played hide and seek, often hiding in the grotto.

"
It
'
s
so
dark in the grotto,
"
was all Dana could think to say once they were back in the cottage.

Rob laughed, a rich, deep masculine laugh that was as wanton as sin on Sunday.
"
I don
'
t need light. I go by feel. Admit it, you loved it.
"

"
Well,
"
Dana struggled to keep her voice light. "It was more fun than doing it in bed, but those ferns tickled. And I think I lost my bra somewhere.
"

"
Nah, it
'
s right here in my pocket.
"
He stopped dead in his tracks and she nearly bumped into him.

He turned to face her, staring into her eyes and grinning. Oh, Lord, what was he up to now? Before she could stop him, he hooked one finger over the top of her sundress and pulled it back, exposing the sexy demi-bra. He silently whistled and winked.

She swatted his hand away, but not before his warm palm accidentally grazed one breast. The nipple sprang to life, and his mocking eyes didn
'
t miss the raised fabric. He slowly ran his tongue over his lower lip.

Furious, she turned away. Rob was into sexual games; she wasn
'
t a player. She never had been. He was a bum who would hustle her sister at dinner, then fondle her later. She grabbed her nightgown and robe from the closet and headed for the bathroom. "I won
'
t be in here too long.
"

She shut the door and kicked off her shoes, wondering what Rob would pull when she came out.

Bug or no bug, she was sleeping on the love seat. Sure, it would be cramped, but anything would be better than getting in bed with that lout. She unzipped her dress, pausing when she heard a knock on the cottage door. Wondering who it could be, she moved closer to the door.

"
Hello, Rob.
"
It was Vanessa
'
s voice.

"
Dana
'
s in the bathroom,
"
he said.
"
Do you want to come in and wait?
"

"
No. I want to talk to you.
"

Dana kept her ear to the bathroom door. The next sound was the soft click of the cottage door shutting behind them. Dana whirled around and stared at her reflection in the mirror. What was her beloved sister doing? She
'
d never known Vanessa to be so brazen.

But then, Vanessa had never met Rob Tagett. He was the kind of man who
'
d be a challenge for a woman like Vanessa. Even so, didn
'
t her sister care about her feelings? What if she really loved Rob?

Dana turned on the water in the tub and told herself it didn't matter. Vanessa was welcome to the leech. All she
'
d hired Rob to do was find the blackmailer, and she had to admit he had made more progress than she could have on her own.

She sprinkled lavender bath salts into the tub and slipped into the water. At least she didn
'
t have to hurry. Surely he wouldn
'
t be back for hours. When she finally emerged from the bathroom, her robe tied tight, she saw that Rob had returned. He
'
d turned the sheets down and placed the narrow
cushions from the love seat down the middle of the bed, creating an effective barrier. You
'
d have to be dead to roll over those cushions without waking up.

He
'
d turned out the lights, but the full moon streamed through the open door, bringing with it a cool breeze and the aroma of wild ginger. Crickets called to their mates, and in the distance came the deep
ribbit-ribbit
of the bullfrogs, who lived in the lagoon with the koi. The ceiling fan was on, its wide blades circulating the air with a comforting
whoosh
that usually lulled her to sleep.

Rob was sprawled across his side of the bed, facedown, wearing nothing but Joe Boxer shorts. Dana knew Joe Boxers from advertisements in the
Honolulu Sun.
They were printed with outrageous sayings.

She edged nearer, recalling the last time she thought he was asleep. She leaned closer, so close that she could see the pulse throbbing at the base of his neck. He was asleep all right, breathing evenly, his tanned face and dusky eyelashes a stark contrast to the white pillowcase.

Her hand hovered just above his bare shoulders. Heat radiated from his skin, warming her palm and drawing her hand downward. She knew she should stay away from him, but she couldn
'
t help herself. She honestly couldn't.

With a tremor in her fingers, she touched his shoulder. She inhaled sharply, half-expecting him to awaken and round on her as he had earlier. She waited a moment, her fingers resting lightly on him.

He didn
'
t move, although the whisper-soft ceiling fan ruffled his dark hair.

His skin was smooth, but beneath her fingertips she detected the raw power she always associated with him. Knowing he was truly asleep, she couldn
'
t resist letting her hand glide down the masculine plane of his back across the bare skin that was surprisingly soft. The muscles beneath were firm though, as solid as the beat of his heart.

Her hand drifted downward a scant inch at a time, stopping at the waistband of his Joe Boxers. She could tell that the underwear was brand-new. It was crisp and had deep creases from being in the package. Using the moonlight, she had to squint to read what was written on them.

Just Say Yo!

11

A
bar of sunlight warmed Dana
'
s cheek, and she raised her arm to cover her face, thinking this had to be the weekend—the alarm hadn
'
t gone off—and she could sleep past six. As she lay there not quite awake, she remembered she wasn't home.

She was in bed with Rob Tagett.

She kept her eyes shut tight, questioning the wisdom of her decision last night. Rob had been sound asleep; the love seat was so small. She
'
d eased herself onto the bed and positioned herself with her back to him and the barricade of sofa cushions.

Her arm still sheltering her face, Dana peeked out and saw that she'd turned over during the night and was a mere inch from the cushions that divided the bed. She dropped her arm, set to sneak out of bed before Rob awoke, but he was already gazing at her, his cocked arm propping his head up.

In the mellow sunlight his eyes were twilight blue, shaded by double tiers of lashes the same dark color as the rasp of stubble shading his jaw. He smiled, a
slow sensual smile, his eyes traveling across her face and down her neck. As his gaze drifted lower yet, Dana glanced down.

The lacy bodice of her black silk gown gaped open, exposing most of her breasts. Searing heat flared up to her cheeks as she recalled the way he
'
d looked down the front of her dress last night. The man had only one thing on his mind. She reached down to grab the sheet and saw that her gown had inched up, revealing her legs right up to the tops of her thighs. She straightened her gown and started to roll out of bed.

Rob
'
s arm came down on her shoulder.
"
Morning, princess.
"

His eyes swung to the quilt with the intrusive bug, and she snapped her mouth shut before she said something ugly.
"
Good morning,
"
she managed to respond.

"
I need to talk to you.
"
He sat up and propped his back against the headboard, completely comfortable with his near-nude state.

Dana didn
'
t know where to look, certainly not at the bulge in his Joe Boxers. She knew what men were like first thing in the morning. Couldn
'
t he at least pull up the sheet?

"
Last night Garth called, and Vanessa spoke with him,
"
Rob began, his tone gentle. "The superior court appointment went to Craig Olsen.
"

"Really?
"
was all Dana could say. That must have been why Vanessa had come out to Makai House. True, she was disappointed about not getting that
appointment, but she was much more relieved that Vanessa hadn
'
t been chasing Rob.
"
It doesn
'
t matter.
"

He reached across the blockade of cushions and put his large hand over hers, lacing his strong fingers between her smaller ones. For a change there was nothing aggressive about the gesture. It was tender, reassuring.
"
Once your name is on the list of acceptable candidates, it stays. You
'
ll get another shot at it.
"

She was so astounded by his concern that she didn
'
t know what to say. It seemed so out of character for him. He kept looking at her until she pulled her hand from his. "It
'
s your turn to get the bathroom first,
"
she said, forcing a light tone.

He jumped up, his more familiar joking expression back in place.
"
Yeah, you really hogged the head last night. I fell asleep waiting.
"

While Rob was in the shower Dana dressed, putting on crisp white shorts and a navy shirt trimmed in white. She inspec
ted her reflection in the full-
length mirror. She wanted to look professional. Rob had a friend on the Maui police force. They were going to see him this morning, although Dana couldn
'
t imagine what help he
'
d be.

Rob opened the bathroom door and steam billowed out, but she could see that all he was wearing was a towel carelessly tucked around his hips. One quick turn and the thing would fall off.
"
We
'
re going to the beach this afternoon. Can you round up towels and an umbrella?"

"
Sure,
"
she said, thankful to have an excuse to get out of the cottage. "There
'
s beach equipment in the cabana. I'll get what we need."

She was halfway down the lava rock path to the pool when she realized that going to the beach hadn
'
t been part of the original plan. She gathered towels and an umbrella, wondering what Rob was up to now.

Back at the cottage, Rob was standing in the bathroom, shaving, not bothering to shut the door. Dana tossed the towels on the bed as he motioned for her to come inside. Wary, she edged in and he closed the door.

Before she could protest Rob said, "Don't mention the police. I don
'
t want that bug to pick it up.
"

"Do I look stupid?
"

"
Now that you mention it—-yes,
"
he said, unfazed by her sudden burst of temper.

She quickly backed out, ignoring the water droplets on the wedge of hair feathering his chest and the cute puff of shaving cream on his earlobe.

"
Don't you want to use the bathroom too?
"

Did he honestly think that she'd be willing to share the bathroom?
Look at him!
The towel had worked its way down on his hips, dangerously close to coming undone. Yet he didn't seem to notice. Or care.

"
I used the cabana,
"
she said as she left.

Rob was much more comfortable with his body than she was with hers, Dana decided as she changed into a swimsuit, then put on her shorts
again. Evidently he was accustomed to parading around in front of adoring women. But she wasn
'
t used to wearing skimpy clothes. She was thankful she'd brought a conservative swimsuit. The more clothes she had on around Rob, the safer she felt.

K
ahului was the main city on Maui, but few tourists visited it, Rob thought as he drove the convertible through the streets. The flip side of paradise. It wasn
'
t a bad town, if you liked Buffalo in the fifties, Hawaiian style. It was populated mostly by hotel workers and other service personnel who couldn
'
t afford to live in the exclusive beachfront condos.

Around the clock a volcano of steam erupted from the Clean-Rite linen service. Between hotel bedding and towels and uniforms, the commercial laundry ran continuous shifts. Rob drove past, thankful he didn't have to stand for hours over a vat of hot bleach, getting lipstick-stained napkins pristine white so tourists could soil them again.

He turned onto Hana Road, moving his head slightly to look at Dana. She hadn
'
t said much since they
'
d left the ranch. He thought maybe she was brooding about losing that spot on the bench. Tough break. She
'
d have been damn good.

He eased up on the gas, checking the street signs for the police department and noticing that the car he
'
d spotted earlier in his rearview mirror was still there. The blue Toyota was lagging back almost a full block.

"Part of the problem is that too many people from
Pacific Rim countries live here,
"
Rob said, making a quick turn down a narrow lane.

Dana
'
s expression said she hadn
'
t a clue what he was talking about.
"
What problem?
"

"
Why there aren
'
t more women on the bench or in executive positions in Hawaii.
"
Rob checked the rearview mirror again. Sure enough, there was the blue Toyota. "So many of the islanders come from the Philippines or Japan or China that they have an Eastern attitude toward women.
"

"I hadn
'
t thought about it until now,
"
Dana agreed, "but I
'
d say Hawaii
'
s heart is in the United States—freedom-loving and fair—but its soul is in the East—full of traditional customs and superstitions handed down from generation to generation. Gwen found out the hard way that many islanders have a double standard for women.
"

"Right. She would have been smarter to wait until she was appointed to a higher court, then run as an incumbent. Like it or not, what
'
s seen as assertive in men is considered pushy for women—in Hawaii anyway.
"

Dana's eyes followed his as he looked in the mirror again. "What
'
s wrong?
"

She started to look around, which would have been a dead giveaway in a convertible with the top down, but he put his hand on her shoulder.
"
Don
'
t look back. We
'
re being followed.
"

"Big Daddy
'
s men?
"

"Probably. They drove off one of the
kuleana
roads just beyond Kau Ranch.
"
The
kuleanas
were
independent farmers with their own system of roads, which were little more than dirt tracks through the sugar cane fields. The car must have been hiding behind a thicket of cane that was taller than full-grown corn, waiting for them to pass.

"
Hang on." Rob gunned the engine and cut sharply to the right.

Dana gripped the armrest as the convert
ible shot down the street, swer
ved to the left, and entered a one-way street. Going the wrong way, Rob barreled up the short road, then veered off to the right into traffic.

They rode around until Rob was certain that they
'
d lost Big Daddy
'
s men. They drove into the police station lot and parked by a fence that was sagging under the weight of a scarlet bougainvillea. Rob pulled so close to the bush that the thorns scraped the side of the car, but at least it couldn't be spotted easily should the blue Toyota pass by.

The station was little more than a heap of concrete blocks once painted beige but now a mottled gray and tan. Nothing about it inspired confidence or reminded Dana of the Honolulu police station. It made her wonder about Rob
'
s friend. Bruce Kenae had once been on the Honolulu Police Department with Rob. What was he doing in this backwater?

Rob hopped out of the car. "Wait here.
"

"
I
'
m coming with you.
"

"Forget it. Bruce won
'
t talk—off the record—with someone around.
"
He walked away, leaving her to silently fume.

Twenty minutes later he reappeared, striding across the cracked concrete lot that was sprouting weeds.
"
Any sign of our friends in the Toyota?
"

She shook her head.
"
What did you find out?
"

He slid behind the wheel. "No IRs on any of the Coltranes.
"

She knew those were incident reports. Every time a policeman stopped someone, it didn't result in an arrest or a ticket—especially in paradise where tourists were sacred. They wrote an incident report in their logbook instead.

Rob turned the key in the ignition and the motor grumbled, but finally caught.
"
Kenae did know a little about Eric
'
s mistress though. Word is he wanted to marry her, but his father had a fit. She
'
s
hapa haole."

"Half white. That would upset Big Daddy. He detests marriages with native Hawaiians. He
'
s a total bigot.
"

"The only other thing Kenae mentioned was that Coltrane looks th
e other way when some of the is
landers raise a little Maui Wowie on his land.
"

"Marijuana?
"

"
It
'
s not the same old weed you smoked in the seventies.
"
He looked at Dana, then obviously decided she hadn
'
t smoked anything at anytime and shrugged.
"
It
'
s kick-ass stuff and sells for big bucks on the mainland.
"