The Secret Daughter

by Roz Denny Fox

  “I don’t really have any idea how many people might enter bids. I’ve talked to builders who’ve bought homes by a bidding process, but I’ve never done it before. I have studied the records of similar auctions in Louisiana and I’m assured no two are ever alike.”

  She started to move away from him, but Adam tightened his hold on her hand, and caught her free hand, too. He tugged her lightly into his arms. “We don’t have much room, but you owe me a dance. I asked for one at the cochon de lait, remember?”

  The CD he’d put in earlier had slipped from its mournful sax music into an R and B number with the low throb of kettledrums in the background. The sultry, sexy beat begged for two bodies to touch and move together. More athletic than musical, Noelani was surprised by how much she wanted to do as Adam asked. She felt the tempo in her feet and uttered no objection when Adam placed her hands on his shoulders, then spread his wide palms across her back. His touch remained light, and the night was too warm for the shiver that sneaked up her spine.

  “This is a first for me—dancing alone with a man in his room.”

  “Shh,” he murmured near her ear. “Go with the flow. Feel the beat.” Ever so subtly, Adam edged her closer until their bodies barely brushed. A lock of hair that perpetually fell over his forehead tickled her ear. Noelani let her tension give way as Adam’s lips skimmed her neck. She didn’t even realize she’d tilted her head. Nor was she really aware of gliding her arms around his neck and funneling her fingers through his thick brown hair. In the low light cast by the old wall sconces, the whole experience seemed surreal. The room breathed the slow, teasing notes, and their two bodies reacted accordingly. So, when the horns kicked in with a sob, Adam was already hard, erect and ready. Stirred by him and the electrifying music, Noelani practically purred and rubbed against him like a happy cat. Her body felt weightless while a hot heaviness claimed the lower part of her abdomen.

  Adam might have suggested going upstairs. Certainly Noelani read need in his eyes. She preceded him willingly up the iron steps, although her legs were shaky, whether with arousal or nerves, she didn’t know.

  The loft seemed to be all unmade bed. Pillows and sheets were a tangle of wine red. In spite of a window air conditioner, the room radiated enough warmth that when Adam faced her and stripped off her damp T-shirt, Noelani welcomed the faint touch of cooler air against her skin.

  Always, always, the music. More muted now, it filled her head and her heart. But she wanted Adam to fill her soul. It was a need that was suddenly so strong it shocked her. Rushing, she unzipped her jeans and let them drop. They pooled around her feet and lay trapped by the sneakers she’d worn to work that day. With her heart thundering in her ears, Noelani sat on the bed and frantically tried to untie the knotted laces.

  Adam knelt before her and stilled her fingers. “At the risk of spoiling the moment,” he said in a voice so thin it almost didn’t sound like him, “I have to hear you say you want this as much as I do.”

  She leaned over and kissed his eyes closed. “Hush. I want this to be my dream. My illusion.” In spite of sitting at the edge of a strange bed in her panties and bra, her jeans shackling her ankles, she took the lead—a definite first for Noelani Hana.

  The scrape of her fingertips along his rib cage was featherlight as her lips joined briefly with his, then skipped away to explore his chin, his neck, his chest, his navel.

  Because it’d been so long for him, and because his control threatened to crack at any minute, Adam thrust her away as gently as all his rough, frantic feelings would allow. “There’s something I have to do before this goes one step further,” he said through teeth clamped tightly together. Stumbling to his feet, nearly falling over a comforter that had slipped off the foot of the bed, he disappeared into the black interior of the loft.

  Noelani heard him muttering, and it sounded as if things were falling into a sink. It dawned on her that he’d gone into his bathroom, no doubt to secure protection for her. For them, she thought, a rush of pleasure flooding a heart that had begun to knock erratically with a case of nerves.

  She made short work of her sneakers. By the time he reappeared, smiling visibly thanks to a sliver of light spilling from the room he’d so recently left, every last stitch of her clothing sat folded in a neat pile. She lay in the center of his wide bed, her body pale gold against the dark red of the sheets.

  Adam had lost count of the times, since he’d met her, that he’d pictured her long black hair spread over his pillow. Seeing her welcome him with a shy smile and uplifted arms rocked all that remained of his intention to take things slow.

  He sank to the bed on one knee, tossing down a handful of small gleaming packets.

  “Adam,” she squeaked, partially rising to blink and gasp at the pile of condoms.

  “These come courtesy of whatever kind soul lived here before me,” he growled, gathering her into his arms with a sigh. “I’m afraid I made a mess of the medicine cabinet. I knew I’d seen the stash when I moved in, but I couldn’t remember which shelf they were on. Tell me it’s not going to throw a wet blanket on your illusion.”

  “No.” She shook her head and wriggled closer, giving the mood a chance to settle over both of them again as their lips met, and her nipples hardened from the merest friction of rubbing against his bare chest.

  Noelani had always thought Adam had a nice body. Never more so than when, after a few minutes of mutual exploration, he skimmed off his raggedy shorts and she caught a glimpse of him fully aroused. “Oh, my,” she exclaimed, her breath catching.

  Then talk ceased. Only the distant echo of music—the wail of a sax, the spasm of trumpets and rolling drums—which, in time, climaxed in perfect synchronization with the couple upstairs. They were, during that moment, two people locked together in a secret world known only to lovers.

  Breathing faster and harder than the bossa nova tune that followed the earlier jazz piece—which Adam knew would forever after have cataclysmic importance for him—he nevertheless managed to muster the strength to roll off Noelani.

  She groaned. “Am I alone in thinking wow?”

  “You can think?” Adam propped himself up on one elbow and pressed a kiss to the rounded part of her shoulder.

  She laughed nervously as she turned toward him. She hadn’t been a quiet lover, and that was new territory for her. Noelani wished he’d said it was a wow experience for him, too. “Should I apologize for screaming?” she asked, then pulled her upper lip anxiously between her teeth. “I’m afraid I’m not good at this sort of thing. Not good at all.”

  “If you were any better, we’d probably both be dead.” Adam traced a finger over her plump lower lip, then stretched up to kiss her, forcing her to release her upper lip.

  The music on the floor below shifted to a melancholy, haunting tune. Again, their lovemaking matched the tempo. Slow as the bow drawn over a violin as a fiddler coaxed out the high notes with loving care. This time Adam took the same care to see to his partner’s pleasure first. This time they changed places and, never having been given such total power over a man, Noelani couldn’t hold back her tears when they climaxed.

  Adam felt those tears trickle down his chest where she’d collapsed. “God, did I hurt you?” That was his first thought as he stirred and sat them both up so he could look into her eyes.

  She wasn’t able to voice her feelings, was only able to shake her head over and over.

  Thinking he understood her silent message, Adam smiled, plumped the pillows at his back, and held her close until her tears stopped.

  Her breathing slowed, and after a time, he realized she’d fallen asleep. Careful not to wake her, he smoothed back her tangled hair and slid down the bed with her, until they rested side by side, heads on the same pillow.

  Watching her sleep, something he’d never done with another woman, he wondered if she was dreaming of him. Or was she dreaming of the time she’d return to Hawaii?

  Had this experience moved her as it’d moved him?<
br />
  He wound one of the dark curls, shot through with traces of auburn, around his forefinger. Damn, he was beyond the stage of indulging in one-night stands. Noelani had been straightforward about cutting her losses here and returning to Hawaii the moment Duke Fontaine’s property distribution was settled. And she’d shown little excitement over his desire to buy and refurbish Magnolia Manor. Although tonight she’d seemed genuinely supportive.

  A growl of frustration rose in his throat as he released the curl and let it spring loose and drape along the curve of her breast.

  Lying flat on his back, staring at the play of light across the ceiling, Adam heard the end of the last song on the CD he’d put on an hour ago. The system clicked off, bathing the garçonnière in silence except for Noelani’s quiet breathing.

  He felt more than the sense of lethargic well-being that followed in the wake of good sex. And he wanted more than one night with Noelani. She was smart, funny and tough, yet he’d seen her softness and compassion. Knowing she was here beside him vanquished the vague dread that had stalked him earlier.

  He drifted off to sleep planning to talk to Noelani in the morning. He’d speak honestly about his feelings, and…

  Disturbed some time later by movement on the bed, Adam fought to stay asleep, and simultaneously attempted to wake completely.

  “Sorry, Adam. Go back to sleep. I’m dressed. All I have to do is tie my second shoe and I’ll be ready to leave.”

  “Leave?” He struggled to rise, but she pressed him down again with a hand in the middle of his chest. “What time is it?” he inquired with a yawn. “I’m not sure I’ve even slept.” He rubbed a hand over his gritty eyes.

  “You probably haven’t been asleep long. It’s not quite 4:00 a.m.”

  “Then why are you getting dressed? Come back to bed. It’s pitch-black out,” he said, catching her arm.

  “No, Adam.” She pulled from his loose grasp. “I don’t want anyone in the household to see me leaving your place in the morning. This way I’ll be back in my room and have time to shower and change before Betty arrives to start breakfast.”

  The mattress shifted as she rose and started for the door.

  “Wait! I hoped we could talk before breakfast.”

  “About what? Didn’t we decide the accidents were just that?”

  “I mean, talk about us. About a…future.” This time he did sit up, and he didn’t like the sudden tension in the air.

  “Adam—maybe we should just admit we got carried away. I hope we don’t let what happened interfere with our being friends. Once you stop to think clearly, I’m sure you’ll agree with me. Your future is here, restoring your family home. Mine lies with a sugar plantation on Maui. We won’t even be within commuting distance. So…” She took a deep breath. “Let’s just agree to meet on Saturday as friends, and leave it at that.”

  Her footsteps echoed as she hurried down the wrought-iron steps. Adam hurtled out of bed, planning to follow her and talk some sense into her. He couldn’t find his shorts. Then he heard the click of his front door and realized he was too late. He fell back on the rumpled bed, not altogether sure what had just happened. She wanted to be friends, but he’d been considering way more than friendship.

  “Well, hell,” he muttered, knowing he’d had all the sleep he was going to get for this short night.

  CHAPTER NINE

  ADAM SHOWERED, OPERATING in a fog. While coffee brewed, he downloaded e-mail onto his laptop. He thought he’d been quick about it, but as he trekked to the main house he noticed the Caddy wasn’t parked where it’d been last night.

  “Betty?” Adam yanked open the screen door. “Have you seen Noelani today?”

  “She came in looking for coffee two seconds after I arrived. I hadn’t even got out the beans, let alone ground them. Now here you are with your mug in hand. Don’t nobody keep civilized hours around this house anymore?”

  “I made coffee at my place, Betty. Damn, that must be why I missed her. Did she say if she planned to put in an appearance at supper?”

  “Didn’t say. Snatched a banana from the batch I bought yesterday. When I let her know a banana wasn’t a fit breakfast, she said she’d grab a breakfast drink from the other fridge, then dashed off. It wasn’t a minute before I heard the gravel spit from the Caddy’s tires. Gotta hand it to the girl, she drives that monster the way it was built to be driven. Angelique—bless her soul, and I don’t like speaking ill of the dead…” Betty crossed herself as a matter of course. “But we wuz related, so I can say Angelique drove like a pansy-ass woman.”

  Adam took a big gulp of hot coffee. He didn’t know why he attempted conversation with Betty, especially when he wasn’t hitting on all cylinders himself. The woman tended to talk in riddles. “Thanks, Betty. Is Noelani aware of the family gathering tonight?”

  Betty shrugged. “She’d better show up.”

  “Well, I now have another reason. I need to see everyone. The firm I got to put in the security system Jackson and Casey wanted plans to shoot juice to it at noon. It’ll change how people are able to come and go. Especially people who fly on and off shift the way Noelani does.”

  “Big expense for nothing, if you ask me.” Betty threw a handful of beans in the coffee grinder. “Duke wouldn’t have handled this with no ’lectric folderol. He’d have loaded his double-barreled shotgun and put out word around the parish that anyone settin’ foot on Bellefontaine without sound reason had better plan on leaving here with a butt full o’ buckshot.”

  “Jackson and Casey would rather let the security company and the police deal with crooks and crazies. However, they won’t want to bail family members out of the pokey. Never mind, Casey’ll be up by now. I’ll go over there and let her handle dispersing the information.”

  Adam had to admit it was a fine morning. A slight breeze took the edge off the far-reaching tentacles of a fiery sun beginning its slow ascent. He loved this hour of the morning when the buildings and landscape glittered like gold. His mood was much improved by the time he reached Wisteria Cottage.

  Nick and Casey were breakfasting at a wicker table on their screened porch.

  “Adam, hi.” Nick rose.

  Casey glanced up and waved. “What brings you calling so early? Something about tonight’s secret celebration? Aunt Esme said everything’s all set.” She gestured with the coffee carafe, indicating Adam should fill his mug.

  “Thanks, I brought my coffee. It’s something else about tonight. I got an e-mail this morning from Art Rafferty. The security system’s in place. He’ll activate it at twelve noon today, unless one of us leaves a message at his office to the contrary.”

  “He worked fast,” Nick acknowledged with satisfaction as he bent and kissed his wife. “But he couldn’t have been too quick for my peace of mind.”

  Adam sank into the offered chair. It creaked under his weight. “Outside of the mill, there hasn’t been another incident since the harvester, has there?”

  “No. At the mill? Adam, what incident?” Casey narrowed her eyes.

  “You’ve forgotten asking me to change the office lock?”

  “Oh, that. I’ve been on such a treadmill lately, it slipped my mind. We’re not even sure it was an incident. Murray said one of the techs who pulls core sample data off the computer could’ve hit a couple of keys by mistake and erased a line of code.”

  Adam sipped from his cup. “Noelani’s pretty sure it had to be deliberate. Too bad we can’t monitor the mill with a closed-circuit TV system of some kind. That way you’d know if the two accidents the night before last were really accidents.”

  Casey and Nick both pounced at once. “Accidents?”

  “Noelani said two, but only gave me particulars on one. Somebody fished a piece of steel out of the creeper feeder. She said it shut the whole operation down for several hours while they checked for damage.”

  “Junk is always getting mixed in with cut cane. Noelani ought to know that, since she claims to have so much mill experie
nce.”

  “She knows her stuff, Casey.” Adam immediately came to Noelani’s defense. “The size of the metal bar was significant. So far, she’s calling it an accident, and she decided there was no reason—yet—to worry you and Jackson. But what if it’s not? That’s all I meant about wishing there was a way to monitor the mill.”

  “Security costs big bucks. Our bad luck’s the result of one ex-employee. Broderick has a screw loose. He’s locked up tight, and there’s been nothing since the harvester. Everything’s back on track now,” Casey said with conviction.

  “I sure hope so.” Adam extended his hand to Nick. “Anyway, I’ll leave you with the responsibility of informing the family how the security system works.”

  “We set 11:00 p.m. as the time for locks to activate, didn’t we? Glass breakage sensors go off whenever a window’s breached, but to come and go after eleven, a visitor either has to phone us or key in?”

  “Correct. Art gave you and Jackson the codes, didn’t he, Casey? In his e-mail, he recommends setting the outer-perimeter sensors to coincide with seasonal changes of sunrise and sunset, rather than tie it to a twenty-four-hour clock.”

  “He and I discussed that. I meant to talk it over with Jackson and Nick. Art says to be effective, it’s advisable not to operate the system with any predictability.”

  “It’s your call, Casey,” her husband said. “Adam chose Rafferty’s firm because they’re the best.”

  Casey frowned. “I hate letting that weasel Broderick curtail my freedom. I mean…we have a right to come and go as we please on our own property.”

  “Personal safety comes at a price,” Nick muttered.

  “I agree with Casey,” Adam said. “When I was a kid and lived a mile or so from here, my mom never thought about locking doors. Back then, the Fontaines were like royalty. None of us lesser mortals would’ve dared step on the property without invitation. Today, you’re installing gates with sensors.” He shook his head.