Primitive Flame

by Lakes, Lynde

  First, she’d call The Department of Land Utilization to learn the procedure for getting a thorough study of the beachfront land. Somehow she had to convince the officials that ancient bones and relics were buried there.

  Her heart raced in anticipation of the surprised expression that would flash on Cort Wayne’s face when she stopped his project. He’d looked so forceful when he ordered her to stay away from the site—that strong, aggressive jaw, those formidable eyes flashing their warning. He’d soon learn she didn’t take orders.

  Lani arrived at the office of Chinn Real Estate and Development Company, tucked in a far corner of the McCully and Kapi’olani strip mall, as the broker Loo Chinn unlocked the door. He bowed and gestured for her to enter ahead of him. The office remained dark for several seconds as stubborn fluorescent lights took their time coming on. The office reeked of stale tobacco.

  “No one smokes here anymore,” Loo said, “but I can’t seem to get rid of the smell.”

  Lani would bet the night janitor smoked. Loo flipped on the fan as he explained office procedures. He showed Lani her desk and where the coffee urn was, then left her to make coffee and become familiar with the office.

  As the staff came in, Loo brought each one to her desk and made introductions. She hit it off well with Julie, one of the real estate agents.

  “I’m busy today, sugar,” the petite southern bell said, flashing an infectious smile. “But how about lunch tomorrow?”

  “Sounds good.” Lani smiled, thrilled she’d found a new friend on her very first day.

  After only a few hours, Lani realized how much she’d missed working. Hearing the ring of telephones and watching people come and go was stimulating. The dynamic salespeople reminded Lani of the attorneys she’d worked with at Bumgardinar, Burnes and Blake. They kept her equally busy. She didn’t mind the fast-paced workload. Staying busy took her mind off her troubles and made her feel normal.

  During her midmorning break, she telephoned the County Environmental Impact Section, introduced herself and told the guy on duty about her suspicions. He insisted that the company’s construction permits and environmental reports were in order. End of debate.

  Frustrated, she blurted, “I have these visions that prove otherwise.”

  “Lady, I don’t have time for jokes.”

  “I’m dead serious.”

  He gave a humorless laugh. “Look, Miss. There’s no way I’ll recommend a construction stop order on the strength of visions.”

  Her heart sank. “Do a little digging and you’ll have everything you need.”

  “Site boring is expensive, time consuming and can only be done within the law. Without proof—”

  “Maybe you’d like me to dig up the relics myself and bring them to you.” She wanted to add on a silver platter but decided against it.

  “I wouldn’t advise that, Miss Ward,” he said. “Trespassing could land you in jail—not a pleasant place.”

  “If you won’t help me, I’ll be forced to take my chances.”

  The line went silent for a few moments. Then, in an amused voice he said, “Look, I admire your guts. I’ll talk to the administrator about your complaint. I can’t promise anything.”

  He was humoring her, but she hung up clinging to the slim hope.

  Her next call was to Grandfather’s friend, the kahuna. The receptionist gave her an appointment for the following afternoon. Lani chuckled. If the environmental people knew she was seeing a shrink they’d write her off even quicker.

  Nearing noon, a shadow fell across her desk. “May I help y—” Lani’s words caught in her throat at the sight of Cort Wayne towering over her.

  “What a surprise,” he said, grinning. “So you joined the good guys.”

  Before she could ask what he meant, Mr. Chinn came out of the conference room and shook Cort’s hand. Chinn ushered Cort into his office and left her sitting there with her mouth open. What was he doing here?

  After several moments, she regained some semblance of composure and glanced at her watch. It was twelve. If she took her lunch break now she wouldn’t have to see him again. Until she had the stop order in her hand, she didn’t want to deal with the arrogant construction boss. Her dream world bond with him was too strong. She quickly flipped on the answering machine and left the building.

  Lani slipped into the seat of Grandfather’s Toyota and jammed the key into the ignition and twisted. The battery hardly turned the engine over. Darn! She tried again. Nothing. She stared at the dangling key charm, a blue leaping whale. Humidity closed around her, wrapping her so tightly she could barely breathe.

  Lani jumped when a deep voice asked, “Having a problem?”

  She looked up into Cort’s sunlit green eyes.

  Chapter Nine

  A sinking sensation washed over Lani as Cort bent to peer in the car window. A warm teasing smile creased the corners of his mouth. In the bright sunlight, his eyes were the palest green, the color of the nucleus of a curling wave. Their depth and intensity gave her the illusion of drowning and floating at the same time.

  She fought a surge of desire, and something deeper, more frightening. It was dangerous to talk to a man who, night after night, filled her dreams. After struggling repeatedly to rescue him from threatening flames, it was impossible not to care for him. Yet he was the man who had warned her to stay away from his construction site, and she was the woman ready to shut down his project. She tensed in readiness for battle—against him, but mostly against her own strong feelings.

  “Flip the hood latch. I’ll jump you.”

  “You’ll do what?”

  “Clean up your mind, Lani. I’ll give you a jump start.”

  Before she could protest, he climbed into his truck and pulled it up next to the Toyota.

  The heat of the sun pounding down on her car shortened her already short fuse.

  “Look,” she called through their open windows, “I don’t need you to do this.”

  Cort slid from behind the steering wheel of his truck, moving to the passenger side. “Yeah, you do. Your lunch hour’ll be shot before the auto club gets here.”

  She wiped sweat from her brow, hating that he was right.

  He climbed out of the cab and balanced with one foot on the scale bar and bent to search for something in his tool compartment. His faded jeans smoothed snugly over a tight butt. A bright red rag, dangling from his rear pocket batted in the breeze, flagging a warning to her senses. She looked away. By the time she dared to look again, he had the hood up and was hooking up the jumper cables.

  “Start’er up!” he shouted.

  She turned the key in the ignition and tapped the gas pedal. The motor roared to life. Cort killed the truck engine, disconnected the cables and slammed down both hoods. He wiped his hands on the rag from the back pocket of those hip-hugging jeans and walked around to the passenger side of the car. He bent and peered inside, looking pleased with himself.

  Lani gripped the steering wheel until her fingers cramped. “Thanks,” she muttered. “It seems you’re always coming to my rescue.” Whether I want you to or not.

  He gave her a slow once over, starting at her hair. She self-consciously touched the chignon twisted neatly at the back of her head. He slid his gaze down her body clear to her ankles. She felt naked, as though her tailored apricot dress and lacy lingerie had fallen away.

  He yanked open the car door and climbed in next to her, still holding the jumper cables.

  Lani glared at him. His behavior unsettled her as much as his powerful build and the natural energy and tension about him. “What are you doing?” Her voice came out as an embarrassing squeak.

  “You won’t make it back without these.”

  “Well…then…er…follow me in your truck. The cables won’t help much without a live battery source.”

  He grinned. “That’s no fun. I can always get us a jump. Drive.”

  “I don’t take orders.”

  “It wasn’t an order. Just a hungry
man wanting his lunch.”

  She caught a whiff of Cort, something musky mingled with the scent of a hardworking male. It wasn’t unpleasant. He reached over and gripped the gearshift, his hand centimeters from hers.

  She started to brush his hand away, but stopped short of touching him. Lani sighed and thrust the car into reverse. It was easier to comply than argue. He rewarded her with a grin.

  The dimples on each side of his mouth deepened, making him appear less intimidating.

  She headed ewa, west, on Kapi’olani Boulevard.

  “How about Cafe Poi?” Cort asked.

  “Is it close?” She’d planned to just duck into a fast food place.

  “Ten minutes max. Food’s good. It’s a favorite hangout of locals who like reasonable prices and the aloha spirit.

  Lani smiled. “Sounds like my kind of place.”

  Ten minutes later, they stepped into the babble of voices and a sea of smiling faces, mostly brown, dotted with a few haole (Caucasian) and hapa-haole (half-Asian, half-Caucasian). In spite of the noontime melting-pot crowd, Cort and Lani lucked out and got a booth by the window.

  “This is perfect,” she said. “We can watch the parade of pedestrians and cars.”

  Cort grinned. “Another thing we have in common. I like people watching, too.”

  One more link, she thought, to strengthen the arcane bond between them.

  After returning from their first trip to the buffet bar, Lani pointed to Cort’s plate, and an involuntary little laugh rippled through her throat. “Are you going to eat all that?” His plate was filled with three different salads, chunks of pineapple, and chicken katsu.

  He grinned. “Sure, I need fuel. I work hard. Besides, your plate isn’t exactly empty.”

  Lani looked down. Her plate was piled high with vegetables and fruits. She laughed again. He was right. She’d gone overboard, heaping food on her plate to cover up nervousness. In line, he’d stood disturbingly close, adding to her suspicion that his reason for being with her had nothing to do with the car’s weak battery.

  “You’re the last person I expected to see working at Chinn’s office,” Cort said.

  “Guess we were both surprised.” Why did she admit that? The way he studied her closely made her insides quiver.

  “Hope it wasn’t an unpleasant surprise,” he said.

  “That remains to be seen.”

  She didn’t want to think about his deep voice vibrating through her or how she felt about seeing him again. She wanted to tell him the steps she’d taken to stop the construction, but telling him before she had an okay from Environmental Services might jinx her plan.

  Cort leaned closer. “Don’t you get the feeling Fate is throwing us together?”

  She shivered. “Or some other sorcery,” she said, trying to sound flip. What if it wasn’t chance that brought them together today?

  “Lani, you look pale. Are you feeling faint again?”

  She forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just hungry.” Breathe, she told herself, fighting her dread and struggling for composure.

  “You won’t be after you finish that plate.” He gestured with his fork. “Dig in.”

  Cort tore off a chunk of a roll and lathered it with butter, fascinating Lani with his slow, somehow erotic, strokes.

  “Did you work in a real estate office on the Mainland?” he asked.

  Lani shook her head. “I worked as a paralegal. Still have the bar exam ahead of me.”

  “So you’re aiming for a legal career.” His eyes twinkled. “That shouldn’t surprise me. You’re a natural when it comes to confrontation.”

  She laughed. His words begged for a sharp retort, but she would pick her battles.

  “I suppose you won’t work for Chinn very long,” he said.

  She shrugged. “Who knows? Loo said my knowledge of real estate law will be an asset to the firm.”

  “No doubt about that. But why the interest in law?”

  “Why not?” Lani touched the black lava stone on the chain around her neck, energized by its warmth. “I can help my people that way,” she said, the words rolling off her tongue as though she’d studied law only to protect Hawaiian rights. But it was a new idea. A great idea.

  “I admire a woman who knows what she wants and has the guts to go after it.”

  David would never say something like that. “I admire a man who appreciates that in a woman.”

  They both laughed, and Lani felt herself relaxing. She hadn’t smiled this much in a long time.

  Cort was studying her again. His admiring look made her uneasy. How could she keep her feelings for him at bay when he continued to invade her nights—and now her days? Although Cort’s domination of her dreams had made her feel a bond as strong as her driving obsession about the land, she feared that bond was dangerous—and that those dreams were a premonition of something terrible ahead.

  “Are you familiar with Emerson’s poem, ‘Every Moment Is Now’?” Cort asked.

  She shook her head. “It’s a great title. I like the idea of each moment being important.”

  “According to Emerson, life is a string of surprises. Like us: Two surprise meetings—and you turning up in the most unexpected place.” Cort’s voice carried an undercurrent of energy. He reached over and touched her fingers lightly, feathering from the knuckles to the tips of her nails, tracing the ovals, sending tingles along her nerve endings. His voice deepened. “And we can’t underestimate the power of anticipating future pleasures.”

  Lani felt a twinge of guilt. Her need to stop his project made it impossible for them to have anything but trouble in their future. She closed her eyes against the wave of incredible regret. “Plan for the future; live in the present. It’s all we really have.”

  “You sound so sad.”

  “It’s just that both times we met I felt like I’d been run over by a bulldozer.”

  “I do come on strong. Comes from handling a crew of tough guys all day. Have to make it clear who’s boss.”

  “Dangerous habit, Mr. Wayne. You might just meet your match.”

  The vexed look that flicked over his face gave her an adrenaline surge and a flash of childish, yet immensely enjoyable triumph.

  As though regaining his composure, his eyes twinkled. “Hasn’t happened yet.”

  Cort leaned back and watched her. She forced herself to continue eating. He pulled a black pen out of his shirt pocket. “Mind if I sketch you?”

  “Why ever would you want to?” Her voice rose in nervous amusement.

  “You have an interesting face, strong, determined,” he said, beginning to sketch on a napkin. He would look at her intently, sketch, then look at her again.

  She shook her head. “If I hadn’t seen your oil painting, I’d never have pegged you as the artistic type.”

  He raised a devilish brow and grinned. “Hmmm. And what little pigeon hole would you have put me in?”

  “I’d have guessed you like draft beer, sawdust on the floor and sports on a big-screen TV.”

  “I like all those things. But it’s not sporting to stereotype a man based on two brief meetings.”

  “Sorry. Anyway, I’ve changed my mind. I’m sure you’re one of a kind.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  A silence passed between them as Cort continued to sketch her.

  Lani’s face flamed. She pushed her plate aside and scooted to the edge of the booth. “I guess we’d better get back, or I’ll be late.”

  He threw down some bills. “Right. We don’t want to get you fired on your first day. Loo is a good guy, but when it comes to business he’s rigid.”

  “I suspected that about him. I’ll try not to mess up.”

  Cort held her arm firmly and guided her out the door and across the parking lot. He matched his stride to hers, giving her a sense of control, false as it might be. It didn’t matter. She enjoyed being with him, more than she would have thought possible.

  She had no trouble starti
ng the car, which didn’t surprise her. She caught all the green lights and made it back to the office in record time. When they were about to part company by the entrance, Cort handed her the napkin.

  “Cort, this is marvelous. It actually looks like me.”

  His face beamed. “Keep it to remember our first date.”

  “Our first date?”

  Amusement twinkled in his eyes. “Well, I certainly hope it’s not our last. I want a chance to prove to you I do more than drink beer, eat peanuts and watch sports on television.”

  “Touché.” She couldn’t stop her smile. “But a date implies consent, and you didn’t give me much choice in the matter.”

  He bowed slightly. “Okay, Miss Ward, I’ll do it right this time. Have dinner with me tonight.”

  She shook her head. “Thanks, but—”

  “You’re not doing your part. You’re supposed to give your consent.” He took her hand in his and kissed her palm, sending tingles up her arm. His gaze held hers. The intensity was electrifying. She’d never had this feeling before. Never met a man like him before. But she had to say no. This wouldn’t work, couldn’t work!

  “How about it? I have to attend a baby lu’au.”

  Lani’s heart warmed. “Baby’s first birthday?”

  “Good. You’re familiar with the local tradition. I’ll ask Loo to let you go early. Three okay?” His eyes begged for a yes.

  He must be good friends with Loo to ask favors, Lani thought. But she didn’t want to owe either of them anything. She formed the word “no,” but heard herself say, “Three is fine.” Involuntarily her smile widened.

  He held out his palm pilot. “I need your phone number.”

  She laughed as she punched in her number. “Modern version of the little black book?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Well, I don’t think I’ve ever been in someone’s little black book before, electronic or otherwise.”

  “I don’t believe that. An attractive lady like you couldn’t have escaped everyone.”

  Her face burned, and she was at a loss for words.

  Cort climbed into his truck with incredible agility. “See you in a few hours!” He saluted and geared into reverse.