“I can’t…I…Just let me get myself together,” she went on, wringing her hands, obviously flustered. “I’m not usually like this. I’m…But you don’t know what this means to us. We didn’t even know whether you were alive.”
He’d never loved Kate more than when she put an arm around her mother-in-law and said, “Mom, this is Luke Hickson. Why don’t we go inside?”
“Yes. Yes.” Ellen Middleton extended her hand to him and, in less than a minute, read him to her satisfaction. He did his best to help her. She dusted her sides with her hands. “What am I thinking? Come on in.” She took Randy’s hand, and Luke expelled a long breath of relief that the boy hadn’t balked, and was actually holding his grandmother’s hand.
“Asa—that’s my husband—had to go to a funeral this morning, but he’ll be back soon as the service is over.”
When they entered the house, the woman put her free arm around Kate. If she’s acting, she ought to have an Academy Award. He told himself to keep a sharp eye and an open mind. So far, Ellen Middleton was batting one thousand.
Kate couldn’t have hidden her shock if she’d tried. Ellen Middleton wasn’t the cake of ice that Nathan had made her out to be. She walked with Luke behind Randy and Ellen through the breezy foyer to the living room. As rambling as the house was, it fell short of the palatial palace that she’d expected. Covered sconces on the yellow stucco walls, large, potted, desert plants, rattan furniture and an occasional art object gave the room a cool, expansive and peaceful air. Here and there lay a hooked area rug, floor coverings that she suspected were Ellen’s creation.
“Kate, I’ll send someone out to the car for your bags. Do you want to share a room with Mr. Hickson?”
Whew! She averted her gaze to hide her feelings from Luke. Of course she wanted to, but what she said was, “Thank you, but if you have another room, I’d—”
“Certainly, dear. I noticed there was something between you, but I didn’t know what stage it was in. You may face the ocean or the courtyard.”
“The ocean. I love the water.”
Settled in her room, Kate put on a pair of espadrilles and walked out of her bedroom door, which led to the garden and faced the Pacific Ocean. The runaway train beating in her chest nearly winded her when she saw Luke standing at the window of the room that joined her own. Then desire fled, and panic set in. Where was Randy? Had this been a ruse to steal her child? Luke opened his room door and stepped outside.
“Where’s Randy? What has she—”
“Shh, sweetheart. Randy’s room is next to mine, but his door doesn’t lead to the beach. It leads to my room. He’s already into the Internet.”
She let herself relax. “I wouldn’t have guessed that Nathan’s mother was a modern woman. She floored me with that question.”
“Me, too,” he said, a grin forming on his lips. “From the way she arranged this, I don’t think she believed you. What do you think?”
“So far, I’m getting good vibes.”
His grin broadened to a laugh. “So am I, but that isn’t what I meant. And you know it.”
“Luke Hickson, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to share your bed in Randy’s grandparents’ home with my son a few feet away, so don’t even think it.”
He laughed aloud, and she wanted to shake him. “The place bears little resemblance to the world around it, but what the heck, baby, it’s not a convent. I don’t care whether you share my bed as long as you don’t mind my sharing yours.”
He took her hand and walked with her through the garden—through the patches of blooming bird-of-paradise, calla lilies and blossoms of breathtaking beauty and seductive fragrance that she’d never seen before. The perfumed flowers teased her olfactory senses, all but seducing her. Beyond, wave after gigantic ocean wave spent itself at the shore’s edge. And not a sound could be heard other than the water and the rustling breeze.
“This is about as close to paradise as one can get.”
He stopped walking, gazed down into her face and raised an eyebrow. “You couldn’t be serious. I thought paradise was—”
Wanting to redeem herself, she interrupted him. “In your arms? That it is. But I was talking about earthly paradise, things in nature. You know.”
“Yeah.”
She didn’t like his pensive demeanor as he looked into the distance. In seconds, he’d drifted far away from her. He did that frequently, but she didn’t want to question him about it. He was entitled to the privacy of his thoughts. She stroked the back of his hand, and it seemed as though she had anticipated his feelings, for his right arm went around her and he pressed her head to his shoulder.
“We’ve got to make it, sweetheart. I don’t know what I’ll do if we miss.”
She didn’t ask him what he meant. The aura of his desire began its now-familiar swirl around her, slowly building her passion to match his. She knew she should move, but tremors raced through his body, shaking her up and weaving her into the web of his hot desire.
“Tell me you love me,” he whispered, “and that you need me. I want you to need me.”
How did she know what eyes were trained their way? She resisted the temptation to wrap her arms around his shoulders and lift her mouth to his, but it wasn’t easy. “I love you, Luke, and I need you in every way a woman can need a man.” The blazing need in his eyes shook her, and frissons of heat shredded her nerves. “Luke. Luke, for heaven’s sake.”
His lips, gentle, then hard, firm and demanding on hers, fired her libido, and her willpower scattered to the winds. She grabbed his hips in an effort to feel him against her, but he stepped back. His nostrils flared and his breath came short and fast. Then he parted his lips, and she reached for him.
“Sweetheart, hold on. I’m past making out. If you think I needed you in Biddle, you can’t imagine how I need you now.”
“I know, and Randy’s window is right there.” She pointed to her son’s room.
He ran his fingers back and forth over his hair in what she now recognized as frustration. “You’re right. And we’re in another time zone. So let’s get some rest. I’ll check on Randy. Then, I’ll get a nap.”
He stepped inside and went directly to Randy’s room. It didn’t surprise him to find the boy talking with a child in Denmark. And what else had he done and seen? Luke pulled up a chair and sat down beside Randy.
“Tell your friend you’ll talk with him tomorrow.” Randy signed off, and, for the first time Luke appreciated the difficulty of being a father.
“Randy, if you get an e-mail message that tells you in blue letters to click, delete it at once. You understand?”
Randy turned his head slowly to face Luke, a quizzical expression on his face. “Yes, sir. I know I’m not supposed to look at those sex pictures.”
He digested that, shook his head, got up and went to his room. He needed a nice long rest. When he’d been weeks shy of eight years old, the word sex wasn’t a part of his working vocabulary.
He’d been asleep two hours when he felt Randy’s hand on his shoulder. Alert to possible trouble, he sprang up. “What’s the matter?”
“How can I call Amy from here, Captain Luke? She doesn’t know where I am.”
He’d never seen the beat of it. Those kids had taken to each other like two doves caught up in spring fever. “It’s almost dinnertime in Caution Point, son. We’ll call her tomorrow morning. Aren’t you sleepy?”
“No, sir. I wanna see the Pacific Ocean. Is it like our ocean at Biddle?”
“It’s not so rough. In fact, it was called Pacific because it was considered peaceful compared to the Atlantic. Maybe we’ll go for a swim later on, after your mother wakes up. Right now, Randy, I want to sleep.”
“Sleep? In the daytime? Gee!”
During their nine-hour flight the previous night, Randy hadn’t opened his eyes, but he hadn’t slept one wink. He wanted a family, but he wanted his kids to sleep when he slept. Feeling righteous, as well as put-upon, he rolled over and got up.<
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“What’s your mother doing?”
Randy lowered his gaze, took a sudden interest in the carpet and stabbed at it with his toes. From that, he guessed that Kate was asleep, but he didn’t even want to think about her in connection with a bed. The fire in him hadn’t cooled, though a good two hours had elapsed since he’d left her. His phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Randy said. “Hello? He’s right here.”
Luke dashed to the phone before Randy could call his name and identify him as a detective.
“Hickson speaking. Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” He turned to Randy. “Excuse me, I have to shower, and you might do the same. Then, we’re meeting your grandfather. Fifteen minutes, Randy.”
“All right.” His bottom lip protruded, but considering what he was going through, who could blame his reticence? “What about Mom?”
“When she wakes up. Now, get a move on.”
As he and Randy entered what he assumed was a study, Asa stood—a man of about six-feet, three-inches in height, with a full head of salt-and-pepper hair, skin the color of pecan shells and fierce brown eyes. He merely shook his head from side to side, his gaze glued on his grandson.
“I didn’t think I’d live to see you, to witness this day.” His voice shook as the words escaped his lips. “Come here, son.”
Randy walked to his grandfather, and the old man stumbled backward and sat down. Luke hardly believed his eyes when Randy stepped to the chair.
“Are you all right, Grandpa?”
The man’s attempt to smile dissolved as tears cascaded down his cheeks. “I’m…I’m fine. It’s a blessing,” he managed at last. “After all these years, I’m looking at the only grandchild I’ll ever have.”
Luke walked over to them. “I’m Luke Hickson, Mr. Middleton. Kate’s asleep, and we didn’t want to awaken her because she didn’t sleep during the flight.”
Using the chair arm for support, the man raised himself to his full height and extended his hand. “For as long as I live, I’ll be in your debt. I know Kate had no idea what she faced, because my son never brought her to meet us. I thank you for coming with them, and I can see she’s a better judge of men than she used to be. You’re most welcome here.”
Luke thanked him. Questions tumbled over themselves in his mind, but he’d wait for a more opportune time to voice them. He’d been right. Asa and Ellen Middleton knew nothing of Kate’s harassments, and he hoped that before they left Honolulu she’d realize how baseless her suspicions were.
Dinnertime revealed the first unmistakable indications of the Middletons’ wealth. The rich meal of drawn lobster nuggets, crown roast of pork, wild rice, asparagus, field greens salad, French cheeses and Grand Marnier soufflé didn’t surprise or impress Luke. He expected that in a wealthy household. But he almost did a double take when the butler carved the crown roast of pork in his morning coat and white gloves—and in a tropical climate, no less. He couldn’t help wondering about their lifestyle in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, the other six months of the year.
Kate and Ellen quickly formed a bond, but Asa wanted only to talk with Randy. “Come over here with us, Luke,” Kate said in what he supposed was an effort to prevent his feeling left out. He joined her, though he’d rather have observed Randy and Asa.
Ellen didn’t bite her tongue. He learned right away that the woman spoke her mind. “Luke, I hope your relationship with Kate continues to develop, because you’d be a wonderful father for Randy. I can see that, even now, he’s very much attached to you.”
Some people figured that age licensed them to say whatever they liked. He fingered his chin and looked her in the eye, letting her read his expression. Then he’d tell her that she wasn’t going to back him into a corner. “I’d as soon not comment on that,” he said in as gentle a voice as he could muster. Then he softened it with a smile, though he knew she understood him.
Her own smile assured him that he hadn’t unsettled her, and, in truth, he hadn’t wanted to. But she’d needed a reminder that he was grown, and she’d delved into his personal life. He looked at his watch, then at Kate.
“Feel like taking a stroll toward the bright lights?”
“Me, too,” Randy said, abandoning Asa and running to Luke. “I haven’t seen anything yet.”
Not a bad idea, Luke thought. “Okay with you?” Luke said, looking at Kate. She nodded in agreement.
Luke took Randy’s hand. “Ask your grandparents if they’ll excuse you.”
As anxious as Ellen was for the three of them to become a family, he was certain she wouldn’t object, and she didn’t.
They walked along Kahala Avenue and Diamond Head Road, past evening joggers and carousers of every nationality until they reached the big hotels.
“Aren’t you tired, Randy?”
“No, sir. I have to see everything, so I can tell Amy when we call her tomorrow morning.”
“It’s time you were in bed,” Luke said, and hailed a taxi.
Randy’s increasing attachment to Luke worried Kate. As they’d walked toward town Randy had chosen to walk beside Luke, and had held his hand all the way. She consoled herself with the knowledge that Luke knew how Randy felt about him, and that he wouldn’t hurt the child.
Randy went to bed, and it didn’t escape her that Luke locked the boy’s room door from the inside and left the door between Randy’s room and his own open. She didn’t comment on it, and neither did he. She walked out in the garden, knowing he’d join her.
“Moonlit nights such as this one have caused many men to act in ways they later regretted,” he said, his voice soft but his tone deliberate, as he joined her in the garden.
“Who seduced whom?” she asked. “Don’t tell me. Frail, wispy women led those poor defenseless men straight to their ruin? The women hypnotized the poor guys?”
He took her hand out of her skirt pocket, where she’d put it in order to keep it off him. “Tell me about it. I think I’ve been hypnotized since the first time I saw you.” He put an arm around her waist. “I’m under your spell, all right.”
“Don’t say that. Spells are temporary.”
He turned her so that the moon shone in her face and he could see her eyes. “How long do you want us to last…to care for each other? To be together?”
What was he getting at? She wanted her hand back, because he was making her jittery, and she didn’t get jittery. “Are we…er…talking serious here?”
“As serious as I’ve ever been in my life.”
“You told me not to push you. Well, not in those words, but that’s what you meant.”
“I won’t regard what you say as an attempt to push me. I need your answer.”
She looked into his eyes—soft, dreamy eyes—the eyes of a vulnerable man. She took his other hand and pressed them both to her breasts. “Forever, Luke. My whole life long.”
He didn’t shorten the distance between them, but stood his ground as he stared into her eyes. “You’re certain of that? You don’t have any doubts?”
“Yes, I’m certain. And no, I don’t have any doubts.”
“You love me.” It wasn’t a query, but a statement of the wonder of it.
“Oh, yes. That’s not in question.”
His smile curved around his mouth and began a slow journey to his eyes. Then he grinned. Seconds later, his arms enveloped her, and his mouth came down on hers in an explosion of passion. As quickly as he began that onslaught on her emotions, he backed away.
“It’s hard to believe that I can love you like this, and I do love you, Kate. There isn’t a second of the day that I don’t need you.” He slapped his hand on the back of his neck and walked away from her, then retraced his steps. “I love you, Kate. Will you agree not to see any other man?”
Her blood plowed through her veins like a runaway train, but she controlled her excitement and restricted her reaction to a raised eyebrow. “After the way we came together in Biddle, did you think I wanted to see other men?”
“No, I didn’t think it, but if I don’t state my case, you’ll be free to do that if you want to.”
“Are you seeing other women?”
He laughed, though she’d missed whatever it was that amused him. “I wasn’t seeing other women, as you put it, when I met you, and my head’s been so full of you since then that there hasn’t been room for anyone else.”
“Not even Mrs. Commonwealth?”
“Am I never going to live that down?”
“I suppose you will, but that hurt.”
“You were jealous?”
“Not one bit. I was mad.”
He slung an arm around her shoulder and walked with her to the white gazebo in the far corner of the garden, and they sat on a bench that seemed to have been placed there for lovers.
He leaned back, resting his head against the bench. Holding her hand, he told her, “I’m glad we came here. It’s been years since I had this feeling of…of contentment. Do you feel that you don’t want or need to look any further?”
Maybe he needed to talk to seal it with words, but she didn’t. The shifting breeze blew over them, bringing with it the scent of hyacinths, roses, snapdragons and numerous tropical flowers, teasing and seducing her. White doves cooed loudly as they made love, and she rested her head against his strong chest.
“Honey, I’m way ahead of you. I’ve known for weeks that you’re that special man.”
He turned to be able to look her in the face. “Kate, you beat all at obscuring the meaning of your words. What the devil did you mean?”
She shrugged. “Randy could figure that out. Surely you—”
The word landed in his mouth for, as he bent toward her, like a sensor her lips automatically parted to receive him. He lifted her to his lap and buried his face in her cleavage.
She tried to stay focused on her visions of her future and Randy’s, and on the lesson she’d learned when she’d placed her trust in Nathan, but his delicious masculine scent furled up to her nostrils, she thought of what he represented as a man and how he could make her feel. Moaning in surrender, she opened up to him, hooked her hands at his nape, looked at him, and let her eyes tell him that she was his. His arousal pressed into her hip, and her head spun as though drunk with vertigo. She let go. If he peeled her clothes from her hot, restless body, she wouldn’t care.
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