Breathlessly, she went on, snagged by the brilliant dark green of his eyes. “I was engaged to be married to Stephen McQuarrie, a fellow climber. I hadn’t intended on falling in love…. Anyway, I’d just come off an assign—uh, a difficult job, and needed some downtime, so I’d gone climbing the day I met him.” Her voice softened. “Stephen was a lot like you, but not quite as brash and derring-do,” she said, smiling up at Jack. “He was a geologist who worked for the state of Hawaii. He loved rocks. He loved climbing them. They were so alive to him, filled with personality and incredible beauty. No one loved rocks more than Stephen….” She rubbed her hands together, then tucked them nervously into her lap beneath the pale pink linen tablecloth.
“After that, we often climbed the steep valleys of the Na Pali Coast. One day, a week before our wedding, we decided to climb down into the Kalalau Valley from the ridge top. It was a dangerous climb because, during the day, it rains almost constantly. There’s a lot of lichen and moss living on the black lava. The handholds are there, but they’re slippery because of the moss and lichen. We used pitons, we would belay with lines, but it was still dangerous.”
Dev watched as her expression became anguished. Automatically, he reached across the table and captured her hand. Last night, he’d devoured the personnel file on Kulani that Morgan had sent with him. And now he knew why she had reacted so violently to his casual admittance that he was going to descend into the Kalalau Valley. He felt small now because he had to pretend he really didn’t know about her past. “What happened?” he asked gently.
Swallowing hard, Kulani found herself unable to say the words. Shutting her eyes tightly, she struggled to find the courage to speak. It was the squeeze of Jack’s hand that made her open her eyes and look at him through sudden tears. “He fell to his death on that climb.”
“I’m sorry,” Dev rasped, squeezing her hand more firmly. And he was. More than she would ever know. He felt like a hypocrite in that moment. The suffering in her eyes tore at his heart. She was trying valiantly to fight back the tears he saw sparkling in her midnight eyes.
“That’s why,” Kulani said in a choked voice, “I went ballistic on you yesterday. And why, on the helo ride, I got uptight about your questions about the valley. I try and get around the north end of Kauai and away from the Na Pali Coast as soon as I can.”
“I understand now.” Grimly, Dev began to understand very clearly her reaction on the helo ride, the tension and the strain in her face. No wonder. “Damn,” he muttered, “I’m really sorry, Kulani.” He was literally pouring salt in her still-open wound from losing the man she loved. Obliquely, Dev wondered what it would be like to have a woman like Kulani love him with such a fierce, undying passion. He found himself jealous of Stephen, of what they had shared, because he certainly hadn’t found it in his marriage to Susan.
Kulani pulled her hand free and dug in her small leather purse for a tissue. Not wanting to cry, she blew her nose instead. It was the tenderness burning in Jack’s eyes that caught and held her heart gently in sway. He was sorry. The apology, his voice raw with sympathy, riffled through her like the tide that moved the mighty Pacific, visible out their window.
The waiter brought an opened bottle of burgundy wine that had been allowed to breathe for a while. He poured Dev a small amount in the crystal glass. Dev took a sip and nodded. After the waiter had left, he saw Kulani take a good, bracing drink from her own glass. He didn’t blame her.
Setting the glass aside, Kulani went on, wanting Jack to know the whole truth. “When Stephen died, I quit my job. I just couldn’t work. I couldn’t do much of anything. My old boss flew in and helped me start picking up the pieces of my life.” Kulani smiled brokenly and held his gaze. “He even gave me a loan to buy my beautiful Aerostar helicopter.”
Surprised, Dev leaned back. He knew Morgan was generous. And from the looks of things, Kulani was more than paying back her loan to him, considering that her flights were booked five days a week. His conscience ate at him—big time. He had to come clean with her about who he was. Leaning forward, his hands around the delicate stem of the wineglass, he said, “Kulani, I have my own confession to make to you.”
She frowned and looked up. “What do you mean?”
“I’m feeling pretty badly about this,” Dev muttered. His brows knitted and he forced himself to hold her confused gaze. “My name is not Jack Carson. It’s Dev Hunter. And I’m a merc. I work for Morgan Trayhern and Perseus. I came here to the island telling Morgan I didn’t need a climbing partner to fulfill the mission he sent me on.” Helplessly, he opened his hands and gave Kulani a pleading look. “I hope you believe me. I didn’t know I’d like you so much or how well we’d get along…and I didn’t want to string this charade out any longer than necessary. I’m sorry. I really am.”
He saw shock in her eyes, before they narrowed with a fury that he knew he had coming.
“You lied to me!” The words came out low and grating.
Dev held up his hands in a plea for peace. “Yes, I did. Morgan ordered me to meet you and try and get you to come on board for the mission. I was just moving through the paces to satisfy him. And then…I met you….” His voice dropped. He looked out at the bay, which was on fire with gold, red and dark blue hues, then back at Kulani. “I didn’t think I’d like you. You were an ex-merc. You know how it is.”
Her fists tightened in her lap. Tension sizzled through Kulani. She saw the guilt in Dev’s eyes. “Why did you think you had to lie to me in the first place?” she demanded. “I’d already turned Morgan down. You must have known that!”
Smarting beneath her attack, he nodded. “Yes, I knew everything. But he’d warned me that you wouldn’t work with me and that I’d need certain information about the climb that only you could provide. I figured if I told you who I really was, and you’d heard my name when you’d worked at Perseus, you’d know I’d been sent by Morgan and you’d shut me down.”
“You could have come clean! You could have been honest!” Her nostrils flared. Hurt wove through her with the shock of his admittance. She didn’t want to accept his reasoning for the alias, but if she’d been in his shoes, she’d probably have taken an alias, too. That took a little sting out of his trickery—but just a little. The memory of his melting and powerful kiss tunneled through Kulani, as it had all day. Was that a lie, too? She felt her heart tearing within her breast.
“I tried to find an opening last night, but…we strayed off into personal territory—my life, the loss of my baby daughter—and I just didn’t have anything left to work with after that,” he pleaded hoarsely. “I was feeling pretty bad at that point, Kulani. I know it’s not a good excuse. I can only tell you where I was at. There’s something about you…you just sort of pull things out of me, whether I want them to come out or not.” He gave her a sad smile.
Kulani took a fortifying gulp of the wine. “I’m really hurt and confused by you, Dev. How do I know you are who you say you are?”
He reached into the pocket of his blue blazer and pulled out his small cell phone. “You know Morgan’s home number. Call him and verify it.”
Stung, she glared at him. “I want to go home. This is just too much to take.” She stabbed at him with her index finger. “Morgan told me about the Kalalau Valley. What he suspected.” Purposely, Kulani lowered her voice for fear other patrons might overhear their conversation. Leaning forward, she said tightly, “And if you think you can do this by yourself, you’re crazy.” Glancing at his hands, she whispered savagely, “Your hands look like ground-up hamburger. My guess is you tried to go down the side of that lava cliff, didn’t you? And you got into trouble. That’s why you’re so cut up. Admit it, dammit.”
Kulani wanted to tell herself she didn’t give a damn about Dev Hunter—or whoever he was. Just looking at his hands brought back a flood of awful, gut-wrenching pictures of Stephen’s hands after he’d died. She was frightened of getting involved with Dev in any way. He was a man who willingly put himself in
death’s path! And the damn fool was going on this mission no matter what she said. She couldn’t let him do that either. Torn, Kulani could only stare at him in confusion, hurt, anger and terror.
“Calm down,” he pleaded. “There’s more to this than you realize.” Dev hunched forward until his head was almost touching hers. “Please, let’s go outside. What I have to tell you can’t be said in here.” He begged her with his eyes.
Her face was contorted with barely contained rage. Dev knew he deserved her fury.
Rising, he moved around to her chair. “Please…” he pleaded near her ear.
She didn’t want anything to do with him. But when Kulani felt the brush of his fingers against her shoulder as he pulled the chair back for her to rise, she left the restaurant with him as quickly as possible. Moving down the steps of the palatial Princeton, Kulani headed directly for his Mercedes in the side parking lot. She was immune to the beauty of the fiery gold-and-red sunset. Her heart was hammering with hurt, with betrayal. Her mind was spinning with questions. Had Morgan set him up to do this? Or was this Hunter’s decision? Either way, she was angry as hell.
At the Mercedes, she whirled around to find Dev not two steps behind her. His face was dark, his expression grave. She wrapped her arms against her chest. “All right,” she rasped angrily, “what else do you have to tell me? And it had better damn well be the truth!”
Hanging his head, Dev jammed his hands into the pockets of his trousers. Grimacing, he forced out the words in a low, taut voice. “What you don’t know is that Stephen was murdered. He didn’t slip on the cliff that day when he was climbing.” Dev looked up as he heard Kulani give a cry.
Shock roared through Kulani. She reared back as if struck. “What are you talking about? What!”
Reaching out, Dev gripped her wrist and held it firmly, though not hurtfully. “Morgan had an autopsy performed on your fiancé, Kulani. He never told you about it because of the top-secret nature of the mission. The lab found traces of a fast-acting poison. Not only that, they found the puncture needle mark in the back of his thigh. Someone from down below was firing up at you two as you descended the face of that cliff. Morgan’s guess is that it was the professor and Black Dawn mercenaries protecting their territory. The lab had been in place for quite sometime before Morgan discovered the location. Apparently you two were too close to the actual lab facility. The terrorists had to do something to get you out of there and keep anyone from discovering the lab, which I’m sure was not directly below where you were climbing or someone would have spotted it sooner. You were probably in the vicinity and the terrorists felt you were too close for comfort. By killing Stephen, they scared anyone else off climbing in that area for some time to come, didn’t they? You never went back there, did you?” He saw tears splatter down her drawn, pale cheeks. His gut twisted. He didn’t want to hurt her like this. Nostrils flaring, he took a deep breath.
Kulani tried to pull free of his grip. “No. Listen to me,” he growled. “I’m sorry to have to tell you like this, but I have to. It will explain, in part, why I didn’t reveal who I was right off the bat. Morgan gave me permission to tell you about Stephen only if absolutely necessary. He feels bad about witholding this information from you for so long, but put yourself in his shoes. He was trying to hunt down a bioterrorist making anthrax on a highly populated island. My apologizing for him isn’t enough, but it’s the best I can do under the circumstances. That’s something you have to settle with him in person after this mission is over. Right now, I need you to know that I didn’t go on making you think I was someone else for the hell of it. This is a deadly serious business, Kulani. I was up on that ridge today. And yes, I got a little too close to the edge during a rainstorm, and I slipped. I would have fallen off over that damn cliff if I hadn’t grabbed for a bush growing on the rim.”
Kulani sobbed. She pressed her hand against her mouth. “I want to go home,” she murmured, clearly rattled. “I want out of here.” The powerful impact of the news that Stephen had been murdered rippled through her in widening waves of anguish, followed by shock.
Dev nodded and slowly flexed his fingers on her slender wrist. Guilt roared through him. All he’d ever done since meeting her was hurt her more and more. What kind of a heartless bastard was he? He saw the look in her eyes; it was the same look Susan had given him when he was about to leave for a mission—a look of absolute betrayal and boiling fury. “I’ll take you home. I want to be with you. To talk through the rest of this.”
Chapter Six
“You lied to me!” Kulani said, her anger flowing freely once more now that she was in the privacy of her home. Her voice echoed oddly through her bungalow as Dev followed her inside. His shoulders were no longer thrown back with pride. Instead, he had a hangdog expression on his face, and his lips were compressed. He looked very much ashamed of himself. Kulani dropped her purse on the bamboo couch as he quietly closed the door behind him. She was shaking with anger, with grief, and she wanted to lash out at him.
“I didn’t want to,” Dev muttered as he turned around and faced her. Opening his hands, he added, “You’re the last person I ever want to lie to, Kulani.” Would she believe him? He saw the tears glittering dangerously in her black eyes, saw the incredible pain in her gaze. He felt her pain himself. No woman had ever affected him like this. Swallowing hard, his voice raspy, he said, “I screwed up. I shouldn’t have told you about Stephen being murdered like that—outside the restaurant. It was lousy timing. I’m sorry.”
Kulani sat down, closing her fists in her lap. “Oh, and I suppose it would have been better if you had added that little piece of information just at the right time to manipulate me into helping you?” The sarcasm in her voice was strong, but she didn’t care. This man who’d seemed almost to be a natural part of her, who had held such tenderness toward her, was a sham. “I can’t stand liars!”
Frustrated, Dev lowered himself down on one knee next to where Kulani sat rigidly, her eyes flashing with fury. “I have a mission, Kulani. You know it’s not unusual for us to go undercover, assume a new identity. That’s all I was doing.” Desperation leaked into his deep voice. “I told Morgan I’d go on this mountain climbing expedition alone. I didn’t feel I needed a partner. He disagreed. I told him at least I’d look you up, which I did. I wanted information on the climb, that was all.”
She looked at him sharply. Her heart still warred with the news of Stephen’s murder, on top of that, she was worried over Dev’s upcoming climb. Now as he knelt so close to her, looking so damned male, she hungered for him. Even after his lie. Right now all Kulani wanted was to be held, because grief was tearing her apart. “Why would you want to try that climb by yourself?”
“I just do things alone, that’s all.”
She studied him. “Because?”
“What do you mean, because?”
Her lips tightened. “There’s got to be a reason why you refuse a climbing partner.” Kulani suspected his refusal was because of his ex-wife and the fact she had not reached out to him, not even during her greatest hour of need. Dev had armored himself against needing anyone after that terrible event. Kulani could understand it, but she couldn’t accept it.
“I just don’t like relying on any but my own skills,” he muttered, defiance in his voice.
Kulani saw his pride—the dangerous type that got a person in a lot of trouble eventually. His pride was keeping him from leaning on anyone ever again. He’d rather scale a dangerous mountain than rely on another human! “You can’t make that climb down there by yourself,” she warned him in fury. “That’s a recipe for disaster if I ever heard one, a really stupid move. People climb in teams. What would happen if the tangos started firing at you?”
Dev smiled hesitantly. “First of all, I’m not going to climb down that cliff face during the day. I’ll do it at night.”
“That doesn’t guarantee they won’t have infrared and spot your body heat.”
He nodded. “That’s true, b
ut that’s our—I mean, my option. Daylight is too risky.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. For a second, he saw her anger ripped away, felt her care for him. It wrapped around him, startlingly warm and wonderful. How much of that feeling had he destroyed in their relationship? Dev ached to reach out, touch her hand and try to give her solace from the pain she was trapped within. But he didn’t. He didn’t dare under the circumstances.
“Nighttime means it’s harder to see those handholds and place those pitons,” she warned him, bitterness in her voice.
“I’ll wear night goggles. They gather the light that’s available, so that I’ll be able to see fairly well under the circumstances. Enough, at least, to place pitons into the wall. Besides, there’s a full moon tomorrow night. I figure if all goes well, I can make it down in two nights.”
“Oh? And what are you going to do during daylight hours? Hang on the side of that cliff unnoticed? Not only that, Kauai is expecting a tropical storm to hit tonight. That means a day of god-awful rain drenching us off and on, if it doesn’t move on like anticipated. You might have night goggles, but your full moon will be wiped out if this storm hangs around the island a day longer than what the weather forecasters are saying. It will be very dangerous under those circumstances.”
He shrugged. “I have a detailed topographical map. I’m hoping to find a place to hole up. I know the brush will hide me to a certain extent. The weather is something I’ll have to endure. The night goggles will work, regardless, although not as well.”
Eyes flashing, Kulani shot to her feet. She went into the kitchen. Grabbing a rarely used brandy bottle from the pantry, she located a shot glass from the cupboard and poured herself some of the fragrant apricot liquor. Dev followed her soundlessly. He leaned tensely against the door jamb and watched her, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his slacks. Why did he have to be so damned handsome? So self-assured, when she felt like she was falling apart? Putting the glass to her lips, she opened her mouth, tipped her head and slugged the brandy down the back of her throat.
Hunter's Pride Page 8