"The new terminal was built in the mid-seventies. With the increased traffic from tourism and business, we needed a better facility."
As they approached the car, Lani grimaced. "Maybe bigger. Definitely not better." She pointed to a large, dark blue Mercedes-Benz. "That's a pretty nice car you've got."
"I drive a Porsche," Tommy grinned. "The Mercedes belongs to Daniel. I left my car at his house and picked this one up. We'll need the extra room for the luggage."
As he helped her into the car, Lani asked curiously, "What do you do? For a living, I mean?"
"I don't want to sound conceited, but I could retire to Fiji if I wanted to," Tommy told her. "Actually, I just finished college. I start law school next fall."
"Don't tell me," Lani groaned. "Harvard."
Tommy shook his head and laughed. "That's Daniel's alma mater, not mine. I went to Yale as an undergrad and managed to get into their law school, too. I figured that no one could compete with Daniel when it comes to running Prescott & Thomas—he's a shoo-in to take over the presidency when my father retires in ten or twelve years. I'll be satisfied to run the legal department someday." He glanced over his shoulder as he backed out of the parking space, catching the stormy frown that had appeared on Lani's face the moment he mentioned Prescott & Thomas.
"Hey, what's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"
Lani thought to herself that if she was going to have anything to do with Tommy Prescott, he might as well know how she felt about his family. "I'm going to be honest. I think the Prescotts are snobs. I hate what they've done to Hawaii, and I've heard that they were horrible to my stepfather the whole time he was married to his first wife."
"And Daniel?" Tommy prompted. "Why don't you get along with him?"
Lani couldn't very well tell him the real reason, so she parried lightly, "Maybe he's just too blue-blooded for me. It could be those royal ancestors of yours! Anyway, the reason I came to Hawaii was so that Brian could be with both of us. Daniel has custody, but I could never leave him. I've been like a mother to him for the last six years."
Tommy finished backing the car out and shifted out of reverse, speaking to Lani as he drove from the garage. "Don't judge the family by my great-grandparents. The old lady's name was Victoria—we used to call her The Queen—because heaven knows she acted like it. The old man was only slightly better. But they were born in another century, Lani. To them, the only acceptable marriage partners were from old Hawaiian families—kamaainas—or maybe New England blue bloods. My Aunt Abigail, Daniel's first cousin…"
"Wait a minute!" Lani laughed. "I'm a little confused about your relatives."
"That's not surprising," Tommy admitted. "Pay attention, and I'll try to straighten you out. Although it may be hopeless," he joked. "Victoria and Thomas Prescott had two children. One of them was Laura Prescott, Daniel's mother. The other was Charles Prescott. My father Richard and my Aunt Abigail are Charles' children…"
"Daniel's first cousins," Lani inserted.
"Very good! Which makes me Daniel's first cousin, once removed. And what I started to tell you is that when Aunt Abby married a Texas heart surgeon named Howard Regan, you would have thought she'd run off with a Cossack warrior. Uncle Howie was only really welcomed into the family fold after he operated on one of old Thomas's cronies and saved his life. Unfortunately for your stepfather, the best he could do was survive Pearl Harbor and get himself decorated as a naval hero."
Lani had to smile at Tommy's sardonic tone in relating this slice of family history. "I see. You're really just like anyone else, aren't you, Tommy? Just plain folks?"
"I can't honestly say that," he laughed. "I have to admit that old Charles was a bit of a tyrant in his time, but he's in his seventies now and he's mellowed. My father tends to be pretty easy-going, and even though my mother is a Thomas, you'll love her. Everyone does. As for Daniel, I wouldn't have the nerve to bait him if he weren't my cousin—I'd be afraid of landing on his blacklist. I think he's a throwback to the old lady."
They pulled up in front of the building housing the baggage claim area, but it was several minutes before Daniel appeared with Brian. While they were waiting, Tommy asked nonchalantly, "Does Daniel know how you feel about Prescott & Thomas?"
"He ought to," Lani muttered. "I haven't made any secret of it."
A moment later Brian opened the door and climbed into the back seat, bouncing up and down several times until Tommy finished helping Daniel load the suitcases into the trunk. Daniel got into the back with Brian, leaning forward soon after they left the airport to ask his cousin, "How come you're not taking the H-1?"
"I thought Lani might like a tour of the city. It's changed since she lived here." Lani wondered why he was grinning from ear to ear.
"Terrific. Just what I need, Tommy," Daniel said in exasperation. Then he added coolly, "Keep it up, and I'll banish you to work on Maui this summer." Lani had no idea what he meant.
Their route went through the industrial area surrounding Nimitz Highway, passed by the large Ala Moana shopping center, and intersected with Kalakaua Avenue. By that point, Lani noticed, Brian had fallen asleep. It was past midnight in California.
Although the city was far more developed than she remembered it, she was not overly distressed by the change—until she saw Waikiki. She remembered a wide beach with a limited number of hotels, each of them surrounded by beautiful gardens. The area had been transformed into a concrete jungle, with every available square foot covered by hotels, stores, offices and housing. As far as she was concerned, it was a clear-cut case of environmental rape, perpetrated by people greedy to make fast money from the state's burgeoning tourist industry. She was horrified.
"Daniel," she breathed, turning around to look at him, "what's happened to this place?"
"Want me to show you which ones belong to Prescott & Thomas?" Tommy asked, obviously enjoying himself.
"Quit it, Tommy…" Daniel growled, only to be cut off by Lani's blistering attack, "It's disgraceful! You kamaainas don't care what you do to these islands as long as it makes all of you rich, do you, Daniel?"
Daniel cursed under his breath, then asked his cousin icily, "Did I say Maui? Make that Molokai, Tommy. No women. No nightclubs. Got it?"
Tommy held up one hand in supplication, keeping the other on the steering wheel. "Okay, okay. I'll set her straight," he said, and went on, "just let me work at the Maunalua Bay." To Lani, he said solemnly, "Miss Douglas, I've got to make it clear that your stepbrother is the embodiment of enlightened development. Since he took over as Rec Division Vice President, Prescott & Thomas goes in for the classiest projects in the islands. Wait until you see our new hotel—it's just past the Kahala district."
"But it used to be so beautiful out there," Lani cried, "so peaceful. The grass and the trees and the beach… you mean it's all gone?"
"Ail gone," Tommy agreed. His mischievous streak obviously got the better of him, because he added, "There's a terrific eighteen-hole golf course—too bad about the trees we had to rip out. And the view—the cliff had to be leveled and the area graded to put in a beach. And then there's the parking lot…"
"Molokai," Daniel interrupted, "as a volunteer in the leper colony."
Lani glared at her stepbrother, so utterly distraught at the change in her beautiful hometown that all caution or common sense had disappeared—far more rapidly than the lovely gardens of Waikiki ever had. "You'll destroy every inch of these islands before you're through. How could you, Daniel?"
Tommy gave a hoot of laughter, seemingly undeterred by his cousin's cold anger. "She's got you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she, Daniel?" He looked over at Lani. "If anyone else had made a crack like that, he would have taken her head off. Or at least banished her to Molokai," he teased.
"Lani would love to live on Molokai," Daniel informed his cousin. Lani was relieved at the note of amusement in his voice. "Her idea of punishment isn't the same as yours. She knows that I'll deal with her in private,
don't you, princess?"
Lani's shudder was quite involuntary. She had no idea what Daniel planned to do to her, but was certain it would be unpleasant. They were on Kahala Avenue now, driving through an area that contained some of Hawaii's most beautiful and expensive homes. Tommy slowed the car as they drove parallel to a white stone wall, then turned through a pair of open gates into a wide driveway.
Lani's first reaction was intimidation at the size of Daniel's home. It was easily twice as large as her own in San Diego, a long, two-story rectangle with a second-story balcony and a pitched roof covering an additional half-floor—the attic, Daniel mentioned. The house appeared to have been transplanted intact from a colonial township in far-off New England, contrasting oddly with the tropical plants that bloomed so profusely in the flower beds and beautifully landscaped grounds surrounding it. The light from the porticoed front entrance joined the moonlight to illuminate a stunning array of crimson reds, oranges, pinks, lavender blues and yellows. The green shades of foliage and grass were mirrored in the house's shutters, but its clapboard sides were painted a stark, no-nonsense white.
Tommy swung the Mercedes into the oval turnaround that arced to within twenty feet of the front entrance, then stopped. "Open the door for me, Tommy. I'm going to carry Brian inside," Daniel instructed.
They walked up a flagstone path past a glorious display of multi-colored bougainvillea and hibiscus and into the house. At the rear of an enormous front hall rose a stately stairway guarded by twin mahogany bannisters. Lani peeked to her right and then her left as they approached the steps, but could make out only the parquet floors of the rooms she passed. Her initial impression, however, was of some precious family heirloom, and she thought that Daniel must indeed have been the favorite grandchild to inherit the house.
Daniel paused at the foot of the steps, looking back over his shoulder at the pair who obediently trailed after him. "Please bring in the luggage, Tommy." He fixed Lani with a disapproving stare. "You come with me."
"Yes, sir!" she muttered under her breath. When would she ever learn to control her temper? As she followed Daniel up the stairs she swallowed nervously, trying to moisten her throat. Had Daniel's earlier conversation about methods of punishment been meant to be taken seriously?
At the top of the steps they turned into an upper hallway; half-closed doors ran down its length. At the end was Brian's room, which was furnished with bunkbeds and decorated with red, white and blue wallpaper depicting a colonial fife and drum corps. Daniel pulled back the blue quilt on the bottom bed, gently slid Brian in, and removed his shoes. Light from the hallway filtered into the room, revealing shelves containing trucks and ships, jigsaw puzzles and books, blocks and games. Brian would be thrilled when he woke up and explored his new domain.
Lani's bedroom was just across the hall. It was airy and spacious, with windows on two walls and a sliding glass door to the balcony which would make it especially light and pleasant during the daytime. The predominant color was a dusky rose, which was repeated in the carpet, the striped wallpaper, the tied-back, floor-to-ceiling drapes and the flowered bedspread. A chaise longue and end table sat in one corner; the nighttable, triple dresser and headboard of the double bed were stained a rich, deep brown. At the rear of the room there was a small private bath.
Lani glanced around in silent appreciation of the attractiveness and comfort of the room. At one point in this silent perusal her eyes accidentally met Daniel's, and she hastily looked away. He no longer seemed annoyed with her, but his eyes were glinting in a very unsettling manner, making her remember how very unwise it was to provoke him. She felt her face redden with embarrassment and managed to say stiffly, "It's very nice, Daniel. Thank you."
"I'm happy to know something I do meets with your approval, Lani." He strode out of the room, reappearing a few minutes later accompanied by Tommy and the luggage.
As he left, Tommy gave a casual wave and said he would call Lani the next morning. Somehow, being virtually alone with Daniel in his house seemed much more daunting to Lani than being alone with him in her own house. He still held the last of her bags in his hand, but dropped it in the center of the rose-colored rug with a dramatic thud.
"Now. I think you have something to say to me."
Lani checked the impulse to run her palms down the sides of her jeans. She refused to let Daniel see how nervous he made her. "I'm entitled to my opinion about Prescott & Thomas and the way your company has desecrated the islands," she insisted. "Your new hotel…"
"You haven't seen my new hotel, or anything else I've done since I came to Hawaii," Daniel reminded her evenly. "Don't you think you should look around before you jump down my throat?"
Of course he was right. He could hardly be blamed for the reckless development of his predecessors, and since she had never inspected any of his personal projects it was unfair to judge them. The shade of her cheeks blended perfectly with the color scheme of the room as she admitted softly, "I suppose. I just… well… it really upset me, Daniel. Everything is so different now."
"Mostly in Waikiki, princess. Believe me, I understand why you were shocked. I am, too. But the other islands are being developed more carefully." His tone became lightly teasing. "Now don't you think you should apologize for acting like such a wretched little brat?"
In spite of his crushing description of her, Lani knew he wasn't angry anymore, and couldn't resist a saucy reply. "Don't you dare call me a brat," she said. "I'm a woman, not a child."
She was totally unaware of how provocative she looked, with her hands resting on her slender hips and her lower lip thrust out a fraction to give her an enchanting pout. She had straightened up to her full 5'4", her shoulders squared and her back ramrod straight, accentuating the pointed fullness of her breasts. Daniel's eyes traveled up and down the length of her body; his mouth twitched upwards, and he winked at her. "That's one thing we can agree on, princess," he drawled. "Of course, you still have a lot to learn. Lucky for you I'm around to teach you."
Lani felt her cheeks go scarlet, which only amused him further. As he left the room, he was whistling cheerfully to himself, and the tune, she realized in chagrin, was "Thank Heaven for Little Girls."
Chapter Four
Brian came barreling across the hall and into Lani's room the next morning, hurling himself onto her bed and reciting a list of all the "neat" toys he had discovered on his shelves. "Come see what I built!" he urged.
"Okay," Lani mumbled groggily, rubbing her eyes. She pulled on her robe and followed him into his room, yawning as she walked. She had certainly enjoyed more restful nights in her twenty-two years. She had lain awake for hours, trying to fathom Daniel's behavior. In California he had been so consistently impersonal that she felt she could easily keep him at a distance. But from the moment they had landed in Hawaii, he had started to tease her, and those amused smiles of his had a way of sabotaging her composure. Good heavens, if he had taken her in his arms last night, she would probably have woken up in his bed this morning!
There was no longer any point in denying that she found him just as achingly irresistible at twenty-two as she had at fifteen. The thought of it frightened her badly. It was beginning to dawn on her that Daniel had been rather forbearing since Jonathan's death, no doubt because he had promised Jonathan that he would take care of her if anything happened. Perhaps his light teasing was simply intended to lessen the tension between them, but if she took it seriously, and failed to keep a tight rein on her emotions, she would wind up badly hurt.
She really had no alternative, she decided, but to stiffen her defenses and convey to Daniel that while she had agreed to live in his home, she had not granted him the right to interfere in her life. If this arrangement was going to work out at all, it would have to be on a totally impersonal basis. And if her attitude angered him, so be it. She wasn't fifteen anymore, and if she let Daniel get too close to her, he might well accept the invitation she was afraid she would issue. Even his wrath was preferable to
that!
Now she raised the woven wood blinds on Brian's windows and paused for several moments to enjoy the view. Several gardeners were hard at work in the back yard, which sloped downward toward the Pacific Ocean. A stone staircase led to the beach, which was partially screened out by the blooms of tropical trees: fiery red tulip trees and royal poinciana, white plumeria, and lavender blue jarcaranda. Half of the yard was terraced to accommodate a tennis court; the other half held an enchanting garden, complete with a central gazebo and occasional tables and chairs hidden away among the shrubs and flowers.
Brian was impatient with Lani's enthusiasm for the colors of the ocean and the gentle roll of the surf. She turned her attention to the airport he had constructed out of maple blocks, lavishly praising how cleverly his airplanes and rocket ships fit into their hangars. Then they started downstairs, with Brian opening each door they passed and dashing into the room beyond. In addition to their own bedrooms, there were two full bathrooms, two rooms furnished as guest bedrooms, and a large, empty room with a tiled floor.
The previous evening Lani had noticed the single door on the other side of the staircase, and assumed it led to the master suite. Brian raced inside before she could stop him, and when Lani cautiously followed she was relieved to find that the child was alone. Beyond the door was a sitting room used as an office, a bedroom furnished in masculine browns and beiges, and a large bathroom. The covers on the king-sized bed were still rumpled, but otherwise the three rooms were quite tidy.
Lani put a stop to Brian's use of the bed as a trampoline and led him downstairs. The dining room was located through an archway near the foot of the steps. Brian ran inside and called out, "I found Daniel!"
Lani followed, trailing her fingers over the softly glowing wood of the inlaid dining room table as she passed it. Daniel was sitting at a circular table in the kitchen beyond. The room was faultlessly modern—a startling contrast to the antique-furnished dining room, with its carved wainscotting and bordered parquet floor.
Island Conquest Page 5
