Island Conquest

by Brooke Hastings

  Daniel sipped his coffee as he glanced up from the newspaper to wish them good morning; he was already dressed for work in a muted gray plaid suit. Brian begged him to go upstairs to look at his airport; while they were gone, Lani poked around the cabinets and located a frying pan to make scrambled eggs in. She was setting Brian's breakfast on the table when he reappeared with Daniel.

  "I thought I'd take Brian to the beach today," she said casually. "Maybe Tommy will come along with us." She busied herself with cleaning the counter and washing the dirty pan.

  "All right. Just make sure that you're back by 12:30. I arranged…"

  "Thank you, Daniel. I'm capable of making my own plans." There was no point in delaying her intention of asserting her independence, she had decided.

  His disapproving look told her that her assertiveness had annoyed him, perhaps dangerously so. "I'm hiring a full-time housekeeper to replace the woman who used to look after the place part-time for me," he said evenly. "We'll need someone to take care of Brian when you start working. I've scheduled interviews today at 1, 2:30, and 3:30. I'm very busy at the office, Kaiulani, but if a suntan is more important to you than Brian's welfare, I'll come back here to conduct the interviews myself."

  Lani was too astonished to speak. Take care of Brian? When she started working? How could he have made such a decision without consulting her first?

  Daniel looked across the table at Brian, who had abandoned his preoccupation with breakfast to monitor the conversation. Then he strolled over to Lani, who stood near the sink, and clamped an arm around her shoulder. To Brian, the gesture would look affectionate, but Lani knew better. It might look like a caress, but it was really a warning.

  "Cool down, princess," he whispered. Then, in a tone of voice loud enough for Brian to hear, he continued, "Would you like to help Lani pick out someone to take care of you, Brian?"

  "I want Lani to take care of me." Lani could tell that her little brother was only inches from a temper tantrum. Her instinctive movement to comfort him was checked by the pressure of Darnel's arm.

  "Lani went to school for a long time," he told Brian. "She studied hard so she could find a job she would enjoy."

  "She likes taking care of me!" Brian insisted. "I don't want to be left with some mean old lady."

  "They're all young and pretty and nice," Daniel teased. "And most of the day you'll be in camp, with other children your own age. You and Lani can have a vacation for a few weeks, but then she's going to work and you're going to camp. You can swim and play games, and even learn to ride a horse. How does that sound?"

  Brian stared at Daniel for several long seconds, his lower lip quivering slightly. To Lani's amazement, instead of running from the room in tears he asked slyly, "Can I have cowboy boots?"

  "Sure, if they make them in your size. I think they teach you to snorkel, too."

  "I tried that in Christopher's pool. It was neat!" Brian exclaimed.

  "Good. Now that that's settled, go upstairs and change into some clean clothes. I want to talk to your sister for a while."

  Brian ran out of the room, still grinning at the prospect of camp. Lani pulled away from Daniel. How on earth was she going to assert her independence when she felt like flinging herself into his arms every time he touched her? With great effort, she regrouped her defenses and told him firmly, "I'm not taking a job. Hire a housekeeper if you want to, and by all means send Brian to camp if he wants to go, but my place is here. I'm not having him come home every day to some stranger."

  "You've been his mother since you were sixteen years old. It's time you started living your own life. You'll be working for the hotel…"

  "I'll find my own job!" Lani fumed, glaring at him. "Stop trying to run me!"

  A sharp look accompanied Daniel's ominous silence, causing Lani to color defensively and lower her eyes to the floor. She wasn't going to apologize for interrupting him—not when his highhanded decision had goaded her into the very reaction he found so offensive. But when he finally replied, his tone was measured. "You're really leaning on me, princess. Remember what happened seven years ago."

  Her blue eyes flashing, Lani jerked her head up to confront him. "Is that supposed to be the ultimate threat? That if I don't toe the mark, you'll kiss me? It just might work, Daniel. It was a pretty bruising experience, in more ways than one!"

  "No, damn you!" he exploded. "I meant that if you keep pushing me, I'm going to push back. Being even-tempered isn't one of my strong points, especially where you're concerned."

  He stalked over to the coffee maker, poured himself a generous mugful of coffee, and stirred in a small amount of sugar. As he leaned against the counter and sipped it, Lani had the feeling that he was more interested in controlling his anger than in quenching his thirst.

  His next nonchalant comment left her stunned. "When I get around to making love to you, princess, you'll enjoy it," he said. "So much so that you won't want me to stop, I promise you." And then he grinned at her horrified reaction.

  When he got around to making love to her? What was that supposed to mean? It sounded to Lani as if Daniel meant to add her to the list of women he planned to favor with his attentions, and she could never cope with that. Even his mild flirtatiousness was impossible for her to handle. Obviously he was simply teasing her again, trying to throw her off balance.

  The whole topic was much too dangerous, so she switched back to the question of whether or not she should take a job. "If I go to work, it might have a bad effect on Brian," she suggested warily.

  "Both of us love Brian, but he's six years old now and there's no reason he can't spend a few hours a day with a sitter. By all means take the next three weeks to help him settle in, but after the Fourth of July holiday he starts camp and you start work. You've sacrificed enough of your life, Lani. I won't let it continue."

  Perhaps he had a point, Lani admitted. She knew she would enjoy the challenge of a job, not to mention the opportunity to meet new people and gain some independence. But even if she agreed to go to work, she would never accept employment in one of Prescott & Thomas's hotels.

  There was no reason to antagonize Daniel by saying so, however. She merely nodded and murmured, "I'd prefer to find my own job. Please, Daniel."

  "I'm not giving you a choice. If you insist on taking a job other than the one I've got in mind, I'll simply talk to your employer and get you fired."

  He probably had the connections to do exactly that! "That's not fair," Lani muttered, as much to herself as to Daniel.

  "Maybe not," he answered, "but I've come up with the perfect job for you, and unless I miss my guess, even you'll agree."

  "Really!" Her interest was piqued, there was no point in denying it.

  "Really. You're going to be the VIP tour guide for the Maunalua Bay. It's not your average tourist haunt, princess. We're after two types of business. The first is the vacationer who demands elegance and quiet but chooses Oahu over one of the neighbor islands because the excitement of Honolulu is readily available if he wants it. The second—our real bread and butter—will be small conventions and business meetings. It won't be easy to snare that business away from other hotels. We aim to give the potential customer a few extras in addition to the usual free ride. When a businessman comes here to look us over, I want someone special to show him a good time. The same thing goes for other VIP types—heads of state, royalty, that sort of thing. You're perfect for the job: a native-born Hawaiian, young, beautiful, and multi-lingual. And," he added seductively, "you could arrange most of your sightseeing for the morning and early afternoon. You could be home before Brian."

  Lani's once-firm opinion as to the wickedness of Prescott & Thomas began to crumble as Daniel told her about the position he had in mind for her. She loved her home state and she loved being with interesting people. Showing the first to the second would be sheer bliss. She would be able to utilize her considerable linguistic ability, and best of all, she would be home to greet Brian most of the time. Her o
bjection was really only a token one. "I'd want to see the hotel first. To see if I approve of what you've done."

  "You've got it, princess. I'll call the manager and make an appointment. Her name is Michiko Hansen. How about tomorrow at ten?"

  Lani impatiently quelled the stab of disappointment she felt because Daniel wouldn't be performing the task himself. Why should it matter to her? After all, hadn't she decided that an impersonal relationship was best? She forced herself to smile, saying, "Sure, that's fine," just as Brian reappeared.

  "Are you guys still talking?" he asked in exasperation. "I thought Daniel had to go to work."

  "I do." Daniel ruffled the boy's hair. "Your big sister was giving me a hard time." The child seemed to find this inordinately funny, and giggled loudly as Daniel turned his attention back to Lani.

  "Will you take care of hiring somebody, or do I have to come home?"

  Lani didn't miss the amused sparkle in his eye, and couldn't resist answering pertly, "Won't you want to speak to the applicants yourself? Are you sure you trust me to make an acceptable choice?"

  Daniel chose to take the questions literally. "No and yes. I'd say you're a good judge of character, princess, except in one case."

  "Which is?"

  "Me, of course," he replied, and added teasingly, "Some day you'll realize that intelligence, money, and good looks aren't my only assets."

  Lani could have kicked herself for walking blindly into the trap he had set. "Right," she shot back. "There's also your humility and your policy of not interfering in other people's lives."

  Daniel simply winked at Brian and asked, "See what I mean? She's giving me a hard time again." He picked up a leather attache case from the counter, pausing only long enough to reel off the salary he wanted her to offer, along with suggested working hours and days off. A vague gesture to his left indicated the location of the bedroom and bath to be occupied by the housekeeper.

  Brian immediately bolted away to examine this area of the house, with Lani following at a more moderate pace. After satisfying herself that the spacious room was immaculate, she decided to make a brief inspection of the rest of the house. The focal point of the living room was a beautiful marble fireplace, flanked by cherry pillars. The room was furnished with early American antiques that Lani assumed were originals and not copies, just like the impressionist paintings which hung beneath the plaster cornices that hugged the ceiling. The first floor also contained a library, an informal back parlor, and a powder room, with an airy, screened porch to the rear.

  As Lani went upstairs to dress, she admitted to herself that she couldn't fault her stepbrother's taste in furnishings. The house was beautiful. She had just stepped out of the shower when the phone rang, and she hurriedly grabbed a towel and ran back into the bedroom to pick it up.

  "Hi, Lani." Tommy Prescott sounded cheerful this morning. "Can I take you and the kid to the beach today?"

  "I was planning on it," Lani answered with a laugh, finding the interruption a welcome one. "But we have to be back by 12:30. Daniel wants me to hire a housekeeper today. He's got the whole thing organ; three applicants are coming in for interviews."

  "Typical Prescott efficiency. I'll be there in twenty minutes, so be ready."

  Lani replied teasingly that Tommy as well as Daniel had inherited a penchant for efficiency and hung up.

  After calling across the hall to Brian to change into a bathing suit, she slipped on her own one-piece blue suit and a matching terry cover-up. The halter-necked suit plunged to the waist in back and was cut high on the leg to accentuate her considerable assets.

  While she and Brian were waiting for Tommy to arrive they entertained themselves by inspecting the family portraits in the hall. Daniel's mother, Laura, had been a dusky-skinned beauty, and even his grandmother, the formidable Victoria, had been attractive in spite of her stern appearance. But most of all Lani was captivated by the Hawaiian princess who had brought wealth and influence into the Prescott clan. In her ornate European-style wedding gown she seemed only a child, though a stunningly lovely one. "I want my babysitter to look like her," Brian announced.

  Tommy drove them to Waikiki Beach, sliding the Porsche into a parking space too small for most cars. Although the beach was more crowded than it had been when Lani was a child, she could hardly complain. On any summer weekend her favorite beach in San Diego was a mass of human bodies, and this was no worse. Brian ran off toward the water and quickly made friends with a group of children who were building an elaborate sand castle near the shoreline; Tommy excused himself to rent a surfboard and headed toward the waves with it.

  Lani was content to sunbathe, leaning languidly back in the canvas chair Tommy had thoughtfully brought along for her. Later on, she took Brian for a swim and then sat crosslegged at the shoreline, helping the children with their castle.

  Tommy returned just as she and Brian were walking back from the refreshment stand, carrying a trio of soft drinks. The child lost no time in scampering back to his new friends.

  "Your timing is perfect," Lani told Tommy, handing him a cola. "How was the surfing?"

  "Good for beginners. Boring for me."

  False modesty certainly wasn't a Prescott vice, Lani thought to herself as she suppressed a smile. She and Tommy sat down on their towels to talk, Lani mentioning the job she would be starting in July and asking Tommy about his own plans for the summer.

  "It's really my last shot at freedom," he said. "Once I start law school, I'll be working as an intern in the legal department. But this summer I'll fill in wherever Michi—the manager—needs someone. There isn't much I haven't done, including putting on a grass skirt and impersonating a Tahitian dancer," he grinned. "I start Monday."

  "I'm going to miss you." Lani knew it was the truth. Tommy provided undemanding, pleasant company, and she found his irreverent attitude toward his high-and-mighty older cousin especially refreshing.

  "Maybe we can see each other on my days off. Not my nights off, though," he added ruefully. "Daniel's pretty protective of you, Lani. Maybe you don't get along, but last night he laid down the ground rules. I don't ask you out until we know each other better. I'm not supposed to rush you."

  Lani was surprised that she felt rather grateful to Daniel for that. After all, it wasn't as though he had forbidden his cousin to date her—he had simply told Tommy to wait. It was obvious that Tommy, although only her own age, was vastly more experienced than she was.

  "Anyway," he went on with a shrug, "if I don't do what Daniel says, I'm going to find myself on the next plane off the island. And I like it here. It's where the action is."

  "Would he really do it? Send you to Molokai, I mean?" Lani asked.

  Now Tommy began to laugh. "Kona, more likely. Have you figured out what was going on last night?"

  "I think so. You took that route because you knew how I'd react. You wanted to get in a few licks at Daniel and you used me to do it. Is that right?"

  Tommy's nod confirmed the accuracy of her guess. "I couldn't resist, Lani. I hope it didn't get you into trouble."

  "Not really." Lani had no intention of repeating her conversation with Daniel, especially given the embarrassing content of it.

  "I didn't think it would, because you're part of the family, and Daniel's pretty tolerant when it comes to people he cares about. He delivered a few choice words last night, then started to laugh. He takes things from me and my sister that he'd never put up with from anyone else."

  Did Lani fit into that category? The thought that Daniel might have some affection for her was enough to suffuse her body with a dangerous warmth that owed nothing to the tropical sun. How was she to fight such feelings? Coolness wasn't keeping Daniel at a distance. Perhaps she should simply follow his lead, and adopt a light, teasing manner similar to his own.

  She eased herself onto her stomach and began to question Tommy about his family, a much safer topic of conversation than Daniel's feelings for her. She learned that his sister Hope had just comple
ted her senior year in high school as a foreign exchange student in Japan. Tommy's parents were currently in the Far East to pick her up; all three would continue with a combined vacation/business trip. Both Japan and Hong Kong were potentially lucrative markets, not only for tourism but for shipping, agriculture, and real estate as well.

  Tommy dropped them off just in time for Lani to shower the sand from her hair and change into a white terry shirtwaist with maroon and navy trim. All three job applicants were excellent, but both she and Brian preferred the final one. Linda Wong was twenty years old, the oldest of six children, and quite accustomed to taking care of her younger siblings, including a boy of just Brian's age whom she tentatively suggested would be a suitable playmate for Brian if she got the job. She spoke to Brian with the naturalness and affection of an experienced mother, and after she left, Lani immediately phoned several of the people listed as references. Their recommendations were glowing indeed, and Lani wasted no time in phoning the agency to inform them of her decision.

  When she called Linda, the girl seemed so thrilled to get the job that Lani questioned her as to why a young woman with her obvious intelligence and ambition would be willing to tie herself down as a housekeeper. Linda's reply was refreshingly candid. She was a part-time student, and it would take her several more years to finish college, she explained. After she graduated, she intended to work for an established company offering good opportunities for advancement. The competition for such positions was fierce. Originally she had been looking for an office job, but when the agency mentioned her prospective employer she quickly changed her mind. She told Lani that she hoped Mr. Reid would be impressed enough to give her a chance with Prescott & Thomas when she graduated, and Lani replied that she was certain he would give the matter his consideration.

  They agreed that Linda would begin work a week from Monday in order to give Brian a few weeks to get used to being with her. Lani heard the front door open just as she was making final arrangements with Linda and Daniel walked in. His glance flickered over her and then to Brian, who was still in his bathing suit. "Go put on a shirt and pants. We're going out to dinner," he said to the child.