Island Conquest

by Brooke Hastings

  "I can manage," Lani insisted. But when she slid gingerly from his lap and tried to stand, the room spun so wildly that Rob had to catch her in his arms and sit her back on his lap again.

  "You can't manage. I'm going to help you." He reached behind her back and started to untie the double knot of her bikini.

  "You can't do that," Lani gasped. "Ask Dee Dee…"

  "I'm not leaving you alone. For heaven's sake, Lani, you almost drowned. I'm old enough to be your father, so stop acting like a child and let me help you."

  Lani was too shaken to argue, meekly resting her head on his chest as he untied the bikini top, holding him around the waist for support. He tossed it on the bed, and reached for Dee Dee's polo shirt, gently pushing her upright. And then there was an explosion from the doorway.

  "What's going on here?"

  "Just take it easy, Daniel. I was helping Lani…"

  "I can see what you were helping Lani to do, damn you!" Daniel bit out. "Get out of here before I deck you."

  Rob gently transferred Lani to the bed, saying evenly, "You can apologize after you get the facts." Then he walked out of the room.

  Lani held the shirt in front of her, stunned into silence by the extent of Daniel's rage. In seven stormy years she had never seen him look so angry. He stalked into Rob's bathroom and emerged with a long terry robe, which he threw at her almost viciously. Lani put it on, shivering from fright now as well as cold. She made no protest when Daniel lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the house to his car.

  After several minutes she decided to risk an explanation, intending to begin with, "It isn't the way it looked." But she managed to get out only the first three words before he barked, "Just shut up!"

  By the time he pulled his car into the garage, Lani felt much better. She was able to walk into the house without help, but then, Daniel offered none. As she climbed the stairs she could feel his eyes burning into her back, and she held the bannister like a lifeline, tensely making for the safety of her own room.

  Before she had the chance to turn into the hall, Daniel was scooping her into his arms. He carried her into his bedroom and dumped her without ceremony on the king-sized bed. She bolted upright, hugging the robe around her body protectively and maintaining a wary silence, her eyes following his restless pacings up and down the length of the bedroom.

  "You've known me for fourteen years," he said in a low, bitter voice. "Fourteen years! And every time I come near you, you either stiffen up like I repel you, or tremble like I'm some kind of monster." He stopped abruptly, his eyes frozen steel as they pinned Lani to the bed. "I thought I was finally getting through to you, but the second date with Rob Bradley, and there you are, letting him take your clothes off!"

  "He wasn't taking…"

  "The devil he wasn't!" Daniel's furious interruption sliced through Lani's hoarse protest. "Both of you half-naked… your arms around his back… your head against his shoulder… go on, tell me he was raping you!"

  "Of course he wasn't…"

  "I don't want to hear it!" Daniel barked angrily. His eyes never left her face as he stalked to the bed, but now the coldness was giving way to something far more dangerous.

  Lani swallowed nervously to moisten her throat and tried another appeal to his common sense. "I was in the pool, playing with the kids…"

  "I said I didn't want to hear it!" And then he was beside her on the bed, pulling her roughly into his arms, turning her head, and lowering his lips to capture her own. When Lani tried to withdraw, his mouth hardened in retaliation. Lani went limp, forcing herself to offer no resistance even though her heart was pounding wildly with fear.

  Daniel immediately released her and raised his head, and Lani, shaken to tears by his inexplicable attack, forced herself to open her eyes and look up at him. His mouth was twisted into a grim frown, his eyes defensive and tense. She considered another attempt at an explanation, then rejected it. Her protests only seemed to enrage him.

  With frightening deliberation he reached over and clicked off the bedside lamp. Moonlight from a three-quarter moon filtered into the room; Lani stiffened as Daniel caressed her still-damp hair and in a gesture of bewildering tenderness bent his head to kiss the tears from each eye. "I'm sorry I hurt you, princess," he murmured huskily. His hand moved against her shoulder, pushing her back against the pillows, but Lani resisted by bracing her hands behind her. "Daniel, no. Please don't…" she pleaded.

  In response, he shoved her so sharply that she sprawled onto her back, stunned by the disappearance of his gentleness. "Don't fight me," he said harshly. "If you do, I'll force you."

  Passive resistance had worked before, so Lani tried it now. She lay motionless, almost numb with apprehension, as Daniel lay down beside her, opened the terry robe, and began to run his hand down her body, his mouth lightly nuzzling her neck. His touch was seductive but undemanding, and although she instinctively shrank away when he lowered his lips to her breasts, he appeared to take no offense at the withdrawal, but merely slid an arm around her back to hold her motionless.

  It was impossible for Lani to ignore this method of arousal or hide the result. When both nipples were hard with desire, Daniel put his ear to her heaving chest to listen to the doubletime beats of her heart. Then he straightened, and said in a low, amused voice, "In five minutes I'll ask you if you want me to stop. You can always say yes, princess."

  His promise was a potently effective bribe. Loving Daniel as much as she did, it was difficult for Lani to resist him in this gentle but insistent mood. A treacherous inner voice cajoled her to let him make love to her for just a few minutes more. He might never touch her again—was it so wrong to savor every sensation, save it up for the lonely days ahead? In any event, he had made it clear that she would be his prisoner for the next five minutes whether she fought him or acquiesced. Would it be so terrible to stop resisting and start cooperating?

  His hands resumed their explorations, warm and firm and much too knowing on her body. His mouth wandered from her neck to her face, then settled atop her lips, kissing her with a sweet, irresistible tenderness. Lani tried to remember that his motive for seduction was anger, not love, but her emotions were swamping her common sense, her body arching against his hands, her lips moving responsively under his mouth, and her hands somehow reaching out to twine themselves around his neck.

  Daniel turned on his side and pulled her close against him, the hardness of his body igniting a blazing response in her own. She clutched at him convulsively and heard him moan, felt him shudder against her. Suddenly his mouth was urgent and demanding on hers, roughly parting her lips to probe the softness inside with a wildness that only heightened her arousal. She let him teach her how to move, everything blocked from her mind but an aching need to submit to whatever he asked of her.

  When he tore his mouth away and growled hoarsely, "Well?" Lani could only moan his name. She had no idea what he meant. "Do you want me to stop?" he asked impatiently.

  He might easily have taken her without the slightest protest on her part, Lani thought, her mind still somewhat muddled. But he had kept his promise and was seeking her consent, and that was something she could never give, not without his love. She whispered, "Yes… let me go," even though her enflamed senses cried out for exactly the opposite.

  Daniel cursed under his breath and sat up, looking down at her with something very near hatred in his eyes. Then he muttered, "I've had it with waiting," and pulled Lani into his arms, his mouth covering hers with a painful possessiveness.

  In that brief minute outside his embrace, Lani's sanity had reasserted itself. How could she have cooperated in her own seduction, all but making a gift of herself to a man who didn't love her? She wouldn't allow it to happen all over again. She pushed against his shoulders and tried to free her mouth, but Daniel dealt with her struggles as easily as a stallion swishing his tail at a fly. A moment later she was pinned impotently underneath him, her mouth aching from the brutality of his kiss. And
this time when she stopped fighting and went limp, it only seemed to enrage him. His hand went to his belt buckle, frightening Lani into frantic resistance.

  And then there was a ringing in her ears, and she knew she must be hallucinating from sheer hysteria.

  Chapter Ten

  The ringing continued for several seconds, insistently nagging at Lani's dazed mind until she realized that it was the telephone. The noise distracted Daniel as well; he froze just long enough for her to free one hand and grab the phone. No words would come out of her mouth, only the tortured, gasping sounds of utter breathlessness.

  "Daniel? What's going on there?" the voice was Rob Bradley's, and as Lani tried to make some reply, Daniel snatched the receiver from her grip and muttered a brusque, "Yes?"

  He was silent for a second, then said furiously, "What do you want?"

  There was a second brief pause, during which Lani watched Daniel's expression change from fury to pure, white-faced shock. "She what?" he asked Rob, his voice as stunned as his face.

  Now came a much longer period of silence. Daniel sat with his head in one hand, muttering an occasional interjection but otherwise silent. When he finally spoke his voice was hoarse with torment. "I'm sorry, Rob. If you hadn't called… with Lani, I just seem to go crazy…"

  And then Rob must have interrupted with some comment to relieve the tension, because Daniel smiled. "I intend to. Because you know what will happen if I don't." He paused, as if in thought, then went on, "A week from Monday. Be my best man, Rob."

  Lani felt the color drain from her face. His best man? Whom did he plan to marry? Michi, as a buffer in this now-impossible situation? Or herself, out of guilt and perhaps physical infatuation?

  Daniel hung up the phone and looked solemnly at Lani, who had been so intent on the conversation that she had forgotten that her robe still hung open. He reached over and closed it, tying the sash snugly around her waist.

  "Near-drowning followed by near-rape. You've had quite a night." His tone reeked of self-condemnation. "I'm sorry, honey. When I found you with Rob, something just… snapped. And when you told me to stop, I couldn't… and I was furious that you could." He shook his head in self-disgust. "This situation can't continue. We're getting married next Monday, and if I didn't have to go to New York tomorrow, it would be sooner."

  Lani shook her head, almost overcome with pain because she would have to refuse to become Daniel's wife when every part of her ached for it. "I agree… we can't live in the same house any more… but there isn't going to be any marriage. This… this physical attraction between us isn't enough. There has to be love, too."

  "It will come," Daniel said huskily. "Trust me, Lani."

  She had given him a clear opportunity to tell her he loved her, but he hadn't. It hurt so badly that for a moment Lani felt physically ill, then a blessedly protective numbness set in. She shook her head again. "No. It's no good," she said firmly, astonished by her own calmness.

  But this time, her objection only angered Daniel. "Stop it, Lani! You've been arguing with me for seven endless years. When are you going to admit that I know what's best for you?"

  "Of all the arrogant…"

  Lani's hot-tempered exclamation was cut off in mid-sentence when Daniel pulled her into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her. His mouth was gentle and persuasive, and by now her defenses were nonexistent. A spasm of desire burned through her, and with a groan she began to respond. After a few moments of tender yet thorough exploration he withdrew, saying in an amused voice, "That's how I plan to deal with your refusal. You have a choice, princess. Either you agree to marry me next Monday, or I take you without benefit of clergy. Right now."

  Lani stiffened, feverishly searching for some way to make him see reason. "And… and what happened to that promise you kept making… that I'd be a virgin on my wedding night?"

  "You will be, but first you have to agree to a wedding. When's it going to be, Lani? Now or next Monday?"

  Suddenly it struck Lani that by next Monday she could be back in California, away from this whole excruciating situation. "All right, then. Next Monday," she said submissively.

  Daniel grinned at her. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

  Lani let him take her hand and lead her into his office, where he opened a wall safe, drew out several jewelry cases, and plucked an exquisite antique diamond and ruby ring from one of them.

  "I've always… that is, I'd like you to wear this as an engagement ring. It belonged to my grandmother originally, then to my mother. I know how you feel about my family, but it would please me very much if you would accept it, princess."

  Lani let him slide the ring onto her finger, greatly touched that he wished to give her something of such obvious sentimental value. "It's a little large, but we'll take it to the jeweler's in the morning," he said. "My plane leaves at noon. We'll have just enough time to pick up a license and choose wedding bands. I'll call my Aunt Marilyn and ask her to help you with arrangements. I'd like to be married here, by my minister, if that's all right with you."

  Lani nodded, giving Daniel full marks for efficiency, especially in view of the fact that marriage could not possibly have entered his head until only minutes ago. And then he picked her up in his arms, carried her down the hall to her bedroom, and tucked her into bed. "Good night, princess," he smiled. "And sweet dreams."

  Her dreams were anything but sweet. She lay awake for hours, unable to decide whether or not to go through with the marriage, and finally fell into a troubled, restless sleep. But by morning she had made her decision. She would pretend to go along with his plans until he flew to New York, then make her own arrangements to leave Hawaii. She knew that if she stayed on the island Daniel would track her down, and the next time he might not give her the option of a wedding ceremony. The ecstasy of his possession would only increase the pain of leaving him.

  As for the pain of leaving Brian, Lani tried to put it out of her mind. She must do what was best for the child, and legal considerations aside, Daniel could give him a family, love and happiness, and great material benefits, while she could offer only years of struggle. Her alternative was to marry a man who didn't love her and live through the nightmare of waiting until his infatuation with her waned, and the marriage became a misery. Such a marriage would destroy her.

  Daniel walked into her room the next morning with a teasing smile on his face. "For a newly engaged woman, you don't look too cheerful."

  She mumbled something about a sleepless night. "Excitement, I guess," she added weakly.

  Brian received the news of their engagement with all the nonchalance of childhood, observing in a bored voice, "I figured you were gonna get married. He always wants to hug you."

  Somehow Lani made it through the morning without bursting into tears. Daniel's connections made short work of such formalities as blood tests and a marriage license. She asked him to choose their wedding rings, loving the matching gold bands he selected and cut to shreds by the knowledge that she would never wear her own.

  "And now let's go tell Michi," Daniel said as he led her from the jewelry store in the Maunalua Bay Hotel. The beautiful manager was the last person in the world Lani wanted to see. How could she possibly maintain her fragile composure in the company of the woman Daniel really loved?

  When Daniel announced the news to Michi his gaze was so tender and loving that Lani wanted to bolt from the room. The manager's reaction only confirmed what she had previously suspected. Daniel had accepted the fact that Michi was still grieving for her late husband and could not return his feelings; otherwise he would never have married Lani.

  For Michi's delight could not have been anything but genuine. "It's about time! I'm happy she's finally putting you out of your misery, Daniel."

  "Not until next Monday night," he answered ruefully. "This is going to be the longest week of my life." He kissed each of them good-bye and strode out of the office to catch his plane.

  "Come sit down and have some coffee," Mic
hi invited, her arm around Lani's waist. "On second thought, perhaps I should ring room service and have them bring some Bloody Marys. You look like you could use one."

  Her gentleness was Lani's undoing. All morning she had forced herself to seem an eager bride-to-be, and now the tears she had so resolutely denied erupted uncontrollably. Michi led her to the couch and held her hand until she was able to stop. "Now tell me what all this is about, darling," she said. "Surely marrying a man who's absolutely wild about you can't be worth so many tears."

  Lani stared at her, her tears for the moment forgotten. "He's not," she said huskily. "Daniel doesn't love me. I even told him that there had to be love as well as physical attraction, and he said… he said to trust him. That it would come."

  "Obviously he assumed you were talking about your own feelings, not his," Michi scoffed. "Daniel has loved you for years." She paused thoughtfully. "But if he hasn't told you that, how did he come to propose?"

  At first Lani was silent, too embarrassed to relate the events of the previous evening, but Michi probed until her weakened defenses gave way and the need to confide in someone overcame her innate reserve. She thought ruefully that Michi must be getting sick of listening to her sob her heart out.

  But the manager gave no sign of impatience, merely shaking her head when Lani finished. "You're as stubborn as mules, both of you. I know Daniel. He's too unsure of himself to tell you he loves you unless you tell him first. And you do, don't you?"

  Lani looked at her, astonished. Daniel Prescott Reid? Unsure of himself? It was impossible. Somehow Michi had received a completely false impression of his true feelings. "Yes, I love him," she admitted, "but… but he's in love with you. I've seen it… in the way he looks at you."

  "How totally ridiculous! For heaven's sake, Lani, my husband and I were two of Daniel's closest friends. We were honored that he would confide in us about his feelings for you. Of course he's been a dear, dear friend to me since Keith died, and certainly we love each other, but only as friends." She paused, then smiled in that teasing manner of hers. "As a matter of fact, Daniel fancies himself a matchmaker. I admit I'm starting to think about new relationships, and since Daniel keeps extolling Rob Bradley's virtues, I just may decide to discover if all the propaganda is true."