Kitabı oku: «His Perfect Match», sayfa 3

For the first time Liz began to doubt her plan. She’d come to ask her ex-fiancé for the favor of a lifetime, but it appeared she’d arrived too late. It appeared that man no longer existed.

A few minutes later as she stood over her open suitcase preparing to unpack she was forced to admit Aunt Dee was right. Before she confronted Darius she would have to make a trip to the hotel gift shop and hope they had something in the way of clothing. There was no way she could approach the stranger she’d just encountered looking as defeated as she felt.

The old Darius would’ve taken pity on her and offered his help immediately. But the man she saw today would take one look at her lived-in linens and well-worn wools, realize she’d fallen on hard times and then proceed to eat her alive, all the while laughing at her temerity.

No, she was going to have to rethink her whole approach. She would have to exchange truth and desperation for cunning and manipulation. She closed up her suitcase and shoved it in the bottom of her closet all the while saying a silent prayer for strength and wisdom. Getting this new Darius to bend to her will was going to be a lot harder than she’d assumed.

Chapter 3

“What you doing up here, boss? The guests are asking for you.”

Darius turned at the sound of his assistant, Alika, coming up the brick stairs that led from the beach to the hotel. Darius stood leaning against the white wrought-iron fence that ran the length of the cliff surrounding the hotel. The sun was just beginning to set over the harbor, casting the entire valley in a soft reddish haze, and the gentle breeze added just the right touch to offset the surprisingly high evening temperature.

“Just catching my breath. Everything okay down there?” He nodded toward the beach where his guests were enjoying the luau dinner provided in first-class style by the hotel. It was one of the main attractions of his hotel and always a big hit with the guests. A small group of Maoris did a haka dance as the wait staff moved between the clusters of people serving dishes from various South-Pacific cultures.

When he’d first arrived on the island ten years ago Darius had been struck by the similarities between the cultures of the indigenous New Zealand Maori people, Australian aborigines and the Hawaiians. Having the same origins, much of their traditions were shared. When he opened his hotel he chose that shared culture as his theme.

“Yes, everything is going well. But some of the guests were wondering if you planned to appear tonight.” Alika came and stood beside him. “I told them you would.”

Darius smiled to himself. Alika was an excellent assistant and one of his most appealing characteristics was his ability to push without being seen as pushy. It was a skill that came in very handy with hard-to-please guests and tradesmen. Alika hadn’t yet learned that his pushing-without-being-pushy technique didn’t really work with his boss.

“Then it’s going to be a little awkward when you go back and tell them I won’t be appearing tonight.”

“Why?”

“Well, because you’ve already told them I would be—”

“No, I mean why won’t you? You always come to the weekly luau, at least you used to.”

Darius continued to stare out over the bay, refusing to be baited into a discussion about his behavior over the past few days. He knew his entire staff had become aware of his dark mood, but until he figured out what it all meant himself, he had no intention of talking about it.

With one single, incomplete phone call his whole world had been turned on end. He hadn’t stopped thinking about Liz Donovan from the moment he’d hung up the phone. Why, after all these years, was she calling him? What could she possibly want? His eyes narrowed on the volcano in the distance but his mind was a million miles away.

For the past few days he’d been taking daily trips down memory lane reliving every painful moment in vivid detail. Instead of completing his payroll he’d spent hours remembering the night he’d proposed. At the time he’d seen only her sweet smile and the soft “yes” that rolled off her lips. In hindsight the hesitation in her eyes was revealed in stark contrast. He tried but failed to find the connection between her and Darren. What made them fall in love with one another? No matter how he searched his mind he could not find any evidence that caused that horrific conclusion to make sense. Nothing.

Every time he’d touched her she’d felt like his. Never once did he get any sense that he was sharing her with another man. Certainly not his own brother.

But Darren’s betrayal was really no surprise. In fact, he should’ve suspected something was up when his brother became helpful. Darren had never helped anyone but himself. And in the end he’d helped himself to his brother’s woman. Even his death seemed like providence. Killed in a Vegas club fight. Darius remembered his father once saying that Darren had been trying to die since the moment he was born.

Much to his embarrassment Darius’s first question to his mother upon receiving the call of his death was about Liz. His mother had answered with what she knew, which was very little. As far as Liz’s family was aware, she was fine. The unspoken message hung heavy between them.

He’d immediately understood that Liz’s family had not gone to any trouble to verify her circumstances. It was assumed that since she was not with Darren when he died that she was fine. They didn’t care one way or the other; she’d been cast out.

Considering how close she’d been to her parents that news should’ve brought him some satisfaction for his own suffering, but surprisingly it didn’t. He didn’t want to imagine her out there, alone, without even the support of her family. Despite everything he knew, some part of him would always wonder.

That was all so many years ago and Darius had thought he’d put it all behind him. Then, with one phone call she’d unearthed all that pain and anguish, and unfortunately his staff had bore the brunt of it. Over the past week he’d caught himself lashing out over the smallest infractions, and had even gone out of his way to avoid guests until today.

Somehow he had to find a way to repress the reopened wound, but how could he when every ounce of his being was dying to know why she’d called in the first place? Until he had that question answered he would have no peace. She would stay with him every minute of every day. He would hear her voice in his hotel lobby, as he had that afternoon when he’d locked himself in his office determined to focus on the payroll. He glanced down at his guests on the beach…and saw a woman standing on his beach dressed in a coral halter-back sundress looking up at him.

“Who’s that?”

Alika followed his nod. “Ms. Smith. She checked in today.”

“Ms. Smith? Did she check in alone?”

Alika lifted an eyebrow noting his boss’s interest in the pretty woman. “As a matter of fact, she did.” He smiled. “She’s very pretty, huh, boss?”

Pretty didn’t begin to describe the vision watching him from the beach. Her shoulder-length black hair hung in a loose ponytail over one shoulder. She stood watching him with her eyes shielded by her small hand. The pose was strikingly sexy with her arm lifted, accentuating her slender body and small waist. Wrap-around sandals snaked up her elegant brown calves, making her wide-legged stance damn near erotic. But the tilt of her head revealed a bone structure that was engrained on his memory.

So many nights after they’d made love he’d lain awake simply outlining her jawbone with his finger. He’d always been fascinated by how the shape of a woman’s small face could reveal both delicacy and strength. He’d thought Liz was that…delicacy and strength. In the end she turned out to be pure deceit.

He watched as the woman on the beach lowered her hand revealing her whole face and his mouth literally fell open. It had to be a trick of the lights. It had to be some tortured part of his psyche playing tricks on him. But as she smiled, he knew the truth for what it was. Only one woman in the universe had that smile.

She turned, exposing an expanse of flawless mocha skin, and started to walk toward the other end of the beach away from the luau and the hotel guests.

“Well, Alika, looks like you won’t have to recant after all.” He turned and headed down the brick steps leading to the beach, taking them two at a time, all the while keeping his eyes on the fast-moving coral-cloaked siren strolling away.

Liz concentrated on her breathing. Stay calm. Stay calm. But it was hard to stay calm when she was almost certain she was baiting a shark using herself as the chum.

With her head held high and her shoulders back she moved her hips seductively with every step, secretly wondering if maybe she was overdoing it a bit. She glanced back over her shoulder to where he’d gotten caught in the crowd of excited guests. It was working.

He was dressed in a loose-fitting, light-beige tunic that carried the hotel’s name and emblem, safari shorts and open-toed sandals, and it struck her again just how different this man was from the one she’d known years ago. There was no way the Darius she’d known would’ve ever worn shorts of any kind, let alone shoes that exposed his toes.

She looked back again to see him gently but persistently pushing his way through the throng of people, never taking his eyes off her. She watched as he licked his lips and his eyes narrowed on her in an almost menacing fashion. Okay, maybe it’s working too well.

She maneuvered her way around a grouping of inflatable balloon slides and bouncers where children played, oblivious to the darkening sky. She looked ahead at the empty beach that stretched before her. The sun was just disappearing beyond the horizon and the sky was quickly darkening. She stopped at the edge of the water, took off her sandals and waited for him to catch up.

Darius stopped a few feet away, still not convinced that what he was seeing was real. But it was her. Here, on his beach after all these years. How? Why? As he stepped closer, he realized she was more beautiful than he remembered, which seemed impossible considering he’d once thought of her as perfection in the flesh.

“What are you doing here?”

“I had to come. You wouldn’t take my calls.”

“Didn’t that tell you something?”

“Yes. That I would have to come here and talk to you face to face.”

“We have nothing to say to each other.”

She turned to face him and he felt his heart skip a beat. “Actually, we have a lot to say to each other.”

Looking into her warm brown eyes was like a homecoming. A sense of relief and satisfaction that he hadn’t felt in years flowed through his entire being. The unfairness of it was almost staggering. How could she still make him feel this way after all these years? After all she’d done?

Her betrayal had almost destroyed him, and yet all he wanted to do now was go to her and take her in his arms as though nothing had changed. But it had. Everything had changed.

He couldn’t do this. When he’d come down to the beach he’d thought he could have a reasonable conversation with her and find out what had brought her halfway around the world after all this time. He’d thought he could satisfy his curiosity and then send her packing.

Looking at the coral sundress clinging to her legs as the soft winds whipped around them he knew the evening was not going to play out like that. If he remained on this isolated portion of the beach, with her soft perfume wafting into his nose, looking at all that tempting bare skin, he would end up trying to satisfy more than his curiosity. And from the seductive way she was watching him he was almost sure his advances would be welcomed. What the hell is she up to?

“What do you want, Liz?”

“I need to ask a favor.”

“Of me? Surely you’re joking? Unless you’re looking for directions to hell I’m not the one.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She moved to close the distance between them and Darius instantly stepped back. “You’re the only one.”

“What are you talking about?”

She turned back to the water. “Wow, this is even harder than I thought it would be.” She chuckled. “And I thought it would be impossible.”

“You should’ve followed your first thought. Because this is a colossal waste of your time and mine.”

Outwardly agitated she swung back to face him. “You don’t even know what I want!”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I understand I’m the last person you’d volunteer to help, but—”

“If you understood that, then why are you here?”

“Just listen. I understand you hate me, but what I’m asking is not for me. It’s for my son.”

In that moment Darius wondered if his heart could stand any more shocks this night. “What did you say?”

“What I have to ask—I ask not for myself but for my son, Marc.”

Darius felt as if his knees were going to buckle under the implication of that statement. Her son. Darren’s son. The child that should’ve been his. Following her was a mistake. He knew that now.

“He’s nine and—”

“Stop.”

“He has diabetes. He was diagnosed when he was five.”

“Stop!”

“The diabetes has eaten away at his kid—”

“I said shut up, damn you!” He turned and, taking long strides, headed back to the luau.

“He’s dying!”

Darius stopped in his tracks, feeling his whole body stiffen from the tips of his toes to the hairs of his head.

“He’s dying—he needs a kidney transplant. He has AB negative blood. I have O positive. I’m not a match. And he’s been on the waiting list forever and there is no one. There just isn’t anyone for him. The doctors say his very best chance is a blood relative. You would probably be a perfect match. Darius, you can save his life.”

Despite the hostility radiating off the man, Liz moved closer to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. He flinched but didn’t pull away and she took that as a good sign.

“I know I have no right to ask this of you, but here I am asking. Please, Darius, I’m begging you, please.”

“I should’ve had security kick you out the minute I spotted you instead of following you here.”

“But you didn’t. And now that you know why I’m here can you in good conscience turn me away?”

He glared at her over his shoulder. “Don’t you dare try to preach to me about good conscience.”

Liz removed her hand and circled around to stand before him blocking his view of the luau. “If there was any other way, believe me, I would’ve chose it. My son is everything to me. I would do anything for him. I’d make a deal with Satan if it would save his life, so swallowing my pride and coming to you was small by comparison.”

His brown eyes narrowed on her face in the same analytical manner she’d seen earlier than day. “A deal with the devil, huh?” His full lips kicked up at the corner. “That sounds about right.”

As hungry eyes roamed over every inch of her body Liz only then considered the lack of intelligence involved in luring a man who hated her to a deserted portion of beach. She glanced over her shoulder to be sure the hotel guests were within screaming distance.

She swallowed and determinedly pushed forward. “Will you do it?”

His eyes came up to hers and he simply stared unblinking while she waited for the verdict that would either condemn Marc or save his life. As he stared she felt her skin becoming covered in goose bumps, knowing her greatest fear was his immediate rebuff. Still, having no idea of what he would say, she never expected the next words that came out of his mouth.

“What’s in it for me?”

She frowned, not sure she understood the question. “What?”

“Your Marc gets a new kidney, but what do I get?”

“Is this a joke?”

“No more of a joke than you asking.”

She shook her head, realizing she’d failed. He was not only refusing to help, he’d decided to taunt her in the process. “If you’re not going to do it just say so.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. But everything costs.”

Liz focused on his face trying to determine if he was serious. She couldn’t tell. “So what’s your price?”

“Well.” He thoughtfully rubbed his chin as if he didn’t hold the weight of her world in his large hands. “The devil would require your soul. I can at least promise you my price will be much smaller.” He huffed. “Quite honestly, I’m not certain you have a soul to bargain with anyway.”

Liz swallowed the sharp retort that immediately came to mind. He hadn’t said no. She could stand any insult if it meant he’d do it. “So what now?”

He took a deep breath. “We go back and enjoy the rest of the evening. Get some sleep—if you can. And in the morning I’ll tell you what I require in exchange for one of my kidneys.”

She narrowed her eyes on his handsome face. “What the hell happened to you, Darius?”

“You did.”

She bit her lip, knowing that was probably true. What she’d done could make a man hard and bitter. Was it really any surprise that he would keep her dangling miserably now that he could?

His eyes widened. “Of course, there is always a chance I won’t be a match, and then any stipulations would be null and void.”

“You’ll be a match.” She turned and headed back to the hotel.

He frowned at her retreating back. “What makes you so sure?”

“Because fate has a sick sense of humor.”

Chapter 4

After her tense conversation with Darius and his tentative agreement Liz found it impossible to enjoy the luau. She’d gone immediately to her room and called home to check on Marc. But it was too late, Dee said he was already sound asleep and Liz asked her not to wake him.

Without even the comfort of her son’s voice Liz found it almost impossible to sleep, but finally, around midnight, the exhaustion of the long journey coupled with the stress of seeing Darius again overtook her and she fell into a deep slumber.

Darius spent most of the evening entertaining his guests—people from all parts of the world who had come for all different reasons. There were newly wedded couples and some celebrating anniversaries. There were students studying the plant life in the Coromandel Peninsula and local kiwis enjoying family reunions or just looking to get out of the city for a weekend.

Normally he loved the constant activity of managing a hotel, but tonight all he could think about was a woman in one of his bungalows. Never in a million lifetimes would he have imagined her arriving with her request. He tried to avoid thinking about Liz and Darren, but when it was unavoidable it was always in the frame of his memory. His twenty-two-year-old brother running off with his nineteen-year-old bride. He’d never considered what happened after that, especially since Darren had died so soon after they left together. Which meant the pregnancy was probably not even known at the time of his death. Which meant she’d gone through it alone, and had cared for a sick child alone. Maybe.

He took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and downed it in one gulp. Not damn likely, he finally decided.

If there was one thing Liz Donovan knew how to do it was manipulate men. Hell, he was a prime example. Just look at the way the night had gone. She’d shown up in his hotel, his home, his domain, looking like a bright-pink lollipop ready for licking, and just when he was ready to stretch forth his tongue and take a swipe she’d dropped a bomb on his head.

As another waiter passed by he returned the first champagne glass and took another. She’d cornered him like a cat, a soft brown tabby cat and he was her favorite plaything. She’d played him ten years ago and she’d played him again tonight. He swallowed the champagne in two gulps. Bitch.

“Boss? Everything okay?” Ever-faithful Alika was instantly at his side.

“What do you mean?”

The young man let his eyes dart to the empty champagne glass. “You seem tense.”

“Do I?”

In his peripheral vision he noticed Alika shake his head at the waiter headed in their direction and the man immediately veered in a different direction.

Pushing without being pushy, that was Alika.

He handed Alika his empty champagne glass knowing the wait staff would probably avoid him for the rest of the night. “Since you seem to have everything in hand, I’m going to bed.”

“Good idea, boss, start fresh tomorrow.”

He headed toward the stairs, speaking briefly with guests as he did so. No matter what else was happening in his life he would never allow the Hawaiki to be affected. This place had saved him. It had been his haven all those years ago, and he took great pride in its success.

His mind wandered as he meandered up the stairs. He had a nephew he hadn’t even known existed. Despite how the news came, he couldn’t help but find some joy in it. The boy was almost ten now, according to Liz. Climbing the stairs, he stopped in midstep. Ten? Was it possible? Could she have been pregnant when she ran away?

He shook off the thought and continued up the stairs. No, the boy wasn’t his. She would’ve told him. That would’ve been the ultimate card of manipulation and she hadn’t played it, which meant it didn’t exist. He frowned as his mouth twisted in a snarl. Maybe she didn’t know who the father was. Bitch.

He yawned as he started feeling the effects of the champagne. He stood at the top of the stairs for several long minutes thinking over the conversation, replaying every word. He’d known the moment she told him what she needed that he would do it. How could he not? But, he couldn’t deny the fact that it felt good—really good—to watch her squirm for a while.

Maybe now she could understand just a little of what he’d felt standing in that church dressing room reading a letter left to explain the unexplainable. Maybe now she would understand what it felt like to have your heart ripped from your chest. How her one ruthless act had changed the entire trajectory of his life. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn’t. But before it was all said and done Liz Donovan would understand that actions bore consequences.

Liz wasn’t sure what brought her out of her deep sleep, but the silhouetted man sitting on the side of her bed was enough to bring her fully awake. “Who the hell are you?”

She pulled the covers to her chest and scooted across the bed, her eyes trying desperately to see through the dark. Waking up in a strange hotel room had many disadvantages, one of which was disorientation. She had no idea where the door was, or even where her portable iron was. Either might be necessary depending on whether she would need to fight or run.

“I used to love to watch you sleep.” The familiar but groggy voice came out of the shadows.

“Darius?” Her heartbeat slowed down only incrementally. She felt only slightly safer. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re so beautiful, and when you sleep you look like an angel fallen to earth.”

She squinted into the shadows. “Have you been drinking?”

He chuckled. “What? I have to be drunk to think you’re beautiful? I thought you had more self-esteem than that, Liz.”

“What time is it? What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know and…” He sighed. “I don’t know.”

“What do you want, Darius?”

“You can’t figure that out?”

She pulled the covers closer. “Get out of my room!”

“Your room?”

“While I’m a guest here this is my room—get out!”

He stretched across the end of the bed resting his head on his forearm. “No.”

She stood from the bed. “Why are you doing this?”

Even in the dim light she watched as his pupils dilated. “Nice gown.” His eyes were glued to her breast where the thin worn material of the gown revealed much more than she realized. “Is that for my benefit? Are we still bargaining, Liz?”

Liz pulled the comforter from the bed and wrapped it around her body. “Why are you here, Darius? Is this to punish me some more?”

“Actually no. It should be. I should be back in my room thinking of all the ways to make you pay for this kidney you want so bad, but instead all I wanted to do was to be near you. Isn’t that pathetic?”

She didn’t answer and a quiet settled between them. She waited, hoping, praying he would leave but he didn’t. Liz wrapped the orange comforter closer around her body and realized his steady breathing was slowing down. “Don’t you dare fall asleep!” She shuffled over to the phone. “I’ll call security!”

He rolled over to his back and folded his arms behind his head. “Good luck with that. I sign their paychecks, remember?”

“Quite the little dictatorship you have built for yourself here.”

“Thank you. I’m happy with it.”

“I’m not having sex with you, so you might as well leave now!”

“Who said I wanted to have sex with you?”

She frowned, slightly confused. “But you said—”

“What?”

“I figured…”

“That you were so damn irresistible I was overcome with passion and snuck in here to take advantage of you?”

“Something like that.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Then what was all that talk about how beautiful I am?”

“You are. But in the right light so are black widows, wouldn’t have sex with them either.”

Ego deflated, Liz relaxed. In under five minutes he’d gone from calling her a fallen angel to a black widow. “If you don’t want sex, why are you here?”

“I told you. I used to love to watch you sleep. Turns out, I still do.”

Liz shook her head. Yep, he was drunk. She glanced at the clock and saw it was 3:04 a.m. “It is too damn early for this, Darius. Go to bed and I’ll do the same.”

“I’ve been thinking about our conversation earlier.”

She stood quietly waiting, but he said nothing further so she prompted. “And?”

“Why didn’t you try to reach me sooner? You said he was diagnosed at six and has been on the waiting list for over three years.”

“I didn’t know where to find you.”

“My parents did.”

“Your parents won’t talk to me. Mine neither.”

Silence fell over the room as they both retreated to their private thoughts.

Finally Liz broke it by continuing. “I hired a private detective a few months ago, and it took him a while but he found you and I called you as soon as he gave me the information.”

“Who watches your son when you’re away like this?”

“I’ve never been away like this, but my Aunt Dee lives with us.”

Even in the dark she could see his wide smile. “How is Dee?”

“Contrary as ever.”

“I remember her from when we were kids. Nice lady.”

“She’s been a godsend to me.”

“I’m sure.”

As another silence fell over the room, Liz realized she was probably not going to get rid of him anytime soon, so she took a seat on the opposite end of the bed.

After sitting in silence for several minutes she thought he’d fallen asleep and considered moving to the only chair in the room for the rest of the night. He startled her when he suddenly spoke.

“Liz…? Why Darren? Of all the men you could’ve chosen, why my brother?”

“Don’t do this.”

“I’ve asked myself that question a million times in a million different ways. I never found an answer.”

“You don’t want to dig up all this ancient history. It’s over. It’s done. We can’t go back, let it go.”

“Apparently it’s not over. You’re here. I’m here. I can feel your fear of me. It’s almost palpable. And you have reason to fear. There were days I wanted to kill you with my bare hands. A part of me still wants to. So see? It’s not so ancient history after all.”

“What do you want me to say, Darius? I never wanted to hurt you. That was never my intention.”

“Then what was your intention, Liz? Did you think you running off with my brother would make me deliriously happy?”

“I know I hurt you, but it wasn’t deliberate.”

“So you accidentally slept with my brother?”

“I make no excuses for my actions, Darius. All I ask is that you not punish my son for the sins of his mother.”

“I have no intention of punishing my nephew.” He flipped over and, before she realized it, his large hands wrapped around her ankle and dragged her beneath him. The speed of his motions immediately undermined her assumption that he was drunk. A drunk man could never move that fast.

Liz kicked recklessly but he used his heavy legs to pin her in place. Her arms flayed wildly looking for something to hit him with for all of a minute before he had her arms, too, pinned over her head.

Liz felt the first tendrils of panic not because of the vulnerable position she suddenly found herself in, but because of what she was beginning to feel. Feeling his heavy weight on top of her felt more right and natural than she could ever admit out loud. It had been so long since she’d held the weight of a man’s body. The weight of this man’s body.

And his smell. So many of those first nights in Vegas sitting alone in that shabby hotel room she’d closed her eyes trying to recall this very smell. She’d missed him more in those first couple of months than she’d ever missed another human being in her life. And being this close to him, having that familiar smell in her nose, and even with his additional muscle mass his body still seemed to mold to her own. It felt too good. Too right. She fought with every ounce of will not to wrap her legs around his waist to hold him closer.

“I would never punish an innocent little boy for the actions of his slut of a mother.” He whispered in her ear. “No, I believe in holding the responsible party accountable.”

“Get off of me,” she hissed.

“God, you feel so good.” Despite the strength with which he was holding her down, his soft lips touched her neck with feather lightness. “When you made love with Darren did you ever pretend it was me, Liz?”

“You son-of-a-bitch! Get off me!”

“No matter what other lies you told, I know you enjoyed our lovemaking. The way you melted in my arms was no lie.”