Kona Winds (16 page)

THE WAVES were stronger near the stand of ironwoods. They crashed onto and over the lava rocks that edged the sand at the shore. Julie stopped to watch the churning white foam lift, plunge and recede. She heard the crunch of Ruel's footsteps in the sand directly behind her.

"It's quite a sight, isn't it?" she said over her shoulder, her gaze not straying from the pounding surf.

"Yes," was his one-word agreement, issued in a calm but absent voice.

He had stopped closer to her than Julie had first realized. Still she didn't turn from the mesmerizing sight of the sea. Something seemed to slip from her hair, but not until the sensation was repeated did she realize that the pins securing the coiled bun at the nape of her neck were being pulled out of her hair.

Letting her shoes fall to the ground, she turned. "Don't do that!" she protested impatiently, and lifted her hands to try to repair the damage.

Ruel ignored her and continued to pull out the hairpins, despite her effort to stop him. In a matter of seconds her hair was tumbling about her shoulders as she was powerless to do anything about it.

"Why did you do that?" she sighed in exasperation.

"I like it better this way," Ruel answered. He slid his fingers into the tangled silk of her hair and cupped her head in both of his hands. "I've wanted to do that ever since I saw you at the breakfast table this morning. That hairdo reminds me of a prim and proper—"

"Schoolteacher," Julie provided the comparison.

Her face was tilted toward his while her heart raced faster than the sports car had. His hands were so strong, yet so devastatingly gentle. His shadowed eyes seemed to be taking in every detail of her face.

"Yes, a schoolteacher," he agreed and, with a low groan, he was covering her mouth with his.

There was no holding back, and Julie didn't try. She wound her arms around his middle and pressed herself close to his length. The hard, branding kiss seemed to burn itself into her very soul. Ruel wasn't content to take possession of only her lips. Holding her face in his hands, he kissed every inch of it before reclaiming the softness of her lips.

Releasing her face, he slid his arms around her and gathered her into the fullness of his embrace. Desire quaked through her and erupted to flow like fire through her veins. Ecstasy burned in its wake as she felt the way Ruel trembled against her, disturbed as greatly as she was.

Her hands slipped under the hem of his shirt, seeking to feel the bareness of his hard flesh. It was hot to the touch, as hot as the flames that burned inside them both. The skin of his back was stretched tautly over his hard muscles.

He abandoned her mouth to explore the curve of her neck, nibbling at the sensitive skin. The caress of his hands was creating new needs within her. All her senses were dominated by him. He murmured her name over and over again in hungry demand.

When she felt his fingers loosening the buttons of her blouse, she helped him. Ruel left the task to her and unfastened the front closing of her bra. Then his hands were taking her over. But Julie had never felt so deliriously happy in all her life. The bruising force of his kiss was pure bliss. The light caress of his hands was sweet torture. They were wrapped in each other's arms and it still wasn't close enough for either of them.

Suddenly something drove at their legs, undermining the sand beneath their feet. Ruel staggered forward a step carrying Julie with him, almost completely losing his balance for a moment. Dazed, she opened her eyes to see a wave receding to the ocean. An object bobbed on its surface.

"My shoes!" she gasped.

Ruel had been as slow to recover and identify the cause as she had been. The puzzled frown that creased his forehead indicated that he didn't understand why she should be concerned about her shoes.

"I dropped them on the sand, and the wave is taking them away—the one that hit us," she explained as she tugged at the arm around her waist holding her captive.

Glancing over his shoulder, Ruel started to let go of her and then held her back. "Stay here, I'll get them." But as he waded into the water, another wave swelled into a curl that drove him back to shore.

When it receded, Julie could no longer see her shoes. "They're gone," she whispered in disbelief.

"I'm afraid so," Ruel nodded.

She looked at him. His shoes were soaked and his pants were drenched to a point above his knees. Her shoes had been washed out to sea and the legs of her own slacks were wet with seawater. The situation took on a humorous aspect and she started to laugh.

"So you think it's funny?" Ruel challenged, smiling at her breathless laughter. His arms circled her waist to lock his hands behind her back. He drew her hips against his.

"It is," she insisted. "You, with squishy shoes and wet pant legs—me, with wet slacks and no shoes."

Despite the half-smile on his mouth, his eyes were serious in their regard of her. "You should be glad it happened."

"Why?" She shook her head, not understanding.

"It was nature's way of sousing us with cold water and putting out the hot fire," he explained calmly.

Julie sobered. Suddenly aware of the gaping front of her blouse, she pulled it shut with her hands, clutching the ends together. She made no attempt to escape the circle of his arms, but she wasn't totally at ease anymore.

"You're right." Her gaze ricocheted off his face, not able to match the steadiness of his look.

"I want you, Julie," he told her in a remarkably cool tone. "A dose of cold water hasn't changed that." He smoothed the hair away from her cheek and rested his hand along the side of her neck, stroking her jaw with his thumb. "I want to make love to you," he elaborated. A few minutes ago, their mutual cravings would have been satisfied.

"Here's your chance for second thoughts," he told her. "Your one and only chance to have the wisdom of hindsight. I have an apartment in Honolulu. No waves will come crashing in there. Will you go there with me?"

"Wh-What about your policy?" she faltered.

"Policy be damned! I want you, Julie." His voice was low and urgent, controlled but only barely.

Instead of feeling joy at his words, Julie felt chilled. Everything began to freeze up inside her. "Aren't you worried that I might bore you?" It came out flat and cold.

A grim anger hardened his features. A muscle flexed in his arm as if he meant to crush her to his chest and drive that coolness from her body. After a long second, he let her go and took a step away.

"Let's go back to the car so I can drive you home," he said.

Her mind seemed incapable of focusing on anything of substance. Only little things registered as they walked silently and apart to the car. Unimportant things like buying a new pair of shoes to replace the ones she lost, and wondering where Ruel had discarded the pins he had taken from her hair. In the car, Julie thought about the sand they were tracking onto the carpeted floorboards and wondered if the seawater from their wet pant legs would damage the upholstery of the seats.

The lights were on downstairs when they reached the house. Julie had no conception of the time—whether it was late or early. The gravel in the driveway bit into the bare soles of her feet as she stepped from the car and she had to pick her way to the steps. Ruel reached the front door ahead of her and opened it for her.

Emily Harmon was coming down the stairs as Julie entered the large foyer. "You're home, Julie. I was wondering what time to expect you." Her smile of greeting contained relief. When she saw Ruel walk in behind Julie, her eyes widened in surprise. "You didn't tell me you were with Ruel."

"Didn't I? I thought I had." Julie tossed out the lie with numbed unconcern.

"Where are your shoes?" Emily began to take in the appearance of both of them, a thousand puzzled questions leaping into her eyes.

"I took them off to walk on the beach and a wave washed them out to sea. Ruel waded in after them, but he couldn't reach them." Julie felt something begin to splinter inside of her and knew she couldn't keep answering these questions. "Excuse me, Emily, I'm really a mess. I'll see you in the morning."

She rushed past the woman and up the stairs, leaving Ruel to make any more explanations that might be required by his aunt. In the safety of her room, she began shaking uncontrollably, her reaction to what had happened vibrating through her. It took all her effort to undress, wash and climb into bed.

Sunday came and went with Julie venturing no farther from the house than the swimming pool. There were no more questions from Emily about the previous night. And Ruel was nowhere around. Those two factors should have made it easier; but instead the tension mounted within her.

Mid-afternoon on Monday, Julie was in Debbie's room trying to explain the solution to an algebra problem. "I just don't understand how to do it. Can't we leave it for today?" Debbie pleaded. "I can't concentrate.

"I noticed," Julie sighed with short patience.

"Did Auntie Em tell you the news?" Debbie's eyes glowed with excitement, making her look closer to fourteen than seventeen.

"What news?" Julie asked the expected question.
 

"I'm going into the hospital on Thursday. They're going to X-ray and see how I'm healing. If everything's all right, they'll take off this cast and put me in a smaller one. I might even be able to use a wheelchair. Isn't that glorious?" she burst out.

"It certainly is," Julie agreed with a wide smile. "It's the best news I've heard in ages. I'm happy for you."

"I'm happy for me, too," Debbie declared, and glanced toward the window at the sound of a car pulling into the drive. "That's Ruel—I'd recognize his car anywhere. He's home early today. I can hardly wait to tell him, Julie!"

Blinded by her happiness, Debbie didn't see the tenseness enter Julie's features. The curve of her lips became strained. At the slam of the car door, she clenched her teeth to keep from wincing.

"You'll have to wait for a little while, because we still have schoolwork to finish," she insisted, and tried to close her ears to the sound of the front door opening and closing.

"Not that algebra problem again!" Debbie protested in a haft plea.

"It isn't so difficult."

"That's easy for you to say," Debbie sighed ruefully, and looked past Julie to the door. She broke into an immediate smile. "Hi Ruel!"

Julie stiffened, her nerve ends screaming out their awareness of his presence in the room. She refused to turn and look at him, staring instead at the equation in her hand.

"Hi, Deb. How are you?" His footsteps approached her chair by his sister's bed.

"Fine, I—"

Julie broke in, her spine rigid. "Would you mind visiting your sister after she's finished her lessons?" she demanded, indifferent to the astonished look she received from Debbie.

"I came to speak to you," Ruel stated.

He was standing much too close to her chair. In agitation, she rose and put distance between them, clasping the math papers in front of her as if they offered protection.

"As you can see, I'm busy." Briefly she let her eyes meet his narrowed gaze before she turned her head away, keeping her chin high. His hard vitality made her feel drained and vulnerable.

"This will only take a moment," he challenged.

Julie didn't trust herself alone with him. "Why would you possibly need to speak to me?" She attempted to laugh away his request, but the sound was brittle and harsh.

"For one thing," he crossed the room to where she stood, a muscle in his jaw working convulsively, "I wanted to give you this."

There was no place for Julie to retreat. She couldn't keep running from him anyway. She stared at the package he offered to her.

"What is it?" She made no move to take it.

"A pair of shoes to replace the ones you lost the other night."

"That wasn't your responsibility. The fault was mine for leaving them on the sand," she rejected stiffly, and started to turn away.

"Dammit, Julie!" Ruel cursed beneath his breath, the words barely audible, and caught at her arm with his hand. She recoiled from his touch, an instinctive reaction to keep from turning into his arms. He compressed his mouth into a tightly grim line. "Will you take this?" His dangerously low voice seemed to threaten violence if she refused.

Julie took the package. "Thank you." She lifted her gaze to his face, schooling it to look on him impersonally. "Was there anything else, Mr. Chandler?''

"No!" The negative came out in a savage rush of breath. "Nothing else, Miss Lancaster." Sarcastically Ruel flung her formality back in her face. Turning, he nodded curtly to Debbie. "I'II be in to see you later." He didn't wait for a response as he let his long strides carry him from the room.

"What was that all about?" Debbie queried, her speculative gaze examining Julie.

"Your brother brought me some shoes to replace a pair I lost, that's all." Julie tried to make light of the incident, walking around the bed to set the package on a side table.

"I know all about your lost shoes. I heard you come home Saturday night—with Ruel. After you went upstairs, he told Em that you two had dinner together." Debbie continued to study her intently. Julie found the look in the girl's eye was much too worldly and knowing. "What happened? Did you two have an argument?"