Paradise Wild (3 page)

Edmond came to a quick decision. “Since you do guarantee it, I will give you half. But you must leave the same amount here to cover it.”

“Very well.” Jared relented, smiling to himself.

That was more than he had counted on. Now if all the money was lost in what he planned to do, he would
not be broke, and he would have a year or more to repay his uncle. He knew that greed was why Edmond was helping him, but nonetheless, he was helping. If only he knew
what
he was helping to do!

“How soon will you need the cash?”

“I sail in five days, on Sunday.”

“So soon?”

“I have everything in order, Uncle. All that remains is a quick trip out to Sunset Beach to say good-bye to Malia.” Jared grinned mischievously. “You will keep an eye on her while I’m gone, won’t you?”

Edmond’s eyes widened slightly. “She’ll be with all those old relations of yours. I doubt I’ll be getting out that way.”

“Well, you know how she likes to come to the city for the winter season. Too many harsh storms on the north shore that time of year.”

Edmond became flustered. “Look here, Jared. The storms don’t come until October or November. Just how long do you plan to be in the mainland?”

“I can’t honestly say. Three months, four—but you never know. Possibly six. You don’t want me to jump into anything quickly, now do you? It will take time to investigate, to be sure our money is safe.”

Edmond sighed. Jared knew damn well he didn’t want to be responsible for Malia. His little sister could be quite trying at times and she needed a close watch now that she was almost eighteen.

Jared smiled to himself. He would never trust her to Edmond’s care, but it amused him to have his uncle think he was responsible for the young girl. Of course, it would really be Leonaka Naihe who would protect her. But why let his uncle off the hook by telling him that? Jared enjoyed the consternation on his uncle’s face.

Naneki Kapuakele heard the carriage pull off Beretania Street into the driveway, and she ran to the front of the house to peer out the window. It was only the middle of the afternoon, too early for Jared to come home, yet there he was, stepping out of the carriage and coming up the flower-lined walkway.

How he reminded Naneki of her dead husband, Peni—tall and godlike, carrying himself like an ancient warrior. Peni Kapuakele might have been a great chief if he had lived in the old days. He would have been right there beside King Kamahamaha, helping to unite the islands.

Peni was dead.
Ua hele i ke ala-maaweiki
. He has gone on the narrow-stranded way. And Jared was alive. So like Peni, proud, arrogant, forceful. It did not matter that he was not pure Hawaiian as Peni had been, that he had only a small speck of Hawaiian blood left in him. She was
hapa-haole
herself, half white, half Hawaiian. Jared’s heart was Hawaiian, and his strength. And he was hers, taking the place of her lost Peni.

Naneki ran a hand through her thick black hair and smoothed down her pink and white floral
muumuu
. She wished she were wearing just a simple sarong, which would cling to her hips and reveal her long, graceful
legs. That was all she would wear when she was in the country with Malia. But here in the city, Jared would not let her dress so scantily because of the many visitors who came to his house on Beretania Street.

When Jared opened the door, Naneki was there to greet him. She was a tall girl of gentle grace. She had only to look up a few inches to meet his eyes.

“Hello, Passion Flower.”

Naneki grinned. It was what Jared called her when they were alone and he was in good spirits. But this was not often, for this young man was much troubled.

“You home early, Ialeka.” She called him by his Hawaiian name as did most of his local friends.

“So I am.” He moved into the large living room and threw his wide-brimmed straw hat on a nearby chair. “Would you fix me a rum punch?”

She hesitated, her curiosity aroused. “But why you home so early?”

He sat down on the end of the brown-and-gold sofa and leaned back with his hands hooked behind his head. “The drink first.”

Naneki shrugged as if she didn’t care, then hurried out of the room and was back in a minute with a tall glass of iced punch. She went to a long bar against the back wall and added a liberal dose of rum, then handed it to him. He drank half, set it down, then pulled Naneki onto his lap.

She giggled and pressed her face to his neck, nibbling softly there. “So this why you come home, eh? You like make love?”

Jared sighed contentedly and kneeded one plump breast through the thin cotton of her
muumuu
. He would miss Naneki while he was gone. She was the perfect mistress, undemanding, there when he needed her. She
never complained, except when he left her in the country with his sister.

She was the adopted daughter of his cook, housekeeper, and distant relative, Akela Kamanu, that great Hawaiian woman who had raised Malia since her birth. She had raised Naneki too, taking her in when she was abandoned by her Hawaiian mother because Naneki’s father had been a
haole
, white man. Naneki was Malia’s closest friend, being only a year older and growing up in the same household, but she also served the Burkett family.

He would not have touched her if she were not a widow. She had been married young, but the marriage had lasted only three months. She had a daughter from that marriage, and little Noelani needed a father. Jared would have to see about finding Naneki another husband someday soon. He was being selfish in keeping her to himself.

He had considered marrying her and raising Noelani as his own. The little two-year-old already called him papa. But Naneki had loved Peni Kapuakele too much. Peni would always be there, even though he was dead. And Jared would never marry a woman who had had a first love. He knew what that could do to a marriage. He knew what it had done to his parents’ marriage.

Jared kissed Naneki’s lips tenderly, then with more determination. He rose with her in his arms and carried her upstairs to her room. There he set her down and she pulled her long flowing
muumuu
, her only garment, over her head and tossed it over the wooden bed frame at the bottom of her bed. She lay down and stretched invitingly, her black eyes half shadowed with drooping lids, her full lips slightly parted.

Jared quickly discarded his own clothes and joined her on the narrow bed. While his lips claimed hers
again, he ran a hand over the smooth brown skin he knew so well, over the full, large breasts, then down her narrow waist. She was built so firmly, had played in the ocean for so many years, that he did not need to worry about hurting her with his strong hands. She was a match for him. And she welcomed him now, opening her legs so that he could plunge into her.

She received all of his long shaft easily. Jared held back until she reached her pleasure before he gave in to his own. When he was spent, he collapsed on her, resting his head on her shoulder.

“You need bath now,” she said softly as she traced her fingers over his sweaty back.

Jared only grunted and rolled over to let her up. The room was intolerably hot. The afternoon sun blazed through the open window, and there was very little breeze. He should have taken her to one of the empty rooms on the other side of the house, one that caught the morning sun and was cooler in the afternoon.

Naneki never asked why he wouldn’t bring her to his own room, which was across from hers. He was glad he didn’t have to defend his desire for complete privacy there. He did not want to be faced with asking a woman to leave his bed after he had finished with her, but his need for solitude soon would force him to do so. It was much easier for him to simply slip away afterwards.

While Naneki left to run his bath, Jared wondered if his desire for privacy had anything to do with those terrible dreams that sometimes made him cry out in the night. It was likely. He didn’t want to share those vivid memories with anyone.

He guessed that the women he had known didn’t consider him a determined lover. He came to them only when he needed them, and he never attached himself to any one woman. He was careful in his choices, hav
ing nothing to do with virgins, and staying away from whorehouses for health reasons. Widows were his first choice, and then the promiscuous daughters of acquaintances who asked for what they got. Nothing infuriated Jared more than a tease, or gave him more pleasure than showing one that she couldn’t trifle with Jared Burkett. He considered himself fortunate that no particular woman had a hold on him. He knew what love could do to a man, how destructive it could be.

He would probably marry Dayna Callan one day—they had never spoken of it, but Jared assumed she was waiting for him. They were friends now, not lovers, and Jared was hoping he might find a woman with more passion than Dayna seemed to have. At twenty-five, she was lovely, quiet, and unassuming. She had never been in love. Jared was sure of this and it was why he considered Dayna for his wife.

Leonaka, Jared, and Dayna had been a constant threesome as children growing up on the north shore together. The two friends always knew how to bring Jared out of his dark moods. But to marry Dayna? Ah, would he ever make up his mind? It would be like marrying a saint, and he wasn’t quite sure he could stand that. He had never even embraced her in anything but friendship. How could he bring himself to make love to her? But she was probably just what he needed. With Dayna, there would be no strife in his life other than that of his own making.

Naneki came back into the room. “Water ready, big boss man.”

She was still in a playful mood, so he asked, “Will you join me?”

She nodded and started to pull him up from the bed, but let him go before he sat up completely. “Why else
you come home so early, Ialeka? I never see you this time of day before unless we in country.”

Jared got up and whacked her on the behind. “After we bathe we have some packing to do.”

She brightened. “We going home?”

“You are. You came to Honolulu for some shopping and you stayed three months. How will you explain that when you get home?”

“Akela knows. She happy I take care of you.”

Jared grunted. “Malia doesn’t know.”

“Malia is my friend. She not think bad of me,” Naneki said with a slight grin.

“Regardless, I don’t want her to know.” Jared frowned. “You understand that, Naneki?”

She nodded, but she warned him again, “You always spoil Malia. You no let her grow up.” When Jared’s eyes turned a steely gray she added quickly, “But I understand. Come.”

Jared’s mood had changed. “There’s no more time to play, Naneki. We will leave first thing in the morning. I have to be back in Honolulu by Friday. I’m leaving Sunday for the mainland.”

“Like when you went college?”

“No, this is business.”

“How long? You will miss your summer months in Sunset?”

“Yes. But I will try to be back by Christmas.”

Naneki tried to hide her disappointment. “That is very long time away.”

Jared came to her and kissed her lightly. “While I’m gone you should start looking for a new husband. Noelani needs a father.”

She grinned. “When
you
marry? I no see
you
running to church.”

“One of these days, I will.”

“With Miss Callan. I like her. I no mind share you with her.”

Jared sighed in exasperation and pulled her along with him to the bath. “Just remember what I said. Start looking for a husband.”

Ned Dougherty’s office was on the south side of Boston. Hardly an office, it was just a small room above a tavern. There were a cluttered desk, two chairs, and file cabinets crammed into the small space. As Jared sat across from the red-haired man, he began having second thoughts about being there. Whatever he had expected to find, it certainly wasn’t this.

Ned’s appraising look took in Jared’s expensive suit, his aura of strength, and he noted a bit of ruthlessness in the sharp blue-gray eyes. This was a man who got what he wanted, and Ned anticipated profiting from whatever he wanted.

“I can honestly say, Mr. Burkett, that I didn’t think I would hear from you again. And I certainly didn’t expect to meet you. Your business must be pretty important to bring you here all the way from Hawaii.”

Jared decided to be frank. If this man could accomplish what he wanted, then he didn’t mind paying an outlandish fee for it.

“What I plan to do in Boston is very important to me,” Jared said as he glanced about the office. “But I’m not quite sure you’re up to it, Mr. Dougherty.”

“Don’t let the size and location of my office fool you,” Ned replied defensively. “The larger investigat
ing firms have bigger expenses and charge their clients more. I get more clients.”

“Do you work alone?”

“I get help when I need it.” Ned leaned back and smiled. “I can see by that wary look that you have doubts about me. Let me assure you that I have never disappointed a client. Whether I am investigating a firm, finding a missing person, or trailing a wayward wife, I do get results. I’ve even helped solve a few murders.”

Jared was not impressed. “I need not only information, Mr. Dougherty, but publicity as well.”

“I have a cousin and a few friends who work for the newspapers.”

“I will need to be well-known in this city within a very short time—in about a month.”

“No problem, Mr. Burkett.”

“Very well, then, I will take a chance on you, Mr. Dougherty. But I wouldn’t like to be disappointed.”

The threat was obvious and Ned felt a slight chill race down his back. He shrugged it off.

“I’m curious to know how you found me, Mr. Burkett. Have you been to Boston before?”

Jared began to relax. “No. I got your name from a college friend in the States. He told an amusing story around school about his grandfather hiring you to follow his grandmother, suspecting her, at seventy-two, of having an affair.”

Ned laughed, relieving the tension. “I remember that old man quite well. It was the most ridiculous case I ever worked on.”

“I imagine so. But I never forgot your name,” Jared admitted. “I knew even then that I would have need of you one day.”

“Well then, Mr. Burkett, I’m sure we will accom
plish what you want done, if you’ll just tell me what it is.”

Jared’s eyes held a cold gray glint. “I want information on Samuel Barrows, especially about his business interests, the extent of his wealth, and how much reserve he has. I want to know everything about the man, his associates, and his family. I want to know his future plans, how he works, his weaknesses, and his habits.”

Ned nodded. “It will probably take about two weeks to get what you want. Since gathering information is pretty routine, I don’t foresee any problems.”

“Fine. Now, about the publicity. You will start on that immediately. As I said before, I want to be well-known about town. I want to be talked about in the highest financial circles, especially in Samuel Barrows’ circle.”

The little detective picked up a notebook and pen and leaned over his desk. “I’ll need facts about you, then.”

Jared grinned. “Jared Burk, millionaire from the West Coast, here to invest money. That’s all you need to know.”

“I don’t understand.”

Jared rose from his chair. “You don’t have to understand. The name and facts I just gave you are false. I don’t want my real identity known. But I do intend to invest some money if the circumstances are right. You might recommend a good lawyer.”

Ned’s curiosity was aroused. “You want to be a man of mystery, then?”

“Exactly.”

“Very well.” Ned came around his desk to shake hands. “I’ll get the name of a lawyer to you in a few days. Where can I reach you?”

“I checked into the Plaza this morning as Jared Burk.”

The ride back to the hotel was pleasant. Jared had the driver take a short tour of the city first. The weather was a brisk sixty-five degrees on this early June day, warm for Bostonians, but chilly compared to Hawaii. Jared hoped he would not have to stay here too long, especially into the colder months.

The carriage entered the Back Bay area. When Jared saw the Beacon Street sign, his whole body went stiff. Which one of these tall townhouses belonged to Samuel Barrows? Whichever one it was, Jared would be invited to that house soon. He would make Samuel Barrows’ acquaintance. And then somehow, in some way, he would break the man, ruin him. Killing was too quick. Jared wanted him to live a broken man, to know what had happened, and why.

Jared remembered the first time he had heard the name Samuel Barrows spoken from his mother’s lips. He had been seven years old. Life was good. He lived in the country with his mother, while his father tended business in Honolulu many miles away, making frequent visits to his family.

Jared and Leonaka were just beginning to learn responsibility, being allowed to help plant sugar cane. But they were quick to slip away to the beach and meet Dayna. The beach was their playground, surfboards their toys. One day when Jared stole away to the beach by himself he found his mother there, walking hand in hand with a tall man he had never seen before. That night he asked his mother who the strange
haole
was, and she told him. Samuel Barrows, an old friend from Boston, where his mother came from.

A week later his father came home and for the first time in his life Jared heard his parents fighting. They were in the enclosed patio at the back of the house and
were unaware that Jared was in the back yard, only a few feet away.

“Who in damnation is this man John Pierce saw you embracing?” Rodney Burkett had begun.

“John?”

“Yes, our neighbor! He came all the way to Honolulu just to tell me what he saw—you and another man behaving in an unseemly manner on the beach!”

“There is no reason for you to be upset,” Ranelle answered in a quiet voice. “It was just Samuel Barrows, and we embraced only to say good-bye.”

“Barrows? The man you were supposed to marry? The man who married an heiress instead, because his family needed money?”

“Yes, I told you about him.”

“What in God’s name was he doing here?”

There was a long pause. “He—he came for me. He said he still loved me.”

Something shattered against a wall, a glass or a vase. “He still loves you! What about his rich wife? Did she conveniently die?”

“Rodney, I told you there is no reason to get upset.” Ranelle started crying. “He’s gone now, gone back to Boston.”

“You didn’t answer my question, Ranelle. Is he a free man now?”

“No, he’s still married. But he would have left her if I were free, regardless of the disgrace. There are no children in that marriage, and his family is solvent again. But he didn’t know that I had married, that I have a son.”

Quietly, in a torn voice, Rodney asked, “Did he ask you to leave me?”

“Rodney, stop it!” Ranelle pleaded. “There’s no point in it. Samuel’s gone—he won’t ever come again.”

“Did he?”

“Yes, he wanted me to go with him. He said he would take Jared, too. But you can see I’m still here. I told him no!” Ranelle began screaming hysterically. “He is eight years too late! Too late!”

Jared ran down to the beach then, to get away from the sound of his mother crying. He had never heard her cry before, never heard his father’s voice raised so angrily or with such pain.

Ranelle Burkett was never the same after that. She had always been a gentle and loving mother, devoting her life to her son and husband. Now she was distant, withholding her love. She no longer smiled or laughed. She began to drink heavily, and frequently cried silent, hopeless tears.

For two years Jared lived in a state of confusion. He didn’t understand why his mother didn’t love him anymore. He didn’t understand why his parents fought all the time. And then Ranelle was expecting a baby. Rodney had first been delighted, but then things between them got even worse. Ranelle turned from melancholy to bitterness. She didn’t want the new baby. Rodney stayed away from the house, but the arguments didn’t stop. Now Ranelle also fought with Akela, who warned against her heavy drinking. Jared stayed away from his home as much as possible.

When Malia was born, Ranelle wanted nothing to do with her. She gave the baby over to Akela, took to her bottle again, and was hardly ever sober. Jared finally came to understand why his mother had changed. She was still in love with Samuel Barrows. He had overheard many fights between his parents, but one in particular explained much.

It occurred early one morning, just after Malia’s birth, before Ranelle had a chance to find her rum. Jared was
still in bed, but his room was next to his parents’ and their loud voices woke him.

“For God’s sake, go to him then!” Rodney was shouting. “You’re no good to me anymore, you’re no good to your children. You haven’t been a wife or mother since that bastard Barrows came here. Yes, you gave me another child, but only because I forced myself on you.”

“Please leave me alone, Rodney,” Ranelle replied. “I can’t help the way I feel.”

His father’s voice was filled with pain. “Why, Ranelle? Just tell me why? Our first eight years were good. We were happy. How could we have been so happy if you still loved him?”

“I had given him up. I thought there would never be a chance for us, don’t you see? I made myself forget him. I should have waited for him. He had always intended to leave his wife after a few years, but I didn’t know that. I should have waited.”

“Did you ever love me, Ranelle?”

“Oh, Rodney.” Ranelle started to cry. “I never wanted to hurt you. I did love you. But Samuel was my first love, and I can’t help loving him still.”

“Then go to him,” Rodney said brokenly. “I will give you a divorce.”

Ranelle laughed, but it was not a happy sound. “It’s too late! He wrote me after he returned to Boston. His dear wife had a baby while he was gone, six months after he left. Now he’ll never leave her.”

“Ranelle, Ranelle, forget him. Can’t you do that? You did it once before. Forget him again.”

“How can I when I know this time that he still wants me? He proved that by coming here to find me. He loves me and I love him!”

“You must do something, Ranelle. We can’t go on
like this. I can’t work anymore. And it’s affecting Jared. He’s withdrawn, he’s become moody. You have got to stop drinking and start acting like a wife and mother again.”

“Leave me alone, Rodney.”

“Ranelle, please.”

“Just go away. I don’t want to talk anymore.”

There was silence. But now Jared knew why his life had been turned upside down.

And when Malia was one year old, Ranelle Burkett died.

It was a stormy night, the night Jared still had nightmares about. His father was in Honolulu, and Akela had taken Malia and two-year-old Naneki to visit relatives in Kahuku for a few days. The eleven-year-old Jared had become very protective of his mother, and would not leave her alone in the house. Just the two of them were there that night.

Jared heard the patio door leading to the beach open and close, and he got out of bed to see if Akela had returned. When he found no one in the house he ran to his mother’s room but found it empty, a half-filled bottle of rum lying in the middle of the bed.

He panicked, for his mother never left the house at night. He raced outside and down to the beach, screaming
Mother
over and over again. There was no answer. He wasted time searching along the shore before he saw her in the water. She was wading quickly away from the land.

Ranelle Burkett couldn’t swim. All those years with the ocean at her back door, yet she’d never learned to swim. The surf was high because of the approaching storm, and Jared dove into five-foot waves to reach her, but it was as if the hand of God just swept her away. The moonless night was too dark. He couldn’t see. The
tears blinding his eyes hindered him, too. But he stayed in the ocean all night, looking, hoping, praying.

Dawn brought the storm, but also enough light to see by. And Jared found his mother, half a mile down the beach, washed up on the cold, wet sand. She was dead.

It was many hours before they were found, Jared sitting in the sand staring out to sea, his mother’s head cradled in his lap. He couldn’t keep the truth a secret, that she had killed herself, for it was well-known that she couldn’t swim, that she never went into the water even to wade.

It was many years before Jared stopped blaming himself for not being able to save her. She would only have tried again, he finally realized. She had wanted to die. And Samuel Barrows had driven her to her death. By coming into her life when it was too late, he had pushed her into the sea. He was responsible for her misery and her death, and Jared would see to it that he paid.