4 Maui Macadamia Madness (5 page)

“I feel the same
way.” I peered up at him. “Do you want to disappear?”

“What do you have in
mind?” His teeth flashed.

“A
stroll down the beach to somewhere private?”

“You read my mind.”
He took my hand and, like a couple of teenagers, we dashed down the walk and
onto the warm sand.

I resisted the urge
to look over my shoulder to see whether we were spotted. My flip-flops slipped
off my feet. I left them, enjoying the feel of the cool, wet sand by the
water’s edge. The fragrance of
Plumeria
blossoms
filled the air.

Ethan pulled me
close and tipped my face. In a slow, agonizing motion, he bent to claim my
lips. Softly, then with increasing ardor, he left no doubt as to whom I
belonged to. Oh, the splendor of a moonlit kiss on a Hawaiian beach.
Heaven on earth.

My arms entwined
around his neck, and I took his bottom lip between my teeth. Ethan lifted me
from my feet and twirled. Giggling, I laid my forehead against his. “I love
you.”

“Ditto,
sweetheart.”

I slid down his
torso, heat infusing my body with every inch of contact. Taking him by the
hand, I pulled him into a stand of trees. “Let’s fool around.”

“You are a naughty
girl.” He plastered me against a tree trunk.

“Oh, yes, I –”

“Summer?”
Aunt Eunice’s voice rang across the beach.

I clapped a hand
over Ethan’s mouth. “
Shh
. If we’re quiet, she’ll go
away.”

My aunt’s timing was
impeccable. I stomped my foot and peered through the night toward the building.
I wanted to mess around with my love. Maybe actually pretend Ethan and I
were
in a trashy romance novel.
A little hanky-panky in a forbidden location.
Just the
thought made my face hot. “Do you think we could sneak back to our cottage?”

“No.” Ethan’s
whisper tickled my neck. His nibbles on my earlobe sent delicious tingles down
my spine, and my temperature through the clouds. “We’d be spotted for sure.”

My breath came in
gasps. With each moment, each kiss, each caress, it became imperative that we
leave the beach and reach the privacy of our bedroom. Otherwise, I was going to
do something totally foolish and wanton.

“Please.” I grabbed
his hand and looked for an escape route. There. It would require a romp through
thick bushes, but we were young. We could do it.
“This way.”

“As
you wish, G.I. Jane.”
Ethan’s chuckle followed as I dragged us through scratchy evergreens.

Freedom was in
sight. A sidewalk light illuminated our royal blue door. I took a step.

“I said, nobody can
know.” Susan’s sultry voice came from our right. “It will ruin me.”

Without a word,
hardly breathing, I pressed Ethan back out of sight. Holding a finger to my
lips, I motioned my head in Susan’s direction.

“I don’t understand
the need for this type of secrecy.” A man answered.

Who was that? He
sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I glanced at Ethan who shrugged.

“It’s
either my
way, Raul, or I’m out.” She lowered her voice to a
hiss. “People are dying. Not to mention that nosey
Summer
poking into everyone’s business.”

“I can take care of
her.”

I shrank against
Ethan. His arms tightened around me.

“How?”
Susan asked.

“Don’t worry. When
I’m finished, everyone around here will think she
offed
the dead guy to gain attention for herself.”

I stiffened. He did
not just say that. My fingers curled into fists. I was going to bash both of
them!

“
Shh
.”
Ethan rested his chin on my head and started walking backward, the way we had
come. When we had cleared the brush, he grabbed me by the shoulders. “Don’t say
a word until we are in our cabin.”

I nodded.

He pulled me at a
brisk pace to our temporary home. I kept my eyes peeled for family and saw no
one. They must have given up the search and retired to their own rooms.

The moment Ethan
unlocked our door and pulled me inside, he grabbed me into a hug. “You don’t go
anywhere alone, do you hear me? How do you get into these situations? You’re a
trouble magnet, Summer Banning.”

I turned my head in
order to rescue my smashed nose. “I didn’t go looking for trouble, Ethan. I
don’t know how it always finds me.”
Much less on my
honeymoon.
God sure had a sense of humor.

“I don’t want
anything to happen to you.”

I laughed.
A nervous habit that I hated at certain times.
This being one of them.
“I don’t either.”

He held me out,
touching foreheads. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Love me?”

“That, God help me,
I do with all my heart.” He took both my hands in his and led me to the sofa.
“Now, what?
You’re the expert.”

“You helped a lot on
the last mystery.” And he had. My cheeks heated remembering our make-out
sessions while on stakeout. Ethan had given me a birthday party, where all the
gifts were tools of the crime solving trade. That, more than anything, had proven
his love for me.

“I got locked in a
storage shed. You escaped a mad man and rescued me.”

“Oh,
yeah.”
I laid my head on
his shoulder. “Don’t you forget it,
either.
Guess I’ll
need to keep you safer this time. I doubt I’ll find a group of high school football
players to help this time.”

No amount of teasing
would alleviate the shadow of dread beginning to hover. Too many times I came
close to death. A madman obsessed with love for me and his diamonds.
A crazy sideshow freak at the county fair.
A devious love
triangle and computer scam.

I sighed. Here I was
again, through no fault of my own, except for being in the right place at the
wrong time. My ears burned, thinking of how strangers could believe I would
kill someone in order to garner fame.

“Don’t worry.”
Ethan’s arms tightened around me. “We’ll take care of this together.
You, me, and God.”

“Don’t forget Aunt
Eunice, Uncle Roy, April, and Joe.” I giggled.

Ethan’s fingers dug
into my sides as he tickled me. “How could I forget them? Your aunt ruined a perfectly
good moment in the bushes.”

I turned to punch
his arm. A person in black sweats stood on our patio peering in. I screamed.
Ethan jumped to his feet, depositing me on the floor. I scrambled to my feet as
he dashed to the door. No way was he leaving me behind.

Ethan stopped at the
door and spun to face me.
“Call Joe.”

“Not
Manano
?”

“No.” His shoulders
slumped. “I recognized the voice with Susan. It was
Manano’s
voice.”

I gripped his arm.
“We tell the police.”

“Who are they going
to believe? One of their own, or an amateur sleuth out to make a name for
herself?” He cupped my cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

“Please.”

He was gone.
Vanished in the dark like smoke in a breeze.

With my heart in my
throat, I grabbed my cell phone off the coffee table and punched in Joe’s
number. “Joe.”

“Ethan tire of you
already?”

“Stop.
We had an intruder. Ethan’s gone after—”
Click.

Well, being my
cousin, it didn’t take much for Joe to fill in the blanks. I collapsed on the
sofa and waited for one of the men in my life to return. Within minutes, I had
dug at my fingernails until one of the beautiful sculpted French tips fell off.
So much for pretty hands.
I sat on them. Where are
Ethan and Joe?

I called April.
“Where’s my cousin?”

“Isn’t he there?”

“I wouldn’t be
asking you where he was if he was here.” My stomach churned. Horror! The bad
guy managed to overcome Ethan and Joe. A feat I always thought would be
impossible.

“Calm down. I’m sure
there’s a logical explanation.”

“Don’t tell me you
aren’t scared
spitless
.”

“Every time I’m
involved in one of your mysteries, I’m terrified.”

“Very
funny.”
I glanced at the
dark windows. Was the killer watching me? Had he murdered my husband? Tears
poured down my cheeks. “Pray, April. I’m losing it over here. I’m not used to
being left behind.”

“I will. And I’ll
get Eunice and Roy, too. You know Eunice has a direct line. Even God is afraid
of not listening to her.”

I laughed through my
tears, the sound coming out between a gurgle and a snort. “You’re right.”
Something scraped across the flagstone patio. “I’ll talk to you later. Thanks.”
After hanging up, I grabbed the lamp beside the sofa. Its ceramic base was a
better weapon than nothing.

Taking a deep
breath, I approached the patio door, holding the lamp like a baseball bat. The
shade fell to the floor with a thump, sending ants scurrying down my arms.
Okay, Lord. Here I go. Angels protect me
.

With a trembling
hand, I shoved open the door.

Two figures stood
there.

I screamed.

Chapter Six

I punched Ethan in the arm then followed suit with Joe. Afterward, I
felt like I had hit a couple of walls. “You scared the wits out of me!” I set
the lamp on the nearest table and shook the pain from my hand. “Did you find
him?”

“Nope.
But we found the clothes.” Joe tossed the
sweats on the sofa. “No telling if it was a man or a woman?”“
None.”
Ethan wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Thank you for doing as I asked and
staying put.

“I didn’t have a
choice. You took off too fast for me to follow.” I stretched on tiptoe to kiss
his cheek. “Thank you for coming back alive.” Taking Ethan’s hand and heading
for the bedroom, I glanced over my shoulder. “Goodnight, Joe. Thanks for
coming.”

“Don’t you want to
talk about the case?” He grinned, although his ears were a bright enough
scarlet to light the night. “Should I take these clothes to the police? What
about your statement?”

Ethan’s steps
paused.
Poor man.
He was clearly torn between wanting
to make love to me and keeping me from getting killed by catching a murderer.
“Keep the clothes,” he said. “And don’t bother going to the police. They won’t
help anyway.”

“We’ll talk about
this tomorrow.” I pulled Ethan inside the room and closed the door.

###

Having upgraded the rental car to a van, our group gathered around
Ethan who held a map of the island. I didn’t mind sightseeing with the family,
but I did insist they follow the schedule Ethan and I had planned. Today, we
were off to the whaling town of
Lahaina
. I couldn’t
wait to browse the art galleries. I already had my camera slung over my
shoulder, comfortable sandals on my feet, and a bright yellow sundress on my
body.

“Time
to go.
I want to get some
snorkeling in when we return this afternoon.” Maybe the little fishes had grown
since yesterday.

“I want to see the
whales,” Uncle Roy said.

“You see one every time
I put on a bathing suit.” Aunt Eunice cackled and winked.

“A mythical creature
is what I see.” He nuzzled her neck.
“A siren of the ocean
waves.”

I sighed. Having
grown up with daily doses of witnessing their affection for each other, the
physical contact no longer made me want to gag. If they still acted that way
while on the downside of sixty, more power to them, but I wished they’d snuggle
behind closed doors.

“More like a troll.”
Aunt Eunice giggled.

“Okay, that’s
enough.” I threw open the van door.
“Time to hit the road and
stop with the mushiness.”
Any kissing and snuggling going on would be
between me and Ethan.

“But this is like a
second honeymoon for us.” Aunt Eunice grunted as she practically crawled into
the vehicle.

My gaze met Ethan’s
over the hood. He grinned and winked. “That’s us in thirty years.”

I hoped so. Having
waited most of my life for Ethan to notice me, I wanted to spend the rest of it
beside him. Joe squeezed into the front passenger seat, leaving me to slide in
the far back beside April.

“More leg room,” he
said.

Totally not fair
that I wasn’t sitting next to my new husband. What if I died on this trip and
this was the last time I got to sit next to him? Yes, a bit dramatic, but my
brain did tend to venture off in strange directions when threatened with
danger.