Eden Burning by Elizabeth Lowell

Author:Elizabeth Lowell [Lowell, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780066212746
Google: bO-omr_cU4kC
Amazon: B000FC11JM
Barnesnoble: B000FC11JM
Goodreads: 10524797
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2001-12-12T13:00:00+00:00

“Pele? She’s not here,” Bobby said.

With an easy motion he popped the cap off an ice-sweating bottle of beer and handed it to Chase. Except for the two men, the Kipuka Club was empty, chairs tucked beneath freshly set tables, glasses shining along the bar, everything waiting for the Sunday night crowds to arrive when the doors opened at five.

“Do you know where she is?” Chase asked, taking the beer.

“Benny told me he saw her up on the mountain this afternoon.”

Chase had looked for Nicole on the volcano, but he hadn’t found her. As Dane had pointed out, the mountain was a big place. So Chase had come back to Hilo, even though he doubted that Nicole would show up at the Kipuka Club to dance tonight.

But she just might.

Thin as the possibility was, it was his best hope of seeing her.

“Was she all right?” Chase asked.

Bobby stopped in the midst of uncapping his own beer and gave the other man a sharp look. “First Dane, now you. What’s going on?”

Chase watched creamy foam climbing the narrow neck of the beer bottle and sliding down the smooth brown glass. Bubbles caressed his knuckles with tiny, bursting kisses before he bent and licked up the savory froth.

“Thanks for the beer,” he said, and saluted Bobby with the bottle. “Need a drummer tonight?”

The Hawaiian’s black eyes narrowed. “I’m beginning to think I might need a dancer named Pele.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“So you tell me. Is she all right?”

“If she can climb the mountain, she must be.” Chase tipped the icy neck of the bottle to his lips.

Bobby said something in Hawaiian. He didn’t offer to translate.

Chase didn’t ask. He met the giant’s black glare without flinching.

“Man trouble,” Bobby said flatly. “Worse kine trouble. You be dat man?”

Until that moment Chase had thought Bobby’s side trips into pidgin were both amusing and amazing, given the man’s education. But this was like the harsh rumble just before a volcano explodes.

“Yes-no?” Bobby demanded.

“Yes or no,” Chase said softly, “it’s none of your business. Unless Nicole’s your woman?”

“You slower dan aa,” Bobby said in sardonic tones. “Dat wahine belong no man. No-no.”

“Ever?”

Bobby lifted his beer bottle and didn’t set it down until there was nothing left but a thin sheen of foam inside the bottle. In silence he opened another beer. Only then did he lean over the polished bar and look around the empty club in the mirror.

“You asking for a special reason?” Bobby said mildly.

“I’m asking.”

“I get the feeling that’s pretty special for you. Asking.”

Chase’s head moved slightly. It could have been a nod. It could simply have been that he shifted position. He gave away no clues, except perhaps in his very stillness while he waited for Bobby’s answer.

“I don’t know how she lived on the mainland.” Bobby took a long drink of beer. “Don’t give a damn either. When she came here, she looked like hell. Pale as death. Eyes like bruises. No life in her hair or her walk. Her idea of a smile made you want to cry.

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