It wasnt until much later that Noelani inadvertently learned that Duke had neglected to mention his marriage at the outset of his relationship with Anela. According to Tutu, Duke had also wanted to divorce his wife and leave his Louisiana home, but Anela refused to hear of it. It wasnt until after hed left Maui that she discovered she was pregnanta fact that never altered her decision to let him go.
Talk about decisions After ten minutes of watching the baggage department clear out, Noelani collected her bags and went in search of a cab. If money to help shore up Shillers mill hadnt been her prime objective in coming to this dreary place, shed have asked the driver to take her straight to a hotel.
But according to a terse telegram from Jackson Fontaine that had accompanied her ticket, a room awaited her at Bellefontaine. It was that address Noelani reluctantly gave the cabbie.
Through a streaked window, she watched the skyline of Baton Rouge disappear in a mass of black clouds. Her cab crossed a wide, churning expanse of muddy water the driver said was the Mississippi River.
Never before had Noelani felt so out of her element.
Soon the city gave way to wet fields of tall cane. The knot in her stomach began to uncoil. As a child shed played hide-and-seek in similar cane rows. Friends often broke off stalks and chewed them for the juice, but Tutu had warned it would ruin her teeth, so Noelani rarely sneaked a nibble. But, oh, how she loved the smell of burnt sugar that used to hang like mist in the air when they burned fields. More of lifes changes, she mused, watching field after field slide past. Agricultural developers had introduced new cane that was too tough to chew, followed by better fertilizers, which made it more advantageous to plow under old ratoons. As well, environmentalists had forced an end to burning.
The driver pointed. Up ahead, through those magnolia trees, is Bellefontaine. In French, Bellefontaine means pretty fountain. There are fountains all over the grounds. Im not sure how many.
Noelani scooted forward as far as her seat belt allowed and craned her neck for her first look at Duke Fontaines home. A home hed purportedly been willing to give up for her mother. Right! The gift of a lei promised that its recipient would return to the islands, but Duke had never made another trip to Maui. Plainly, by the look of this place, hed gone on with his life in grand style while Anela pined hers away.
Noelani counted four fountains on a huge manicured lawn. Not even the downpour detracted from the effect of tall white pillars and wide balconies supporting a mansion larger than Queen Emmas summer palace. As a special treat one time, Tutu took Noelani on a tour of their most beloved Hawaiian rulers part-time residence. This home was more ostentatious.
Unable to catch her breath, Noelani didnt immediately realize the cab had pulled around to the back of the house. Awed by the homes magnificence, and heedless of the falling rain, she stepped out for a better look. The fresh, rain-washed scent failed to cloak an acrid odor of charred wood.
Standing several yards away from a jutting porte cochere, Noelani saw that a section of the mansion had burned. Recently enough so that a workman was even now attempting to spread tarps over a gaping hole in the roof. He leaned far out from the top rung of an extension ladder. The man was bare-headed, and dark hair lay plastered to his skull. Faded blue jeans and a gray T-shirt were molded to his wet skin.
Suddenly the ladder slipped out from under the mans sneakers and fell hard into a flower bed below. The man was left clawing at a sagging rain gutter. He managed to grab the tarp with one hand seconds before the gutter cracked and a large section canted crazily. If he continued to kick, the section would break and plummet him to the ground below. Granted, that section of the house was only one story tall, compared to three in the main structure. Nevertheless, the man could break his neck.
Heedless of her strappy leather heels and new linen suit, Noelani tore across the soft lawn, leaving her cabbie in the process of requesting her fare.
ADAM ROSS, WHOD BEEN HIRED by Casey Fontaine to restore Bellefontaine to historical perfection, swore roundly at his ladder. He maintained a tenuous grip on the canvas tarp and had one elbow buried in a weak rain gutter that had sustained damage during a recent kitchen fire. It wasnt bad enough that this storm had blown in from the gulf, calling a halt to the job of his dreams; now Adam feared hed break a leg or worse and lose the contract altogether. Dammit to hell!
He kicked experimentally to see if maybe the ladder hadnt fallen all the way to the ground. A warning crack and further sagging of the gutter forced him to freeze. Even at that, his hundred-and-ninety-pound weight was liable to rip the entire gutter from its shaky mooring.
Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! He kicked again, only halfheartedly.
Quit swearing at the roof and hold still.
Adam wondered if hed imagined the woman who appeared to be digging through the honeysuckle below and to the left of his swinging feet.
Are you hurt? a low melodic voice inquired.
A few scrapes, he muttered. Probably bruised a rib or two. If you can lift that ladder, sweet thing, chances are Ill live.
Chances go down if you call me sweet thing again.
Adam couldnt see much of his Good Samaritan. But he fell instantly in lust with her sweet-as-sugar voice. Lately, women hadnt figured in Adams life. Hed been too busy building a business after working his butt off to graduate from LSU in restorative architecture. Certainly hed never been smitten with a woman based solely on her voice. That was about to change, however, if this one got him out of his current mess.
Damn, any woman capable of standing his heavy ladder upright the way the Amazon below had managed with the ease of a seasoned construction worker definitely owned a big piece of Adams heart.
Despite a downpour few women of Adams acquaintance wouldve ventured out in, this one had come from nowhere, raised his ladder and then climbed a few rungs to guide his feet to safety.
Thanks, he panted. You saved my hed been about to say job, but that sounded too parsimonious my life.
Hardly anything so dramatic. But youre welcome.
Now that the dangling man was safe and her heart had stopped hammering wildly, Noelani retreated and squinted up for a clearer look at him. She judged the man to be in his early thirties. Even on this overcast day, she could tell that his eyes were very blue. The steaming T-shirt plastered to his broad chest sported the logo of a local university. Are youJackson Fontaine? Her throat went dry as it struck Noelani that she might have given aid to her half brother.
Adam stared down on a mass of black hair framing a face that seemed to be all eyes. He also noted a lot of leg below a short black skirt. A very nice package from his birds-eye view. Stay put, he ordered, having more pressing matters at the moment than cataloging his helpers pleasing attributes. Could you hold the ladder, please? Ill secure these tarpaulins so they wont blow away.
Either he hadnt heard or else he chose to ignore her question. The fool hoisted himself off his safe perch onto the roof and left the metal ladder vibrating under Noelanis fingers. She barely caught his requestor more to the pointhis edict.
He must be Jackson Fontaine. Who but the lord of the manor would deem it his right to keep a woman standing in the rain while he covered his castle? Oh, well. She couldnt get much wetter. And it was a warm rain. Since she needed to speak to him, anyway, she might as well ensure he didnt break his fool neck.