Synopses & Reviews
Chapter Eight"Did you say something, little brother?" Chase asked."I just wanted to be sure you could spare the two weeks," Dane retorted, his voice smooth and smug. He winked at Nicole."What two weeks?" Chase asked, looking at Nicole again rather than at his brother."The two weeks when you take Mark and Sandi."Chase's head snapped around. He gave Dane his full attention. "Counting chickens?"Dane just smiled."What chickens?" Nicole asked."Chase and I have a bet," Dane explained. "When he loses, he takes the kids while Jan and I go on vacation.""Oh. That's...nice."Nicole's hesitation came from the emotions she sensed seething just beneath Chase's calm exterior. She didn't know what was wrong, but she could guess. Impulsively she turned to him and rested her hand on his bare forearm."I know how busy you must be, and Dane's kids can be a handful. Not to mention Lisa," Nicole said. Then she smiled at the thought of the shy and quietly stubborn child who had Chase's radiant gray eyes. "Don't worry. If you lose, I'll help out. All the kids love picnics in the kipukas."The affection she had for the children warmed her voice and the smile that came and went like the flicker of flame in a wind. Dane gathered up one of the red strands of her hair that she had missed braiding earlier and gave it a teasing tug."You're just a big kid yourself," he said. "That's why they put up with you.""You bet. Of course, it helps that your kids are even smarter than you are."Laughing, he freed her hair. "Yeah, they're something else, aren't they?"Chase's expression settled into harsh lines. He knew from bitter personal experience that the second-fastest way to a father's heart was to seem interested in hischildren."You don't miss a trick, do you, Pele? If Dane hasn't gotten the message your body is sending out, you can always make a fuss over his kids.That was exactly what Chase's most recent lady friend had done. She had oohed and cooed over every snapshot of Lisa as though the girl was the most wonderful child since Christ. But the instant it became clear that the girl -- rather than a handful of pictures -- was going to live with Chase, the lady had wished him luck and gone hunting for another rich fool whose only responsibilities were to his stockbroker."Lures and lies. But some of those lures are damned irresistible, Chase admitted, looking at the smooth, elegant fingers resting on the bare skin just above his wrist.When Chase glanced up again, Nicole realized that she had left her hand too long on his warm forearm. With Dane or Bobby it wouldn't have mattered. They were married, and friends.Chase was neither. He was something new, something entirely unknown. Touching him made her...restless. Being touched by him made heat race through her. The feeling was both exciting and scary.She knew from past experience that she wasn't a sensual woman. At best, sex with Ted had been an uncomfortable event for her. At worst, it had been painful, and her fault.All of it.Her very experienced husband had explained it to her in humiliating detail the night he left her and moved in with a petite divorcé e who had enough money to keep him in the style he had learned to take for granted with Nicole's money. As an added plus, the rich divorcé e was a skilled, responsive lover. Nicole, on the other hand, was neither skilled nor responsive in bed, as Ted had discovered too many times."Otherthan your hair, there's not one damned thing hot about you. You're a walking example of fraud in packaging.The cruel and cruelly truthful words still echoed in her mind, especially late at night when being alone became loneliness, when her youthful dream of a loving partnership with a man became a nightmare of emptiness too painful to bear. She didn't doubt her husband's opinion of her sexuality. He had been a well-known connoisseur of women. She had been a wallflower.Yet a part of her always hoped and dreamed that with the right man she would be able to respond in bed. With the right man she would know the heat of passion and the peace of companionship. With the right man she would be able to share herself, mind and body, and share his mind and body in return.With the right man.And it felt so very right with Chase.It had felt right from the first instant she heard the drums speak beneath his hands. The single kiss on the darkened stage still sang in her blood, urging her to touch him again, to know again the fierce perfection of being in his arms.Something deep within her insisted that the act of love with Chase wouldn't be painful or humiliating. She sensed it as surely as she had sensed the shifts in his drumming the instant before they happened. There was an elemental rapport between Chase and herself that defied logic or explanation.He was right for her. She knew it.She was right for him. Did he know it?As though hearing Nicole's thoughts, Chase turned and caught her speculative amber gaze. The female knowledge in her eyes was as hot as his own hunger. He itched to draw her close and kiss her until they were both breathless and struggling to get inside each other's skin.Wrongtime.Wrong place.The kind of seduction he had in mind should be done in complete privacy rather than in the friendly, almost familial, and certainly loud surroundings of the Kipuka Club on a Friday night. Too many people were watching, and one of them was Dane.He didn't need his younger brother overseeing every detail of male advance and female retreat with smug amusement in his eyes.So Chase settled for reaching for Nicole's water glass instead of her lips. In some primitive way that was stronger than logic or experience, he needed to touch something that had touched her. The knowledge that she had held the cool, smooth glass, that her mouth had touched it, that the water had slid caressingly over her tongue, made this one glass irresistible to him."May I?" he asked, picking up her glass without taking his eyes from hers.Wordlessly she nodded.The delicate sounds of golden bells pierced the blur of surrounding conversation. The sweet music sank into Chase like tiny, sensual claws, pricking him into full physical awareness. He poured a clear stream of water into the glass, set his lips on the rim where hers had so recently lingered, and drank.He knew that she was watching him as intently as he had watched her. The certainty caused a sudden rush of blood in his veins, the heavy beat of sexuality swelling.Dane took a swallow of beer, set down the bottle with a thump, and looked wryly at Chase. "I know you're going to accuse me of hedging my bets, but I need a ride home. No hurry, though. I've got some table-hopping to do."Chase shot his younger brother a "Yeah, yeah, yeah look. "Something wrong with your car?""Jan thought she'd be able to come here later, so I caught a ride in on the bus.But she called while you were onstage and told me it's slow going for her tonight. I was going to bum a ride with Nicole--""Sure," she interrupted with
Synopsis
Paradise calls to Chase Wilcox. A man of science fascinated by the rebirth of life in the wake of cataclysmic natural upheaval, he is drawn to the lush beauty of the island of Hawaii and the secrets it holds—while escaping the destruction of his own personal world. Here where warm breezes caress the skin and vibrant colors assault the senses—and where dangerous fires rage unseen beneath the earth's surface—Chase plans to immerse himself in his work...and somehow heal and forget. The last thing he needs or wants is love.
But the island is home to many unexpected wonders, which is why Nicole Ballard could never leave it. A research assistant, an artist, and a dancer—a tall, stunning redhead who goes by the stage name of Pele, the goddess of fire—she, too, hides a secret pain, releasing her pent-up sensuality to the accompaniment of native drums before a mesmerized audience. Nicole has never met a man quite like Chase, strong, intense, and brilliant. And he, in turn, is fascinated by this remarkable woman who seems to be a breathtaking force of nature in her own right. Fate has cast them together, causing a chain reaction that neither imagined in their most secret dreams.
Joined on an important scientific project that carries them into the verdant heart of a tropical wonder land, Nicole and Chase will be forced to confront their own lingering inner darkness, while resisting a newly inflamed need to touch, to give...to care. But in the shadows of Kilauea, all restraints will be broken, as emotions flow as hot and free as rivers of molten lava. And desire will erupt, as unpredictable and dangerous as the living volcano, transforming the very landscape of their lives—a torrent that no power on earth can contain, a passion that bums like fire.
Synopsis
Paradise calls to Chase Wilcox. A man of science, escaping the destruction of his own personal world, he is drawn to the lush beauty of the island of Hawaii and the secrets it holds. Here he intends to immerse himself in his work . . . and somehow heal and forget.
A research assistant, an artist, and a dancer, Nicole Ballard also hides a secret pain. Together on an important scientific project in the moist, verdant heart of a tropical wonderland, both she and Chase will be forced to confront their own lingering inner darkness. But in the shadows of Mount Kilauea, a passion that burns like fire will erupt, as unpredictable and dangerous as the living volcano, transforming the very landscape of their lives.
A classic story of desire, hope, and dangerous destiny from the incomparable New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell
About the Author
Elizabeth Lowell's acclaimed suspense novels include the
New York Times bestsellers
Death Echo, Blue Smoke and Murder, Innocent as Sin, The Wrong Hostage, Always Time to Die, The Color of Death, Die in Plain Sight, Running Scared, and
Moving Target, as well as four books featuring the Donovan family:
Amber Beach, Jade Island, Pearl Cove, and
Midnight in Ruby Bayou. Lowell has more than thirty million books in print. She lives in Nevada with her husband, with whom she writes mystery novels under a pseudonym.
Las aclamadas novelas de suspenso de la autora Elizabeth Lowell incluyen varios bestsellers en la New York Times. Lowell ha vendido más de treinta millones de ejemplares. Vive con su esposo en Seattle, Washington y Sedona, Arizona, con quien escribe novelas de misterio bajo un seudónimo.