mom tried to make everyone call me Eliza Ann, but she was outnumbered,” Ellie replied with a light laugh. “I guess your mom carries more clout.”
His answering chuckle delighted his ears. People ought to realize how truly special laughter is to the human race.
“My mother is never outnumbered,” he responded, reveling in this wonderful, meaningless conversation.
Yet for a moment he thought about his mother.
Even the disappearance of her only son probably didn’t throw Catherine Morgan for long. His mother…she’d certainly never been a “mom”…most likely set up search headquarters in the living room, had her senator call in the FBI, gave everyone drinks and hors d’oeuvres, then took it as a personal affront when her son ruined the party by not being found immediately.
“She sounds formidable.”
But Daniel didn’t want to talk about his mother. Or himself. After all, what could he say?
“Are you in Hawaii on vacation?” he asked.
Ellie’s smile glowed out at him.
With her long silvery hair, and with her face turned up to the night sky, the woman could be mistaken for a moon goddess.
Maybe she was. Daniel stilled. He didn’t trust this cove.
But her answer couldn’t have been more normal.
“Yes and no. I came for a pediatrics convention in Honolulu, but I have a brother here with the marines. He’ll be leaving for Japan soon, so I’m taking the opportunity to spend time with him.”
“Pediatrics? You’re an M.D.?”
“Pediatric nurse. How about you?”
“Small world. I’m a doctor. Just finished my residency.”
All true, but how many years ago? Four? He wasn’t sure anymore.
“Oh, were you here for the conference, too?”
“Um, no. So how do you like Hawaii?”
“It’s beautiful, what I’ve seen of it. I haven’t had a chance to be a tourist yet, except for a visit to the cultural center.”
She wiggled her toes in the sand, and Daniel thought he’d never seen anything so lovely as the shine of pale nail polish on the sweetest feet in the islands.
He smothered an inward grin at this new appreciation of feet. If nothing else, the past years had been a lesson in what to appreciate. Things once taken for granted he now considered in a whole new light. He could hardly wait to go home.
But there was something else he’d learned in the Kamehanas’ back garden.
Enjoy the moment.
And at this moment, he was on a beautiful beach—as long as one stayed out of the water—enjoying a beautiful night, talking nothings with a breathtaking woman.
Talking? On a night like this? What was he thinking!
After years of isolation, he wasn’t greedy. But a modest little kiss with a moon goddess wouldn’t be asking too much, would it? Would Ellie be willing?
Sifting sand through her fingers, Ellie idly watched it catch the breeze, very much aware of being observed.
On a deserted beach with a total stranger, she should be afraid. But fear was the farthest thing from her mind. It was all she could do not to stare back.
Something about Daniel attracted her as she hadn’t been attracted in years, though he wasn’t her type at all.
Too handsome, for one thing. She’d never been susceptible to handsome men. Fashion-model looks and muscled physiques might be the stuff of most women’s fantasies but not hers.
The touch of vulnerability she sensed that had her wanting to reach out to him was another thing. Normally she found vulnerability a turnoff in men because she equated the word with “needy.” Her ex-husband sprang to mind.
If you love me, you’ll stay home with me. Let someone else take the extra shift.
Ellie shook the memory away. It wasn’t that kind of vulnerability she sensed in Daniel. Behind the easygoing charm that said he’d been practicing it for years, she sensed strength in him. And sadness.
She shook that thought away, too.
So what was the attraction? The man was just too perfect for her taste.
Handsome, charming and a doctor? Yeah, right. Surely he’d made that last up. What were the odds? Most likely he was the male equivalent to a beach bunny.
Aha! Ellie swallowed the urge to laugh outright. That was the attraction.
On a lovely beach on a moonlit night in Hawaii, she’d met the perfect kind of man for her—a studly beach bum. Here now, gone with the tide.
And she’d bet the ranch this particular stud-muffin wanted to kiss her.
She would let him, too, Ellie thought. What fool ignored perfection? And after a kiss or two, she would put on her sandals and return to Chad’s apartment.
Alone.
If Daniel found her tomorrow or in the days ahead and wanted to continue where they left off, maybe she would.
Maybe she wouldn’t.
It depended on Chad’s duty schedule and how much free time he had. Ellie planned to spend as much time as possible with her brother, but when Chad was busy, Daniel might be fun to hang out with. He apparently knew the island well.
Perfect. A vacation flirtation.
Something to laugh about over coffee with her colleagues when she got home.
“Ellie.”
Even knowing this scene for exactly what it was, and knowing that Daniel was getting ready to exercise his best come-on, when he said her name like that, low and a little bit rough, Ellie shivered.
Make that sizzled.
“Umm?”
“I…” He cleared his throat. “Uh, where are you from?”
Was that shyness she heard? Couldn’t be. Didn’t fit the image.
“Texas,” she said, and slowly turned her head from her study of the sea so that she could look at him.
What she saw made her breath catch. “S-San Antonio,” she added in a husky whisper.
“Ah.” His gaze never left her mouth. “Would you mind if I kissed you?”
He had to ask? “Please,” Ellie managed to breathe. Her eyes fluttered shut.
But it wasn’t Daniel’s lips she felt next.
