“Nothing as important as you.” Which had become the truth. “Thanks for the tour.”
“Don’t mention it. Orchid Island may have broken away from Hawaii during the first King Kamehameha’s wars to unite the islands, but far be it from me to give you the idea that we Orchid Islanders aren’t overflowing with the aloha spirit.”
For not the first time since meeting Lani, Donovan felt unreasonably powerless as she turned on her heel and began jogging down the expanse of sand.
“She’s more complex than she appears at first glance,” Thomas offered as he came up beside Donovan. “People look at Lani and fall in love with the free spirit, never guessing there’s an intelligent, flesh-and-blood woman living inside that attractive packaging.”
Donovan didn’t feel it prudent to tell Thomas Breslin that what he was feeling for the man’s daughter was a great deal more basic than love.
“She’s got a lot of her grandmother in her,” he murmured instead.
Thomas looked at him with renewed interest. “So she took you to visit Margaret, did she? Last time you were here, you only met her in passing, when she arrived at the house just as you and Nate were off to go surfing. What did you think?”
“I think that you must have had an extremely interesting childhood.”
Thomas threw back his head and laughed heartily. “What a wonderfully circumspect answer,” he said, throwing a friendly arm around Donovan’s shoulder. “ Interesting ,” he chortled. “That’s one word for it.”
They entered the cottage and were sipping white rum on ice when Lani’s father turned the conversation away from a rundown of the island sights Donovan had been shown that day.
“I’m a bastard.”
Donovan wasn’t fooled for a moment by Thomas’s casual tone. The gleam in those intelligent eyes revealed that it was a test, and both men knew it.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,” Donovan drawled. “From what I’ve witnessed so far, you’re an amiable enough man.”
Thomas nodded, accepting the ball as it returned to his court. “That’s what all my patients say,” he acknowledged. “However, I was speaking in the biblical sense. My mother was never married to my father.”
Donovan shrugged, unconcerned. “So?”
“It ruffled more than a few feathers back in those days. It doesn’t bother you?”
“Not a bit,” Donovan answered honestly. “Does it bother you?”
“Of course not,” Thomas answered impatiently. “But as you’ve already pointed out, my childhood was not exactly the norm. My mother’s circle of friends could be described as bohemian at best and more than one of my surrogate relatives was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Including my birth father.”
Donovan thought he knew where this was going. He put the glass down on a rattan table beside the chair. Leaning back, he rested his elbows on the arms of the chair and linked his fingers together.
“We’re not really discussing your parentage here, are we?”
Appearing uncharacteristically uncomfortable, Thomas Breslin tossed back the rum. When he returned his gaze to Donovan, he was no longer smiling.
Donovan had seen that same expression on Lani’s face from time to time. Secrets, he mused. The Breslin family definitely had its share.
“She’s my daughter, Donovan. And I love her.”
“Of course you do.”
Thomas stared down at his empty glass, as if wishing it could magically be refilled. Then he lifted his head to give Donovan a warning look. “I don’t want her hurt,” he said with a low forcefulness that was at direct odds with the cheery, carefree character he’d seemed last night.
“What makes you think I’d do anything to hurt her?”
“You wouldn’t mean to,” Thomas allowed. “I can tell you’re a decent man, and Nate’s always spoken highly of you. But you’re going to. I can see it coming, and damned if I know how to stop it.”
“I have no intention of hurting her. Yet, as I’ve already told Nate, she’s a grown woman. She’s also smart, self-aware, and capable of making her own decisions.”
“That’s true. But there’s no future for you and my daughter. How likely do you think the FBI would be to hire a special agent whose wife’s father testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee?”
“Are you asking me my intentions?”
“No. I’m asking you not to use my daughter as a diversion,” Thomas responded with a burst of heat. “Something to while away a tropical holiday before you return to Oregon and move on with your life.”
“I don’t want to argue with you, Thomas, but our relationship really isn’t any of your concern.”
The older man dragged his hand wearily over his face. “I didn’t think it would work,” he muttered as he rose and made his way to the door.
“Then why did you bother to make the attempt?”