Read Online Spoils of Eden by Linda Lee Chaikin - Free Book Online

often well past midnight. It was a ready place to eat and rest rather than having to return to the main house, though it offered little comfort in the heat of the day when the sun beat relentlessly on the palm frond roof.
    Keno turned away from the Hawaiian woman who’d been seated beside the road and walked toward Rafe, carrying a large
ahi
tuna. Nearing the bungalow, Keno held up the slippery fish, its scales glinting in the sunlight.
    Leaning in the doorway, eating an overripe melon with a wooden spoon, Rafe shot Keno a quizzical look. “What’s that all about?”
    Keno gestured toward the lingering woman. “She wants you to buy this.”
    When she grinned at Rafe, he smiled and looked back Keno. “I don’t like fish, so you buy it and send it over to Ambrose.”
    Keno thoughtfully stroked the slippery fish with one finger. “Hawaiian
wahine
has heard how poor, handsome
makua
Rafe isheartbroken over haole girl with green eyes.”
    Rafe flicked away some melon seeds and narrowed his gaze as Keno continued. “Hawaiian woman says her own eyes are black, but she can cook an
ahi
great and delicious. She wants to come inside and comfort you.”
    Rafe didn’t so much as bat a lash. “Tell her that poor, heartbroken makua Rafe cannot be solaced. He only wants ‘green eyes’ in his little hut.”
    Keno dug in his pocket for some change. “I’m broke.” He held out his palm. Rafe dug into his own pocket but also found nothing.
    Rafe gestured. “Bring the fish back.”
    Keno, a strongly built pearl diver, trotted down the slope to where the woman waited, seated by the narrow road with her basket. He shook his head no, firmly handed her the
ahi
, made negative gestures with his hands—then pointed down the road. His voice carried on the breeze: “Go up to the big house, ask for Noelani. She’ll buy the fish.
Rapidamente!”
    Rafe turned his mouth.
Spanish?
Of all languages to use with her.
    The woman walked away in the direction of the Great House, and Keno trotted back toward the bungalow.
    Finishing the melon, Rafe wiped his hands on a towel. The one woman he wanted, he couldn’t have, even after offering her everything—his heart and his life. No small offering as far as he was concerned. He would never understand women. One brought him a big smelly fish, anxious to stay, the other kept him dangling on a line while she awaited the return of her long lost father, daily risking her future to leprosy at Kalihi Hospital.
    Keno came inside, brushed past him, and sat down by a desk cluttered with papers, books, and a Bible. He reached for a pencil.
    Rafe tilted his head. “You were a little brusque with her, weren’t yo
u? ‘Rapidamente!’
he mimicked good naturedly.
    “If I wasn’t firm with her, she’d camp out there. Gotta be careful, ol’ pal. Remember that divorced lady, the haole? She kept comingto see Ambrose, wanting to tell him all about how lonely she was for a fellow and how she needed counseling to deal with her temptations?”
    “I remember. He learned his lesson and got rid of her in a hurry. Told her that Noelani would be happy to counsel with her … a woman’s heart to a woman’s heart. Wise, isn’t he?”
    “Safest place for you, my friend, is to get you on board the
Minoa
again,” Keno said, finally finding Rafe’s map. He reached over and spread it across the desk. “No sooner will you board ship for French Guiana than ‘Miss Green Eyes’ will pine for you, weeping tears into her lace hanky. She will bemoan how she lost you, and become pale and wan. Then, Dr. Jerome will realize how he’s manipulated her to support his work, send for you posthaste, and have Ambrose perform an immediate marriage—” Rafe promptly muffled Keno’s mouth with a towel.
    “You talk too much, Keno.” Rafe smiled at him maliciously. “I think it was you whom Fishy Wahine had her eyes on. Yes, that was it, you conniving hapa-haole. I had best speak to Candace about this. Let her know how the adoring