Free Walking in Fire: Hawaiian Heroes, Book 1 by Cathryn Cade Page B

kinky she wouldn’t, and then…he’d forced her.
    Ugh. She shuddered. No, she couldn’t believe that. But if he hadn’t beaten Cherie, who had? And where was Malu?
    Anyway, lately her judgment wasn’t that great when it came to men. Maybe Dane was right.
     
     
    Purse over her shoulder, Melia took one last look around the little room.
    “I s’pose you wish he was in your bedroom,” Dane said behind her.
    Startled, Melia swung around to find him leaning against the window frame only a foot or two away, hands shoved into the pockets of his camouflage shorts. Silhouetted against the window, his face was shadowed, but there was an odd set to his bare shoulders. Uneasiness skittered over her skin.
    “No, I just wish he was here, safe,” she said.
    “He’s not interested in you,” Dane said now, his voice as tight as his stance.
    Melia glanced toward the door. Dane was attracted to Malu. Was it possible he was so jealous he would attack any woman in whom Malu showed interest?
    Her conscious mind floundered. Dane was just a wealthy beach bum, intent on the next laugh, the next party. He’d admitted it cheerfully.
    “You would’ve gone, though, if he’d asked you,” he said slyly, watching her.
    “No,” she retorted, stung. “And he didn’t ask.” Not unless she counted his teasing.
    He shrugged. “’Course not. You didn’t shove your tits in his face like she did. Anyway, to protect you, I told him you came to buy.”
    “Buy what?” she asked blankly.
    He shook his head. “Jeez, are you as innocent as you act? Drugs, baby, drugs.”
    Melia gaped at him, ignoring his sneering tone. “You told Malu I wanted to buy drugs ?”
    He snorted. “Plenty of people come to Hawaii to make a buy. They do some snorkeling or diving, some partying.”
    “Well, I came just to snorkel,” Melia snapped. “And while I appreciate your misguided attempt to protect me, you had no right to lie about me.”
    “I do what needs to be done.” He shrugged as if her protest meant nothing.
    Anger knotting in her belly, Melia turned to grab her duffle bag from the bed.
    “Come on,” she snapped. “We have to get Cherie to a hospital. That’s what’s important now.”

Chapter Seven
     
    Recipe for violence—take one Hawaiian left for dead and mix with attacker. Stir well .
     
    The slide of her nylon duffle on the bedspread nearly covered the rustle outside the window. But not quite.
    Melia looked over Dane’s shoulder, and her heart nearly stopped. A huge apparition shot up through the shrubbery. A monster with the face of a nightmare. Dark streaks covered the swollen face, the mouth drawn back in a chilling growl of rage.
    A scream ripped out of her throat.
    At her scream, Dane whirled, but it was too late. Ripping the screen out of the way, the apparition dove through the window, taking the smaller man down onto the tiled floor.
    Melia fell back on the edge of the bed, gasping, her bags falling to the floor as the two men struggled. The intruder quickly gained the advantage, rolling on top, muscles taut with effort under his golden skin. It was Malu. He was alive!
    He wore only a pair of dirty swim trunks, and his short, black hair was matted to his head with sweat, dirt and some dark substance that streaked his face, and down over his neck and big shoulders. He brought with him the pungent scents of earth and sweat.
    The struggle was ugly, violent, punctuated by the grunts and heavy breathing of the two men. It was also brief. Malu was twice Dane’s size, and even injured, he was brutally efficient at wrestling a man down. Melia thought only for an instant of trying to intervene—she would just get hurt. She crouched on the bed, her heart pounding wildly as Malu flipped Dane onto his face on the floor, his brawny knee braced on the other man’s back.
    Holding Dane with one arm twisted behind his back, Malu turned to Melia. She gasped in horror. One side of his face was horribly bruised, his eye nearly swollen