Excerpt

Rich and handsome Steven Stoner found an outlet for a love he can’t declare. He uses original trickery to send criminals into hiding. His last attack released an innocent man from a life sentence. The men who had framed him thought their own lives were at stake. Steve was pleased they hadn’t learned he was the unknown that had reversed the guilty sentence and placed them in fear of jeopardy.

Steve feels the need to unwind before he looks for another challenge and he flies to Hawaii to vacation. It cannot be a perfect vacation as his loyalty hangup stymies a physical relationship with the girl he loves. Steve informs his younger brother, who pridefully refused accept gift money, that he will be in Hawaii should there be an emergency.

Steve Stoner walks up to the register desk of the deluxe Hawaiian hotel. He signs in for two rooms that he’d reserved by phone. Steve looks up to the young desk clerk.

“I need first class service and the best rooms with an ocean view. I tip thirty percent. l want my presence kept secret. Here’s a thousand-dollar tip to split with the other desk clerks. Do not tell anyone asking that I am staying here.” Steve counted out ten hundred-dollar bills. “Okay?”

The clerk snapped to attention. He saw the handsome all-male, smile at his surprise. The sharply dressed Steve Stoner was streamline-tall and looked physically powerful besides rich. He was probably twenty-nine or thirty. The fingernails of his large hands were manicured. He was no laborer.

“Yes, sir, Mister Stoner. You’re presence is secret and I’ve switched you to our best rooms with connecting doors.”

Steve approved the rooms his tip had obtained. No one could kill him if they couldn’t find him. He always traveled first class; his risky hobby earned money he gave away and had made several friends wealthy. Steve stood at a window looking out at the beach below. Micki Lorain would be surprised to find they had adjacent rooms with connecting doors. Micki loved to do the mundane chasing for the cases he took on; not all, as some proved dangerous. He’d never place her life in danger. If there was any threat involved Steve used his live-in private investigator. Jorge Garret is a middle-aged honest man with underworld connections.

Steve phoned Micki on his cellphone. Micki’s buoyant personality charmed people and she was fun to be with. She was beautiful with dark-blonde hair; a bowed mouth for kissing and her shapely brown eyes sparkled. It was her sensuous figure that attracted attention. Steve found when he took her places he was escorting a queen bee that attracted male stares. His cousin Gary used to complain Micki was too attractive. At their five year reunion dance Gary said he was repeatedly cut-in on and only got half a dance with his wife.

Micki was in Los Angeles, but his cell’s world coverage connected him. She lived in an apartment a block away from his home. He said, “Hi, beautiful. I’m in Hawaii. I’ve booked you on a flight leaving LAX in three hours. I’ll meet you at the airport here.”

“You don’t give me much time. You have to allow two hour to make a plane flight. Don’t say you’re trying to rescue someone so soon.”

“Nothing scheduled. Strictly a vacation.”

“It has to be a first. You sober?”

“At present. Waiting to get inebriated with you.”

“That would be a fun day. Okay, see you.”

Steve next phoned Jorge Garret who house-set his home when not investigating for him. Jorge kept their live-in housekeeper company. Georgette cleaned, shopped and cooked for them. She was slim and agile with flirtatious eyes. She and Jorge were bordering fifty and broadminded companions, but how romantically involved was their secret.

Jorge answered and Steve said, “Find a stamp and mail the letter to the IRS that’s on my desk. It’s another check for my 1040 estimate. A hundred grand for the government to waste. I deposited the rescue check from Colby Senior. Seeing him celebrate convinced me I deserve a vacation.”

“Is Micki going with you?”

“She may show up.”

Jorge Garret smiled. Steve Stoner loved Micki Lorain, but his hang-up stymied his telling her. Micki Lorain had been widowed for four years. She had married his cousin who died in an auto crash. She was now twenty-nine, smart, dependable and beautiful with a sensational figure. Steve knew guys hit on her. After two years of mourning Micki began dating a few of the persistent men when Steve resolutely avoided romantic relations with her. Jorge guessed Micki may occasionally sleep with some men she dated, which would be normal. If she said, I’ll be gone a day or so Steve never asked with whom, though it really upset him. It was best not to be around Steve when she was gone; his geniality switched to irritable. Micki made it obvious she wished to have a sleep-together relationship with him. It was ridiculous that they hadn’t married. Steve fully occupied her time and they were together more than most married couples.

Steve met her at the airport using a limousine and chauffeur that he’d leased for two weeks. Micki wasn’t surprised; Steve loved to waste money. She laughed. “Anyone ever tell you you’re crazy?”