Page 16 of Once an Angel
He drove his fingers through his hair. It was hardly her fault that every time he looked at her he saw
her as she had been in the moonlight, that each time he touched her he wanted to bury his fingers in
her silky curls. All of them. Justin groaned.
His agonized musings were interrupted by a joyous cry. "Pakeha! Pakeha!"
A line of naked honey-skinned children streamed up the hill with Trini in tow. Justin squatted and a
wiry little boy barreled into him with the force of a muscular cannonball.
He faked a stagger. "Ho, there, Kawiri! You're too strong for an old chap like me."
The children swarmed around him, chattering in Maori. A little girl with almond-shaped eyes crawled between Kawiri's legs and held Justin's hand. His face relaxed in a smile as their musical tones soothed
his troubled spirit.
"You can come out, Penfeld," he called over his shoulder. "They won't eat you."
Penfeld crept out from behind a cornstalk and gave the children a shy bow. Trini beamed proudly as several of the children bowed back. Justin knew his unflappable valet wasn't afraid of cannibals, but children terrified him.
I have no family.
Emily's words came back to haunt Justin without warning, echoing what he had said to Penfeld only yesterday. He hadn't been completely truthful. The Maori were his family now. They had adopted him
as their beloved Pakeha, sharing with him both their land and their trust, giving him the right and power
to negotiate even the most delicate trade with other natives and whites. Justin ruffled Kawiri's black hair. Perhaps they were all orphans beneath the stark blue bowl of God's sky.
The little girl tapped the watch case resting against his chest, muttering beneath her breath in Maori.
"English, Dani," he commanded. If he could teach more of the children English, perhaps someday they would have no need of a stranger such as he living in their midst.
She popped her thumb in her mouth, then uncorked it and bellowed, "Claire!"
Justin winced.
Dancing around him, the other children took up the chant. "Claire! Claire! Claire!"
"Oh, dear," Penfeld murmured.
Justin leveled a lethal gaze at Trini. "Have you been letting them play with my watch again?"
The native lifted his palms in a universal gesture of apology, choosing in his chagrin simple English
words rather than the longer ones he delighted in. "They'd never seen a white little girl before. They believe her to be a lost angel whose spirit is trapped in time."
Justin dropped his head in defeat. Was he to be haunted by orphans today? In his preoccupation with
the girl, he had almost forgotten that other child. He made no protest when the tiny Dani reached up
and slipped the chain over his head.
Kawiri brushed the gold with reverent fingers, letting out a soft "Oooooh."
Justin knew he didn't have to worry about the safety of his watch. Dani cupped it in her plump hands
as if it were the most holy of relics.
