An Innocent in Paradise (9 page)

Logan turned to the next blueprint to study the architect's three-dimensional rendering.

Most of the problems with building a sports center on the tiny island of Alleria had to do with the geological makeup of the island itself. The beaches, the natural bay and the rocky coves were the features that brought most of the tourists here. But also, the island had been formed by an ancient volcano, now dormant, and the land around the volcano had been ravaged by ancient lava flows. Now, over one square mile of north island coastline was barren except for the scrub that managed to grow there. In con
trast, much of the southern part of the island was covered in lush rain forest.

The original investors had suggested that the brothers put the sports center adjacent to the hotel and within walking distance of the edge of the rain forest. The theory was that sports enthusiasts would be able to enjoy not only the beauty of the rain forest, but also the hiking and zip-line features offered.

But early on, Logan and Aidan had nixed that location and considered canceling the entire project. Who wanted to look at or spend time at a concrete sports center when they could simply enjoy the natural beauty of the island itself? But when the brothers decided they could relocate the sports center to the north side of the island, closer to the dead zone at the foot of a dormant volcano, the project was revived and revamped.

The brothers wanted a hotel built closer to the sports center, as well. They had invited developers to the island to check out the possibilities, but none of those builders had brought the sort of entrepreneurial spirit and sensibility that Logan and Aidan envisioned for their island. But then, this past year, they'd met their Duke cousins for the first time.

Adam, Brandon and Cameron Duke owned Duke Development and after touring a few of their California properties, the Sutherland brothers had decided that the Dukes would be the perfect partners in a new boutique hotel on Alleria.

The Duke family would be arriving next weekend and Logan and Aidan had already planned an extensive private tour for them in order to show off all the special qualities that had originally attracted them to Alleria.

In fact, there were several island features that had never been advertised in the hotel brochures or on the website,
such as the hot springs that bubbled in various places around the island. The ancient volcano had created thermal pockets that still provided heat to the small pools. One secluded lagoon was located in the rain forest, within hiking distance of the hotel. But the hike was treacherous enough that few hotel guests had ever ventured far enough into the forest to discover it.

Logan suddenly wondered if the scientist in Grace would enjoy exploring the hot springs. Logan grinned, knowing the scientist in
him
would definitely enjoy exploring her naked body as it soaked up the heat.

“Damn,” he muttered. It was getting impossible to concentrate on work as the thought of Grace crossed his mind again. She was definitely unlike any virgin he'd ever known before—not that he'd known all that many. Frankly, he tried to avoid virgins whenever possible. They were just too much damn responsibility. After all, if he somehow ruined a woman's first sexual experience, it would traumatize her for the rest of her life and leave a black cloud over her memory of him and all other men on the planet. Who needed that kind of pressure? Not Logan.

Grace didn't seem at all traumatized, he thought, then chuckled. Far from it. In fact, Logan had been blown away by her natural passion and enthusiasm for trying new things. He had originally planned to walk her back to her hotel room later that night; but, the truth was, he hadn't wanted to let her go. The feel of her in his arms, the soft sigh of her breath as she drifted into sleep. The woman got to him on levels he hadn't even been aware of.

They'd spent every night since then together.

He couldn't get enough of her and damned if he knew what to make of that.

The only thing that concerned Logan was that once his brother and their corporate staff returned to Alleria, he
was a little uncertain about how he and Grace would arrange to spend time together. Getting their latest project up and running was going to keep both Logan and Aidan busy.

But, hell, maybe it wouldn't be an issue; his need for Grace might fade by then. It would certainly fade eventually. It always did. And, of course, sooner or later, she would have to go home. And that would be the end of it.

But that didn't matter right now. For now, he wanted her in his bed at night. Once Aidan was back, Logan and Grace would simply have to be as discreet as possible. After all, he didn't need his brother tormenting him about sleeping with the staff. On the other hand, Grace wasn't really part of the staff anyway, considering the fact that she'd arrived on the island under false pretenses. So it wasn't a problem, was it?

Yeah, that was his story and he was sticking to it.

 

“I still can't believe you've never been sailing before,” Logan said as he held Grace's hand and helped her aboard the sailboat.

“The closest I ever got was when I very young and went fishing with my father.”

Logan watched her glance around and take everything in. “How'd that go for you?”

She stepped up next to the mast and studied the rigging and hardware. She seemed to be weighing her words before she finally gazed at him and spoke. “I spent most of the time calculating the velocity of the wind versus the barometric pressure, then trying to angle my fishing line in the direction I'd theorized would produce more biting fish.”

Logan laughed as he hauled the large picnic basket on board, then led the way down into the cabin. The thirty-
foot Catalina sailboat belonged to Logan and Aidan and they'd had some great adventures—and some awesome parties—sailing around the Caribbean together. But with business obligations and scheduling problems, it had been a few months since Logan had taken the boat out.

Grace followed him down and glanced around the sleek main cabin. “It's so nice down here.”

“Yeah, it's a cool design,” he said, strapping the picnic basket under the galley table.

“So did you catch any fish?” he asked.

“Yes, I caught twelve,” Grace admitted, frowning.

“Twelve fish for a little kid is a pretty good haul,” he said, flashing her a grin. “How'd your dad do?”

She made a face. “He didn't have much luck. He told me I scared the fish away.”

Logan was taken aback. “Hardly sounds fair.”

“It wasn't his fault,” she said quickly. “I talked a lot. I guess it freaked him out sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” He climbed the ladder back up to the deck, then turned and gave her a hand up.

“I was such a pain,” she said with a rueful laugh. “I seemed to know so much about everything, except I didn't know enough to shut up once in a while. Little kids like to talk, you know? But my parents didn't seem to have a clue what I was talking about. I intimidated both of them.”

She said it lightly, but Logan could see the hurt in her eyes. He could relate to the pain she must still be suffering from her parents' inability to love and understand their child.

“I thought parents love it when their kids are smart.” He tossed her a life jacket and she slipped it on over her tank top. “Their reaction doesn't sound right.”

She sighed. “When I was five years old, my cat broke her leg and I set it in a plaster cast. My parents took the cat
to the vet to have it x-rayed and he said it was a picture-perfect set.”

Logan laughed. “Wow, they must've been proud of you.”

“Oh, no, that scared them to death.”

“I can't believe that. I mean, there are plenty worse things you could've done. At least you used your power for good.”

“I tried,” Grace said, laughing, then sobered. “My parents used to say that I belonged to the world. I think it was their excuse to get me out of the house because they didn't know how to deal with me.”

“You don't seem all that difficult to deal with.”

She smiled and stared out at the water, but Logan had a feeling her thoughts were a few thousand miles away. After a moment, she turned and looked at him. “I've never admitted this to anyone, but when they told me I was going to go live at the university, I was scared to death. I cried and begged them not to send me away. I promised I'd behave better, but they insisted that it wasn't about my behavior. It was about me having this great opportunity. That was how they justified it, I guess, by telling themselves they were doing it for me. But they looked so relieved and happy about their decision, I knew they'd simply given up on me. So I let them think I was excited to be going.”

“Sounds like you were the grown-up in that house.”

“Maybe.”

“I'm so sorry.”

She shook her head and waved his words away. “No, I'm sorry. Nobody likes a whiner.”

“Grace.” He sat down, took her hand in his and said quietly, “Don't apologize. Tell me what it was like for you at school.”

She smiled. “You don't want to hear all that melodrama.”

“Tell me.”

“Okay,” she said, and took a deep breath. “At first it was awful. I was afraid every day, and I was so lonely. I had no friends my own age and everyone looked at me like I was an alien or something.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“Oh, no,” she said quickly. “I knew they didn't want to hear anything bad. But it turned out okay. I loved working in the laboratory, and, slowly but surely, the university became my life. It's where I belong.”

She gazed up at him and tried to smile. “I guess I sound pretty weird, don't I?”

Logan shrugged. “Who isn't weird?”

She beamed at him and squeezed his hand. “That's so nice of you to say.”

“Hey, it's true. And trust me, I'm not that nice.” He stood and stepped onto the pier to untie the rope, then shoved the boat off and jumped back onto the deck. “Just watch me turn into Captain Bligh.”

Saluting, she said, “Aye aye, Captain.”

 

Logan used engine power to steer the boat through the small marina and out into the bay, explaining the basics of sailing to Grace and assigning her certain duties. As soon as they cleared the last pier, he unfurled the sails and they headed for open water.

It had taken every ounce of willpower he had to stay calm as Grace talked about her parents. He couldn't imagine growing up in a house like that. Hell, his own mother had walked out when he was seven, but at least he and his brother had always had their father. Dad had been their
biggest champion and always showed them nothing but love and support, even when they behaved badly.

But Grace's parents? Sounded like all they'd shown her was contempt. They'd never supported her at all. In fact, it sounded like they might've tried to stifle her constant search for knowledge; but, knowing Grace, she probably couldn't be stifled.

So her parents couldn't handle it and they shipped her off to some university where she'd been put to work from the age of eight, conducting research and writing papers that would bring acclaim and new funding for the university. But it sounded like she'd never been allowed to have a life outside of the school. She'd certainly never had a boyfriend, or she wouldn't have still been a virgin. On the other hand, she didn't seem unhappy with her life. In fact, she seemed happy, loving, well-adjusted. She got along great with everyone at the resort. So maybe he just needed to stop worrying about it.

“Ready to come about,” he shouted, and watched Grace scramble to get out of the way of the boom, then pull the mainsheet taut as he'd showed her.

“Good job, mate,” he called out.

She laughed. “Thanks, Captain.”

Once the boat was on course, Grace moved aft and sat with him on the small padded bench where he showed her how to steer and steady the wheel.

“You're a natural,” he said after Grace had been steering the boat for a few minutes.

“I'm just a good student,” she said, smiling as she gazed up at the full sail, resplendent against the blue tropical sky.

Logan had to agree. Hell, maybe she really had been better off at school than at home with her parents. Sounded to Logan like they were the real oddballs, not Grace.

Yes, she was really smart, but she was also funny and
sweet. She had a great attitude and enjoyed learning new things. She'd taken to the cocktail waitressing gig as well as any of the other waiters on staff. Okay, she still got a lot of assistance from the others, but that was because they all liked her and didn't want to see her get fired.

He still had to laugh whenever he thought back to their first conversation about the spores. She'd been so adamant about staying on the island, and now he was glad she had. Not that it mattered, of course. She would leave eventually. Logan figured the timing would be just right for him to move on to the next woman anyway. That's how it had always been and it would keep on going that way. Women were a plentiful commodity. And as he and Aidan had always said, the more the merrier.

For now, though, for as long as it lasted, he was more than satisfied to spend his time with Grace.

“It's so beautiful,” she said, pointing to the coast.

“Yeah, it is,” Logan murmured, then realized he wasn't even looking at the shoreline.

 

“This chicken salad is delicious,” Grace said after taking her first bite.

“The kitchen does a great job with picnics and box lunches,” Logan said, as he spooned more coleslaw onto his plate.

They'd dropped anchor in a small deserted inlet a mile beyond the picturesque port town of Tierra del Alleria, and Grace and Logan had unpacked the picnic basket the hotel kitchen had prepared. Along with chicken salad sandwiches, there was orzo salad and Asian-style coleslaw. It was simple food expertly prepared, and Grace's mouth was watering by the time she'd filled her plate. The kitchen staff had also tucked a half bottle of crisp white wine into the basket, along with brownies for dessert.