An Innocent in Paradise. Kate Carlisle

afternoon.”

      “Good. And buy more sunblock,” he added brusquely. “I’d hate to see your skin get burned.”

      “Thank you.” I think, she added under her breath, since he sounded almost angry about it. But she decided not to blame him. He’d probably seen his share of hapless tourists suffering from second-degree sunburns.

      He stuck his hands in his pockets. “So you’ve been out looking for spores?”

      “Yes. I’ve found a thriving colony right here,” she exclaimed, energized all over again. Kneeling back down at the base of the palm tree, she pulled out her magnifying glass and handed it to him. “Come and see.”

      “Spore porn?” he said dryly. “I can’t wait.”

      She smiled at him. “I’m sure you think it’s odd, but I actually find it quite fascinating to watch them reproduce.”

      He knelt down next to her, so close that their shoulders and hips were touching. Taking the glass from her, he bent down and stared for a while. Then he straightened and gazed at her. “So they’re basically having sex right now?”

      Her eyes widened. His face was a mere inch away from hers. If he leaned in…But he wouldn’t, of course. What was she thinking? She took a moment to swallow around her suddenly dry throat. “Um, yes. I suppose you could call it that. They do it around this time every morning.”

      One eyebrow shot up. “I guess you’ve got to admire their discipline.”

      “Oh, I do, I do,” she murmured, mesmerized by his flirtatious smile. He had beautiful, straight, white teeth and his mouth had a sexy, sardonic curve to it that she found nearly irresistible. Oh, my, she thought. Was he moving closer to her? He stared into her eyes, then his gaze shifted to her lips. Was he going to kiss her? She could feel herself melting. She really should’ve worn a hat.

      Standing abruptly, she said, “I’ve got to go. Got to get these back to the room. Got to…Well, goodbye.”

      She took off like a startled bunny and could actually feel his gaze locked on her as she ran down the beach. On her mad dash back to the hotel, she berated herself for behaving so foolishly. Had her emotions shown on her face when she realized his mouth was a few millimeters away from hers? She hoped not, but she knew she wasn’t sophisticated enough to fake a look of bland disinterest in a moment like that.

      Despite knowing he wanted her off the island, despite knowing he would use any excuse to get rid of her, she still found him irresistible.

      “But you will resist him,” she said sternly. She had no choice. She might’ve spent the past fifteen years working in near isolation in the university biogenetics laboratory, but she hadn’t been completely cut off from real life. She read books and magazines; she socialized somewhat, if you could call it socializing when her current mentor—who was also her closest friend—invited her over once a month to have dinner with her big, boisterous family. Grace was grateful for those invitations since she was rarely invited to spend time with her own odd family.

      The point was, Grace was savvy enough to know that where a man like Logan Sutherland was concerned, she was in way over her head.

      From now on, she would keep her distance from her fine-looking boss. She would be polite and do what she had to do to impress him in the cocktail bar. But, outside of work, she would avoid him, evade him, do anything she had to do to stay away from him. She couldn’t forget that he wanted her gone, off the island and away from the spores that were critical to her life’s work.

      And yet, dealing with Logan Sutherland would be a piece of cake compared to the hell she’d lived through the past six months. All she had to do was remember the bottom line: she wasn’t leaving this island until she was damn good and ready to.

      Three

      The cocktail lounge was packed with happy people drinking, laughing and dancing. The music was mellow jazz, just loud enough to enjoy but not so overbearing that people had to shout to be heard. The lighting was subtle enough to make everyone look good and was embellished this evening by the glow of a full moon reflecting off the dark blue waters of the bay.

      Logan had a dozen other things he could’ve been doing tonight. He usually made a point of stopping by the bar most evenings to say hello to guests and lend his presence in the rare instance that someone was causing trouble. But he didn’t usually linger for long. He and his brother had hired the best, most trustworthy and well-trained employees, who knew the service business inside and out. They didn’t need Logan hanging around, standing sentinel like an overanxious mother hen, driving his bartenders and staff crazy. Or worse yet, making them think Logan had no confidence in them.

      But he was here anyway—and he wasn’t leaving. He attempted to look casual as he leaned his elbow on the bar and sipped his thirty-year-old single-malt scotch. He let the smooth liquid heat its way down his throat and tried like hell to pretend he wasn’t here to keep an eagle eye on his newest employee.

      “Order up, Grace,” Joey, one of the bartenders, called.

      “Thanks, Joey,” Grace said, rewarding him with a generous smile as she placed one of the wide trays on the bar and began to load it with drinks.

      Logan noted that, as promised, she hadn’t spilled a drink tonight. But that was only because her customers and the other waiters had been so willing to step in and help her carry her trays. One guest had even bussed a few tables for her. It was the strangest thing Logan had ever seen.

      Usually, his waitstaff were territorial about their customers and tips. But with Grace, they all chipped in and helped her. Logan grudgingly admitted it was to her credit that she was quick to split her generous tips with all of them.

      She loaded the drinks onto a large tray in that spiral pattern she’d insisted was cosmologically sound. Logan had to shake his head at that cockamamy theory, but sobered as he watched her shoulders tense up. She licked her lips and tested the tray’s weight. Was she really going to try to carry it? There had to be at least ten drinks on the tray. What was Joey thinking?

      Logan pushed off from the bar and moved toward her. But before he could get close enough to grab the tray, Clive, a witty Englishman and one of his top waiters, slipped smoothly behind Grace and rested his hands on her hips.

      “Brace your knees, love,” Clive said, “and put all your strength right here.” With that, he skimmed the edges of her slender thighs all the way down to her knees. Then he moved around to face her and patted his own stomach. “Breathe from here. Muscles nice and tight.”

      Logan froze in place, his teeth clenched, determined not to step in and save her again. Instead, he would allow Clive to instruct her, unless it started to look like she would need more skilled intervention from Logan himself.

      He watched Grace’s breasts move in rhythm with the deep, anticipatory breaths she took. Then she was flying solo, following Clive’s instructions, steadying her legs and lifting the tray onto her shoulder.

      Clive and several other waiters watched with apprehension as Grace moved slowly across the room to a table of guests sitting near the window. Bending her knees, she set the tray down on the table. Half the staff applauded and Logan’s tight jaw relaxed.

      Grace’s face lit up as she glanced around at her odd group of supporters. When her gaze met Logan’s, her happy smile faltered.

      Hell. He hated to be the cause of her bright eyes dimming, so he quickly grinned at her and flashed a thumbs-up sign. Her eyes widened and, as her smile grew, the entire room seemed to light up, as well.

      Satisfied that she was happy and would survive the night, Logan turned back to the bar and took a last sip of his drink. But before he could even swallow, reality smacked him upside the head and he noted with disgust that she’d manipulated him again. Who cared if she smiled, for God’s sake? She wasn’t here to be happy. She was here to earn her paycheck or go home, damn it.

      Waving down the head bartender, he snarled