An Innocent in Paradise (13 page)

He would just need to do a better job of convincing Aidan of that. And then he would get off Logan's back about his relationship with Grace.

And yet, Logan had to admit that seeing Grace slip Sally that note had struck him as a little odd. But he was sure it could be easily explained. All he had to do was ask Grace about it and she would tell him the whole story. He knew Grace had a hard time lying, so it wouldn't be difficult getting the truth out of her.

But not tonight. Tonight, all he wanted to do was make love with her. Tomorrow would be soon enough to question her about Sally and the note. It was probably something completely innocent, but he knew his brother would continue tormenting him until Logan found out the truth.

“I
'm going to marry her.”

As Aidan's eyes widened in shock and dismay, Logan almost laughed himself silly.

“You're kidding,” Aidan whispered.

“Why are you so surprised?” Logan asked. “Haven't you noticed they've been in love practically from the first day they met?”

“You noticed?” his father asked, his grin broader than Logan had ever seen it.

Logan laughed and slapped Dad on the back. “We all noticed, Dad. Except Aidan, apparently.”

“Sorry, Dad. I've had a lot on my mind.” Aidan scowled at Logan as he threw down the toast he'd been about to bite into. Shaking his head to rid himself of what seemed to be a pretty weird mood, Aidan pushed away from the table and walked over to Dad, who stood and wrapped him up in a bear hug.

Logan jumped up and grabbed them both fiercely. “I'm thrilled for you and Sally, Dad. She's the greatest.”

“She is,” Aidan said quickly. “I guess I was shocked because I never thought I'd see the day.”

“Me, neither, son,” Dad said, and his eyes grew misty. “But she's the woman for me. I'm in love with her and I want to be with her always. Took me long enough, but I got it right this time.”

Logan felt his own eyes tear up and he willed himself to get a grip. “Where is Sally right now, Dad? I want to give her a big kiss.”

“Me, too,” Aidan said.

“She'll love that.” Dad wiped away a happy tear. “Right now she's off making plans for us to go somewhere special for a picnic.”

“Sounds great,” Aidan said. “You two will have a fun day.”

“But we'll celebrate tonight, right?” Logan said. “I'll reserve the table in the wine cellar and we'll all go a little crazy.”

“Sounds perfect,” Dad said.

Before Logan went off to find Sally, he wanted to find Grace and invite her to the family party that night. He didn't care what Aidan thought of his decision, he just wanted Grace to be with him for as long as she was on the island. He still didn't know what had gone on between her and Sally last night and while he was anxious to find out, he realized that he trusted Grace enough to know it wasn't anything sinister.

Logan turned for one last look at his dad who was still grinning from ear to ear. He hoped and prayed his father would be wearing that grin for the rest of his life. Nobody deserved happiness more than he did. When Logan thought about all the years when he and Aidan were
growing up, all he could see was his father, always there. Always steady. Always loving his sons enough to make up for the loss of their mother.

Yeah, Sally Duke was perfect for Dad because Logan could see in her eyes how much she loved his father. And that made her perfect, period, as far as Logan was concerned.

 

The following day, the Duke brothers and their wives, along with Sally and the twins' dad, Tom, flew back to the West Coast.

“Damn, I miss them already,” Aidan said as they stood together on the tarmac.

Logan agreed, staring at the sky as the jet climbed higher then curved gracefully toward the west. “Funny how we all became a family in an instant. It's like we've known them all our lives.”

“I know,” Aidan said. “It's comforting. A little weird, but nice.”

“Really nice,” Logan murmured. “Glad we got to party last night with everyone. Dad was in his element.” Logan was especially glad that Grace had agreed to accompany him to the party. She'd looked beautiful and he'd been so proud to introduce her to his entire family. She'd fit in as well as he'd imagined she would.

“Yeah, it was great to see Dad and Sally together,” Aidan said. “Can't wait for the wedding. It's going to be one hell of a celebration.”

“Dad really deserves that.”

“Yeah, he does.”

Logan didn't say it out loud, but he was starting to wonder why they
all
didn't deserve that kind of happiness. Shaking his head, he said, “I was thinking…how about we build a house for Dad and Sally up on the bluff?
I know they won't live here full-time, but they might like their own place on Alleria.”

“I like it. You know,” Aidan said with a grin, “you're smarter than you look.”

“Ah,” Logan countered, with a matching grin, “twin joke. Good one.”

“Okay, bro, let's get going,” Aidan said, and they strolled over to the limo. Once they were settled and the driver took off, he broached the subject they'd left hanging last night. “So, did you find out about the note Grace slipped to Sally?”

“No, I didn't get a chance to ask her yet.”

“Dude, you were with her all night.”

“I had other things on my mind.” Such as getting Grace back to his suite and into his bed. That note had been the last thing he was thinking about by then, and he smiled at the memory.

Aidan snorted. “Fine, but you'll ask her today, right?”

“Of course.” Though he wasn't real anxious to open up that line of conversation and he couldn't really say why.

“Because I'll ask her myself if you don't.”

“No, you won't,” Logan said, jabbing his finger in the air. “Just…back off. First of all, it's probably nothing to get excited about. And second of all… Damn it, just…back off.”

Aidan held his hands up in surrender. “Jeez, power down. Fine. I won't ask her. As long as you do.”

“I said I would, didn't I?”

“Good. It's cool. I trust you.”

“Yeah, right.”

The car pulled to a stop outside the hotel entrance. Both men thanked the driver and climbed out, then Aidan checked his watch. “Look, I've got to go pack.”

“Oh, hell,” Logan said, rubbing his head in frustration.
“I do, too. In all of the excitement over Dad and Sally, I forgot we're leaving for New York tomorrow.”

 

He didn't want to leave.

Logan had been dragging his ass around his bedroom, throwing socks and T-shirts into his open suitcase and counting out the required number of dress shirts and suits for the hanging bag. But the realization didn't hit him until he started pulling shoes out of the closet and lining them up next to the suitcase.

Damn. He would never disclose this to Aidan, but Logan had the strongest urge to blow off New York and stay here with Grace. They'd spent almost every night together and he was forced to admit—to himself only—that he'd grown damned close to her. He liked having her around and knew he was going to miss her while he was gone.

“Get a grip,” he muttered to himself. He was only going to be gone for three days.

The problem was, he didn't know how much longer Grace intended to stay. Checking his calendar, he realized she'd been here almost three weeks. He'd never asked her how long she planned to stay. But he wanted her to be here when he got back.

If she did have to go home for a while, maybe Logan could convince her to just drop off the spores and come back right away.

“Ah, jeez.” When had he turned into such a sap? Shaking his head in disgust, he stuffed his shoes into the soft cloth shoe bag, fitted them into the suitcase and zipped it closed. Nope, he definitely wouldn't be mentioning any of that to Aidan.

 

“What are you looking at?”

Grace jolted, startled by the voice. She hadn't heard
footsteps approaching, but that was because she tended to recede into her own little spore world when she was out here among the palms.

“I'm looking at these tiny creatures.” She turned over one of the palm fronds and pointed them out to the little girl who stood a few feet away. “Can you see them?”

She took a step closer. “The little red dots?”

“That's right, although they're not actually red. More of a brownish-green. But when they're clustered together, they appear to be brick colored.”

The girl frowned. “Who are you?”

“I'm Grace,” she said, sitting back on her feet. “I'm a scientist and I collect these spores to use in experiments. Who are you?”

“I'm Swoozie,” she said, and folded her arms across her narrow chest. “I'm staying at the hotel with my parents.”

“I like your name,” Grace said. “Do you like science?”

Swoozie made a face and shook her head. “I'm failing math and science.”

“Oh, that's interesting. Those are my two favorite subjects.” She smiled good-naturedly. “But I've always been kind of weird.”

“My friend Charlotte likes math, too, but I don't get it.”

Swoozie looked about ten years old, thin, with long, brown hair and big brown eyes.

“What's your favorite subject?” Grace asked as she packed up her bag.

“I guess I like English.”

“Do you like to read?”

“Yes, but mostly, I just want to graduate high school so I can go and be a model in Europe.”

“You want to be a model?”

“A supermodel,” she specified.

“You'll need to know math and science if you're going
to be a model,” Grace said casually as she stood and brushed the bits of sand and dirt off her legs.

“No, I won't.”

“You will.” Grace began to walk with her back to the hotel. “Say you're in Paris and you want to have dinner after your photo shoot with Pierre, the world famous French photographer. You'll need to calculate the daily exchange rate to make sure you're on budget and not overtipping your waiter. So if you know that the day's rate is 1.44 euros to the dollar, and your meal is twelve euros, you'll be able to figure out that you're about to spend over seventeen dollars, and that might not be within your budget.”

“Oh.” Swoozie frowned, then her face screwed up in deep thought. A few seconds later, she grinned. “But I'll be with Pierre and he'll be happy to calculate all those numbers for me.”

“Well.” Grace laughed and waved her hand in the air. “As long as Pierre is with you, he should just pay for your dinner.”

Swoozie laughed. “That's even better.”

They walked through the palmetto grove until they reached the beach. “So what are you studying in math right now?”

“Multiplication tables,” Swoozie said miserably. “I'm supposed to memorize them while I'm on vacation, but I suck at memorizing stuff.”

“Oh, there's a better way to learn multiplication,” Grace said, leading Swoozie over to a shaded table on the terrace. “I'll show you.”

 

Logan stood at the bar sipping his single-malt scotch as he waited for Grace to finish her shift. This would be their last night together for a few days and he didn't want to waste a minute of time, so he'd decided to camp out at
the end of the bar and watch her in action until it was time for her to clock out.

She was balancing cocktail trays like a champ these days, as long as she only carried two or three drinks at a time and moved very slowly. The customers didn't seem to mind. Hell, half the time they followed her to the bar and grabbed the drinks on their own. It was a bizarre way to do business, but Logan was no longer complaining.

A thirty-something couple walked into the lounge and headed straight for the bar. The woman called the bartender over and said briskly, “Which one of your waitresses is Grace?”

Logan's hackles stiffened as he watched Sam scan the room. Spying Grace across the room wiping off a four-top for a small group of guests who waited nearby, Sam pointed her out to the couple.

“Oh, yes,” the woman said, nodding. “I was told she was a redhead.”

As Grace walked back toward the bar, the couple met her halfway. Logan followed them. He didn't know what this was all about, but he didn't want any trouble, especially if it involved Grace.

“So you're Grace,” the woman said.

“Yes, I am,” she said, smiling. “Can I help you?”

“You spoke to my daughter Swoozie this morning.”

“Oh, yes. She's a sweet girl.” Grace's eyes suddenly widened and she looked mortified. “Oh, I'm so sorry I suggested that Pierre pay for her dinner. I was thinking about that later and realized—”

“Thank you so much!” the woman exclaimed, and grabbed Grace in a tight embrace.

“Oh, well,” Grace said, nonplussed.

“You have no idea what we've been through,” Swoozie's mother cried.

The woman's husband glanced around the room nervously. When he made eye contact with Logan, he shrugged, clearly clueless.

When the mother finally let her loose, Grace raked her hair back self-consciously. “But I really didn't—”

“She came back to the room and did three pages of math homework!”

“Three pages.” Grace smiled and nodded. “That's nice.”

“She was so excited,” the woman continued. “She kept saying ‘I get it!' over and over again. When I asked her what happened, she told me you explained it to her in a way that finally clicked for her.”

“I'm so glad,” Grace said. “I just showed her an easy way I have of remembering number systems. I can show it to you if you'd—”

“No, no,” the woman said quickly, holding up her hand as she took a step back. “Whatever you did, it worked and I'll just leave it at that. Swoozie has seen the light! That's all that matters to me. Thank you so much.”

“You're welcome.”

Logan stood next to Grace as the couple walked out of the bar.

“Isn't that sweet?” Grace murmured. Logan wasn't sure what had just happened, but he knew right then that Swoozie wasn't the only one Grace had helped to finally see the light.

 

“Come with me to the airport,” Logan said early the next morning. “The driver will bring you back.”

Grace was dressed in shorts, tank top and sandals, ready to leave his room. But Logan decided he didn't want to say goodbye just yet.

“Are you sure you want me there?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He grabbed Grace with one hand and his suit
case with the other, and they left the suite to meet the limousine out front.