She backed away from the desk. Maybe there was some mistake. But she knew there wasn’t. So why hadn’t Logan said something to her? He knew how important her research was. Had he simply been using sex as a way of distracting her from his plans for eradicating the very spores she’d come there to study?
Or maybe he’d simply been carrying out what he’d promised her from the very beginning. He’d wanted her off the island and he would do whatever it took to get rid of her.
Oh, but that was ridiculous. This wasn’t personal. It wasn’t about her. It wasn’t about her spores. It was just the way businessmen conducted business. Destroy a few billion spores to build a few tennis courts? Sure, if that’s what made money. Never mind the possibility of curing disease and saving lives.
“Oh, God.” Not only would this plan eviscerate the spores but it would destroy the foundation of her life’s work. Her funding would dry up and there would be no possibility of continuing her research.
“Stop,” she cried. She needed to calm down and think instead of going crazy. Of course there would still be spores. Logan wouldn’t destroy the entire rain forest, for goodness’ sake. But the fact remained that he knew how important it was to Grace that the palm trees and their spores be kept safe and intact. And he’d blithely decided to destroy a large swath of it.
“How could he do it?” she mumbled over and over. And how could she have trusted him? That question was more easily answered than the first. She was simply a dimwitted woman who’d fallen in love with a man who didn’t respect her or her life or her goals.
With a sharp cry, she ran from Logan’s suite and headed for her own. Friends smiled and tried to talk to her as she passed, but Grace hardly saw them. Her mind was churning, her vision blurry with unshed tears and her heart was heavy with a pain she wasn’t sure she could survive.
She ran inside her room and slammed the door shut. Then she crawled onto the bed, shivering in humiliation.
She might’ve lain there for a few minutes or a few hours, she would never be sure. Finally, she stumbled across the room and fumbled in her purse for her cell phone. Stabbing the buttons, she called her friend and mentor, Phillippa, and prayed that she would pick up before it went to voice mail.
“Grace, is that you? It’s so late. What’s going on?”
Grace quickly explained the situation and was gratified when Phillippa blurted an expletive.
“Why, that lousy spore killer,” she said stoutly, and Grace could picture Phillippa’s glasses sliding down her nose. “How could he do this to you? Were you aware that he was so environmentally unfriendly?”
Maybe he was, but despite everything, Grace couldn’t bear to hear any criticism of Logan. She just wanted to save the spores. “Do you know how to stop him?”
“Oh, yeah,” Phillippa said. “It’s called an injunctive order and we’re going to slap it on him so hard, he won’t know what hit him.”
Before she hung up, Phillippa took a minute to warn Grace that Walter’s funding had come through. Grace slid down onto the chair, unable to speak. Yes, she would go back and face the grant committee and tell them how he had lied. And she would present them with her own latest findings based on her new collection of super spores. But still, how could the committee have fallen for Walter’s lies? How could they have awarded him one cent?
It was a double blow. Now she’d been betrayed on two fronts. She could care less about Walter, but she hated to go back to the university and face all those sympathetic stares. But that would be a piece of cake compared to the way she would feel if she stayed on the island. There was no way she could face Logan after finding out he’d been playing her for a fool all this time. Walter’s lies were nothing compared to Logan’s betrayal. She’d thought he was different and it hurt to know how very wrong she’d been. So much for all that intelligence she was so famous for.
With a bitter sigh, she pulled her bags out of the closet and began to pack. It was difficult because her eyes were blurry from the tears she didn’t seem able to stop.
There was a knock on the door.
For one second she thought it might be Logan. Then her brain cleared. He was still in New York arranging for the money to kill her career. That would take him another day or two at least. Without even realizing it, anger began to film over some of her pain as she hurried to the door and opened it.
“Oh, Dee,” she cried. “I’m so sorry.”
“Gracie, you never came back to-” Dee stopped and glanced around the room.
Grace realized it looked like the hurricane had already struck. “I’m packing. I need to go home.”
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she said, then realized how absurd that sounded, even to her. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she told Dee the whole story.
“It just doesn’t sound like Logan,” Dee murmured, shaking her head.
“I didn’t think so, either,” Grace said miserably. “But I saw the plans myself, Dee. There’s no mistake.”
Dee pulled her close for a hug. “I hate that you’re leaving, Gracie, but I understand. It’s no more than he deserves, the lying rat-dog. I’m sorry he hurt you.”
“Me, too.”
“Will you call?” Dee asked, standing up and stepping back. “Let me know you’re okay? I mean, just because you’re leaving doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends, right?”
One bright spot in a completely hideous day, Grace thought, and hugged Dee fiercely. “Thank you! I will call. I promise.”
After Dee left, Grace continued packing. When she was finished, she called the concierge to ask about flights. That brought on another dismal round of tears. She’d grown to love it here. She loved her friends and her job and the palm trees and the rain forest and the beach and her poor little spores.
And she loved Logan.
In spite of what he’d done, she’d fallen in love with him. And while that meant she had to be the biggest twit in the universe, she loved him and knew she always would. And the fact that he was never going to be hers brought another sharp pain to her chest.
She spent a long night staring out the window at the ebbing storm, and early the next morning, Grace left a polite note for Logan with the concierge, then took the first flight off the island.
The jet reached cruising altitude and Logan stretched his legs out on the seat facing him. The meetings were over, the investors’ checks were deposited, and the Alleria sports center would soon be a reality. Eleanor walked into the cabin and handed Logan and Aidan each a glass of champagne.
“Thanks, Ellie.”
The mood was festive as they toasted to their success and drank down the cold, bubbly liquid.
“That’s good,” Aidan murmured, grinning. “We did good.”
“Yeah, we did good,” Logan said.
Ellie giggled. “Life is good.”
They all laughed, then Logan said, “Man, I can’t wait to see Grace.”
“What?” Aidan twisted around to stare at him.
“Aww,” Ellie said, and smiled warmly at him.
Logan frowned. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yeah, you did.”
He glanced from Ellie to Aidan. “Huh.”
“Ah, hell,” Aidan said in disgust. “Now you’ve done it.”
“Done what?”
“You’ve gone and fallen in love with her.”
“Don’t be-” He started to protest automatically, then stopped. And thought about it. Hard.
Ever since he’d talked to Brandon out on the beach, Logan had been thinking about things. The past. The future. Love and life. Risk. Trust.
He’d spent half of his life fearing to trust in love. He’d talked himself into marrying Tanya, thinking he should give love a try. But he’d never loved her. The fact that she’d cheated on him was as good an excuse as any to never
