seen her dashing away from the terrace over an hour ago and would’ve gone after her, but he’d been waylaid by some returning guests who’d insisted on talking his ear off.
Not that he would ever complain about the resort’s guests since they provided a portion of the hefty income that kept Sutherland Corporation in business. But frankly, he’d had his fill of all those overly made-up, bikini-clad socialites whose only job was to spend money jetting from one destination point to the next, according to the season.
And another thing. He didn’t understand any woman who piled on makeup and perfume just to sit and sweat by a pool in the tropics, but that was a question for another day.
He knew Ellie had seen him on the terrace, but she hadn’t stopped and waited for him. He’d figured she was in a hurry to get somewhere and he would find her later. The minute he’d seen her on the terrace, he’d concocted a plan to whisk her away to the rain forest for a sultry afternoon of lovemaking under the waterfall. He missed having her in his arms.
But when he’d gotten back to his office, he’d found her text message saying she was leaving the island. That’s what he got for forgetting his phone in the office. That was another thing he blamed entirely on Ellie. He’d been so discombobulated by her behavior lately that he was forgetting to tie his own shoelaces. Yesterday, he’d almost missed their weekly conference call with the New York investors. Logan had been forced to send out a search party for him.
“Not important right now,” he muttered. He needed to figure out where Ellie had gone and go after her. He tried calling her cell phone, but she didn’t answer. Where in hell had she gone?
“I hope you’re happy.”
He turned and saw Grace standing at his doorway. “Why? What do you know?”
“I just know that Ellie is the best thing that ever happened to you and you’re going to lose her.”
“No, I’m not,” he said a bit desperately. “You know where she’s gone. Tell me so I can go after her.”
“Why?”
Aidan stared at her, wondering if Grace was losing her grip on reality.
“What do you mean, why? Because I need her here, that’s why.”
“Yes, but why do you need her?” Grace folded her arms over her chest, tipped her head to one side and narrowed her gaze on him. “Did she forget to sign an important contract? Did she neglect to make a phone call to a new client?”
Logan walked up and stood behind Grace. Aidan glared at his brother, but Logan just smiled and wrapped his arm around Grace.
“I don’t have time for this,” Aidan said. He checked his phone for the tenth time in two minutes, but there were no new messages from Ellie.
With an abrupt huff of frustration, Grace stomped her foot. “Aidan, why do you want to go after Ellie?”
“Yeah, bro,” Logan drawled. “There’s nothing too pressing going on right now. Let her take a few days off.”
“No. I need her here.”
“Why?” Logan asked.
He needed her. Wasn’t that enough? “Okay, both of you, get out.”
Grace shook her head. “You’re such a knucklehead.”
Aidan raised an eyebrow at that, then glanced at his brother. “Does she call you names like that?”
“Not so much anymore,” he said.
“Great. So it’s just me.”
Logan walked over to the bar and poured two shots of scotch. He handed one to Aidan, who scowled, but took the glass and downed it.
“Thanks, I needed that,” Aidan said. “Now you can go.”
“I don’t think so,” Grace said.
“Nope, we’re just getting started.” Logan sat down in the visitor’s chair and pulled Grace onto his lap.
“This should be good,” Aidan muttered, and had no choice but to sit back down at his desk.
“I don’t care if you’re too stupid to admit you’re in love with the woman,” Logan said. “What I do care about is that we might’ve just lost the best business partner we’ll ever have because you’re too boneheaded to admit it.”
“Something happened to make Ellie leave,” Grace said. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. I was on my way to take her up to the lagoon for the day.”
“Oh, that’s so romantic,” Grace said, and smiled at Logan. But then she turned and frowned at Aidan. “So why did she run off?”
Aidan thought about seeing Ellie across the terrace. She’d looked right at him, then turned and left. Why? Then it hit him.
“Damn it,” he muttered. “There were some