Snapping on a pair of disposable gloves, she pulled out one of her sterilized petri dishes. With her forceps, she carefully plucked a thick clump of spores from the fibrous base of the frond and held it over the dish. After tapping the forceps against the side of the dish, she watched the spores drop into the dish along with bits of moss and sand.

For the next hour, she repeated the process several more times. She numbered each petri dish and noted in her book the location and features of the palm tree, the angle of the sun and the temperature at the precise time she gathered each of the groups of spores.

Her stomach growled and she realized she was famished. Earlier, she’d eaten breakfast with other members of the hotel staff in their private cafeteria. Everyone was so nice to her and she’d felt almost decadent as she chose the colorful fruit platter with its dollop of yogurt. She hadn’t seen such gorgeous fruit in Minnesota in a long time, if ever. But now, as she worked under the hot sun, she felt a little dizzy and determined that she would need to eat a bigger breakfast each morning. The last thing she wanted to do was pass out on the beach. She could only imagine what Logan Sutherland would say about that.

Checking the dishes stacked in her kit bag, she decided she had enough spores from this particular tree. It was a good start. She pulled off the gloves, packed up her kit and pushed herself up off the ground, anxious to return to her room where her microscope and portable lab equipment waited for her.

“Wow,” she said with a laugh, as she brushed the fine grains of sand off her legs. “Do you know how to have a good time or what?”

She turned and almost collided with Logan Sutherland, who grabbed hold of her shoulders to steady her.

“What are you doing out here without a hat on?” he demanded, glaring at her.

She’d been so absorbed in her work that she hadn’t heard him approach, but she should’ve sensed his forceful presence. He wore cargo shorts with a faded Hawaiian shirt and waterproof sandals. His skin was tanned a deep bronze and there was a hint of beard stubble on his jaw. He was laid-back and casual, so why did he look even more dangerous today than he had in his thousand-dollar suit yesterday?