There was only one way to find out.
Grim, he walked back into the house, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He opened up his contacts and hit one of the first ones.
“Already calling me? Aren’t you supposed to be out touring the island?” Alex asked the moment he answered.
“She, uh, wanted to be alone for a bit.”
Alex chuckled. “Don’t tell me you offended her already.”
“Of course not.” They automatically thought it was his fault, every single time. “This is part of her process.”
“Her process, huh? Listen, we’ve contemplated adding a scent line for years but never made the commitment. I’ve spoken with my fair share of perfumers, including her father. Let me tell you, they can be an—odd bunch.”
“It’s both a creative and scientific process, you know.”
“Right. That’s what makes them so strange. They’re brilliant, yet their heads are buried in the clouds. It’s all about art and heat and green and sillage.”
Rhett frowned. “What’s sillage?”
“It’s the smell that lingers long after a person has left the room. That lasting bit of scent that reminds you someone has been there.” It was Alex’s turn to chuckle. “That’s the one thing I learned from Michel Durand. About six years ago we met, when we were considering creating a perfume back then, and he gave me an extensive lesson on sillage. It stuck.”
“Apparently.”
“Let her work through her process, her method, whatever she wants to call it, and let yourself take it all in. Learn from her. Make sure she’s not stroking you and giving you a line of B.S. though.”
Rhett winced. He wished his brother hadn’t used the word stroking. It evoked all sorts of images. Most of them involved Ella’s slender, delicate fingers wrapped around his…
“And most importantly, express to her exactly what you want out of this fragrance,” Alex continued. “How important it is to get it right. It’s a representation of Worth Luxury. It has to not only appeal to the masses but it needs that certain hint of wealth and affluence. Glamour and elegance, sophistication and youth, experience and sexuality, all of it needs to be in that scent.”
Trepidation slithered down his spine. “Your expectations are pretty high.”
“Yours should be as well. This can’t be a flop. I refuse for this project to fail. We need a winner.” Alex’s voice firmed. “There’s a lot riding on this, Rhett. Everyone in the industry is watching us. Just waiting for us to deliver a big stinking mess. No offense, little brother, but with you at the helm of this project, they’re already predicting it a failure.”
Rhett remained silent, fury doing a slow burn through his system. “Let’s prove them wrong.”
He swore he could hear Alex’s smile. “Exactly the answer I was looking for.”
Ella came through the sliding glass door just as Rhett hung up. Her skin was already pink from the sun, her cheeks were shiny and a big smile curved her lush lips. “I’d like to take a ride.”
Hmm, that statement brought up all sorts of interesting images, none of them she was referring to. “Where to?” He slipped his phone into his front pocket.
“I was talking to someone, a man who’s on vacation and staying at one of the villas nearby. Anyway, he said there’s a fabulous beach a few miles from here with lots of beautiful native trees and bushes that are very close to the beach. I’d like to check it out.”
A flare of jealousy sparked, but he ignored it. She probably talked to some balding, paunchy tourist on vacation with his young girlfriend. “Sounds good. Just let me change and we can go.”
“You’ll go with me? To the beach?” She looked hopeful.
“Absolutely. We’re working on this together, right?” He peered at her, wishing he could read her mind.
She nodded once, contemplating him. “Right, of course. I should probably put on my swimsuit. I want to go into the ocean.”
“You like to swim?” He could break out into a cold sweat just thinking about her in a swimsuit.
“Oh, I’m not going into the ocean to swim. It’s an experiment.” When he frowned, she continued. “I want to see what the ocean water smells like on my skin when i
t’s wet and then when it’s dry. I’ll need your input as well.”
Rhett swallowed hard. Jesus. She really was trying to kill him. “My input?”