At Odds With The Heiress. Cat Schield
Читать онлайн книгу.
managed for their grandfather. Sitting side by side on the Las Vegas Strip, each property was a unique reflection of the sister who ran it. This morning, they were enjoying breakfast at Fontaine Ciel, Harper’s property and the newest jewel in the Fontaine crown. Taking a cue from the French word for sky, Harper had designed her sixty-story tower to showcase panoramic views of the Strip. In the most expensive suites, high above the city, eighteen-foot walls of windows were designed to give guests a sense that they were floating just below a dome of intense blue. The signature color was echoed everywhere in the two-billion-dollar hotel.
“Thanks. I’ve already eaten.” He’d been up for three hours already. First his morning workout. A touch-base meeting with Lucas and then the trip to Fontaine Ciel to check the progress of the team testing the security system his company had installed in the soon-to-open hotel. “But I’ll take a cup of green tea if Violet doesn’t mind sharing.”
“There’s more than enough for two.” Violet’s hazel eyes were warm as she filled an empty cup and nudged it over to him. “It’s good to see that someone besides me appreciates the virtues of green tea.” She looked pointedly at the sister to her left.
“Right,” Scarlett murmured, speaking up for the first time. “Heaven forbid Logan would try anything that’s bad for him.”
Scarlett Fontaine, voluptuous, charismatic and just plain sexy, had a knack for getting under Logan’s skin. In his opinion, the breathtakingly beautiful former actress was the last person who should be running a billion-dollar hotel and casino. Without a college degree or business experience, she relied on her abundant charm to get things done, and it rubbed Logan the wrong way how much she’d accomplished with such techniques.
She popped a bite of sugary pastry into her mouth. Her soft murmur of enjoyment made the hair on Logan’s arms stand up. He was a millisecond too slow to brace against the shock wave of awareness. Compelling and unwelcome, lust rushed through him, leaving a destructive tangle of longing and fury in its wake.
From the moment he’d entered the room, he’d done his best to ignore the once-popular child star. Being near her aggravated his composure. She exuded sexual energy the way Harper projected professionalism and Violet radiated optimism. Many times Logan had watched Scarlett shake up a roomful of men by simply appearing in a doorway. That he was similarly affected despite his best efforts to remain immune pissed him off.
He liked things that he could control. Computer systems. Fast cars. Any risks he took were carefully calculated to result in the best possible outcome. “Chance favors the prepared mind” was a motto he lived by. Scarlett would counter with “Fortune favors the bold.”
“I’ve tried plenty of things that are bad for me,” he retorted. Avoiding the allure of her witchy green eyes didn’t make him immune to their impact. “I like living a healthy lifestyle. Both physically and mentally.”
Scarlett gestured with her chin in Violet’s direction. “You two are perfect for each other.”
Logan agreed. He wanted a woman who matched him. Someone who shared his views about healthy living and maintaining a balance between work and home. Not a fiery siren who would turn his routines upside down and rock his world.
Violet shook her head, the melancholy in her eyes clearing for the moment. “We’re too much alike. We’d bore each other to death. No. I think Logan needs someone who will challenge him.” Violet got to her feet and aimed a wicked grin at Scarlett. “Someone like you.”
There was a slight hesitation before Scarlett’s dismissive laugh. Logan cursed his curiosity as he watched the exchange. What had caused the delayed reaction? His pulse spiked. He sat back with crossed arms and watched Violet exit the room. The pause didn’t mean Scarlett had considered the idea. She’d never given him any reason to believe she suffered the same sexual attraction that plagued him. Quite the reverse.
In fact, Logan wasn’t sure she was interested in any of the men who pursued her. She doled out flirtation like candy that her admirers gobbled up, all the while keeping them at arm’s length. Which made them all the more determined to have her.
For the past five years, since she’d left her acting career behind in Los Angeles and moved to Las Vegas to run Fontaine Richesse, Logan had watched her disappoint one suitor after another. He’d decided she was a coldhearted woman who enjoyed tormenting men, and kept his own desires firmly in check. A challenge when she took great pleasure in teasing him.
Shifting his focus to what had brought him to Harper’s office this morning, he gave her an accounting of what he’d found during his consultation with his team regarding her security system.
“There won’t be any problem having the cameras adjusted before your soft opening,” he concluded.
“Good.” She’d been making notes as he spoke. “One less thing to worry about.” She glanced at her watch. “If there’s nothing else, I have a meeting in ten minutes.” A line appeared between her brows as she muttered, “That’s providing he bothers to show up this time.”
“Actually, I did have one more thing,” Logan said. “A favor, actually.”
He caught Scarlett’s sudden interest in his peripheral vision. She leaned her elbows on the table and watched intently. He would have preferred to make his request to Harper in private, but with her hotel opening only ten days away, her time was limited.
“My niece is in town for the rest of the summer and I wondered if she could shadow you for a couple weeks. Observe a businesswoman in action.”
Harper, the oldest of the three women by a year, was Ross Fontaine’s only legitimate child. She had the training and the ambition to take over for her grandfather when he stepped down in two years. Harper’s mother came from old East Coast money and had insisted her daughter be raised in New York City and educated at an Ivy League school. Her style was elegant and professional, from her smooth chignon to her black designer pumps.
“You’re the perfect role model,” he finished.
“The perfect role model,” Scarlett echoed, her throaty voice rich with laughter. “The ultimate professional.”
Logan glared at her, realizing he’d laid it on a bit thick. But the task his sister and brother-in-law had handed him was outside of Logan’s expertise.
“I’d love to help,” Harper retorted. “As soon as the hotel opens.”
“I was hoping you could start showing her the ropes sooner.”
“I don’t know how I can....” Harper sent a hopeful look in Scarlett’s direction. “What about you?”
“My schedule is wide-open,” Scarlett said, her gaze as steady and watchful as a psychiatrist’s. “I’d be happy to help.”
This was not at all what Logan had in mind. His relationship with Harper was professional and cordial. What happened between him and Scarlett could only be called acrimonious. His niece was already a troublesome seventeen-year-old. Under Scarlett’s influence, the girl would become completely unmanageable.
“Unless Logan doesn’t think I’m role-model material,” Scarlett continued when he didn’t immediately jump on her offer. Her ability to read his mind with unnerving accuracy gave her an unwelcome advantage over him.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Harper appeared oblivious to her sister’s subtext. “Besides, your hotel is operational. She’ll get a much better sense of how things run. Now, if you two will excuse me, I have an internationally famous pain in the ass to meet with.”
Logan stared after Harper, cursing his bad timing. He should never have brought up his problem within earshot of Scarlett.
“Tell me about your niece,” Scarlett prompted.
“I don’t need your help.” Being subtle was not the way to handle Scarlett.
“No,” she said in a sugarcoated tone, “you don’t want my help.” She added coffee to her cup, lifted