Love's Wager

Scott shoved his phone back in his pocket. His brother watched him curiously.

“Miss Parrish. Anastasia Parrish, spoiled rotten daughter of Senator Parrish?”

“Yeah,” Scott replied. “The bane of my existence.”

“She’s very beautiful.”

“She’s spoiled, petty and mean.” Scott leaned against the wall. How the hell was he going to get rid of her? “She’s twenty-five but acts like she’s thirteen, which is ridiculous. She thinks she’s in love with me.”

“She’s pretty enough,” Hunter said. “Though compared to Lydia, she’s kind of colorless.”

“Any woman you look at is colorless compared to Lydia.” Scott’s brother had finally found the love of his life in Lydia Montgomery. They were engaged to be married.

“What are you going to do?” Hunter asked.

“I don’t have many options. This is my home and she’s invaded it. I need to convince her to head back to Washington, DC, and just leave me alone.” Scott felt annoyed and beyond irritated. As though he didn’t have enough headaches, now he had to deal with Anastasia. She was poison.

“Before you hide in your office—” Hunter held up an envelope “—I’m going to need your security plans for the spa. The electricians are coming on Monday and I want to make sure we have enough security cameras in all the right places.”

“Okay,” Scott said, relieved to put Anastasia on the back burner for the moment. “Let’s check out the blueprints again and I’ll go over the areas I’ve already earmarked for security cameras.”

Hunter started walking down the hall. Scott followed. He thought he heard a dog barking, but after a moment decided it was just his imagination.

Chapter 3 (#ulink_5dbac9aa-5ddd-5b9f-9825-ff8c762c799d)

When Nina said she’d meet Miss E. in her office, the last thing she expected was an RV in the parking garage with cords attaching it to the side of the building. The RV was a lot more opulent than the vehicles Nina had seen at various RV shows. The blue-and-green interior consisted of a living area, a tiny galley and a large bedroom at the end. The door to the tiny bathroom was closed.

Miss E. sat on a greenish-blue sofa, lips pursed as she studied Nina’s iPad on the hardwood coffee table. Next to her was Lydia Montgomery, Miss E.’s business partner.

Lydia Montgomery was a tiny, fragile-looking woman with a wealth of hair clustered about her shoulders, intelligent brown eyes and a classically beautiful face. She wore a white-and-black Stella McCartney pantsuit. She was stylish in a Lena Horne/Princess Diana way that made Nina want to make her the face of Casa de Mariposa.

“Is there any way I can turn you into a celebutante?” Nina asked her.

Lydia’s elegant eyebrows rose in surprise. “What?”

“A celebutante. Sort of like Paris Hilton, but with class.”

Lydia shook her head, amusement in her eyes. “No.”

Nina sighed. It was worth a try. “Understand this is all tentative.” She pointed at her tablet. “I want to create a buzz that establishes Casa de Mariposa as an insider place that you need to be totally cool to get into. And everyone will want to come because deep down inside, people want to be cool, to be unique. They want to be part of the ‘in’ crowd.”

Lydia nodded, as though agreeing.

“Vegas has such a great tag line. ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.’ That is so alluring a concept. At the city limits you can let yourself be free. But now that Vegas is everyone’s playground, there’s no place to be naughty anymore. We need to bring that concept to Reno.”

“Do you mean you want people to come to Reno to misbehave and do bad things?” Miss E. frowned as she studied the tablet.

“I want people to come here and be naughty.” Being naughty was good, Nina thought.

Lydia frowned. “What’s the difference?”

“Naughty is fun without the jail time.” Nina grinned at Lydia.

“What’s your plan of attack?” Miss E. asked as she studied the tablet.

“A good website and a great blogger. I have a friend, Eydie, who already has worked up a mock website and blog.” Nina ran her fingers across the iPad and started the slide show. “I looked at other hotel websites and they all spotlight what’s happening in their hotel or casino, but don’t really give a flavor for Reno. Besides highlighting the hotel, spa and casino, we also show life in Reno away from the casinos. I know I’ve only been here a day, but this place has an incredible foundation. Once the spa is completed, you’ll have some of the best amenities to offer guests and I know how to entice them to come.” She had more ideas, but didn’t want to give too much away too soon.

Miss E. nodded. “How are you going to get famous people to come here?”

Nina laughed. “They all owe me favors. I have several events the hotel should think about hosting.”

“Such as?” Lydia asked.

“A film festival is one. This is an ideal location. You have a big jazz concert here every year and a film is a perfect complement to it. Who can resist movies and jazz? We could do a comic convention.”

“Reed would like that,” Miss E. said in delight.

“I know, I did my research. And I know from a friend that the snowboarding and ski people are looking for a new place to host their convention. The spillover would benefit every hotel in Reno.”

“These are big plans,” Lydia interrupted. “How are you going to implement them?”

Nina grinned. “With style and grace. I have an incredible group of people I work with and each one is a master at what they do. By the time we’re done, Casa de Mariposa will be the place for every celebrity who wants to be seen, to be seen in.”

Lydia frowned. “Aren’t you concerned that Reno is a little difficult to get to? Anyone who wants to fly in has to change planes at least once, if not twice, depending on their start point.”

“Not at all. Part of the appeal of Reno is the fact that it’s slightly out of the way, giving it a sense of exclusivity. Anyone can take a direct flight to Vegas and be there in hours. Getting to Reno takes a little extra effort, but you, Miss E., are going to make that effort worthwhile.”

“Look at you flattering me,” Miss E. said with a wry shake of her head.

“The harder something is to attain, the more people want it. So it’s a little more difficult to get here. Celebrities will come because they’ll think it’s a little more private. And other people will come to see celebrities, so they’ll make the effort, too.”

“I get that we want to bring in celebrity guests,” Lydia said, “because they’ll bring the crowd, but we don’t want to alienate any of our regular guests.”

“I understand completely and I don’t want to alienate them, either. The regular guests are the bread and butter of this place, yet at the same time, they want a show. And having celebrities stay here is a show you don’t have to pay a lot for. You will have to compensate them in free rooms and free meals. These are people who play hard. You’ll get them to your gaming tables, cocktail bars, restaurants and nightclub.”

“How do you know this?” Lydia asked curiously.

“Lua el Sol has been the ‘in’ place for celebrities to be seen for over twenty years. I learned what I needed to know about making a place popular by watching my parents and instituting their strategies. I’m very good at what I do.” And her parents were brilliant. Her father knew exactly how to make Lua el Sol the perfect hangout while providing great food, music and fun. She found her excitement growing. Before, she’d always had something to work with while promoting whoever or whatever she was promoting, but Casa de Mariposa had nothing. She had a clean slate to start with; she could build an incredible promotion from the ground up. Ideas swirled around her mind so quickly she could barely contain them.

“And you can get this in place for New Year’s Eve, the grand opening.”

“Done,” Nina said proudly. “I thought for New Year’s Eve we’d do a Brazilian-style carnaval, Rio in Reno. Samba dancing, Brazilian jazz and food. I thought I’d call my dad and have him sit down with Donovan...”

“Donovan,” Miss E. said, “will be here in a few weeks. He just has some things to take care of in Paris before he can get away.”

“My dad will be happy to work with him on revamping the menu in the larger restaurant.”

“I’m sure Donovan will be delighted.” Miss E. looked delighted herself.