A Baby for the Boss

by Maureen Child

  The Ryans had made a good choice in building their hotel here. All in all, Jenny told herself, if she had a choice, she would come to Laughlin instead of Vegas. It was smaller, friendlier and offered a variety of things to do.

  She shrugged deeper into her navy blue jacket as a hard, cold wind carrying the sharp tang of sage blew in off the desert. There were clouds on the horizon promising a storm, but for the moment, the sky was a bright blue and all around her, trees dipped and swayed in the wind. Jenny walked out onto the boat dock and watched as the river churned and sloshed below her.

  “It’s a good spot.”

  She turned her head into the wind to look back at the shore. Mike was headed her way, hands tucked into the pockets of his black leather jacket.

  Nodding, Jenny shifted her gaze to the river again. “I was just thinking that. There are so many trees on the grounds, you could almost forget you’re in the desert.”

  “Yeah, now,” he said, a chuckle in his voice as he came closer. “Wait until summer.”

  She smiled. Temperatures in the desert regularly topped out at one hundred twenty and more during the summer. But as the locals liked to say, It’s a dry heat. “Agreed. But you can go in the river to cool off.”

  “Or the hotel pool,” he said as he joined her at the edge of the dock.

  “True.”

  Upstream, there were flat-bottom boats, owned by the hotels, taking tourists for river rides. The windows and gold trim on the hotels winked brightly in the sunlight. But here, standing in the shadows of the nest of trees edging the river, it was as if they were alone.

  “I wonder why the previous owners couldn’t make the hotel work,” she mused aloud. “It’s a great spot. Wonderful views, plenty of trees, a gorgeous pool—”

  “No gambling.”

  She looked at him. “What?”

  “The hotel.” Mike squinted into the sun. “The old owner didn’t approve of gambling so the hotel didn’t offer it.” He shrugged. “A hotel with no casino in a gambling town isn’t going to survive. Plus, he didn’t have smoking rooms, either.”

  “That’s important?”

  “Again, a gambling town. People come here looking to relax, throw a little money down a rat hole...” He looked at her. “They’re not interested in being snubbed because they smoke. Or if they can’t find a slot machine anywhere on the premises.”

  “Good points.” He was always thinking and she shouldn’t have been surprised to know that he’d done his homework on the previous owner’s failures and come to his own conclusions. Mike Ryan always had a plan. “So, you’ll have gambling?”

  He gave her a fast grin. “Not a regular casino, no. But we’ll have some custom-made slot machines if people are interested. Based on the game, of course.”

  “Of course.” She smiled and looked up at him. He was so tall, so broad shouldered. His dark hair ruffled in the wind and his blue eyes were narrowed on the distant view, as if he was staring off into a future that lay waiting for him to conquer it.

  Oh, she really had to stop.

  “Still,” Mike said, grabbing her attention again, “the River Haunt isn’t going to be your standard hotel. It’s being designed to appeal to gamers—not gamblers.”

  “Gamblers like games, too.”

  “Yeah,” Mike said. “But they’re more interested in risking their money for the chance of a big reward. A gamer wants to beat his time, beat the game.” He turned and looked back up the rise to the hotel that now belonged to Celtic Knot. “The people who come here are going to be looking for the experience. The opportunity to pretend they’re a part of the game they love. Gambling doesn’t have anything to do with that.”

  “But you’ll have a few slot machines just in case.”

  He winked at her. “Doesn’t hurt to cover all bases.”

  Pleasure rushed through Jenny at that friendly wink. She liked this. They were talking. About important things, and he hadn’t taken a single shot at her yet. No insults, no disapproval. Maybe it was being away from their everyday routine, but whatever the reason, she was enjoying it. And maybe, she thought, these two days with Mike wouldn’t be as hard as she’d thought they would be.

  “I’m guessing you’ll have smoking rooms, too, then,” she said with a smile.

  “Absolutely,” he said. “I’m not going to cut anyone out of coming to the hotel.” He shook his hair back when the wind tossed it across his forehead. “It’s ridiculous for any business owner to discriminate against possible customers.”

  “Agreed,” she said. Half turning, she looked back at the hotel sitting at the top of a low rise.

  It was old, but sturdy. Paint that had once been a deep brick red had faded in the sun until it looked almost pink. The building sprawled across the property but Jenny knew that compared to the rich new hotels farther downriver this place was small. Only a hundred and fifty rooms, the soon-to-be River Haunt hotel would be exclusive and that would appeal to the gamers who would flock here.

  There was a wide porch that swept along the front of the building, and floor-to-ceiling windows provided a great view of the river and the purple smudge of mountains in the distance. The now pink paint was peeling and the plain boxlike structure wasn’t exactly appealing, but she knew that Mike would be changing it all up. The rehab wouldn’t go fast, but she could imagine it all as it would be in a few months.

  Like the setting of the “River Haunt” game, the main building would be made to look like a weathered, deserted cabin. A cabin where ghouls, ghosts, zombies and other assorted supernatural beings assembled and tormented the gamers who fought to defeat Donn, Lord of the Dead.

  The guests at the River Haunt hotel would be treated to rooms and suites decked out with top-of-the-line gaming systems, flat-screen TVs and enough gaming tokens and symbols to make them feel as though they were a part of their favorite game. The latest Celtic Knot hotel was going to be huge.

  “It’ll be a lot of work,” Jenny said thoughtfully.

  “It will.”

  She turned and flashed him a quick smile. “But it’s gonna be great.”

  “Damn straight.”

  His gaze locked with hers and for one bright, amazing moment, Jenny felt like they were a team. In this together. And in that impossibly fast heartbeat of time, she really wished it were true.

  * * *

  They were making the most of their two days in Nevada.

  Mike spent hours with his contractor, Jacob Schmitt, going over the plans for the River Haunt. The two of them walked the hotel, checking out the rooms and talking to the skeleton staff who remained on-site.

  Mike appreciated good work and loyalty, so when he was given the opportunity to keep on some of the hotel employees, he did. He wasn’t a soft touch, though, so in interviews with the hotel manager, and the heads of the other departments, he’d quickly weeded out the people who were simply dead weight.

  Maybe the previous owner’s standards had been lax, but Mike had no intention of paying people to do nothing. But he was also ready to pay top money for the right kind of employee. Which was why he’d fired the previous manager and promoted that man’s assistant, Teresa Graves.

  Teresa was a middle-aged woman with a no-nonsense attitude and an unerring ability to cut through the bull and get the best out of the people who worked for her. With his new manager’s help, Mike wanted to keep the skeleton crew in place during the transition. He didn’t want the hotel sitting empty and deserted while it was being rehabbed. It seemed like too much of an invitation to vandals and or thieves.

  Having people there was important enough that he was offering bonuses to the workers who were willing to actually live in the hotel so that someone besides the security people he’d hired were around 24/7. With a working kitchen, a pool and plenty of guest rooms to choose from, it was no hardship for
those who chose to stay. Plus, they were paid enough that they didn’t have to look for another job while waiting for the hotel to reopen.

  “I figure we’ll do the pool last,” Jacob said as they walked through the main lobby and out onto the sun-splashed deck. “Leave it as is so your people can use it while we work. And this way, with all the construction going on, we don’t risk breaking up the new tiles you wanted in the pool surround.”

  Mike studied the architect’s line drawings for a long moment.

  “That’s a good idea,” he said finally. “Pool’s going to be the last thing we need done anyway.”

  “Yeah, and these tiles we’ll be laying in the deck and surround aren’t something we want scratched up.” Jacob yanked his battered blue ball cap with a faded Dodgers patch off his head and rubbed the wild scrub of gray hair that sprung up as if freed from prison. “Just like you wanted, the tiles actually look like rough wood—gives the feel of the forest floor.”

  Mike glanced at the man and smiled. “You know the ‘River Haunt’ game?”

  “I should,” the other man said. “My son plays the damn thing every chance he gets.” Chuckling, he added, “I swear, I hear banshees wailing in my dreams.”

  “That’s good to hear, too,” Mike said, and gave the other man a friendly slap to the shoulder.

  “I’ll bet.” Jacob Schmitt turned slowly to take a look around the property. “This is a perfect spot for what you’re wanting. My opinion, the last owner didn’t make enough of what he had. But his loss—your gain.”

  “That’s what I think, too.”

  “You know, my son’s already nagging at me to bring him to the hotel for a long weekend.”

  Mike followed the other man’s gaze and realized that he was anxious to get this hotel up and running, too. He couldn’t wait to see how it all came out. “Tell you what,” Mike said. “You bring the job in on time and on budget, you and your family can stay a week, on us.”

  The older man’s bushy gray brows shot high on his forehead as he gave a wide smile. “My son will think I’m a god.”

  Mike laughed. “Anything I can do.”

  Eager now, Jacob pointed to the sketch of the pool area. “You can see this wall behind the pool will be a series of ledges, each of them planted with flowering plants that will trail down to the edge of the pool itself.”

  Mike listened as he looked at the ink drawings, bringing it all to life in his mind. He had a good imagination and used it to mentally change the plain, kidney-shaped pool into the fantasy spot he wanted.

  He could almost see it. A waterfall would cascade at one end of the pool and behind that waterfall would be a swim-up bar where guests could be served as they hid behind a froth of water. There would be lounge chairs in deep forest green and tables that looked like the twisted limbs of ancient trees. The flowering vines Jacob described would be a curtain of green in the desert heat. It was a very good representation of the kind of scenery found in the “River Haunt” game.

  Hell, Mike thought he could practically hear the groaning zombies approaching. He’d like to show the sketches to Jenny, get her opinion. After all, she was here to work, he reminded himself. But she was inside, scouting out the right places for the murals she would design and paint.

  “I’ve expanded the dock,” the contractor said, getting Mike’s attention again, “so you’ll have room for both of the boats you’re planning for.”

  “That’s good. We want to offer late-night cruises as part of the experience.”

  “It’s pretty out here at night,” the contractor said with a nod as he lifted his gaze to look around. “Far enough away from hotel row, you can see the stars like you never would in the city.”

  “Yeah?” It had been a long time since Mike had even taken the time to look up at a night sky. But it was part of the whole experience his guests would have. “What did you think of the idea for the animatronics?”

  Jacob chuckled and tugged his hat back into place. “I think it’s gonna scare the hell out of your guests,” he said. “But I suppose that’s why they’re coming here, isn’t it?”

  “It is.” Mike nodded to himself and glanced toward the riverbank that stretched along the front of their property. Plenty of thick, high bushes and trees to hide the mechanics of the banshees and river specters who would be made to move in and out of the shadows as the gamers drifted by on the water. He could practically see how it would play out and he was anxious to get it all going.

  “We’re working with the engineers to make the housings for the creatures to move on as well as the shells they’ll retreat to so they’re protected from the elements,” Jacob said.

  “You can hide the housings well enough they won’t be seen?”

  “Absolutely.”

  It all sounded good. Hell, perfect. With any luck at all, the hotel would be finished and ready to welcome guests by summer. Hot desert nights, dark skies, perfect for scaring the hell out of people.

  “I’ve got the best crew in Nevada,” Jacob assured him. “We’ll get it all done just the way you want it.”

  Nodding, Mike said, “I’ll be making trips out to check on things, but Ms. Graves, the new manager, will be the point person on this. You go to her with any issues if you can’t get hold of me. She’ll make sure I’m kept up to date.”

  “I’ll do that, and don’t worry, it’s going to be something special when it’s done.”

  “Agreed,” Mike told him, then turned back to the hotel. “Let’s go through the kitchen work that needs doing. I want to hear about any potential problems.”

  “Well,” Jacob said as he fell into step beside him, “we’ve got a few of those, too. But nothing to be worried about.”

  Mike only half listened as they headed inside. He had researched every aspect of this rehab. He knew Jacob Schmitt would deliver good work done at a fair price. He knew Teresa Graves could be trusted to keep on top of the day-to-day issues that were bound to crop up. And he was sure that the security company he’d hired would protect his property.

  Of course, the only thing he wasn’t sure of in all this was Jenny. He hadn’t seen her since the conversation on the dock hours ago. Probably best to keep a distance between them, but damned if he didn’t want to go find her. Talk to her. Look at her.

  And more.

  Yeah, not going there.

  “Right, Jacob. Let’s get back to work.”

  Five

  Jenny’s imagination was in overdrive. She’d brought her ideas for murals with her and she’d spent the past two hours walking the halls and the big rooms on the main floor, plotting just where she’d put them.

  The restaurant was perfect for a wide mural on the back wall. She would paint it as if there was a path leading from the room into the forest itself. Sort of a trompe l’oeil, giving the guests in the room the feeling that they could simply step into the painting. Of course, being gamers, they would know what lurked in that forest, she thought with a smile, so maybe they wouldn’t want to follow the path.

  On the opposite wall, there were tall windows, displaying the view of the tree-laden yard and the river beyond. Those she would surround with deep green vines, twining down the wall to pool on the floor.

  She took a deep breath and simply sighed at the pleasure of having so many blank canvases just waiting to be turned into fantasies. Her hands actually itched to take hold of her brushes. God knew, she loved her job, but having the opportunity to paint rather than generating images on a computer was just...fun.

  Grinning, she left the dining room and walked into the lobby. She had a great idea for the main entrance to the hotel and knew that it was only because she’d been here to see it in person that the thought had occurred to her. She wanted this painting to make a statement. To show the gamers and other guests that from the moment they walked into the hot
el, they were stepping into another realm.

  The lobby area was another big, gorgeous space that only needed some attention to really wake it up and make it special. And Jenny was just the artist to do it. There were a few crewmen in the room already, tearing out the old reception desk. It was white and sterile and too contemporary-looking for what the Ryans had in mind, so it had to go.

  “Excuse me,” she said and waited until one of the men turned to look at her to ask, “who do I speak to about the color of paint I want on this entry wall?”

  “Oh, that’d be Jacob.” A guy in his thirties with big brown eyes, a heavy mustache and deeply tanned skin smiled at her, touching off a dimple in one cheek. “I think he’s in the kitchen with the boss.”

  “Okay, thanks.” She started that way, but stopped when the man spoke again.

  “You’re the artist, right? Jenny?”

  Jenny turned to face him. “That’s right.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Rick.”

  He really was cute and that dimple was disarming. His jeans were worn and faded, and his white T-shirt strained over a build that was truly impressive. And Jenny was pretty sure Rick knew exactly how good he looked. There was something in his stance—as if he were posing for her admiration—and in the knowing gleam in his eyes that told Jenny he was used to women curling up at his feet and staring up at him adoringly.

  Hard to blame them.

  “Hi, Rick,” she said. “Good to meet you, too. I’m going to be doing the murals for the new hotel. Well,” she hedged, “not me all on my lonesome. It would take me ten years to do all of them myself.

  “But I’m doing the designs and supervising the artists we’ll bring in to finish the job.”