“I thought I’d take you to lunch and then to meet a woman I know.”
The resentful expression she’d had since arriving in town three days ago immediately lifted. She leaned forward eagerly. “I didn’t know you were seeing someone. Way to go, Uncle Logan.”
“I’m not seeing her.” The kiss flashed through his mind. “She’s just someone who has agreed to show you what running a hotel is like.”
“Boring.” Madison sagged back against the lounge. “When are you and my parents going to realize that I don’t want to be stuck in a stupid office? I want to be an actress.”
“Your parents are concerned that you haven’t explored all the options available to you.”
“Like they want me to explore my options. They want me to go to the college of their choice and major in business or get a law degree and become just like them. It’s not what I want.”
“I didn’t know what I wanted at your age.”
She smirked as if he’d just made her point. “That’s not true. Mom said you spent all your free time messing with your computers. And you started that security software company by the time you were twenty. You were a multimillionaire before you even graduated.”
“But I still graduated.”
“Whatever. The point is, you were successful because you were really good with computers and it’s what you loved to do, not because you have a master’s in design engineering.”
Logan glared at her. No wonder her parents had shipped her off to him. Bringing her into line with “because I said so” wasn’t going to work on an intelligent, determined young woman like Madison.
“Fine, but I still graduated from college.” He held up a hand when she started to protest. “Face it, kid, for the next month, you’re stuck with me and my opinion on what’s best for you. Go shower and I’ll take you to my favorite restaurant.”
Forty minutes later they slid into a booth at Luigi’s. Madison stared around her in disgust.
“This is a pizza place.”
“Not just any pizza place. They have the best Italian food outside of Italy.”
“I thought you were going to take me somewhere nice.”
“This is nice.”
She rolled her eyes at him. Once they’d ordered, Madison leaned her arms on the table and began to grill him.
“Who is this woman you’re dumping me on?”
“Scarlett Fontaine. She runs Fontaine Richesse. You’ll like her. She used to be an actress.”
Madison’s blue eyes narrowed. “Used to be? As in she failed at it, so now she can tell me what a huge mistake I’m making if I don’t go to college?”
“Used to be. As in she now she runs a billion-dollar hotel and casino.”
And did a pretty good job at it. Or at least she’d hired people who knew what they were doing.
“What is she, fifty?” Madison scoffed. “There’s plenty of time for me to come up with a backup plan in case acting doesn’t pan out.”
“She’s thirty-one.” It startled him to realize he knew how old she was. And that her next birthday was a month away.
“So young? Why’d she give up so fast?”
“I’m assuming because she was offered the chance of a lifetime.”
“Running a hotel?”
“One of Las Vegas’s premier hotels.”
But Madison looked unconvinced. “She’s nothing more than a quitter.”