“I really feel as if I’ve hit my stride with the hotel. Then there are you guys. I love being your sister and don’t want to live so far away from you.”
“That’s awfully sweet of you to say.” Harper’s lips curved in a dry smile. “But are you forgetting that we’re your chief competition in our grandfather’s contest?”
Scarlett laughed at Harper’s question, despite her lingering uneasiness over her decision to conceal what she knew about her sister’s true parentage. “You don’t seriously think I have a shot at running Fontaine Hotels and Resorts, because I’m convinced I don’t.”
“You don’t know that,” Violet insisted, always the peacemaker. “Fontaine Richesse has done really well under your management. Grandfather could choose you.”
“I don’t have the experience or the education required to run the company.” Scarlett pointed her fork first at Harper, then at Violet. “You two are the only ones in the running. I’m just happy to have been given the chance to be considered.”
“Have you told Logan that you’re thinking about heading back to L.A.?” Violet asked.
“Logan?” Harper interjected before Scarlett could answer. “Why would she tell him?”
“Because they’ve been seeing each other,” Violet said, her tone exasperated. “Don’t you notice anything that happens outside your hotel?”
“Not in the past three weeks.” She turned to Scarlett. “How serious is it?”
Scarlett lifted her hand to bat away the question, but the concern laced with curiosity in her sisters’ eyes was a powerful thing. “It could be anything from casual to involved. I can’t really tell. He’s pretty cagey about his emotions.”
“Cagey?” Harper echoed, her tone doubtful. “He’s positively Alcatraz. I’ve gotta say, I didn’t see that coming. You two are like oil and water.”
“More like gasoline and matches,” Violet put in. “All that animosity between you had to be hiding a raging passion.”
Scarlett didn’t comment on her sister’s observation, but couldn’t prevent heat from rising in her cheeks. As an actress she could control her body language and facial expressions, but stopping a blush was something she’d never mastered.
“Raging passion?” Harper echoed, her eyes widening. “What exactly have I been missing?”
“A lot.” Violet looked smug. “How many nights has he stayed at your place in the past two weeks?”
“Not one.” He liked to be home when Madison got up in the morning.
“Then how many nights has he gone home in the wee hours of the morning?”
“Several.” Scarlett couldn’t believe how giddy she felt at the admission.
“Then it’s serious?” Harper asked.
“He’s encouraging me to head back to L.A. and take the part. That tells me it’s pretty casual.”
“But hot,” Violet piped up.
Both Harper and Scarlett ignored her.
“Maybe he knows how important acting is to you and wants you to be happy,” Harper suggested with a pragmatic nod.
“But I told him I was done with acting.”
&n
bsp; “But you’re telling us that you’re not.”
“I really thought I was. It’s been a year since I’ve been offered a guest spot. And that’s been fine. I’ve been completely content here. I put L.A. and acting behind me.” Scarlett sorted through her conflicting emotions. “I’ve already turned down Bobby three times, but he won’t take no for an answer and after Logan told me to go, I’m wondering why I’m hesitating.”
“Why are you hesitating?” Harper asked.
“You’re going to think I’m an idiot.”
Violet said, “I promise we won’t.”