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.