Betting on Both

Chapter 1

Chapter One

"New Orleans. What the hell am I going to do in New Orleans?" Kat McMaster put her hands on her hips and looked out the office window. The New York City skyline sprawled in front of her, various buildings stabbing into the air.

She turned to face the antique wooden desk and the man sitting behind it. "Seriously. What?"

Jacob McMaster leaned back in his chair and eyed her, fingertips pressed together. "Learn how to run a business." The nearly-bald man wore his usual daily attire, a black three-piece suit from his private tailor. Casual Day was an extinct creature in the McMaster offices; the staff expected to dress professionally every day without exception.

She'd worn a black skirt and white blouse, a black suit jacket completing her outfit. When summoned by her grandfather, she knew showing up in anything less wouldn't cut it. Her long dark brown hair was in a tight bun, pulling at her scalp.

"I know how to run a business," Kat snapped. "I graduated top of my class, didn't I? I've worked two years in New York City and in Los Angeles at our properties, slogging away under your assistants' killer stares. Every move I made, everything I did was scrutinized and watched. Now I'm ready to go out on my own, make my mark on the world as a McMaster." She clamped her mouth shut, forcing herself to edit her thoughts before speaking. She knew the business, had damned well grown up at the Old Man's knee, picking it up by osmosis.

But she also had her mother's temper, a fiery beast hard to keep at bay. It'd gotten loose a few times and she'd paid for it.

She caught her breath and counted silently, biding her time.

Her grandfather nodded, the ancient pipe bobbing between his lips. "And you were competent. I got the reports, you did very well running the hotels and the casinos. But taking charge of a full property on your own, without any supervision—that's another thing."

Kat dug her fingernails into her palms, forcing herself to calm down. No one had ever won an argument with the Old Man and she doubted she'd be the first.

She might be his granddaughter but blood only went so far, even for the McMaster family.

"You want to take over the Belle Dame in Vegas." He rose slowly from the desk and orbited the room, pipe in hand. It wasn't lit, the latest in an attempt for him to cut back on his chain smoking. "Harry Willow's retiring and you want his place."

She nodded.

The well-chewed black mouthpiece stabbed the air over and over. "One of our top-of-the-line hotels and casinos. You think I'm going to hand it over to you without seeing if you can fly solo at a smaller, more manageable site first?"

Kat winced at his words, feeling them hit home. It had sounded a lot better on paper when she'd sent him the request a week ago, demanding she be allowed to take charge of one of the McMaster crown jewels.

"Katherine. When your parents passed, God rest their souls, I vowed to take care of you. Your mother..." Jacob paused and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before continuing. "She meant the world to me. And I've done the best I could for you. I've seen you through your teenage rebellion years and saw you through to university. You've done us proud and I've never thought for a second that you weren't capable, that you weren’t able to take your place in the McMaster business empire." He eyed her. "I know I won't be here forever. Your uncles will take over when I'm gone as well as you and your cousins. I've prepared for that. You'll have your place. But not before you show me you deserve it and you can handle it."

Kat stayed silent.

"Daniel and Stephanie have a few years to go before they graduate. You're the first of the new generation moving into the business. I expect you to set an example for them. It's not going to be walking into one of our most successful complexes and taking over. Anyone can do that, take a winner and keep on winning. I want to see you add onto the McMaster legacy, expand our properties. We've got to keep moving, keep growing. Without growth you grow stagnant, stale. It's been the death of many a company and I won't have it happen here."

Jacob returned to his desk and sat. He studied the pages in front of him before shuffling them together. "I'm giving you the Majestic in New Orleans. It's a small hotel and riverboat casino. We acquired it a month ago and it's bleeding red, has been for years. Go down, fix it up, turn a profit, and I'll consider your request to go to Vegas. You leave in three days, give you time to pack and do research. Get the files from Helen on your way out."

The tone left no room for discussion.

Kat turned to leave but a grunt from the Old Man held her in place.

"I'm also assigning you a personal bodyguard. Your usual security team won't be good enough this time."

"What?" She couldn't bite back her annoyance this time. "Why?"

He looked inside the bowl of his pipe and scowled. "Last thing I need is for you to get into trouble." Jacob raised one eyebrow. "Of any type."

Kat pressed her lips together into a tight line, choking back the words. Sure, she'd been a bit of a hellion during high school and college, but she hadn't gotten into that much trouble...

The tabloid cover flashed into her mind's eye, the past rushing up to remind her of exactly how much trouble she'd gotten into.

Her, a bedsheet and a room of frat boys dressed in makeshift togas.

MCMASTER HEIR RUNS WILD! had been the headline.

It wasn't technically true, not that it mattered to the gossip sheets.

The party hadn't been that wild and she'd been with her sorority sisters, just not when the photographer had come around.

But the damage had been done. It'd earned her a nasty phone call from Jacob and a threat to cut her off if she didn't stay out of the papers. Her security team had been reassigned and she'd gotten new babysitters.

The message had been heard, loud and clear.

"Why now?" She waved her hand at the wall. "That was two years ago. I've behaved myself."

"True. You've kept your nose clean and there's been no incidents." He locked eyes with her, his cool steel blue matching hers for fire and intensity. "But you're flying solo in a city where we have no presence, no one on the ground to help you out or provide protection. New Orleans is a world unto itself. I don't want any surprises. You're still a McMaster and the name carries a risk all by itself." He paused. "I want to keep you safe, Kat. Is that too much for me to ask?"

Kat shook her head, pulling back the angry rant she'd been preparing. Her grandfather had been the major player in her life for over a decade and she owed him for stepping up and raising her.

Besides, she told herself, I can easily sidestep a babysitter if I need to.

"He'll meet you at the airport. Good man, been working for us a long time. Might make a good security director one day." He nodded. "Call me when you get settled, give me your impressions and preliminary report on the renovations. Stay safe and remember, I love you."

His attention went to the images on his laptop, dismissing her with a wave.

Kat smiled and walked around the desk to hug him and kiss his cheek, enjoying the gruff laugh from the bear-like figure.

Family was always family.