King's Crown (Oil Kings Book 1)

by Marie Johnston

  “There’s no job?” I made myself swallow, but my appetite vanished.

  “He’s looking for an executive assistant, yes. Since Emilia learned of these certain restrictions with the trust, and after hearing that my son’s former assistant moved away, she’s been sending young, single women to apply.”

  “But…the trust isn’t her money.”

  “It was. She meant it for the boys, but my wife wanted certain restrictions. It’s what happens to the money if the kids don’t marry that has Emilia bunched up and gunning for a satisfying resolution.”

  I shook my head. This was absurd. I needed a job, not a husband. I wanted to work. Getting my childhood back wasn’t an option. I’d already raised a ton of kids, now I wanted a rewarding career. The last thing I needed was pressure to seduce my boss. If Ms. Boyd thought I’d do that, did she also think I’d pop out grandkids for her too? “So, I’m stuck in Wyoming with no power and missing days of looking for work?”

  He tilted his head. “You don’t want to marry Beckett?”

  I drew back. “No offense. I get he’s your son.” And a guy I’ve never met. “But I have no wish to marry another entitled man who wants me to serve only him and his needs.”

  Mr. King’s eyes lit with amusement. “Beckett and his company are worth millions. I doubt that he’d take advantage of you.”

  “Well, you’re his dad, so you’re a little biased. Ask the women he dates.”

  He chuckled. “He hasn’t really been dating. That’s the problem.”

  The air between us eased. He wasn’t upset that I didn’t want to marry his kid. Any of them. “What’s this trust thing all about?”

  “I wish I knew.” He took a long sip of his apple juice, his gaze boring into the wall. He brought his deep brown gaze back to me. “Sarah was smart and had a good head for business. She didn’t want to go into it, so I took the hit and started at the oil company, and I haven’t regretted it. She took over my family ranch. So when her parents sold off a lease holding from the company and gave her half to set up something for the kids, I just told Emilia to have Sarah take care of it. She was in charge of all the home expenses. And she took care of it all right. Divvied it up into a trust for each boy—Aiden, Beckett, Xander, and Dawson. But she added stipulations. They could get the money when they turned thirty if they’d been married at least one calendar year. And if they weren’t, then it’d go to our neighbor.”

  The way he said it told me a lot, but I wanted clarification. “And that’s a bad thing?”

  He gave me a quick smile. “Losing money is always bad. But losing it to our neighbors is worse.”

  “Then why did Sarah do that?”

  He let out a long breath and studied his juice. “I think…I think she suspected that her parents somehow screwed them over when oil was found.”

  “Your neighbors? How would that happen?”

  “King’s Creek is a small town. The Cartwrights are our neighbors, and that’s a whole different story, but they’d been family friends of the Boyd’s for generations. Until oil was found on land they’d purchased from DB and Emilia.” He caught my gaze again. When he was looking at me, I didn’t notice how chilly it was in the room. “It’s not about whose land oil is found on, but who owns the mineral rights to that land.”

  “Ah.” I wasn’t surprised. Ms. Boyd had seemed like someone who got what she wanted. “Wouldn’t the Cartwrights still make money off the wells?”

  “As the land owners, they could charge for access to their land and get compensated for any damages. I’m guessing it was war as soon as the Cartwrights saw what the Boyds were doing with their new oil company. I encounter that behavior all the time. Usually all it takes to resolve is listening skills and more money.”

  “I’m guessing the Boyds were short on both when it came to their severed friendship?”

  He got a faraway look in his eye. “Probably, but since Sarah’s dead because our bastard neighbor Danny Cartwright hired a drug riddled criminal that everyone told him to stay away from, I really don’t care.”

  “Oh, Mr. King. I’m sorry.”

  “I suspect Sarah thought the chances of all four boys fulfilling the stipulations was low and somehow money would make its way to Danny’s daughter. She always had a soft spot for her.” He shifted his gaze to mine. “Each trust is a lot of money, Ms. Brinkley. It would solve all your problems and help your family.”

  “I want to help them, but I also want my own life and career. I think I’ve earned it.” Hurt curdled the peanut butter in my gut. Was he trying to marry me off?

  “You’d get half when you divorced. That’s one of the stipulations. It’s pre-nup exempt.”

  “Can they even do that?”

  “Sarah did. It’s a hundred million dollars. You’d get fifty.”

  I sputtered. “Holy shit. That’s a ridiculous amount of money. Who even has that much?”

  He shrugged like who doesn’t?

  “Gah. I just—No. Quit suggesting it. I want a job not a husband. Not even if it’s just for a year.”

  “Was your marriage that bad?” He took another bite of his sandwich.

  “At first, it didn’t seem like it. He was fun. Carefree. Not burdened by five siblings. He was my escape. Only he wasn’t an ounce of support.”

  “Did they call you at all hours of the night when you were married?”

  I flashed him a guilty smile. “Yes. And then I had Darren to take care of too. He said he didn’t feel cherished enough.”

  “Didn’t he discuss how he felt with you?”

  “If by discuss you mean passive aggressive comments that made me feel small and like my family is full of parasites, then yes. I’m sure he’d complain that I was always working or on the phone too much for us to have a real conversation. I had to pay for liking my job and loving my family.” I hadn’t liked my workplace, but I enjoyed the actual work I did. “I get that I spend a lot of time running my siblings to appointments and going to their plays and games and performances. But I doubt he would’ve been happy if I saw them only twice a year.”

  “Never apologize for it. Not for helping your family, not for loving to work.” He put his empty cup down. “Thanks for bringing me food.”

  His easy acceptance of my circumstances in a couple of sentences was more support than Darren had ever given me. “Gale might have a deck of cards.”

  He looked at me like I was speaking foreign words. “And just what card games do you play?”

  “What? Because I’m a Millennial I don’t know how to play cards?”

  There was that arrogant assessment again. “What card games do you play, Ms. Brinkley?”

  This time he was playing with me. I leaned forward. “Go. Fish.”

  He laughed. A real laugh that vibrated sinfully through me and showed me his laugh lines. It only made him more handsome.

  “What about you?” I asked.

  “Rummy, gin rummy, War. Slapjack, Crazy Eights, Blackjack, poker, Texas Hold ’Em, and Canasta.”

  “Canasta? Isn’t that an—”

  His gaze sharpened, the air growing charged between us. “An old person’s game?”

  “And old lady’s game.”

  That got another chuckle out of him. “Sarah used to play it. Winter in Montana before the internet was so easy to get in rural areas.”

  “So, that’s why you have so many kids,” I teased.

  His brow crinkled as he shot me an incredulous look. “It took us a while to figure out what was causing it.”

  My giggled sputtered out. “You learned quicker than my parents. Just kidding. They call themselves good Catholics, but bad at natural birth control.” I didn’t want to leave. Our conversation was getting good. “I’ll go see if Gale has set out games. She thinks of everything.”

  “I’ll come with. I need to stretch my legs.”

  Chapter 8

  Gentry

  I was having fun. Straight up fun. And I still had my clothes on.

&nbs
p; Kendall flipped a card, and I slammed my hand down. “Got it.”

  “Ohmigosh, Lightning McQueen.” She tossed the jack of diamonds on the discard pile. “You’re crazy fast. I’ve officially lost.”

  We sacrificed some heat for light and opened the thick curtains. The limited sunshine managed to brighten the coffee-brown carpet. Since there wasn’t much else in the room other than dark grain furniture and abstract art with the same coloring as the flowers on the bedspread, I’d take all the light I could.

  It was Kendall’s turn to shuffle. I sat back on the bed and watch her hands work the cards. She was grinning, her head partially tucked into her puffy coat and a brown stocking hat on her head. Our room was cool, but it was warmer up here than down in the lobby where the picture windows let in as much cold air as light. Gale let the guests borrow games as long as we brought them back after a few hours to trade out with new ones. We weren’t the only ones looking to pass the time.

  She started dividing the cards into two even piles. Her phone had died an hour ago. “How about a good old-fashioned game of war?”

  “You think you might have a chance to win?”

  She grinned and looked up at me while she dealt. “There’s gotta be one game I have a chance at.”

  “My kids were ruthless, but Sarah played for keeps.” I’d never talked about my wife as much as I had in the hours since we woke. It felt comfortable. Kendall didn’t get awkward about my late wife like others did.

  “After meeting Ms. Boyd, I can believe it.” She nibbled her lower lip. “I probably shouldn’t talk like that.”

  “I’ll do it for you. Emilia’s a force, and not always a positive one. And don’t worry, I’ve told her plenty of times.”

  She thought for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, I guess it’s not like I’m ruining my chances at getting a job. I’m not pursuing the assistant position.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, Beckett would be a fair boss and pay you a good wage, but you’d be married to the job even if you weren’t married to him. He flies all over the country, sometimes the world, on short notice.”

  She sighed wistfully. “Somedays, I wouldn’t mind. I always wanted to travel, but between the cost and taking care of my family…”

  What she had said about her siblings surprised me. It was one thing for her parents to take advantage of her while she lived under their roof, but another to do it so far into adulthood. And now she was under their roof again. She’d admitted it had affected her marriage, but it sounded like with her winner of an ex-husband that its demise was eventual.

  But I expected taking care of her family was more than an obligation. It was a challenge. They kept her busy. Her career hadn’t met those needs so she allowed her family to fill in.

  Her former boss was a fool to let her go. I knew it without seeing a scrap of her work. I’d hired enough people in my time to know when they would be excellent employees or not.

  “Have you thought about applying to King Oil?”

  The cutest little line developed between her brows. “Would I be qualified?”

  “I don’t know. What do you have for ideas about the company?”

  She cocked her head, our cards sitting forgotten between us. “I think your concentration on what the company does for local communities is admirable and a good choice, but I think you could also highlight what King Oil is doing about its carbon footprint.”

  “Not many people know that an oil company cares about the environment.”

  Her smile was sly. “I’m sure when it’s good for the bottom-line, they will. It looks good to the public.”

  “Looking good for the public is important. Their opinion influences our investors until their decision to invest is less about the oil and more about how we’re handling other energy sources.”

  “Do they know you fund a lot of research with wind energy?”

  “They do, but not many others know about that. You’ve done your research.”

  A light flush brushed her cheeks. “Not many people are told they’re flying alone on a private jet with an oil CEO. Why doesn’t more of the public know that King Oil is so involved in wind energy?”

  “I’m working on it.”

  She nodded. “I get it. Communicating with the masses is different than a colorful graph in a meeting.”

  She flipped a card out and I did the same. Mine was higher. I shot her wicked grin. I won the battle.

  She narrowed her eyes and we continued playing. “It was interesting actually. I never thought about oil other than seeing your company billboard all over. Nice branding, by the way. You can play on the word a lot more too. Why’d the name change?”

  “King had a better reputation than Boyd.” I’d never talked so much about the company with someone who wasn’t family. Most didn’t care, or just wanted to talk money. “Emilia is business smart, but stubborn to a fault. And a little impulsive, but she always has her eye on the end product. Her husband DB wasn’t quite as savvy. He also wasn’t subtle or clever in his dealings.”

  She gave me a dubious look. “Ms. Boyd’s not subtle either.”

  “Exactly.” I pushed a card out and she matched it with one of hers. We both flipped at the same time.

  Mine was a two of spades. Hers was a three of hearts. She grinned and grabbed both cards. We continued playing.

  When was the last time I was this comfortable with a woman? I wasn’t working on charm, or congenially trying to extract myself from a warm bed I no longer wished to linger in. We were playing cards in a snowstorm.

  To keep conversation going, and because I liked hearing her voice, I asked about her siblings. Her stories brought back memories. My youngest was twenty-six. Not much younger than Kendall, but we managed to share similar parenting experiences.

  “Middle school is rough,” I said after she described how Wendell’s anxiety attacks returned in sixth grade. “Xander refused to talk about it, but when he’d get home after school, he’d do chores and then disappear on his horse for a couple of hours. I talked to all his teachers. There was nothing going on, he wasn’t acting out, and nothing bothered him.”

  “What was it?”

  Our cards were forgotten between us. “I assume it was how he was dealing with his mother’s death. They all had their different ways, and…I had my own that they didn’t approve of.” I’d never be able to forget Beckett’s eyes welling over with betrayal when he first caught me with a woman. Sarah had only been gone six months.

  Having sex again didn’t mean that she was forgotten. Every time I was around one of the boys, I saw all the things she’d miss and how much of her each one of them had woven into them. Sex had been an escape, a reminder that I was still living and my own person, one who was more than dad and oil CEO.

  “How old were they?” Kendall asked quietly.

  “Aiden was thirteen. He’s the oldest and they’re all about a year apart. I’d say they went wild afterward, but I think they had that coming anyway. Aiden closed up on himself, Beckett took his rage out on me, Xander shut down, and Dawson cooked.”

  “He cooked?”

  I nodded solemnly. “That kid could get into Le Cordon Blue if he wanted.”

  “You did good with them. I looked you all up when I heard who I was interviewing with.”

  “I was good with them at first. Once they were teenagers, they didn’t need me around as much anymore.” That was a harder pill to swallow than I had anticipated.

  I was telling her more than I’d ever told anyone—about my kids, my job, and my wife.

  A grown man should be able to count on friends, but I’d never had many. I ranched with my parents and after they moved to Arizona, I hired people. They weren’t friends, they were employees. At the company, I was the top, my son was my second, and more employees. The women I dated were all kept at a distance because I wasn’t looking to settle down.

  But this friendly chat, Kendall’s banter, was new. And nice. She was easy to talk to and nicer to look at. />
  So, I kept reminding myself of her age. Not yet twenty-nine. The longer I was around her, the more insignificant it seemed.

  “Should we see what Gale has for lunch?” She stretched. The coat bunched around her breasts. The woman didn’t know how devastating her curves were. She slumped and frowned. “Though I feel bad she’s raiding all her supplies to feed us.”

  “I’ll reimburse her.” I gave Kendall a pointed look to wipe out her guilt. “For all of us.”

  “For all—” Her eyes went wide. “For the whole hotel?”

  “It’s a small place, but it could be the Hampton we stopped at first and it wouldn’t be an issue.”

  “That’s really generous.”

  “No use having this much money if I’m going to stash it under my bed and leave it there.”

  Her stunned expression turned dreamy. “I’d love to know what that’s like.”

  “Maybe you will someday, Ms. Brinkley. Shall we go down and see what’s for lunch?”

  We played Scrabble for two hours. Kendall’s vocabulary and talent with seven letter tiles was impressive. Then came a game of Sorry, and she didn’t even have to look at the instructions. It was growing too dark in the room to play anything that would require light.

  Gale had given each room a flashlight. There was no news about when the power would be back on, but the temperature had stabilized. We didn’t quite see our breath, and if we huddled on the bed in our winter gear, it wasn’t miserable.

  Since no one else could play in the dark we didn’t bother to run the Monopoly game downstairs.

  Our dinner was day-old donuts. My doctor would hate my diet the last couple of days. Growing up dining on the fattiest cuts of meat and then working in a career that demanded a lot of travel and quick food didn’t play well with my genetics.

  She glanced at the window. “I don’t think it’ll be a comfortable night of sleep.”