Chief Ingle nodded. “They always do.”
Insurance companies were very well versed in arson investigations—they didn’t mess around with fires. Lance wanted someone who had Brody Oil and Gas’s interests in mind. “Is it okay if I hire my own security team to be part of the investigation?”
“We’d rather not have extra people on the site,” Chief Ingle said.
“Darius won’t get in the way. He’s the best at what he does.”
“Darius who?”
“Darius Franklin. He owns his own security firm.”
“Okay, but only him.”
Lance understood that. The chief didn’t want a bunch of men trampling over the fire scene.
“When can we go back into production?” Lance asked.
“I think we’ll need at least 24 hours before I’d feel comfortable saying you can go back on line. More, if the investigation proves to be complicated.”
Lance made a note of that. And when the chief moved on, he turned to Frank. “Tell all of our employees to gather in the parking lot in fifteen minutes. Then set up a number so they can call in and get a message about when to report back to work and give them that number.”
“I’m on it,” Frank said, walking away.
Lance dialed his best friend, Darius, and got his voice mail. Being as succinct as possible, he told Darius what had happened, that the fire chief suspected arson, and he asked Darius to come and help with the investigation. Now if he could just get Kate back, he’d have the best team any man could ask for in this situation. He reached for his phone.
Three
Kate put her phone on silence after the second call from Lance. She was tired of hurting and questioning herself and everything she’d done. She arrived at Sweet Nothings to find that Becca had made her an appointment with her hairstylist.
“I don’t know that a haircut is going to change anything,” Kate said.
“Don’t think of it as just a haircut. You need to change,” Becca said. “I’ve been thinking about this since you called and the only way you are going to be able to make these next few weeks bearable is to make Lance Brody realize what he’s missing.”
Kate took one look at herself in the mirror behind the counter and shrugged. “Not much.”
“Soon, he’ll see a whole new woman.”
“But I’ll still be me,” Kate said.
“Of course you will, silly. And Lance already likes you. This will just make him lust after you.”
“He’s engaged to be married, Becca.”
“So what? You’re not going to make him do anything. Just tease him a bit and maybe get your heart back.”
Kate liked the sound of that. She’d given Lance five years. And wasn’t it past time to get over him?
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Good.”
Becca gave her directions to the salon. As Kate drove over there, her cell phone rang again. It was Lance. She answered the call as she parked her car. “It’s Kate.”
“Where have you been?”
“Driving,” she said.
“There’s been a fire at our main refinery. I need you in the office to be my information hub.”
Kate was shocked. Brody Oil and Gas was one of the safest refineries in the business. “Was there an explosion?”
“They aren’t sure. I’m done looking over the fire scene at the refinery. When can you get to the office?”
She almost said tonight, but what was the point of that? This was an emergency situation but they didn’t really need her. Paula and Joan, two of the other secretaries at Brody Oil and Gas, could handle the phones in this situation.
“Tomorrow morning,” she said.
“Kate, I need you.”
Her heart almost skipped a beat.
“The company needs you. This is one of those times when we really want to have our best players on the field.”
Lance had played football and she had noticed early on that he fell back on sports analogies when he was stressed.
“You’ve got your best players,” she said. “I’m being traded, remember?”
“Damn it. We haven’t decided that yet.”
“Yes, we have. Or maybe I should say I have. I will call Paula and make sure she’s prepared to collect information and disseminate it. I made a procedure file for this type of emergency after the hurricane last year.”
Lance didn’t say anything. “I guess that’ll have to do. Leave your phone on so I can get in touch with you.”
“Why? I’m not—”
“Stop arguing with me, Kate. I don’t like it. What’s gotten into you?”
She looked at herself in the rearview mirror and realized this was the first time she’d ever said no to Lance. And he didn’t like it. Maybe the way to get his attention was actually easier than changing her hair and clothes. She realized that she’d been too accommodating, and that was part of the reason he’d taken her for granted.
“I don’t know, Lance. I just decided it was time for a change. Don’t make this into anything other than that.”
“It feels like…”
“What?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Will you be in the office tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
“Good,” Lance said.
“I’m sorry about the refinery,” she said, feeling bad because of the way he sounded. “Were there injuries?”
“Four men are at the hospital now.”
“I’ll have Paula send flowers to them and food baskets to their families.”
“Thanks,” he said.
“You’re welcome.” She felt a little guilty about not going in and taking care of the details herself, but Lance and she both needed to get used to other people working for him because Kate couldn’t continue to be his Girl Friday and be in love with him. That was the path to pain and destruction for her. And she was tired of living for the few brief moments when she and Lance were in the office together.
“Goodbye, Lance,” she said, hanging up the phone. She sat in the car for another minute but the heat was getting to her. Or at least that was what she told herself. She didn’t want to think that the idea of being without Lance was causing her to feel light-headed.
Lance spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening at the main refinery. Darius had arrived late and had agreed to stay and work with the fire investigators. Since he wasn’t an arson investigator per se, all Darius could really do was narrow down the list of suspects and conduct investigations into the backgrounds of those who might have had probable cause to start the fire.
Lance left the refinery and drove back toward Houston deciding that he was ready for a new day. This one had been too…crazy, he thought.
When he’d been a boy, he’d longed for a busy day so he wouldn’t have time to go home or to think about the home he had waiting for him. But that was long ago, he thought. Now he lived alone and liked it that way.
Well, he lived alone for now. Soon he’d be bringing a bride to his mansion in Somerset and he wasn’t sure he was ready to try suburban living with a wife yet. But he and Mitch had agreed he was the one who should marry Lexi.
Damn, he thought, rubbing the back of his neck. Tension seemed to take up residence there when things weren’t going well.
His cell phone rang and he checked the caller ID before answering it.
“Hello, Mitch.”
“Hey, big bro. How are things at the refinery?”
“A mess, but I have Darius working with the fire investigators to try to make sense of it. How’s DC?”
Mitch let out a long breath. “It could be worse. I handled most of it with Senator Cavanaugh’s office. Let them know the proactive things that Brody Oil and Gas are doing to minimize damage to the community and the environment. I think that helped to soothe his fears over backing expanding oil production.”
“Did you tell him that with additional refineries we could rotate operations so the loss of this one for a
day wouldn’t impact oil prices?” Lance asked.
“Yes, I did. I’m watching the markets as they open in Japan. I think we will see US crude prices jump.”
“I know we will. With the economy being what it is, that’s the last thing we need right now.”
“We can’t control the actions of investors,” Mitch said.
“I am stopping by the hospital on my way home. I think it’d be a good idea for you to call the injured workers—I’ll send you a text with their names when I’m done.”
“All right, that sounds good. Lexi and I are going to fly back to Houston together tomorrow.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to her. She called me earlier. Will you let her know that until the mess at the refinery settles down, I can’t talk?”
“Sure thing,” Mitch said.
“Did you come up with any ideas for a gift yet?” Lance asked.
“Not yet. I haven’t been thinking about your love life.”
Lance hadn’t been, either. “This is business, Mitch. Remember, you told me that. We need the Cavanaugh connection. Today proves that.”
Mitch didn’t add anything to that. And Lance had to guess that being a brilliant strategist meant his brother wasn’t surprised that his planning had worked to their advantage.
“I forgot to mention that Kate gave her notice today.”
“She did? Why?”
“She thinks this will be a good time for her transition out of her job with us. She’s not being challenged enough or something like that.”
“Maybe it is time she moved on.”
“I’m trying to convince her to stay,” Lance said.
“Why?”
Lance didn’t know, but there was no way in hell he’d admit it. “She’s part of the Brody Oil and Gas family and we need her.”
“Maybe she wants to be more.”
“Like how?” Lance asked remembering Kate’s comment earlier.
“Think about it,” Mitch said. “I’ve got to run. Don’t forget to send me the names of the injured men.”
“I won’t. Ally got them interviews on the morning shows for tomorrow. She’s going to talk to the families and prep them on what to say.”
“Good. I’ll advise the senator of this so maybe he can get a sound bite in, as well.”
“This could have been a lot worse,” Lance said.
“Why wasn’t it?” Mitch asked.
“I think because of all the preparedness we worked on after the hurricane last fall. The guys really knew what to do and how to handle things.”
Lance pulled into the hospital parking lot and chatted a few more minutes with his brother before hanging up. He didn’t like hospitals. Never had, to be honest. Maybe because he’d visited more than his share of emergency rooms as a child.
His father had always been blunt in the parking lot. Telling him what to say when the doctors asked about how he’d broken his arm or his leg—bicycle accident; how he’d hurt his ribs or broken his fingers—skateboard accident. Never did he tell anyone the truth. And after a while, Lance realized even he kind of believed his dad’s stories.
He rubbed his hand over the scars on the back of his left knuckles. Some days he felt damned old, older than his years. He knew he had to be careful with Lexi. Had to remember to keep the engagement and their eventual marriage manageable.
Lance was always conscious that he’d inherited his father’s legendary temper. And as he sat in his truck looking at the modern hospital, he couldn’t help but remember the promise he’d made to himself when he was thirteen. The promise that he’d never bring a child of his to the emergency room, because he’d never have children.
He wondered if that was going to be an issue for Lexi Cavanaugh. A part of him hoped it would be so he could end the engagement and get his life back to the way it had been.
Kate was nervous as she got of out of her car the next morning. Last night the new clothes she’d purchased with Becca in Houston had seemed fun and daring but this morning when she’d put on the slim-fitting sundress and styled her new hair, she’d felt like an imposter.
It had taken her three tries to get her contacts in but at last she had her look as close as possible to the way the stylist had done it last night.
But she was nervous…and babbling, she thought. She always talked to herself but this morning her internal talk bordered on inane.
It all boiled down to one thing. What if everyone saw her and laughed?
Wasn’t that silly? She was a grown woman and shouldn’t care what anyone else thought but she was trying a new look—one that she was not certain of, despite Becca’s reassurances that she looked hot. Kate still felt like fat, frumpy Kate, trying to be someone she wasn’t.
She walked into the lobby, and Stan the security guard looked up. “Good morning….”
“Morning, Stan,” she said, feeling awkward as the older gentleman just kept staring at her.
“You look nice today, Miss Thornton,” Stan said. “Real pretty.”
“Thank you, Stan,” she said, the warmth of a blush on her cheeks.
She scanned her ID card and went to the executive elevator. While she waited, she stared at her reflection in the polished, mirrored wall that surrounded the elevator bank.
The hardest part about this makeover was that she simply didn’t recognize herself.
“Excuse me, miss, but this elevator is for executive personnel only,” Lance said, coming up behind her.
She turned around.
“Kate?”
She waited to see if he’d say anything else, but he didn’t. That hurt a little bit but it was okay. Last night she’d decided to stop trying to please Lance, something that she’d done without much thought for a long time.
“I saw the workers on the Today show this morning. I thought they sounded good.”
“Ally did a good job of prepping them. I’m glad they will all make a full recovery,” Lance said.
The elevator car arrived and he waited for her to enter. She felt his eyes on her back as she moved in front of him. Was the skirt too short for the office?
But when she turned and saw him staring at her legs, she realized that the dress was having its desired effect on him. He was finally seeing her as a woman. Kate felt…weird, actually.
Lance’s attention was the one thing she’d craved and now she had it. But she wasn’t sure what to do with it.
“How was your night?” she asked.
“I spent most of it on the phone…something that would have been easier if my assistant had been here.”
She pursed her lips. “Maybe your assistant decided it was time to get herself a life.”
“Did you, Kate? Is that what this is all about?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been ignoring myself for too long. I know my timing stunk last night but I had no idea there would be a fire at the main refinery.”
“Who could have known? I don’t mind if you take an afternoon off. In fact, if it would convince you to stay then I think we could work out more time off in your schedule,” Lance said.
The elevator arrived at their floor and once again he gestured for her to go in front of him. As she walked past him, she heard him inhale sharply.
“Are you wearing perfume?” he asked.
She raised both eyebrows at him. “I am.”
He shook his head. “Sorry. It’s a very nice scent.”
“Thank you,” she said. Her new look seemed to be bothering Lance. Or maybe he just wasn’t himself this morning. “I can handle the office this morning if you want to go back to the refinery.”
“Thanks, Kate, but I think I am needed here. Especially if you are determined to quit.”
She nodded and entered her office. The voice-mail light on her phone was flashing and she imagined she had a lot of messages waiting for her.
Lance closed the door and brushed past her to go into his office, knocking her off balance in the one-inch heels she was wearing. Lance steadied her with a
hand on her waist. She turned her head and her hair brushed his shoulder.
Lance smelled good this morning but then she had always liked the scent of his aftershave. He put his other hand on her shoulder and looked down at her.
“I never realized how pretty your brown eyes are,” he said.
She flushed. “I guess you couldn’t really see them behind my glasses.”
“Or maybe I never looked,” Lance said.
“I think that there wasn’t anything to look at before,” Kate said. Becca had made a good point last night when she’d said that Kate hid behind her clothes and glasses.
“You are always worth a second look, Kate.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t notice before now.”
“Why sorry?”
“Because you are so damned pretty.”
“It’s not me, it’s the haircut and makeup,” she said, uncomfortable with the compliment. She started pointing out all the things her mom had always told her were wrong with her. “My mouth is too big for my face.”
He shook his head, rubbing his thumb over her bottom lip. “Your mouth is perfect for your face. Very lush and tempting….”
“Tempting? It’s me, Lance. Kate Thornton. You’ve never thought I was tempting before.”
“I must have been blind, Kate, because you are tempting me now,” he said, lowering his mouth to hers. He kissed her.
She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him back. The moment was everything she’d imagined it would be and also completely unexpected. There was no way she could have imagined the way he tasted as his tongue slid over hers. Or the feel of his big hands in her hair. Or the way that one kiss could change her life completely.
Four
Kate tasted like heaven. She was pure temptation in his arms and he knew he’d never get enough of her. He didn’t want to.
He slid his hands down the sides of her body. How had he missed this curvy body and those big, pretty eyes? Glasses and baggy clothes be damned, he’d have to have been blind to not see what a hottie his secretary was.
He turned to lean on the edge of her desk and pulled her more fully against him. Her breasts were full and felt good against his chest. He angled his head for deeper access to her mouth. He wanted more. He couldn’t get enough of the taste of her. How had he missed this Kate all these years?
Taming the Texas Tycoon Page 3