“Annie!” Jared yelled. “I’ve got to get Annie!”
He fought like a crazy man, oblivious to what Slater was saying to him. He nearly broke loose of the huge man’s hold, but several others joined in and succeeded in pinning him to the ground.
He called Annie’s name over and over and thrashed wildly, determined to break loose if even a hundred men held him.
“Jared! Stop it. I’m right here. I’m fine.”
Annie. It was Annie. She stared down at him, her brow twisted in worry. But she was fine. Thank God, thank God...
The men released him then and hurried off to fight the fire. Thick black smoke billowed from the burning office. Coughing, Jared staggered to his feet and dragged Annie away. Fire hoses came from two directions, and water quickly drowned the crackling flames, turning the smoke pale gray.
Jared took hold of Annie’s arms and looked at her. “I—I thought you were in the office.”
She shook her head. “I was up on the rig.”
He looked at the office. The fire was almost out now, but a few of the men were still dousing the structure with water. Slater shouted a few orders, then turned and walked over to Annie and Jared.
“Is everyone all right?” Jared asked.
Slater nodded, his jaw set tight. “There was no one in the office or close enough to be hurt. Though I do think your stepmother screamed loud enough to break a few eardrums.”
Jared glanced over and saw Myrna standing beside her car, looking pale and shaken. Carlton sat on the front seat, with the door open and his feet outside. Jared had no idea why they were still here, nor did he care at the moment.
He looked back at Slater. “What the hell happened?”
“We don’t know yet. We’ll have to check it out when things cool off.”
One of the men called to Slater, and he headed back toward the office. Jared looked at the torched structure again and felt a shudder pass through him. If Annie had been in there...
He pulled her into his arms and held her, burying his face in her hair and breathing in the sweet smell of the silky strands. He wanted to pull her inside him, keep her where nothing could touch her, where nothing could harm her. He didn’t give a damn about the office or anything else. Only her.
He took hold of her shoulders and held her away from him. “What the hell were you doing up on the rig, anyway?”
She raised one brow. “Well, it was certainly better than being in the office.”
He frowned at her and she sighed. “Glenn asked me to help him with a reading on the drill pipe. Everyone else was busy, and with you gone, we were short.”
“We were shut down. Finished. Why is that drill still running?”
“Jared.” She wrapped her hands around his arms. Her eyes were bright as she looked up at him. “There’s another fault. A second oil trap under our target zone. I just know it. I’m working with the seismics and logs to chart it now.” She stopped suddenly and groaned. “At least, I was working on it.”
Confused, he stared at her. “Arloco authorized an extension on drilling before you mapped the fault?”
“Not exactly. I authorized it.”
Surprise joined the confusion in Jared’s eyes. “Annie, you can’t do that. It’ll mean your job.”
“It’s there, Jared, I know it is. It’s been staring at me the whole time.” With a deep sigh, Annie turned toward the destroyed trailer. “Everything was in the office. The seismics, the logs. I can’t do anything now.”
“Jared!” Slater walked toward him with Glenn at his side. It took Jared a moment to realize that the young man was not a willing companion. Slater had hold of one of his arms and was virtually dragging him.
Jared stepped away from Annie. “What’s going on?”
“I thought you might like to ask Glenn here that question. I just caught him trying to sneak out, not to mention the gas can and rags in his front seat.”
“I was just moving my car,” Glenn protested. His face was pale; sweat beaded his brow.
Glenn? Jared couldn’t believe it. Glenn had always been the first one to offer help or work overtime if he was needed. He’d had a little problem with gambling, but still, he’d have been the last one Jared would have suspected of any wrongdoing.
Which also made him the most logical.
Glenn was shaking so badly Jared almost felt sorry for the kid. Almost, until he remembered that Annie could have been in that office. A sudden furious rage overtook him. He swung hard and clipped Glenn on the jaw, sending him sprawling in the dirt. “You could have killed Annie, damn you. I ought to string you up right here.”
Glenn’s eyes were round with fear as he picked himself up and touched his bleeding lip. “No! No. I would never try to kill anyone.” He looked at Annie. “Especially Annie. I’d never hurt her.”
“And what about the compressor?” Jared said fiercely, giving the terrified young man a shake. “And all the other mishaps around here. The lights blowing, the pipe twisting off. Even the so-called flu. They were all your doing, weren’t they?”
Jared started toward Glenn again, but Annie stepped in his way and touched him on the arm. She faced the young man and looked him in the eyes. “Why, Glenn?” she asked quietly. “Why would you do this to Jared and the crew?”
Glenn’s face twisted in agony. “I—I gambled. Owed a lot of money. Too much, to the wrong people. I was scared.”
Jared’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying someone paid off your gambling debts so you’d do this?”
Glenn drew in a shaky breath and nodded.
“Who?” Jared’s face was set in granite as he grabbed Glenn once again.
“I don’t know,” Glenn said quickly. “I swear. A man contacted me by phone. I never saw anyone. I was just supposed to cause some problems, but no one was supposed to get hurt.” He hung his head. “I’m sorry, Jared.”
“Sorry?” Jared dragged the young man closer. “You try to ruin me, you could have killed someone, and you’re sorry?”
Jared shoved Glenn backward and looked at Slater. “Lock him up in the toolshed. We’ll let the sheriff take care of him.”
Myrna, who was making her way toward Annie and Jared, stepped aside and watched as Slater dragged his prisoner away. She pressed a hand to her chest and hurried over to Jared. “Jared, my God, what happened?”
“Someone barbecued my office,” he said dryly. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“Me?” Her eyes widened. “Why would I know anything?”
“Funny, that’s the same thing you said to Jake right after his barn burned down.”
Myrna’s face turned ashen. “Jared, how can you say that? You know I had nothing to do with that. It was that ranch hand Jake fired.”
“You wanted Jake’s land, and he had unexplained problems. Now you want mine, and I’m having problems. I’d say that’s one hell of a coincidence.”
Myrna looked desperately from Annie to Jared. “Of course I want the land. Your father left me with none of my own. But I had nothing to do with any of this. You have to believe that.”
Jared didn’t want to believe his stepmother was involved. No doubt she was guilty of being selfish and stupid, but he couldn’t have her thrown in jail for that.
The truth would come out sooner or later, and if she was responsible, he’d deal with her then. Jared sighed heavily. It hardly seemed to matter anymore. He hadn’t found oil, and he was going to lose the land, anyway. Whoever had gone to all this trouble had done it for nothing.
“Carlton looks tired, Myrna,” Jared said. “I think you better take him home.”
“Jared, we’ve got to—”
“I mean it,” he said harshly. “I want you to go. Now.”
She opened her mouth, but quickly shut it again as she saw the hard look on his face. She cast a pleading glance at Annie, then walked back to her car.
Jared turned away and headed for the rig.
“What are you doing?” Annie
was at his heels.
“I’m shutting down.”
“Jared, no! We can’t stop. It’s there, I know it’s there.”
He shook his head. “I can’t let you do this. You’ll be throwing your career away. You told me yourself you’d never jeopardize your job for personal reasons.”
“I was wrong.” She grabbed his arm and dug her boots into the ground, forcing him to stop and face her. “Sometimes a person has to go with what’s in their gut and their heart. Every part of me is screaming to go for this, Jared. Please, we’ve got to try.”
He saw the intensity of her eyes, heard the desperation in her voice. “Annie, we’ll both be roasted alive for violating a work contract. We may never work in the business again.”
“I’ll take that chance. But please, don’t stop.”
He glanced up and noticed that all the men, including Slater, had gathered around. They stood rigid, waiting for instructions, their expressions anxious. They wanted to proceed, too, he realized, even though they now knew they were working without authorization.
He looked back at Annie. Her eyes pleaded with him.
“What the hell,” he said. “I guess I’m not too old to learn a new trade.”
Laughing, she threw her arms around him, then quickly let go as she realized everyone was staring.
“One hour,” he said sternly. “Not one minute more. Not one foot more. No arguments.”
She crossed her heart and nodded furiously.
He turned to the men and glared at them. “Well, what’s everybody waiting for? Get to work.”
* * *
Forty-nine minutes, thirty seconds later, they were still drilling. Every member of the crew was extremely aware of each minute that passed and oil wasn’t found, but no one more so than Annie.
The drilling had gone smoothly, but the soil samples being brought up the drill pipe showed nothing. She looked at her most recent sample, then stood, groaning softly as she straightened her bent back. She was ankle-deep in mud, bone-tired and starving.
She was also just about out of second chances.
For the rig, and for Jared.
He’d been worried about her when he’d driven up earlier and saw the office burst into flames. No, frantic, she realized, remembering the way he’d tried to fight off the men holding him down. Knowing what he’d gone through when he’d watched Jonathan die, she felt her chest ache. Even for those few seconds he’d thought he was watching her die, too.
She loved him. And as each minute ticked away, she was that much closer to leaving. It didn’t matter to him that she loved him or that he loved her. He was too determined to deny himself happiness, and nothing she’d said had made a difference.
Damn that stubborn streak of his!
She had no idea what she was going to do when she got back to Dallas. She’d have no job, a broken heart and a life that was suddenly going to become very complicated.
She sighed wearily, then noticed Slater hurrying from the toolshed. The foreman waved to Jared, who was up on the platform tightening a coupling joint. She watched curiously as Jared climbed down and the men talked for a moment. She couldn’t hear the words over the noise of the drill, but when Jared put his hands on his hips and a fierce scowl darkened his face, she had a pretty good idea what he was saying.
Jaw set tight, he walked over to her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s Glenn,” he said. “Slater just went to check on him and he’s gone. Kicked out a panel in the back of the shed and got away. There’s no way of knowing how long. We’ve all been too busy to notice.”
She shook her head slowly. “It doesn’t matter, Jared. He won’t come back here. Not now.”
“He could have killed you,” Jared said angrily.
“No. He made sure that office was empty. He never wanted to hurt anyone, I’m certain of it.” She lifted her gaze and looked into Jared’s eyes. “I never would have forgiven him if anything had happened to you, though.”
He moved closer to her. “Annie, you look like you’re ready to drop. Let’s shut it down.”
The temptation to lean her exhausted body against his was strong. She resisted, knowing that if she gave in while she was in such a highly emotional state, she might crumble altogether. She lifted her arm and showed him her watch. “We still have seven minutes and twenty seconds.”
“Annie...”
She shook her head. “You know those runners who are so far behind they have no chance of winning, and even after the race is over they keep running so they can cross the finish line?” A dizzy spell came over her and she closed her eyes for a second. “That’s how I feel, Jared. It doesn’t matter if I finish first. I just have to finish. I have to cross that line and go the distance.”
Jared looked down at Annie. He saw the fatigue in her face and in her slumped shoulders. But the determination shone brighter and stronger than ever in her soft hazel eyes, and he loved her more at that moment than he’d ever thought possible.
It doesn’t matter if I finish first, she’d said. I just have to go the distance.
Her words hit him square in the gut with the impact of a freight train. He was an idiot! A first-class absolute idiot.
It didn’t matter who was first. Whether or not she had loved Jonathan. What mattered was now. That she loved Jared Stone. And that he loved her. This—here and now—had nothing to do with Jonathan. This was about Annie and Jared.
She’d told him once that there was something to be lost, something more precious than what he might gain, if he didn’t follow his heart. She’d given her heart to him completely, openly, and he’d been too blinded with pride and guilt to see it.
And now she was putting everything on the line—her job, maybe her entire career—not only for what she believed in, but for him. Because she loved him.
With a laugh, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down into the mud with him.
“Jared!” she gasped, caught completely off guard. “What are you doing?”
“There’s no rule that says you have to run that race standing up, is there?”
Frowning, she pushed away from him. “Well, I didn’t exactly see myself sitting in mud as I crossed the line.”
He tipped back her hard hat and moved his face close to hers. “I know what you mean. I never exactly pictured myself proposing to the woman I love sitting in mud, either. Especially with half a dozen other men hanging around and a drill running overhead.”
She blinked slowly. “What did you say?”
He gave her a crooked grin. “I said, I love you, and I want you to marry me.”
“You want me...to marry you?” she said slowly.
After all he’d put her through, he couldn’t blame her for sounding confused. Hell, he was still stunned himself. “When I left here earlier, I went to Jonathan’s grave. I realized it was Jonathan I’d truly been mad at all this time, not myself.”
“Mad at Jonathan?”
“For dying. For leaving me behind. For not listening to me and going up on the rig. Every irrational reason I could come up with. You tried to tell me all along, but I wouldn’t listen. I wanted to blame myself, but you were right—Jonathan did have to make his own choices. Even if it meant he died for them.”
Annie touched his cheek. Neither one of them cared that her fingers were covered with mud. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve had to go through.”
He shook his head. “We both went through a lot because we loved Jonathan. But like you said, we can’t change the past. What we can do is put it behind us and start anew. You and me. The way Jonathan would have wanted.”
He wanted desperately to drag her out of here, to hold her close to him where he could do this right. But it wouldn’t wait. He’d waited too long already, and he didn’t want to waste one more minute.
“When I drove up and saw the trailer explode and I thought you were inside, I knew in that instant that my life was over.” He tightened his grip and pulled her c
loser. “I couldn’t have gone on without you, Annie. Nothing would have meant anything to me ever again.”
Tears shone in her eyes as she looked at him. “Oh, Jared, I’m so sorry.”
“I was a fool, Annie. First I let my guilt blind me, then my pride. But for the first time in years, I see clearly. And what I see is you and me, a house, a yard and passel of kids.”
She studied his face carefully. “What exactly is a passel?”
He thought about that. “A bunch.”
“Well,” she said slowly, “do you think we could start with just one?”
“Sure. One would be...” He went still. His eyes widened and he drew back, his expression questioning. “Are you, I mean, have you...?”
She nodded.
The smile started slowly, then gained momentum and broke into a full grin. He let out a whoop, then pulled her to him and kissed her hard. They both fell back into the mud. The men began to whistle and hoot, but Jared just lifted one arm and waved them off.
When he finally let her back up, she could feel her face burn with embarrassment. She glanced down at her mud-covered body and laughed. “I took the test this morning,” she said. “But this is hardly the setting I would have chosen to tell you you’re going to be a father.”
He placed a hand gently on her stomach, then looked at her with an expression so full of wonder she couldn’t stop the tear that slipped from the corner of her eye.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Oh, Annie, I love you,” he said, holding her gaze with his.
“And I love you, Jared Stone,” she returned. “Even if you are covered with mud and you have black streaks all over your face.”
It took a moment, but Jared went still at Annie’s words.
Both Annie’s and Jared’s eyes widened as they stared at the mud surrounding them.
Black streaks? Black streaks!
Oil!
They’d struck oil!
Laughing, she threw her arms around his neck. He kissed her deeply, then pulled away. Desire flared in his eyes. She knew it was a look she’d never tire of seeing in that deep blue gaze.
Texas Temptation Page 15