The Pint-Sized Secret

by Sherryl Woods

  Emma reached for Brianna’s hand and clung to it. “Don’t leave, Mama. Please.”

  Brianna was clearly missing something. Had she somehow communicated that Delacourt Oil was the only reason she was able to afford such expensive care for Emma? Was her daughter frightened that she would have to leave this place before she was ready?

  “Sweetie, what is it? Why would it bother you so much if I changed jobs?”

  Emma sighed heavily. “Don’t you get it, Mama? It’s because your prince is there.”

  “My prince?”

  “Mr. Delacourt, remember?”

  Some prince, Brianna thought bitterly. “Mr. Delacourt isn’t my prince,” she said. “He’s just someone who took me to a party.”

  “Not a party, a ball,” Emma corrected.

  Obviously the story had caught Emma’s imagination even more than Brianna had realized.

  “That was just one night, baby. It didn’t mean a thing.”

  “Yes, it did,” Emma said adamantly. “I want you to have a prince, Mama.”

  “And someday I’ll find one,” Brianna assured her. “Just not Mr. Delacourt.”

  Emma scowled at the response, then deliberately turned her wheelchair away and rolled across the room to join one of her friends in front of the TV.

  “Well, what on earth was that all about?” Brianna wondered aloud.

  “Talking to yourself?” Gretchen asked. “That’s a bad sign.”

  “Believe me, my life is filled with bad signs these days.” She regarded the nurse intently. “What’s up with Emma? Does she seem upset to you?”

  “No. In fact, she’s been more upbeat than usual the past couple of days. Why? Did something happen just now?”

  “I mentioned that I might change jobs and the idea really disturbed her. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not like she’s met anyone from work or been in the office. I didn’t get this job until after the accident.”

  “Maybe it’s just that she knows you’ve been happy at this job,” Gretchen suggested. “Children sense a lot, sometimes from what we don’t say as much as what we do.”

  “Maybe.”

  The nurse gave Brianna’s hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure she’ll forget all about it by tomorrow. You know how kids are, one minute the world is ending, the next they’re floating on air.”

  “I suppose,” Brianna said, though she wasn’t reassured.

  She stopped to give Emma a kiss on her way out, but got little more than a heavy sigh in response. Only after she reached the parking lot did she realize how completely at loose ends she was. She didn’t feel like another lonely lunch in some crowded food court, and seeing a movie in the middle of the day had only depressed her the day before. It had been a reminder that she was unemployed.

  Since it was lunchtime, she decided it might be a good time to visit her office and pick up her personal belongings. Most people—Jeb included—were likely to be out of the building. She wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time coming up with explanations for why she had left so suddenly.

  When she walked in the door, Mrs. Hanover’s expression brightened. “You’re here. Does this mean you’re back for good?”

  “Afraid not.” Brianna held up the box she’d brought along. “I just thought I’d sneak in and pick up my things.”

  “You’re not going to stick around to see anyone?”

  Brianna shook her head.

  “Carly will be sick that she missed you. She’s been trying to reach you all morning.” Her secretary followed her into her office. “I just don’t understand this. Why would you quit?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  Mrs. Hanover sat down and patted the place next to her on the sofa. “I have time. Tell me.”

  Brianna was tempted. Not only did she trust the woman completely, but she desperately needed a friendly shoulder to cry on. Only the realization that she would be placing the longtime Delacourt employee in the middle of a battle that wasn’t hers to fight kept Brianna from telling her everything.

  “Trust me. It’s better if you don’t get involved,” she told her. “Thanks for caring, though.”

  “She’s not the only one who cares.”

  At the sound of Jeb’s voice, Brianna whirled around. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hoping to find you.”

  Mrs. Hanover got to her feet, gave Jeb a beaming smile and hurried from the room. “I’ll just give you two some privacy,” she said, closing the door behind her.

  Brianna wasn’t at all sure she didn’t hear the sound of a key turning in the lock. It would be just like the woman to guess at the cause of Brianna’s decision and conclude on her own that Brianna and Jeb should be coerced into working things out.

  “Did you hear that?” she asked, staring at the door.

  “What?”

  “Did she actually lock us in here?”

  Jeb grinned. “Wouldn’t put it past her. Shall I check?”

  Brianna sighed and shook her head. “I don’t think I want to know.”

  “Does that mean you’re willing to stick around and talk to me?” he asked, regarding her hopefully.

  “You can talk. I have things to do,” she said, slipping past him and settling at her desk. She opened the drawers and started tossing personal belongings into the box she’d brought along.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Packing up.”

  “You can’t leave,” he protested.

  “I quit. Leaving is usually the next step.”

  “But you love it here.”

  “I did,” she agreed. “But you’ve made it impossible for me to stay.”

  He walked around her desk until he was standing between her and the drawer she’d been emptying. “Listen to me.”

  Given no choice, she sat perfectly still, but she refused to meet his gaze. Even so, she was surrounded by the scent of him. He was close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body. He drew her like a magnet. Only sheer will kept her from touching him.

  “There is no reason for you to leave.”

  She did meet his gaze then. “You think I’m a spy, but you want me to stay?” she asked incredulously. “Why doesn’t that add up?”

  “I don’t think you’re a spy,” he said, raking his hand through his hair in evident frustration.

  “Hey, you’re the one who made the accusation. Are you taking it back?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? New evidence that cleared me?”

  “No. Not yet anyway.”

  “Well, do let me know when you’ve managed to clear my name,” she said sarcastically. “I’ll let you know where to send the apology.”

  “In care of Grace Foster, I suppose.”

  Brianna stilled. “You’ve talked to Grace?”

  “No, but Michael has. She’s quite an advocate.”

  “That’s why she earns the big bucks.” She studied him. “So, that’s what this is about. You’re running scared?”

  “I am not running scared. Dammit, I know you have every right to be furious with me.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Put yourself in my place. There are three deals that fell through, all of them since you arrived. You’re the only person outside of family who had access to the information. What was I supposed to think?”

  “That I was innocent until proven guilty,” she suggested dryly. “Call me crazy, but I thought that’s what the Constitution guaranteed. Or is there a different standard here at Delacourt Oil?”

  “Dammit, Brianna. You’re not being fair.”

  She stared at him in amazement. “I’m not being fair? You pursued me. You made me fall in love with you. And not ten seconds later, it seemed, you turned right around and accused me of committing a crime. Pardon me, if my head is spinning.”

  Jeb looked thunderstruck. “What did you say?”

  “The short version is that you’re a jerk.”

  He regarded her ruefully. “I meant th
e part about falling in love with me.”

  “A momentary lapse in judgment, I assure you.”

  He tucked a finger under her chin and forced her gaze to meet his. ‘You can’t fall out of love that easily.”

  “I sure as hell fell into it too fast. I can correct that just as easily.”

  “Don’t.” His gaze locked with hers. “Please don’t.”

  His hushed tone calmed her own urge to rant and rave some more. “Don’t what?” she whispered, not at all proud of the way her heart was skittering crazily.

  “Don’t fall out of love with me,” he pleaded. “Give me some time to get this straightened out.”

  “And then what?”

  “We’ll start over.”

  “You going to wait for me while I serve my jail term?” she inquired, the edge back in her voice.

  “Nobody’s going to jail,” he insisted. “At least not you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you haven’t done anything.”

  He said it with more conviction than she’d expected, but she still couldn’t bring herself to put her faith in him. After all, the kind of doubts he’d had about her integrity didn’t just vanish overnight because clearer heads prevailed. It would be a long time before she risked trusting him again, with either her fate or, even longer, with her heart.

  “No,” she said softly. “I haven’t done anything to harm Delacourt Oil. I just wish you’d realized that from the beginning.”

  “So do I,” he said, then leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “It’s going to work out, Brianna. I swear to you, that I will move heaven and earth until your name is cleared.”

  “I wouldn’t have been implicated in the first place if you hadn’t been so quick to rush to judgment,” she pointed out.

  “Believe me, nobody knows that better than I do. I’m sorry.”

  The apology sounded heartfelt, but Brianna wasn’t ready to let go of the hurt and anger. Not just yet.

  “You’ll pardon me if I don’t entirely trust you to get the job done,” she said. “I think maybe I’ll do a little investigating on my own.”

  “We could work as a team.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. You and I have somewhat different goals. You want to nail a spy. I want to clear my name.”

  “It’s the same thing.”

  “You didn’t feel that way a couple of days ago.”

  “Because I was an idiot.”

  She allowed herself a faint smile. “Yes,” she agreed. “And if you expect me to let you off the hook, you’re going to have to work really hard at it.”

  If he really cared about her, if he really did trust her, after all, maybe trying to erase her doubts about him would motivate him to find the real culprit behind the leaks. Just in case, though, she intended to do everything in her power to clear herself.

  Sometimes the only way to get a job done right was to do it yourself.

  Chapter Twelve

  There was a huge leap between deciding to do a little investigating of her own and actually cross-examining the people she’d once worked with and respected. Brianna wasn’t at all sure she was up to the task. It wasn’t in her nature to poke and prod in a subtle way that wouldn’t immediately give away what she was doing.

  However, she also realized that this was the one time when her direct approach wouldn’t work. She’d have the entire oil exploration department at Delacourt Oil in an uproar. Then again, was it even possible to blunder any more than Jeb had when he’d set out to investigate her? Probably not.

  She eventually decided to start with the most talkative member of the department. Roy Miller was younger than she was and was one of the few people who hadn’t been openly hostile when she’d taken over. A new hire himself, he conceded he hadn’t been hoping to get the job for himself. He’d told her bluntly that he’d welcome learning from her, “even if some of these old fossils think you couldn’t possibly know more than they do.”

  When she phoned, he readily agreed to meet her for lunch. The first thing he asked, after they’d been seated was, “What the devil is going on? Everyone says you quit and that you’re under suspicion for leaking corporate secrets to the competition.”

  Brianna smiled ruefully. “It’s nice to know the grapevine is up and running.”

  Roy looked shocked. “It’s true?”

  “It’s true that I quit. It’s true that secrets were apparently leaked. As the person who conducted the fieldwork, I’m definitely at the top of the list of suspects.”

  “I can’t believe it. You’re the most honest, straight-shooting person I know.”

  “Thank you.”

  “If I had to hazard a guess about anyone, it would be…” His voice trailed off and he squirmed uncomfortably. “Maybe I shouldn’t say.”

  “Please,” Brianna pleaded. “You know the people in the department better than I do. You’ve been in the field with some of them and worked side by side with them analyzing data. I really need to get to the bottom of this or my reputation in this business will be ruined. Getting fired by Max Coleman will be nothing compared to leaving Delacourt Oil under a cloud of suspicion.”

  Roy continued to look uneasy. “Look, I’d really like to help you out, but what happens if I’m wrong? If I stir things up over what turns out to be nothing, I could be the next one fired. Jill and I have a baby on the way. I can’t afford to lose my job.”

  Unfortunately, Brianna could relate to his concerns. “I swear to you that whatever you say won’t go any further. I’ll find some other way to substantiate whatever you tell me so you won’t be involved at all.”

  “I don’t know, Brianna.”

  “Please,” she pleaded. “What if I mention names and you just give me a gut reaction? Yes, no, maybe. At least I’ll have a starting point.”

  “Okay,” he finally agreed, though with obvious reluctance.

  “Homer Collins,” she said, mentioning the senior geologist and the man who had thought he was a shoo-in for the job she’d gotten.

  “No,” Roy said with conviction, then elaborated. “He might have been unhappy at first, but he’s too much a company man to betray the Delacourts. He’s also getting close to retirement. He wouldn’t risk it.”

  Brianna was heartened by the sharp-eyed analysis. Whatever reservations Roy had had seemed to have given way to the desire to be as helpful as possible. Since his assessment was the same one she would have made, she was reassured that her instincts hadn’t totally deserted her.

  “Gil Frye,” she suggested next.

  There was a slight hesitation, a darkening of his expression before he finally said, “He just bought a huge boat and a beach house in Galveston. Does that answer your question?”

  A sudden influx of money from a grateful competitor? At the very least, the timing of his acquisitions was worth checking out, Brianna decided. She refrained from comment and moved on.

  “Karen Cole?”

  “Jealous as sin of your success, but no. She doesn’t have the stomach for that kind of intrigue.”

  It had to be Gil, then, Brianna concluded.

  “You’ve missed a couple of people,” Roy pointed out.

  “Aside from you, those are the only geologists.”

  “But a couple of them have extremely loyal assistants. Hart Riker, for example. He would jump off a cliff if Karen mentioned seeing something she wanted at the bottom. And Susan Williams has been with Homer for years. She might want one more crack at being the right hand to the top dog. And no one knows their way around Delacourt like Susan. If there’s a locked room, I guarantee she knows where to find the key. It’s how she made herself so indispensable to Homer.”

  “But after all these years of being totally trustworthy, would she suddenly go out on this kind of a limb?” Brianna asked, unable to imagine the quiet, well-mannered woman taking such desperate measures.

  “I can’t answer that. You asked for a gut reaction and that’s what I’m giving you.�
��

  Brianna nodded. “Okay, let’s talk about the safeguards for a minute.”

  Roy scoffed. “Safeguards? You’ve got to be kidding me. Most of us may be stuck in the lab, but the locations of the sites under consideration are common knowledge. Maybe no one has every last survey marker pinned down, but the general location is easy enough to figure out. Nobody walks to these places. Travel records are easy enough to get. If you go back to the same place a couple of times, don’t you think we can guess the rest? It’s for darn sure you’re not going there to relax. These are not garden spots.”

  “Then you know where we’ve been testing most recently?”

  Roy ticked them off readily. “Hidden Gulch, Nevada. Harrison Ranch, Texas. Winding Gorge, Texas.” He met her gaze. “Should I keep going?”

  Brianna was appalled. “No. You’ve made your point. After all these years, wouldn’t someone have mentioned that to the Delacourts?”

  “Why? No one intended to use the information against them.”

  “Until now,” Brianna pointed out.

  Roy’s expression faltered. “Yes. Until now. I’m sorry, Brianna.” He glanced at his watch. “I’d better go. I’ve got testing to do this afternoon, and Homer wants the results on his desk before I leave for the day.”

  “Homer’s acting head of the department?”

  “He’d stepped in before the end of the day yesterday. I don’t know if anyone appointed him or if he just saw an opportunity and grabbed it. I’m not going to argue with him, though. And Susan is in her glory setting up meetings. She was always appalled at how few you held. ‘Meetings establish common goals and build morale,”’ he quoted.

  His precise mimicry brought a smile. “Thanks, Roy. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

  He shook his head. “No, I haven’t,” he reminded her with a half-smile. “We haven’t even talked.”

  “Of course not,” Brianna agreed.

  After he’d gone, she sipped another glass of iced tea and pondered the information he’d passed along.

  “Learn anything interesting?” Jeb inquired, appearing out of nowhere and slipping into the seat opposite her.

  Brianna almost choked at the sound of his voice. “You!”