The Barons of Texas: Jill

by Fayrene Preston

  She exhaled. He hadn’t made her say the words. “Thank you.”

  His golden-brown eyes on her, he slowly strolled toward her. Stopping in front of her, he murmured, “You’re welcome. I’m just grateful you’re not still in pain.” Then he slowly lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Take it easy on yourself today.” His mouth descended to her lips, where it hovered. “Take your time getting to the office.”

  The warmth of his breath whispered over her lips. She held her own breath as a quiver shivered through her. Was he going to kiss her?

  He touched her face in a light caress. “Eat something before you leave, and drive slowly to work.” He lifted his head and gazed down into her eyes. Then he smiled. “See you in a few hours.” He swiveled and headed for the door.

  His hand was on the doorknob before she came to her senses. “Wait. What do you mean, you’ll see me in a few hours?”

  “Have you forgotten? I have an appointment with you at two.” He walked out and quietly shut the door behind him.

  Stunned, she sat down on the bed.

  A few hours? That was all the time she was going to have to get over what had happened? She exhaled a shaky breath. Well, okay, then. Even though she had been counting on not seeing him for a while, she would have to find some way to face him this afternoon. She had never before let herself walk away from something just because it was difficult, and she wouldn’t now.

  If she hadn’t exactly asked him to spend the night with her, she had asked him to stay with her a little while longer. She didn’t know why she had felt she needed him, nor did she know why she had slowly slid toward him to seek his warmth. And more.

  All she really knew was that she had felt strange and lost until Colin had drawn her against him and held her through the night.

  Three

  “Good afternoon, Colin.” Jill eyed him cautiously across the gleaming, neatly organized expanse of her mahogany desk.

  “Is it?” She was trying very hard to present her usual composed and imperturbable persona, Colin reflected, but she was trying too hard. With a satisfied smile to himself, he dropped into one of the chairs in front of her desk. After last night, no matter what she said or did, he knew she would never again be able to reconstruct the barrier she had tried so hard to keep between the two of them.

  “Is it what?”

  “Is it a good afternoon? Are you feeling better than you did this morning?”

  “Yes, I’m just fine.”

  “No sign of another headache?”

  “No.” Her jaw clenched.

  He hid another smile. She was really regretting his part in helping her last night. Unfortunately for her, it had happened, and though she was going to try her best to get them back to the casual acquaintanceship with which she had been so comfortable these past couple of years, he had no plans to let her.

  “Now that we’ve covered that subject,” she said tersely, “let’s please drop it.”

  “Sure, whatever you want.” He took in her outfit. She’d chosen a tailored, pin-striped navy suit paired with a cream silk blouse, buttoned at her neck. A plain gold watch at her wrist was her only jewelry. The look was unusually severe, even for her. And her hair was back up in that damnable French twist she seemed so fond of, though not as tight as it had been last night. He would bet money her head was still tender from the pain she’d suffered. “I won’t ask you again unless I see you looking like you did last night.”

  She stared at him for several moments, emotions chasing across her face too fast for him to decipher; then she broke eye contact, opened the folder in front of her and quickly scanned its contents. “Why did you even bother to schedule this meeting, Colin? I could have told you over the phone what I’m going to tell you now. I have no intention of selling you the property that’s adjacent to yours.”

  “Why?”

  She folded her hands together and rested them on the desk. “Let’s not play games. You know every one of the reasons I want to keep that piece of land. Even alone, it’s going to provide a big payoff once it’s developed. But I have another, very strong reason for keeping the property. You flat out stole your property away from me. And that, Colin, is my last reason for not selling to you. It’s a matter of principle.”

  “Interesting. I never knew you held grudges.” He leaned back in the chair and rested one ankle on the knee of his other leg. He was going to enjoy this. “Besides, stole is a pretty strong word. I did nothing illegal or, I might add, immoral.”

  “That last is debatable.” She got up and paced to the window, which offered a panoramic view of downtown Dallas, but she didn’t even give herself time to register the view before she turned back to him. “I don’t know how you did it, but somehow you got wind of the fact that I was going after both of those properties. I think they got your check ten minutes before I arrived with mine.”

  His shrug and expression clearly indicated, So what? True, he did his best to keep up with what was going on in her life, but it had been sheer luck that he’d learned of her interest in the two adjoining properties mere hours after she had made her bid. Since there were no other bids higher than hers, she had assumed hers would be accepted. Moving quickly, he had called in several favors and promised more. In the end, he had topped her bid and bought one of the properties out from under her, with the hope that she would still go ahead and buy the other.

  Both parcels of land were gold mines, considering their location near the proposed new sports arena. With the right development, both of their properties would help revitalize the entire area north of the arena. If she decided not to sell to him, which he was counting on, or if she didn’t buy into what his real purpose was in being there today, he wouldn’t have lost anything. As she had said, just one of the properties was enough to bring in, to say the least, a very nice-sized income.

  What he couldn’t have foreseen was the serendipitous timing of this appointment. It had given him a chance to see her just hours after she had awoken to find him in her bed, which meant that no matter what she said or did to prove the contrary, she was still off balance with him.

  “Tell me something.” She strolled to her taupe leather chair and rested her hands on its high back. “Why didn’t you simply buy both properties? You could have so easily. Unless…unless you couldn’t come up with the money for both of them at that time. Was that it?”

  He knew that not having enough money was the only reason she would be able to understand, but just to needle her a little, he chose not to completely satisfy her curiosity. “That was partly it. I bought the property outright, without offering it to other investors. As to my other reasons…” He shrugged again.

  Her brow creased in puzzlement, but before she could ask another question, he spoke. “Did you even consider my offer?”

  “I consider all offers that cross my desk.”

  “It was a good, solid offer, Jill.”

  “I know.”

  “What if I increase it?”

  She shook her head. “Save yourself the time.”

  It was the response he’d counted on, but if he hadn’t tried to buy her out, she would have wondered why. If she’d taken him up on his offer, he would have lost the chance to work closely with her, which had been the whole idea behind his purchase in the first place.

  After knowing and studying her and her family for about a year, he had figured out two ways he could go about making her his. What he hadn’t known was when he could put his plans into action. Buying the property had been part of his first plan. Then last night, heaven had parted its clouds and a gift had fallen into his lap. As a result, he was almost certain his second plan was about to start. Content, he waited for what he knew would come next.

  She leveled a steady gaze on him. “Have you reviewed my offer for your land?”

  “I’ve reviewed it, yes.”

  She fidgeted with her slim gold watch band. “Well?”

  With a regretful expression, he spread out his hands
. “I’m inclined to hang on to my land.”

  “I see.” Once again she stared at him. When she was on top of her game, she was as good as he was at masking feelings. Today, though, he could tell she was thinking about last night. Abruptly, she reached around the chair and closed the folder. “Then we’re at a stalemate. There’s no sense in continuing to talk about offers and counteroffers. This meeting is over.”

  “Not quite.”

  “If I’m not willing to sell and neither are you, then I don’t see what else we can talk about.”

  “What about working together?”

  Her brow crinkled. “You mean develop our properties together?”

  He nodded. If she agreed, it would give him more time with her to work on his main goal, which was to change her mind about her plan to marry Des Baron. If he couldn’t, the worst thing that could happen was that he would still make millions. Plus, he now had his second plan in place.

  She shook her head. “I never take on a partner in any project I’m involved with. You should know that.”

  “I do. But I also know that, as far as I can see, that practice is not grounded in practicality.” She started to say something, but he hurried on. “I know, I know. It was what your father taught you and your sisters. But think about it, Jill. With that many acres, plus a shared vision of what we want, we would be a force to be reckoned with. Besides offices and retail stores, we could add entertainment facilities and housing. And you know as well as I do that if we work in unison on the design, configuration and spacing of green belts, the city will smile benevolently on us and grant us any permit we ask for.”

  “I don’t do things that way, Colin.” She rounded the chair and sat down again.

  “I think the problem is more that you don’t know how to work with anyone else.” He slowly smiled. “Come on, Jill. You’re already one of the largest land barons in Texas, plus you own enormous amounts of property around the globe. It’s not as if your reputation would be ruined if, just this once, you joined up with someone else. In case you haven’t noticed, very few people work alone anymore. Besides, just think of the fun we’d have.”

  “Fun?” For several moments her gaze fastened on his smile, his lips, his dimple. Then she seemed to catch herself. “My sister Tess sold out to another oil company in her last venture and in the process lost millions. That’s not going to happen to me.”

  “It wouldn’t if we formed an alliance. In fact, it would put us in a position to make more than we would if we worked separately. Besides, you and I both know that Tess didn’t sell out. She made a great deal. And anyway, that was an entirely different situation from this one.” His voice softened. “She made that deal for love. That wouldn’t be the case with us, would it?”

  She frowned. “No, of course not.”

  “Well, then?”

  “No, Colin.”

  “You know what? I think that ‘no’ of yours is automatic, as so many things are with you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “All I’m asking is that you not dismiss my idea out of hand. Think about it.” He pushed himself up from the chair, leaned forward and placed the bound folder on her desk in front of her. “This holds a few ideas I’ve sketched out. Study them with an open mind, and I think you’ll see the benefits of working together—an open mind being the key. Whether you want to, though, is an entirely different matter.” He reached out and lightly stroked his fingers down her cheek. She flinched. “Take care,” he murmured with a smile, then straightened and headed for the door. He walked as slowly as he could. The last thing he wanted to do was draw her suspicions. He had his hand on the doorknob when she stopped him.

  “Wait. There is, uh, one more thing I’d like to talk with you about.”

  He exhaled a pent-up breath, then turned with a feigned look of surprise on his face. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

  As he moved back toward her, a dozen thoughts went through her mind. Unfortunately, they were all about him. He was dressed casually in a shirt, slacks and a sport jacket, which made him look wonderful. The problem was, she now knew what he looked like beneath his clothes, and try as she might, she couldn’t wipe away the memories.

  She remembered exactly how his muscles had rippled across his back as he’d dressed and the way those black briefs had fit him so well that she could picture the shape of his buttocks. Then there was the warm, safe way she’d felt when she’d awoken in his arms. His scent, his feel…

  She wiped a hand across her brow and was surprised to find she wasn’t sweating. She had to be crazy to do what she was about to do. Bringing up anything about last night was dangerous, but in this case…

  Instead of sitting, he stood to the side of the chair and slipped his hand into his slacks pocket. It was a casual stance, but in his case, it was almost a stance of power. “What is it?”

  She cleared her throat. “I’ve been remembering more about last night, and I, uh, remember you talking about Des.”

  “That’s right.”

  Nodding her head, she fiddled with the corner edge of the folder he’d given her. “As I recall, you seemed to have very definite opinions about what he likes and doesn’t like.”

  “As I said last night, we’ve become very good friends.”

  She glanced down at the folder. “I would never ask you to betray a confidence of course, but I was just wondering…has he ever said anything about me?”

  “Only in the most general of terms.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He sometimes refers to you and your sisters as ‘the girls.”’

  “As if we were one entity?” Equal parts surprise and offense filled her voice. She and her sisters had never been one entity, never been so close to one another that they were like one. Their father had seen to that.

  “I don’t know how much you remember about our conversation, but I did tell you that he considers you family.”

  Lord, the task of getting Des to the altar was going to be even harder than she had anticipated. She wiped her fingers across her forehead, realized she was repeating something she had just done, then straightened and leveled her best businesslike, unblinking gaze on him. “You also said that you felt he was dead wrong for me. That was an outrageous statement to make, Colin.”

  “Maybe, but it is also true.”

  “You can’t know that for sure. No one can.”

  “Maybe not, but I can have an opinion based on a certain amount of knowledge.”

  “I see.” She rose from her chair and paced to the window, then back to the desk. “And that knowledge, I assume, is partly based on your belief that I’m not a femme fatale.” She hated even saying the words. She’d always prided herself on the fact that she had never used her womanly wiles to get where she was today. Now she had to wonder if she even had any womanly wiles.

  “You’ve pretty much remembered our entire conversation.”

  “Yeah, it’s just other parts of the night that I’m having a little trouble with.” She paused, picked up a pen and tapped it against her hand. “I also remember your statement that you think I’ve decided that now is the time to go after him.”

  He smiled. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

  She couldn’t help it. Her expression turned perplexed. “How could you possibly come to that conclusion? You don’t know me that well.”

  “I know you better than you think, so don’t even bother telling me I’m wrong on that. Let’s focus on the other thing I said—that you’re not a femme fatale. Are you telling me I’m wrong?”

  She chewed on her bottom lip, then stopped herself. But the tapping of the pen became faster. “I’ve never thought about it.” Until now, she added to herself.

  “And now that you have…?”

  Now that she had, she had to admit that he was right, though she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of telling him so. “Up to now, I haven’t focused on that particular aspect of, uh…”

  “Being a woman?” he supplied h
elpfully.

  She shrugged. “I’ve always been a quick study. How hard can it be?” She eyed him, something, perhaps an idea, tickling at the back of her mind. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “That’s because I can’t.” He smiled. “I’ve never been a woman.”

  She almost laughed at the thought. He was one of the most masculine men she’d ever known. Why hadn’t she noticed it before? As soon as the question formed in her mind, the answer followed: she wore blinders that kept her from seeing anything but business. If she hadn’t been born with them—and she wasn’t entirely certain that she hadn’t been—then her father had strapped them on her shortly thereafter. “But you’re certainly around a lot of women. I mean, you seem to…attract women.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “I don’t know.” Her answer was an honest one, but she kept prodding at her mind, trying to figure it out. Whenever she was uncertain about a decision she needed to make, she usually made a list of what she knew for a fact, so that was what she did now. “You seem to know a lot about Des. And you certainly know a lot about women.”

  “Where did you get that second idea?”

  She drew her brows together, annoyed that he’d interrupted her fragile train of thought. “I’ve talked to quite a few of your castoffs.”

  “I don’t cast off women.”

  “They seem to think you do.”

  “Think about what you just said, Jill.” His tone was surprisingly gentle, but his expression was uncompromising. “That can’t be true.”

  She threw the gold pen on the desk. “Okay, okay—they’re usually just disappointed that you don’t get serious about them and normally don’t ask them out again beyond the first or second date.”

  “I don’t lead women on, Jill.”

  She sighed, sorry she had even brought up the subject. “Look, what you do with women is your business, okay?”

  He stared at her with an expression that clearly said he wasn’t going to let her get away with anything.