Texas Temptation (11 page)

Jared frowned. “Look, it's no big—”

“And why are you dressed in work boots and jeans?” Jake asked, narrowing his eyes. He looked at Annie. “He didn't try to go to the rig, did he?”

She nodded. “Tried to sneak out while I was in the bathroom. Couldn't get far without these, though.” She pulled Jared's truck keys out of her pocket.

Jared's lips thinned. “I was only going outside for some fresh air.”

“Yeah. That's why I found you in the truck, swearing loud enough to rattle the windows.”

Annie moved into the kitchen to pour Jake a cup of coffee. She was glad he'd shown up when he had. Jared was a terrible patient; she was weary of arguing with the stubborn fool and was glad to let someone else take over.

He'd pretended to be asleep when she'd woken up that morning. She'd slipped quietly out of bed, not wanting to disturb him, and gone into the bathroom. That was when he'd dressed and tried to make his escape.

He was furious that she'd second-guessed him.

She was furious that he'd tried something so stupid.

They'd been arguing ever since.

With a sigh, she moved back into the living room and handed Jake his coffee. He thanked her, then turned back to Jared. “So, you want to tell me what happened?”

“I was standing a little too close to the compressor when it decided to attempt a moon launch.”

“The compressor blew?” Jake frowned. “Compressors don't blow.”

“Not usually.”

There was a tense silence as the two brothers stared at each other. Annie glanced from Jared to Jake. “What are you saying? That someone tampered with the compressor?”

Jared winced as he sat up. “We aren't saying anything just yet.”

“You're implying something,” she said.

“It's probably nothing.” Jake gazed thoughtfully at his coffee, then looked at Jared. “Have you had any other problems?”

“Permits lost, pipe twisting off, lights blowing. Nothing completely out of line, just more than normal.”

“Enough to throw you off schedule and out of budget, though, right?”

Jared nodded grimly.

Jake began to prowl the room. “It's sounding a little too familiar to me.”

“What sounds familiar?” Annie asked, frustrated at the sudden quiet in the room. At least when they were arguing, she knew what was going on.

Jared reached for his own cup of coffee on the end table. “Jake had some problems a few months ago with an ex-employee cutting fence and messing with the watering pumps. It was subtle, but effective. He nearly lost the ranch.”

“I nearly lost Emma and Savannah.” Jake's face went rigid. “They were in the barn when the bastard set it on fire.”

“Oh, my God,” Annie whispered. “What happened?”

“I got them out in time.” Jake stared hard at his coffee cup. A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Just barely.”

Her knees felt weak and she sank down on the couch beside Jared. “Why would anyone do such a thing?”

“He was angry because I'd fired him, and the only job he could find was driving for Myrna.”

“You mean, like a chauffeur?”

“Yeah.” Jake took a sip of his coffee. “I suppose that's enough to make anyone crazy.”

Annie certainly couldn't argue with him there. “Jared, isn't it suspicious that Jake had problems when Myrna wanted his land, and now you're having problems when she wants yours?”

Jared shot Jake a look, and it was apparent that the thought had occurred to both of them.

“No.” Jared shook his head. “I didn't believe it then, and I can't believe it now. Myrna's capable of a lot of things, but not this.”

“No one has better reason than me to dislike the woman,” Jake said. “She's selfish, obnoxious and condescending. But I still can't imagine her going this far.”

“What about that man, the ex-employee?” she asked.

“He's in Midland Correctional for a long time,” Jake said coldly. “He knows better than to ever show his face around here again.”

Based on Jake's murderous expression, Annie thought, the man was lucky to even be alive.

“So we're at a dead end,” she said with a sigh and leaned back on the couch. It was still warm from Jared's body.

“Look,” Jared said, “there's really no reason for us to believe that these mishaps were anything other than just that. Let's forget about it and—”

The door burst open and Jessica walked in, both arms full of overflowing grocery bags. Jake hurried over and relieved her of the bags, then set them in the kitchen. Her eyes were flashing as she stalked across the room to Jared.

“Jared Alexander Stone, how dare you not call me and tell me you were hurt.” She stood in front of him, her arms folded as she glared at him.

Jared rolled his head back and groaned. “I'm fine.”

“Oh, sure. You look fine. Black and blue are definitely your colors. Don't you think so, Annie?”

Annie studied his face thoughtfully. “The purple is nice, too.”

And then Jessica was in Jared's arms, hugging him even as she continued to scold him. “You scared the hell out of me, Jared,” she said more softly, pulling back so she could look at him. “Are you sure you're all right? No broken bones? No internal bleeding?”

“I'm fine. Really,” he reassured her. “Just a couple of stitches in my shoulder.”

Jessica let out a breath and looked at Annie. “You okay?”

Annie nodded. “Except for the ten years' life I lost and a small scratch.”

“Hey, Jessie,” Jake called from the kitchen, “what do you want me to do with this stuff?” He held up a small plastic bag labeled Cactus Flat Pharmacy.

Jessica gave Jared a kiss on his cheek, then stood. She glanced at Annie and rolled her eyes. “Men are so helpless.”

“Don't forget stubborn and obstinate,” Annie added, which only earned her a frown from Jared.

“Goes without saying.” Jessica turned to Jake. “Throw it over here.”

The bag sailed across the room. Jessica caught it easily and tossed it to Jared.

He caught the bag. “What
is
all this stuff?”

She pushed up the sleeves of her white cotton shirt and headed for the kitchen. “I thought you might need a few things. You being incapacitated and all. Food, aspirin, bandages. A few other essentials.”

“I am
not
incapacitated,” he called after her, and peered into the bag.
“Jessie...”

“What?” She smiled innocently.

Jared scowled darkly.

“I'm starving.” Jessica pulled a carton of eggs out of a bag. “Anyone want breakfast?”

“H
ey, Jared, you going to eat this sandwich or turn it into a science project?”

Jared looked up from the payroll log he was working on and stared at Slater. The foreman, his head stuck in the office refrigerator, was foraging for food.

“You just started your shift and already you're looking for something to eat?” Jared grumbled. “There's a diner in town, Slater. Try it sometime.”

Shaking his head, Jared attacked the figures in front of him again. He'd been back to work eight days since the accident, but he was still trying to play catch-up, not only with his work on the well, but with the paperwork, too.

At least the operation of the rig had been running smoothly. There'd been no more problems since the compressor had blown. Jared had told Slater his suspicions, and they'd both been watching closely for anything out of the ordinary. But there'd been nothing even to raise an eyebrow over, and Jared was convinced that the problems were, in fact, coincidental and nothing more.

He'd even managed to avoid Myrna, though Jared knew that his stepmother had stopped by to “say hello” at least twice. Even Myrna knew better than to step within twenty feet of the rig when the drill was running, so if Jared saw her approaching from the main road, he conveniently found something to do up on the platform. The best way to deal with Myrna was to not deal with her at all.

A dry sandwich and a can of soda in his hands, Slater shut the refrigerator door and sat at the desk across from Jared. “I was going to eat in town, but Annie was there having dinner with that head honcho from Arloco. I thought she might like some privacy.”

Privacy? Jared broke the tip of the pencil he was using and cursed silently. What the hell did she need privacy for? He frowned at the thought of Annie's having dinner with any man, but especially some snoop from Arloco. He knew she'd picked up her supervisor at the airport earlier that afternoon; he'd wanted to be at the site as they approached the target zone, which would be sometime tomorrow.

Three years of waiting. Three weeks of work. And tomorrow it would all be over. Tomorrow they would hit the depth Jonathan—and Annie—had projected for the oil trap. There was no reason to go on beyond that. Arloco would not authorize drilling any farther, so the well would have to shut down.

And Annie would go home.

He felt as if he'd been turned inside out, leaving every nerve exposed. The thought of her leaving was agony, the thought of her staying, impossible.

Slater opened the soda can and set it on the desk, then unwrapped the sandwich and sniffed at it as he propped one boot on the desk corner. “You ever get tired of being single, Jared?”

Startled by Slater's question, Jared looked up. Slater and he had never discussed bachelorhood. They'd both had their reasons for not marrying, and neither had ever questioned the other.

When Jared didn't answer, Slater continued, “I think about it occasionally. Especially when I'm forced to eat something like this.”

“Nobody's forcing you to do anything,” Jared said tightly. “Except get your foot off my desk.”

Slater ignored him and took a bite of the sandwich. “Mornings are bad, too. I always wondered what it would be like to wake up with a soft curvy body next to mine.”

Jared stared at his friend incredulously. “You're thirty-three years old, Slater. You mean to tell me you've never spent the night with a woman?”

“I never said I didn't spend the night.” He pulled something green out of the sandwich and eyed it suspiciously before he popped it into his mouth. “It's the
mornings
I never seemed to stick around for.”

Jared couldn't stop the image of Annie that came to mind the morning after his accident. He'd woken up, just as the sun was rising, and watched her sleep. She'd looked so peaceful, so comfortable. He'd pulled her warm body close to his and fallen back to sleep with her nestled against him. It had felt so right.

But it had been wrong.

He knew it then, as he knew it now. He was just having one hell of a time accepting that fact, even though he had managed to keep away from her since that night. It had been the most miserable week of his life.

“I think I'm going to get married,” Slater announced.

Jared rolled his eyes. “Don't you think you might try dating someone first?”

“Okay.” He chewed thoughtfully. “How about Annie?”

“What!”

“How about Annie? She's not hard to look at. We like each other.”

Not hard to look at? Like each other?
Anger simmered in Jared's stomach. He laid his pencil down and stared hard at Slater. “If I didn't think you were trying to get me going,” he said carefully, “I've have to drop you flat.”

“Why are you getting so mad?” Slater took another bite of sandwich.

“I'm not mad!” he yelled. “You haven't seen mad if you think this is mad!”

“What the hell are you so touchy about? You don't seem to want her, so I don't see why I can't have her.”

“Have her?” Jared stood, oblivious to the fact he'd knocked Slater's soda over. “
Have
her?” It was too much. Something inside him snapped. He came around the desk and knocked Slater's foot off the desk.

“Hey!” Slater straightened. “I'm eating here. What's your problem?”

“You so much as lay one finger on Annie and you'll be eating this.” He waved his fist under Slater's nose.

“You know, Jared, if I didn't know better, I might think you were jealous.”

“I don't give a damn what you think!” Jared shouted. “As long as those thoughts have nothing to do with Annie!”

“What about me?”

Both men turned toward the office door. Annie stood there, a puzzled look on her face as her gaze swung from Jared to Slater and back again.

Jared felt his throat go dry. Annie was wearing a fitted long-sleeved white top that crisscrossed to a low V in the front, and a deep blue sash hugged the waistband of her long flowing blue print skirt.

She looked beautiful and sexy. Why the hell was she dressed like that for a dinner with her manager?

“What are you doing here?” he snapped.

She raised on eyebrow. “Why wouldn't I be here? I happen to work here.”

Jared watched Annie's skirt swirl around her long legs as she moved into the room. He tried his damnedest not to think about those legs wrapped around his waist, but it was no good. “You're not exactly dressed for work,” he said stiffly.

“Hey, Annie,” Slater piped up. “You clean up real nice. You can dress like that any time, and I won't complain.”

Eyes narrowed, Jared turned on Slater. The arguing started all over again.

What in the world was going on here? Annie wondered, trying to understand what it was the two men were arguing about. She'd never seen Jared and Slater get into it like this before.

That was when she spotted the overturned soda. What wasn't dripping off the side had spilled onto the desk.

“My map!” Annie cried, and rushed over to the desk. A brown fizzy puddle streaked across the map she'd been charting. “Look what you've done!”

She yanked tissues out of the desk drawer and blotted at the liquid. Like two children who'd been struggling over a toy and broken it, both men were instantly silent.

“I've been working on this for almost three weeks,” she said quietly, and swallowed down the sob gathering in her throat.

“Annie, I'm sorry.” Jared moved beside her and stared down at the brown stain on the map. Red, blue and orange lines ran together. “It was my fault.”

Slater stood and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. Me, too, Annie. But it really was my fault.”

“No.” Jared shook his head. “I was taking my bad mood out on Slater.”

“I started it,” Slater disagreed.

They started to argue then over whose fault it was.

“Stop it!” Annie slammed her hand down on the desk. “I don't give a damn whose fault it is.”

She felt tears burn her eyes. The men fell silent again. She stared down at the map and thought of all the hours she'd put into recharting it. Frustration built in her. Frustration that she'd never found what she was looking for, even though she knew it was there. Staring her right in the face.

And now she'd never have a chance to find it.

That seemed to be the way her entire life was going.

Muttering under her breath, she did her best to salvage the map. It would have to go into the file when she got back to Dallas and gave her report. At least she'd have
something
to show for all her work.

“How'd your meeting go?” Jared asked tentatively.

“Fine,” she said tersely. “I told Ken we should hit the zone late in the afternoon. He'll come by sometime before that.”

He nodded slowly, and Annie felt her anger melt away when she saw the strain etched in Jared's eyes. Every moment had been building toward tomorrow, and she knew how much it meant to him.

“Jared,” she said, letting out a long breath, “why don't you go home? I know you've been working since before the sun came up, and tomorrow is going to be a long day, too.”

Annie couldn't identify the look in Jared's eyes as he stared at her, but it made her skin flush with heat and her insides ache with longing. His gaze slid slowly over her, as if he was memorizing every inch of her.

“She's right.” Slater ran a hand through his thick brown hair, then picked up his hard hat and settled it on his head. “Go on home and get some rest. I can keep Annie company.” He looked at Annie and winked.

Keep her company?
Why did anyone need to keep her company? There was a tone in Slater's voice that Annie had never heard before. She frowned at the man.

Something was going on between these two that involved her, Annie realized. Something she didn't think she was going to like one little bit.

“You trying to get rid of me?” Jared stared at Slater.

Slater raised one brow innocently. “Why would I want to do that?”

Annie groaned as it started up again between them. Jared's face was red with anger as he leaned in close and yelled at Slater. And Slater, a half smile on his face, was obviously egging his friend on.

Macho idiots.
She stepped between them and put one hand on each of their chests. She tried to push them apart, but it was like standing between two steel beams set in concrete. “What the hell is going on between you two?”

A muscle jumped in Jared's temple. “Nothing.”

Slater just grinned.

“We've only got one more day of drilling, boys,” Annie said with exasperation. “Then you two can go at it. At least I won't be around to have to watch.”

Annie felt the shift of tension in Jared's body as he pulled his gaze from Slater and looked at her. They'd never discussed her leaving, though they both knew she'd be going back to Dallas when the project was through.

Since his accident, he'd been careful not to touch her or even be alone with her. But she'd caught him watching her when he thought she didn't see, and the look in his eyes had been so hungry it had taken her breath away.

She'd hoped, even prayed, that he would ask her to stay. That he'd be able to let go of the past and start over. With her.

But he hadn't. And as each day passed, and the target zone came closer, she knew he never would.

She dropped her hands and stepped away, no longer caring whether or not they beat each other to a pulp. In fact, she decided, she just might enjoy it if they did.

She turned her back on the men. “And since I no longer have a map to work on, I'll just clear out my things now, instead of tomorrow.”

What was the point in waiting until tomorrow, anyway? she thought, opening the top drawer where she'd kept her pencils and pens and other miscellaneous items. It would only be that much more difficult. Better just to get it done, and then she could leave here and never look back. She could forget about Jared and how much her heart was breaking.

And while she was at it she could also stop the sun from rising and predict earthquakes.

“Annie...” Jared made a move toward her, but when their eyes met, his jaw tightened, and he turned away. “I'll see you in the morning.”

“Fine.” A tightness closed around Annie's chest as she watched Jared leave.
Damn you, Jared Stone.

She sighed heavily and sat at the desk, then looked at Slater. “You want to tell me what that was all about?”

Slater sat on the edge of the desk and tipped back his hat. “What's the expression? ‘You can run, but you can't hide.' He's just about run out of hiding places, and it's making him mad as hell. That, and the way he feels about you.”

She laughed dryly. “Oh, you mean how he can't wait until I'm gone?”

“No, Bailey, that's not what I mean.” He looked at her for a long time, as if searching for the right words. “You really don't know, do you?”

She ran a finger over the blurred lines of the map. “Know what?”

“Jared's in love with you. He has been since the first day he laid eyes on you.”

Slowly, deliberately, she lifted her gaze to Slater's. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

One corner of Slater's mouth lifted. “I think you do.”

“No.” She shook her head. “He's done everything to keep as far away from me as possible since the day I came back.”

“I'm not just talking about now,” Slater said as he held her gaze. “I'm talking about from the first time he met you. When Jonathan brought you home. He's been in love with you from day one.”

She went perfectly still. All she could do was stare at Slater. It couldn't be.
It couldn't be.
Jared? In love with her? Back then? She'd have known, she'd have seen
something.