Texas Temptation

He sipped his coffee, watching her, and Annie felt a heat scurry through her at the intensity of his gaze.

“You look different,” he said at last.

He didn’t, she thought. He was as handsome as she remembered. Jonathan’s good looks had been more refined somehow, while Jared had been more rugged. “It has been almost four years.”

His gaze skimmed over her face. “Your hair.”

Embarrassed, she ran a hand through her newly cropped hair, suddenly wishing she hadn’t let the stylist talk her into the shorter cut. She’d nearly cried when she’d seen six inches of blond hair lying on the floor. “It’s supposed to be easier,” she said self-consciously.

The corners of his mouth tilted up slightly. “I like it.”

She thought she was in control again, but her cheeks suddenly felt warm. She blew away the steam rising from the cup in her hand, then took a sip of the hot liquid. “I heard you were in Venezuela.”

His lips thinned. “I was.”

Wrong subject, Annie, she thought with a silent groan. From the hard expression on Jared’s face, she guessed that South America hadn’t exactly been a picnic. It was also perfectly clear that he didn’t want to talk about it.

Jared’s reticence seemed to be another area where he and Jonathan had differed. Annie had never met anyone more open and verbal than Jonathan had been. Something told her that it would take a crowbar to extract anything more than superficial conversation out of Jared.

“Jake and Jessica?” she inquired about his sister and brother, intentionally changing the subject.

Jared’s smile returned, and she couldn’t help but notice the attractive lift of his dark eyebrows. “Jessica’s living in town. She’s applying for a grant so she can turn the ghost town she inherited into a camp for troubled kids.”

“Ghost town?”

Jared laughed. “I’ll let her tell you about it when she gets back from San Antonio. Jake and his wife, Savannah, took Emma to the Fall Festival there and she went with them.”

“Jake married! So there are snowballs in hell, huh?” she joked, remembering a remark Jared’s older brother had repeated more than once in the short time she’d known him. He’d been recently divorced back then and the subject of marriage was not his favorite. “And who’s Emma?”

“My half sister.” He chuckled at her confused stare. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain everything later.”

Obviously a lot had transpired since she’d last seen the Stones, Annie thought in amazement. A great number of changes had taken place with the family. Except for one thing.

The oil well.

Which brought her back to why she was here.

The lightness she’d felt a moment ago was gone now. In its place was an ache that settled over her like a lead weight.

The silence stretched around them as taut and thin as a spider’s web. If she touched one delicate strand, the entire web would either fall apart or ensnare her. Either way, someone lost.

As if sensing her plight, Jared made the first move. “How long have you worked for Arloco?”

“Almost two years. My first few months out of school I worked for a major oil company, mostly desk work. It’s not easy being a woman in a male-dominated industry, but I suppose being the youngest and only daughter of six children was a good training ground. When Arloco offered me a job, I jumped at the opportunity to work in the field for an independent company.” She made a small gesture with her hand. “So here I am.”

So here she was.

The awkwardness was back between them.

“Look, Annie,” Jared said, pushing away from the counter, “this is difficult for both of us. There’s a lot of...history here. It might be easier if we put that book on the shelf and just deal with the present. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. You’re here to do a job. Just do it.” She lifted her gaze to his. His eyes were narrowed, his lips drawn tightly together. He was right, of course. This was business, no matter what the past.

“Jared,” she said carefully, “you know that after I review everything here I have to draw up a report.”

“And based on your report, Arloco either gives or doesn’t give its support.”

It was bad enough, knowing that she was the one person who could destroy his dream, but hearing him speak the words made her stomach twist into a knot.

Her hands tightened around the cup. “I wish it wasn’t me standing here, Jared. But it is. This is my job. I can’t compromise that.”

“I didn’t ask you to,” he said tightly. “Nor do I expect it. Just give the project a chance.”

She hadn’t meant to offend him. This whole situation was just so difficult. She was walking on eggshells here, and none too lightly. “You have the maps?”

“They’re in my office.” He gestured toward the living room. “Why don’t we step in there?”

The teasing lilt was back again and she relaxed a bit. She appreciated that he was at least trying to make it easier for her. With a sigh, she moved past him, determined to put her mind to her work.

* * *

Annie sat cross-legged on the floor, a log sheet in one hand and a pencil in the other. She stared at the map spread out on the floor in front of her, her concentration intense as she cross-referenced the map to the logs.

On the floor beside her, Jared took a sip of his fifth cup of coffee as he watched her lean forward, her eyes narrowed, and study the sketched-out cross section of a trap fault. When her hair fell across her cheek, she unconsciously tucked it behind her ear with a smooth flick of her fingers.

She’d changed a lot since he’d first met her, he noted. Her blond hair had been halfway down her back before, and straight. Now it sort of curved around her oval face, accentuating her large hazel-green eyes and thick dark lashes. The style also revealed the long slender line of her neck. In a dim recess of his mind, he had an image of his lips pressed against that soft sensitive spot just below her ear. He cursed himself and tore his gaze away, determined to put the morning’s incident between them out of his thoughts.

The sound of her scribbling in the notepad at her knee brought his attention back to the present. It was almost as if she’d forgotten he was there. For the past three hours, she’d pored over the map that Jonathan had worked up—a “play,” it was called—and occasionally she’d ask a question, but there’d been virtually no conversation between them. It was starting to grate on his nerves, not knowing what was going on in her head.

He almost laughed at that. As if he’d ever known what went on in any female’s head.

He remembered the day Jonathan had brought her home. She’d looked like a typical college student. A long-legged long-haired blonde who would have turned any man’s head.

But now there was something more, something provocative, even seductive, in the way she spoke and moved. It made no difference she was wearing work boots and jeans and a loose-fitting white blouse. The femininity that radiated from her packed a punch with definite knockout power.

And when she began to nibble on the eraser of her pencil, Jared’s mouth went as dry as chalk. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t forget the feel of those soft lips under his own. Or the feel of her body pressed tightly against his.

“Jared,” she said suddenly, and he nearly jumped at the sound of his name, “did you have a seismic crew out here three years ago?”

He nodded. “I’ve got the file at the site.”

As she stared at the log sheet in her hand, then the map, she frowned slightly. Jared wasn’t at all sure he cared for the expression. He’d seen it too many times on bank officers and backers not to recognize it. It meant doubt. With a capital D.

He heard her stomach rumble then and realized that he hadn’t offered her anything to eat. Her cheeks flushed as she pressed a hand to her stomach.

He really knew how to rack up points, Jared thought sourly. First he attacked the woman, then he starved her.

“I’ll throw some lunch together,” he said, standing.

“I am a little hungry,” she admitted, tucking the pencil behind her ear and stretching. “I left Midland this morning about seven and didn’t take the time to pull off at a diner for breakfast.”