Millionaire Magnates: Taming the Texas Tycoon

“Of course.”

“I invited Lexi to join me. I want her to start getting to know everyone here,” Lance said.

“That sounds good.”

“You know her better than I do,” Lance added, thinking of the woman he was going to marry. “I was thinking I should get her a little gift to say thanks for agreeing to marry me. Should I ask Kate, or do you think you could suggest something?”

There was silence on the line and Lance pulled the phone away from his ear to make sure he hadn’t lost the connection. “If you have any thoughts, just shoot me an e-mail.”

“I’ll do that. When are you going to tell Kate that you’re engaged?”

“Already did. Why?” Lance walked up toward the building.

“No reason,” Mitch said.

“Do you think I should have waited until I announced it to the rest of the company?”

“No,” Mitch said. “She’s not like the rest of the staff.”

“I know that. Do you think I should call Senator Cavanaugh to follow up on anything?”

“I’m handling that. Just keep doing what you usually do,” Mitch said.

“And that is?” Lance asked.

“Heavy lifting,” Mitch said.

Lance smiled. From the time they were very little, Mitch had relied on him to do the heavy physical stuff. It only made sense since he was the older brother, and Lance had learned early on that their parents weren’t going to watch out for either of them.

“Will do. See you on Thursday?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Mitch said.

He disconnected the call and stood there for another moment in the hot, Houston sun. It might sound like he was daft to others but he liked the burn of the summer sun on his skin.

The air-conditioning chilled him as he walked through the building. There was always a moment when he almost paused as he entered the office, unable to believe how he and Mitch had brought the empty, run-down company back to this. The lobby was filled with guests waiting to go up to different meetings. There was a full staff of security guards who protected the company.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Brody.”

“Good afternoon, Stan. How’s things?”

“Good, sir. Good to have you back in Houston,” Stan said.

Lance nodded at the man and walked toward the executive elevators. He got on and pushed the button for the executive floor. The ride was quick and he realized he was eager to be back to work. DC was like another world, a place he didn’t fit in. Here at Brody Oil and Gas, he not only fit in, he was in his kingdom.

He walked into his office and Kate glanced up at him. Her normal smile of welcome wasn’t as bright as it usually was.

“Welcome back, Lance. Steve from finance needs five minutes sometime today. I told him I had to check with you first.”

“No problem. I’m free this afternoon.”

“Good. I’ll take care of it.”

“Anything else I need to know about?”

She shook her head, a strand of her thick dark hair brushing her cheek. She looked up at him and her eyes seemed wider, those dark-chocolate orbs that he’d lost himself in a time or two. He shook his head. That was folly. Kate wasn’t the type of woman who’d be interested in an affair.

And despite his engagement, affairs were all he’d ever been interested in. He wasn’t the kind of man who could marry a woman he felt anything for. He’d learned from his father that Brody men didn’t handle lust or love well. They required devotion and dedication from their lovers or else they turned to jealousy. He had experienced it himself during his ill-fated love affair with his high school sweetheart April, when he was eighteen.

“Lance?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you hear what I said?”

He shook his head. “No, I was thinking about the trip to DC.”

Kate bit her lip and looked down.

“What is it, Katie-girl? Is something on your mind?”

Kate nodded. “I need a few minutes to talk to you in your office.”

“Okay,” he said. “Now?”

“Yes, I think the sooner we get to this the better.”

“Come on in,” he said.

She stood and picked something up from her printer before leading the way into his office. Lance watched her walking in front of him, seeing the sway of her hips and the way the fabric of her long skirt brushed her calves.

Why was he just now realizing that Kate was one fine-looking woman beneath those ugly clothes of hers?

Kate had been in Lance’s office many times before and today she felt a pang at the paper she held in her hand. She had made up her mind that she was going to resign. There was nothing that could change that.

Well, that wasn’t true. She vacillated between being firm that she had to leave, and wanting to stay so she could see Lance on a daily basis.

But then she had to remember that part of the reason she’d lost the weight was because she was tired of sitting on the sidelines of life, and watching other people live while she just went about doing her job and going home to her empty town house in Houston.

That emptiness had started getting to her and she’d contemplated buying a cat. But she’d stopped, horrified at becoming her great-aunt Jean, the spinster and butt of most jokes by the younger generation when Kate was growing up.

“What did you want to talk about?” Lance said. He leaned one hip on the front of his desk and stretched his long legs out.

She stared at him for a minute. How was she going to get over him?

“I have been thinking about my job lately. And I… I’ve decided to pursue opportunities away from Brody Oil and Gas.”

“What?” Lance asked, standing up. “Why now? We need you, Katie-girl.”