Taming the Texas Tycoon / One Night with the Wealthy Rancher: Taming the Texas Tycoon

Chief Ingle nodded. “They always do.”

Insurance companies were very well versed in arson investigations—they didn’t mess around with fires. Lance wanted someone who had Brody Oil and Gas’s interests in mind. “Is it okay if I hire my own security team to be part of the investigation?”

“We’d rather not have extra people on the site,” Chief Ingle said.

“Darius won’t get in the way. He’s the best at what he does.”

“Darius who?”

“Darius Franklin. He owns his own security firm.”

“Okay, but only him.”

Lance understood that. The chief didn’t want a bunch of men trampling over the fire scene.

“When can we go back into production?” Lance asked.

“I think we’ll need at least 24 hours before I’d feel comfortable saying you can go back on line. More, if the investigation proves to be complicated.”

Lance made a note of that. And when the chief moved on, he turned to Frank. “Tell all of our employees to gather in the parking lot in fifteen minutes. Then set up a number so they can call in and get a message about when to report back to work and give them that number.”

“I’m on it,” Frank said, walking away.

Lance dialed his best friend, Darius, and got his voice mail. Being as succinct as possible, he told Darius what had happened, that the fire chief suspected arson, and he asked Darius to come and help with the investigation. Now if he could just get Kate back, he’d have the best team any man could ask for in this situation. He reached for his phone.

Chapter Three

Kate put her phone on silence after the second call from Lance. She was tired of hurting and questioning herself and everything she’d done. She arrived at Sweet Nothings to find that Becca had made her an appointment with her hairstylist.

“I don’t know that a haircut is going to change anything,” Kate said.

“Don’t think of it as just a haircut. You need to change,” Becca said. “I’ve been thinking about this since you called and the only way you are going to be able to make these next few weeks bearable is to make Lance Brody realize what he’s missing.”

Kate took one look at herself in the mirror behind the counter and shrugged. “Not much.”

“Soon, he’ll see a whole new woman.”

“But I’ll still be me,” Kate said.

“Of course you will, silly. And Lance already likes you. This will just make him lust after you.”

“He’s engaged to be married, Becca.”

“So what? You’re not going to make him do anything. Just tease him a bit and maybe get your heart back.”

Kate liked the sound of that. She’d given Lance five years. And wasn’t it past time to get over him?

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Good.”

Becca gave her directions to the salon. As Kate drove over there, her cell phone rang again. It was Lance. She answered the call as she parked her car. “It’s Kate.”

“Where have you been?”

“Driving,” she said.

“There’s been a fire at our main refinery. I need you in the office to be my information hub.”

Kate was shocked. Brody Oil and Gas was one of the safest refineries in the business. “Was there an explosion?”

“They aren’t sure. I’m done looking over the fire scene at the refinery. When can you get to the office?”

She almost said tonight, but what was the point of that? This was an emergency situation but they didn’t really need her. Paula and Joan, two of the other secretaries at Brody Oil and Gas, could handle the phones in this situation.

“Tomorrow morning,” she said.

“Kate, I need you.”

Her heart almost skipped a beat.

“The company needs you. This is one of those times when we really want to have our best players on the field.”

Lance had played football and she had noticed early on that he fell back on sports analogies when he was stressed.

“You’ve got your best players,” she said. “I’m being traded, remember?”

“Damn it. We haven’t decided that yet.”

“Yes, we have. Or maybe I should say I have. I will call Paula and make sure she’s prepared to collect information and disseminate it. I made a procedure file for this type of emergency after the hurricane last year.”

Lance didn’t say anything. “I guess that’ll have to do. Leave your phone on so I can get in touch with you.”

“Why? I’m not—”

“Stop arguing with me, Kate. I don’t like it. What’s gotten into you?”

She looked at herself in the rearview mirror and realized this was the first time she’d ever said no to Lance. And he didn’t like it. Maybe the way to get his attention was actually easier than changing her hair and clothes. She realized that she’d been too accommodating, and that was part of the reason he’d taken her for granted.

“I don’t know, Lance. I just decided it was time for a change. Don’t make this into anything other than that.”

“It feels like…”

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Will you be in the office tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’ll be there.”