The Texan's Surprise Son

“Is there one in southwest Dallas? The farther south and west the better. I can drive over at lunch tomorrow.”

He wanted a facility near the drill site where he worked. That made sense.

“If you give me your phone number when I drop you off, I’ll research a location and text you the info tomorrow morning after I arrange for the testing. You can go in at your convenience. But if you’d be kind enough to let me know when you do, I’d appreciate it.”

“Okay.”

“It’s a very simple and quick procedure.”

“How long? For the results,” he clarified.

“Five to seven business days. You’ll be notified by email when the results are available and—”

“Okay,” he said again in a tone that clearly implied he was through discussing the testing.

Again, she cut him some slack. This was an enormous amount to process. She must be patient.

Several minutes of silence followed, after which he asked, “Then what?”

“If the results are positive, we can set up a meeting for you and Cody.”

“Who’s taking care of him now? Seeing as you’re here.”

That wasn’t a question she’d expected from him. “He’s in day care during the week when I’m at work. Today, my mother’s watching him. She lives in Austin and drives up every other weekend.”

“How does she feel about this? You telling me.”

Another unexpected question. Mariana relied on the skills she acquired as an attorney to maintain her composure and smiled. “She doesn’t know.”

“She doesn’t approve.”

Jacob was obviously more astute than she’d first thought.

“She loves Cody very much, and he’s all she has left of Leah.” The painful lump returned, forcing Mariana to wait before speaking. “I decided not to tell her until you and I had talked and the DNA results are in. Why upset the apple cart for no reason?”

Several more minutes of silence passed. Mariana was ready to spend the remainder of the ride with only her own thoughts for company when Jacob spoke softly from the darkness.

“Tell me about him. Cody. What’s he’s like?”

For the first time since she’d approached him on the rodeo midway, she began to think Jacob might have an interest in Cody.

She described her charming yet headstrong nephew until the next exit on the freeway, when Jacob’s lack of response caused her earlier doubts to return. If he turned out to be like Mariana’s father, then poor little Cody would be the one to pay the price.

Chapter Two (#ulink_2e1fdbbc-a456-51b1-9080-ab48e11b45df)

The noise was constant and nearly deafening, even with earplugs. Jacob didn’t remove the small foam devices until he was far from the drill site, stuffing them into the front pocket of his work shirt. He could still hear the rig and the generators grinding in the distance. Sometimes, he thought he could hear them in his sleep.

His hard hat came off next, and he ran fingers through his perpetually damp hair. The drill site was in a constant state of sweltering, summer, winter, spring and fall. In addition to noise, the massive drill gave off enormous amounts of heat. Today, Mother Nature added to their discomfort by providing unseasonably warm weather for early November.

Jacob opened the door to his truck, tossing his hard hat and fluorescent-green vest onto the passenger seat. His aim was good—or bad, depending on one’s perspective. The hat hit a stack of papers and hand tools, knocking them onto the floorboard. He didn’t bother straightening the mess.

I’m a father. Could be a father, he amended. He’d find out for sure when the test results came back in roughly a week. As Mariana mentioned, he’d receive an email with a link to the lab’s secure website where he could log in and view the results.

One email, and his life could be forever changed in ways he had only begun to imagine.

Jacob lived twenty minutes from the drill site and twenty-five minutes from Baron Energies’ headquarters in Dallas. Convenient. He’d bought the house last year, planning on being promoted from the field to an executive position. That had yet to happen.

Brock refused to consider transferring Jacob. Not until he’d “gained more experience.” In truth, Brock had been waiting and hoping for Jet, his biological son, to take an interest in the company. Jet had finally started coming around, leaving Jacob even further out in the cold.

Every proposal he presented, and he did it often, was immediately shot down with Brock proclaiming in a loud voice, “There will be no alternate energy division. Not as long as I’m in charge. We Barons are oil people.”

How anyone could look at the world today and not recognize the value of alternate energy baffled Jacob. Oil was a limited resource. Wind and sun weren’t. For at least the next billion years.

Out of frustration and anger, Jacob had returned to rodeoing this past spring, seeking an outlet for his pent-up energy. No pun intended. It had been a great stress reliever and, at first, fun. Then he’d started winning, and—this was a surprise—Brock had taken notice.

The higher Jacob’s ranking climbed, the more frequent talks he and his adoptive father engaged in about Jacob’s future with the company. Brock was still determined that Jet take over one day—now it was alongside his sister Lizzie. But he was listening to, if not entirely agreeing with, Jacob’s ideas for expansion.

To that end, Jacob spent every weekend on the road or in the air. It had paid off. He was a hairbreadth away from qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo in December. Brock was thrilled. He himself had won a few titles back in the day. Carly, too. Jacob would be the first of his sons to follow in his footsteps.

Maybe follow. How would a son affect Jacob’s career? Both of his careers?

Visitation or custody? Mariana Snow hadn’t been specific as to which. He still thought it a little strange that she didn’t want full custody herself. If she hadn’t told Jacob, he might never have known he had a son. She could have easily complied with her sister’s wishes, and Jacob would have been none the wiser. It was enough to give him pause.

Rather than head directly home, he drove to the family ranch. The Roughneck was a little out of the way but worth it. Days like this one, he needed to climb on the back of a horse. In his opinion, there was no better way to work off stress or unload a heavy mind.

It was well past dark when he arrived. That wouldn’t be a problem. Floodlights were scattered throughout the barn and arena. He could ride for an hour and still be home by eight.

He maneuvered his truck into the long driveway, noting the darkened farm store as he passed it. His adoptive sisters Savannah and Carly ran the store, which offered fresh produce and homemade pies. The two had recently embarked on a search for their biological mother, Delia Baron, with only dead ends and cold trails to show for their efforts.

Jacob didn’t need to search for his biological father. He knew right where Oscar Burke resided: the Federal Correctional Institute in Beaumont. Minimum security, as if that counted for anything. This February, he’d be up for parole. The third time. Had he not been involved in an attack against a guard—an innocent bystander, he claimed; the perpetrator, witnesses had testified—he’d be out by now.

Jacob pulled in next to the barn and parked. The main lights were on. Since he was the only one who ever rode at night, that meant Luke Nobel, the Roughneck’s ranch manager and Carly’s fiancé, was dealing with a problem.

Jacob found Luke in the barn, his forearms propped on a stall door and staring worriedly at the horse inside.

“What’s wrong?”

“Colic.”

The smile Jacob would normally expect to see on Luke’s face was absent.

“Not good.”

For a few minutes they discussed the mare’s symptoms and what steps Luke had taken.

“If she isn’t better in an hour, I’m calling the vet.”

The large chestnut stood with her head hanging low between her front legs and her eyes filled with misery.