The Barons Of Texas: Tess

Through the windows of the house, she could see Ron already handling calls, but she’d committed to hearing Nick out and that was just what she planned to do. “Your family certainly has an interesting history.”

She’d managed half of the wheat roll, and despite the color and uncertainty of her stomach, she was pleased the roll was staying down. She still didn’t have a clue what Nick’s story had to do with her, but because of his please, she waited.

“History, yes. History that has worked its way down through the generations. I grew up on that history. My grandfather inherited the bill of lading for the gold that had been boarded on that ship.”

“Your great-grandfather had the bill of lading? Then why didn’t he simply show it to his neighbors?”

“He did. They thought it was a forgery, but his son, my grandfather, never thought it was, and neither did I.”

Over his shoulder, she saw Ron answering another phone call, and she prayed it wasn’t Jimmy Vega with yet another problem. Jimmy was the best tool pusher in the business, and she’d chosen him to supervise the entire operation. In turn, he had put together the best crew of roughnecks there was. Still, everything about this particular operation had been hard so far. They hadn’t even been drilling a week, yet time and again, the axiom that what can go wrong will go wrong had been proven true. “Again, Nick, it’s all very interesting, but—”

“I’ve found the shipwreck and the gold.”

Ron came striding onto the terrace, carrying the portable phone, mouthing Jimmy Vega’s name. Damn. She really did need to talk with Jimmy. But there was Nick, sitting across from her, and there was no way she would be able to focus on Jimmy as long as Nick’s amber eyes were trained so intently on her. She motioned Ron away. A look of surprise crossed his face, but he turned back to the house. “I’m sorry, Nick. What were you saying?”

“I said I’ve found the gold and I’m ready to start excavating it.”

“Well, congratulations.” She tried to infuse as much enthusiasm as possible into her congratulations, but she couldn’t say it with any strength or volume. Even though the percussion section in her head had quieted, the rest of the band was still playing.

“Congratulations aren’t in order yet. I’ve got a serious problem.”

She exhaled a long breath. “Look, Nick, I could match you problem for problem and more than likely have a stack of problems left over. I’ve listened to your story, as I said I would, but now I need to get back to work.”

“I’m not through.”

“I’m sorry, but you are. At least with me.” At any other time, she would gladly have lingered over her coffee and listened to Nick. He had the ability to touch and affect her in a way no other man ever had. But there was nothing normal or right about her current circumstances, and there wouldn’t be for months to come. She started to push her chair away from the table.

“The Águila and the gold are not far from your drilling site, which is why I’m here.”

She stilled.

“It’s perched atop a scarp. You’re drilling in a highly overpressurized zone. It will take only one catastrophe to send the Águila sliding off that salt ridge and into the abyss, where it will be buried so deep, it will more than likely be lost forever. Hell, even a series of minor catastrophes would do it.”

There was only one thing she could say. “You’re right.”

He nodded, apparently satisfied that she understood. “I need time to shore up the ship, to brace it in such a way that it will be protected from whatever happens on your rig.”

She rubbed her aching forehead, trying to focus. “I don’t see how you can really do that.”

“It’ll be hard, but I can try to make sure it will be safeguarded as much as possible, and then I can pray like hell. Besides, with the crew you’ve got, plus modern technology, the possibility of a full catastrophe such as a blowout is considerably lessened. But there are other things. There are fault lines down there that would easily channel vibrations of any sort from your rig over to the Águila.” Pausing, he looked at her in an assessing way. “That’s why I’m here to ask you to stop drilling for at least three months.”

“At least?” If she hadn’t been sitting, she might have fallen. As it was, the percussion section of the band in her head returned. He had no idea what he was asking of her. “Nick, there’s no way I could stop for even a week’s time.”

His body tensed. She didn’t see it; she felt it in the air between them.

“What’s the matter, Ms. Baron? Aren’t you rich enough yet?”

The question hit her like a slap. “No, as a matter of fact I’m not, Mr. Trejo.”

Nick didn’t move, not a muscle, not an eyelash. “Funny, you didn’t strike me as the greedy type.”

“Do you honestly think you have the right to call me greedy? You’re asking me to give up three valuable months of an operation that will bring in millions so that you can have three months to ensure you can safely harvest a crop of gold worth millions.”

Cold amber eyes stared at her.

Ron walked out again, the phone in his hand, an anxious expression on his face. “Vega insists on talking to you.”

She reached for the phone just as Nick rose. “Hang on a minute, Jimmy.” She covered the mouthpiece and looked at Nick.

“I won’t take up any more of your time this morning.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll pick you up this evening at seven.”

“Excuse me?”

He was already walking away from her. “Seven,” he called as he disappeared from the terrace.

Seven? Had he just asked her for a date? A date? It was hard for her to imagine Nick doing something as mundane as asking a woman for a date. He must want more time to try to change her mind, and there was no rule that said she had to go. Still…

“Tess? Tess?”

She glanced at the phone, then lifted it to her ear. “Sorry, Jimmy. What’s happened now?”

Nick pulled his car onto the road that would take him to the little house he was renting. Tess Baron was every bit as smart and tough as he’d thought she would be. He’d known she wouldn’t be an easy sale. Hell, why should she be? What he was asking of her required an enormous sacrifice on her part.

But he’d really thought that on some deep level she would understand and comply. He still had hope that she would.

His hand tightened on the steering wheel. Damn it. Why couldn’t he just have kept his hands off her last night? Why couldn’t he have kept his mind on business? It would have made things between them so much easier.

But now his personal feelings were in the mix, infusing every word, every gesture, with the possibility of volatility. How else could he explain his need to stand up from that table, circle it and pull her into his arms for a long, deep kiss, despite the fact that she’d told him no?

He exhaled a long breath. Obviously he was going to have to get his fast-growing appetite for her under control. He was also going to have to present what he was asking of her in an entirely different way. In effect, he was going to have to set a trap.

He had a little over nine hours to set things in motion, and there would be no margin for error. After this evening, he wouldn’t get another chance to change Tess’s mind.

Abruptly he took a turn and headed in a different direction.

Six forty-five. It had taken a while, but Tess could now see the face of her watch quite clearly. Nick was supposed to arrive in fifteen minutes, and she had no idea where they were going, or even if this was to be another business meeting or a genuine date.

If Nick planned to spend their time together attempting to convince her to cease her drilling, it would make for a very long and difficult evening for her. But today, as she’d thought about the coming evening, she’d been alarmed to discover that, even if that were his plan, she still wanted to go with him. Which was exactly why she needed to find out up front what he had in mind.

She had all the risk she could handle in her professional life, which was the reason she’d never allowed any risk to enter her personal life. Then last night Nick had appeared, and she hadn’t had to look twice to know that, in one way or another, he would be a risk for a woman, a danger for a woman’s heart.

Tonight was a prime example. She had no idea where he planned to take her, or why. She only knew she wanted to go. However, she had no intention of allowing that to happen unless he told her it would be a social evening.

She’d chosen an outfit that was suitable for a date. It was a red, sleeveless, A-line knit dress, with a matching cashmere sweater casually tied around the neckline. Her opentoed shoes with a midsize heel were also red. Last but not least, she’d wound her hair into a loose French twist.

If it turned out that Nick planned on talking business, she would politely turn him down, then treat herself to dinner and maybe even a movie. She just wished she knew what he had in mind.

As the day progressed, the pain in her head had lessened and her stomach had calmed. The party guests who stayed over had all left, and the house had quieted. Still, the day hadn’t exactly gone great.

There had been all kinds of problems on the rig, from broken drill bits to machinery failure to tangled lines. Sometimes she thought the operation was jinxed—but she couldn’t afford to think like that.

If anyone could handle the problems and bring in the oil, it was Jimmy. If there was oil to find.

She shook her head, then bent her head to rub her brow. That was something else she couldn’t afford to think about. Every one of the tests had looked great, but they were just that—tests. Despite the sophistication of today’s testing, in the end, drilling for oil was still very much a wildcatting venture. There were so many variables. To compete in the market, you had to have money, nerves of steel, a large portion of luck, perfect timing and, last but not least, a great instinct for oil.

So far, her wells were bringing in money in amounts that would make anyone deliriously happy. Anyone, that is, except her father.

She glanced at her watch again and noticed that her heart was beating just a little harder as the time drew closer to Nick’s arrival. She drew a deep breath of the sea air to compose herself. Tomorrow she was scheduled to fly out to the rig for an inspection, plus an up-to-date cost-andtime report from Jimmy. But for tonight, well, she’d see.

“You look lovely.”

She turned, and there he was, all darkness and brilliance, outlined against the sun. Her heart jumped into high gear.

“Thank you. Since I didn’t know where we were going, I wasn’t certain what to wear.” Lord, she sounded like a flustered schoolgirl about to go out on her first date.

His gaze slowly raked her, his lips curved upward. “You chose perfectly.”

Which told her exactly nothing. “Then where are we going?”

He held his hand out to her, and before she could stop herself, she took it.

“We’re going a place that I love, and by the time we leave, I’m hoping you’re going to feel the same way.” He began to draw her toward his car, parked at the side of the house.

Abruptly she stopped and pulled her hand from his. “I don’t like guessing games, Nick. You and I have been there and done that—last night, as a matter of fact. So what’s this all about? Is this going to be a social evening? Or are you going to spend it trying to get me to change my mind about your request? Because if that’s the case, you should know right now that it won’t work. There’s no way I can put off production for three months, and quite frankly, I don’t want to spend an evening arguing with you about it.”

He stared at her for several moments. Surprisingly his gaze didn’t sear as it had the evening before, but rather caressed.

She felt his gaze as a gentle touch all over her body, and as she did, she discovered that gentleness from Nick was a powerful thing. It liquefied her bones. It made her want things for which she had neither the time nor the inclination. Even more remarkable, he wasn’t even touching her.

“You’ve made your position abundantly clear,” he said softly. “And as to the question of whether or not this will be a social evening, it’s my hope that it will be.”

He was saying all the right words, yet she wasn’t sure she believed him. Then again, why shouldn’t she? To her knowledge, he hadn’t lied to her. Last night and this morning, he’d been completely up-front about what he wanted. She’d told him no, and now he was telling her that he hoped their evening would be a social one. Her hopes matched his exactly.

She couldn’t remember the last real date she’d been on, probably because it had been years. And Nick Trejo was the most intriguing man she’d ever met. Chances were their paths wouldn’t cross again, yet tonight would be an opportunity for her to spend an interesting evening with an extremely interesting man.

And if his gaze burned or liquefied, and if his touch raised emotions that made her remember for the first time in a long time that she was a woman with normal wants and desires, so be it. Being with him made her forget, if only for a little while, the pressure that was her life.

With a smile, she reached for his hand.

“The airport? Nick, what are we doing at the airport?”

As he steered his car toward one of the outlying hangars, he glanced at her. “I’ve borrowed a friend’s plane to take us to dinner.”

Panic rose in her throat, yet there was no real reason. “Look, it’s very nice of you to go to all this trouble for our dinner, but it’s not necessary.”

“I wanted to.”

She shook her head, still fighting the mysterious panic. “I’ve had a rough day, and I’d just as soon stay in town.”

He pulled the car into a parking space and switched it off. Turning toward her, he angled his arm along the top of her seat. “This isn’t going to require any effort for you, Tess. I promise. All you have to do is sit beside me and relax.”

Sit beside him and relax. That was the problem. Relaxing while she was sitting beside him in the close confines of a car had turned out to be harder than she had thought it would be. She’d been much too aware of him. She’d found herself mesmerized as she’d watched the confident way his hands had held the wheel and the quick, instinctive way he’d responded to every bump and curve in the road. Around his wrist he wore a slim, stainless steel watch that subtly spoke of masculinity as well as competency.

“If it’s your safety you’re concerned about, don’t be. I’m an excellent pilot. As for the plane, it’s the newest in Cessna’s fleet and is serviced regularly after every flight. If those two things weren’t true, I wouldn’t have considered this trip.”

“It’s not that.”

His tone lightened. “Well, it can’t be that I’m the first man to ask you to fly to a special place for dinner.”

She let out a pent-up breath. “No, you’re not the first.”

“When you were asked, did you go?”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“No problem.” She rubbed her forehead. There was no pain, but she felt a growing tension in her scalp, and Nick was the cause. In the short time she’d known him, he’d surprised her, but he hadn’t made one move or said one thing to hurt her. Why, then, was her scalp tightening? And why did her instincts tell her to remain on guard? “Mostly I’ve gone with groups of friends.”

“And not one particular man?”

“Once or twice. Look—”

“Please, Tess. This is important to me, and I’ve already made special arrangements.”

Damn it, he’d said please again. Plus, she really did want to spend this evening with him. Most likely it would be the only one she’d ever get. Their objectives were so diametrically opposed that she could see no future for them. But for tonight, she really wanted to forget their differences and see if she could find any similarities. If she could find even one, she would consider the evening a success.

“Tess?”

She nodded. “Let’s go.”

Minutes later, she was buckling herself into the passenger seat beside him. And she couldn’t help but notice as they took off that they were flying directly into the sun.

Three

“Uvalde? This restaurant that you love so much is in Uvalde, Texas?”

The plane glided to a stop. Then and only then did Nick look at her. “Trust me. You’re going to love dinner.”

She mentally shrugged. He’d engaged her in pleasant small talk for most of the trip, and she’d actually enjoyed the flight. He had a quick mind that she appreciated, and not once had he mentioned anything about the Águila or her drilling.

But as soon as they’d touched down, her original uneasiness had returned. Stupid, really. He certainly hadn’t dragged her here, kicking and screaming. She’d wanted to come. Still…

As she came down the stairs of the plane, he offered her a steadying hand. An unnecessary gesture, but definitely a nice one, and after she reached the ground, he continued to hold her hand. “I’m really hoping you’ll like what I’ve planned.”

His suddenly serious expression took her aback. “I’m sure I will.”

“Good.” He stared at her as if he were searching for something in her, or maybe even in himself, but in the end he shook his head.

“Nick? Is there something wrong?”

“Not a thing.” He lightly tugged her hand. “Come on. The car is just around the corner.”

The car he guided her to was a spotlessly clean, beautifully preserved 1975 Cadillac.

“Is this car a rental?” she asked.

“No. It belongs to my family.”

“Your family?”

“My grandparents.”

“Oh. So they live in Uvalde?”

“That’s right.”

Everything was beginning to make sense. “I wondered how a restaurant in Uvalde could have become such a special place to you. You were raised here, right?”

For some reason her remark drew a smile from him, and her heart gave a hard thud. She returned his smile. “Let me guess. This place serves great Tex-Mex, right?”

“On occasion, but not tonight. Hope you’re not too disappointed.”

She shook her head. “I can get my fill of Tex-Mex in Corpus.”

“Good.” His smile warmed her inside and out, and she realized that whatever wariness she’d been feeling had disappeared. For the first time since she’d looked across the terrace and seen him, she was totally at ease with him.

He turned onto a highway, then gunned the car so that it zoomed ahead. Given Nick’s special affinity with the sun, she wasn’t surprised to see that they were still heading west. But given the time of evening, the sun had disappeared, leaving behind only trails of muted reds and oranges on the horizon as a reminder of its existence.

“You said you’re a professor at the university?”

“That’s right.”

“So then you have a home in Austin?”

“Yes. Do you know Austin?”

“I went to school there. It was a requirement for me and my two sisters.”

“Requirement?”

She smiled dryly. “Oh, yeah. It had to be the University of Texas or it would be nothing.”

“Sounds as if your father had very definite ideas.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” Dictatorial was another.

“One thing about it—no one can make a mistake by going there. What was your degree in?”

“Petroleum engineering.” Such a shame, she thought. She’d never had a professor who looked even remotely like Nick. She could only imagine the clamor of the young, attractive women lining up, trying to get into his classes. In fact, if he’d been a professor there when she’d attended, she would have been clamoring right along with the others. She smiled to herself at the thought. “Austin’s a really great city.”

“It’s also a wonderful place to live and relatively easygoing.”

“Not like Dallas, huh?”

His head swung around. “You don’t like living in Dallas?”

Even she had heard the wistfulness in her voice, so she wasn’t surprised that he had. “Oh, I love it. There’s always something happening there, and it’s a great base for international dealings.” It was the truth. Only the word easyging had caused her wistfulness, though she wasn’t sure why. Her life was made up of discipline, drive and ambition. She’d never known any other way.

“In this day and time of faxes and modems, I imagine you could work anywhere and still maintain international ties without any problems.”

“I’m not sure that’s entirely true. For the type of business I do, it’s almost imperative to have an international airport close by, and Dallas does.”

He turned off the highway onto a two-lane country road. “DFW is a short flight away from Austin.”

“Uh-huh.” His Chamber of Commerce-like promotion of Austin was interesting, but it didn’t affect her one way or another. Her home was in Dallas because her uncle and her father had decided the offices of Baron International should be there. And as soon as she’d graduated from college at the age of twenty, she’d dived headfirst into the deep end of the high-tech, high-stress world of the oil business. She loved it. She thrived on it. She was good at it. She’d never minded the long hours or the pressure of risking huge amounts of money on what, in the end, came down to her instincts.