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This book is dedicated to my mom and dad. I don’t think i say thank you enough or let you know just how lucky I am to have you as parents. So… thank you, Mom and Dad. I love you very much.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to give a shout-out to the other authors in the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB series—Michelle, Brenda, Charlene, Day and Jennifer. It was a lot of fun to write with you.

One

“Brody Oil and Gas, Kate speaking,” Kate Thornton said into the phone as she did about fifty times a day.

“Hey, Katie-girl, any fires I need to put out?” Lance Brody asked.

“Hi, Lance, how was DC?” she said while she sorted through the messages on her desk. Her boss was everything she’d ever wanted in a man and, embarrassingly for her, he never saw her as anything other than his ultra-efficient administrative assistant. Which was great—really it was. That’s what she was paid for.

She’d joined Brody Oil and Gas shortly after Lance and his brother, Mitch, had inherited the failing refineries. And over the last five years, Lance and Mitch had turned their fortunes around and were now members of the famed Texas Cattleman’s Club.

“DC was hot and the meetings were long. Messages?” Lance asked.

“You have two that aren’t urgent but that you might want to handle before you get back to the office. One is from Sebastian Huntington regarding TCC business. Do you need his number?”

“Nah, I got it. What’s the other one?”

“The other one is from Lexi Cavanaugh. I didn’t recognize her name but she asked for you to call her as soon as you landed.”

“She’s my fiancée,” Lance said.

Kate felt all the blood leave her body. She knew Lance was still talking because she could hear his voice beyond the buzzing in her ears. But all she could think was after years of secretly loving this man, he’d gone away and gotten engaged to someone she’d never even heard of.

“Katie-girl? You still there?”

“Yes,” she said. “Of course I am. That’s it on the messages. When do you think you’ll be in the office?”

“En route now. The traffic on highway 45 is heavy, though. I need one more thing from you,” he said.

Please don’t ask me to plan your engagement party, she thought.

“Double-check with the caterers for Thursday’s Fourth of July barbecue. I want to make sure this year’s party blows the top off of last year’s.”

“No problem,” she said, hearing her own voice break. She didn’t know how she was going to be able to work with Lance every day now that he was clearly another woman’s man.

“The other line is ringing,” she said, though it wasn’t. She just needed to get off the phone.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said, hanging up.

Kate hung up the phone and sat there staring at her computer screen. The wallpaper on her monitor was a photo of Lance, Mitch and her taken in February when Lance and Mitch had received word they were going to be accepted into the millionaire’s club. She’d bought a bottle of champagne and the three of them had toasted the brothers’ success.

Back then it had seemed fine that both Lance and Mitch thought of her as nothing more than an assistant. She had believed that one day Lance would see past her horn-rimmed glasses and cardigan sweaters to the woman beneath.

Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

She leaned forward, looking at the photo and realizing that part of the problem lay with her. Her thick dark hair was pulled back in a sloppy braid and her glasses were a little big for her face. She’d lost weight last year—almost eighty pounds—and hadn’t bothered to get new frames for her smaller face. In fact, all of her clothes were just the old ones. They were all faded and too big for her.

She looked like someone’s maiden aunt, she thought.

Having grown up in the Houston, Texas, suburb of Somerset, she was aware that taking care with her appearance was an important thing if she was going to catch a man’s attention. But being overweight had made everything she wore look, well, not very nice. So she’d stopped trying.

She reached out and brushed her finger over Lance’s face, trying to convince herself that she would be fine as he planned his wedding. That she could stay here in this office, working for the man she loved while he lived his life.

But she knew she couldn’t. The only way she was ever going to be happy with her life would be if she took control of it, the same way she’d taken control of her body by stopping her binge eating and focusing on making herself healthier.

There was really only one way for that to happen. She was going to have to quit her job at Brody Oil and Gas.

Lance wasn’t in the best of moods considering he’d just gotten engaged, a day he knew that most men considered one of the happiest of their lives. But then he wasn’t marrying for love; he was marrying to ensure the future of Brody Oil and Gas. He and Mitch had grown up in the fading dreams of their father, a man who’d let the Brody name get washed up and their wells dry out.

But with Mitch’s financial genius and his skills—hell make that luck at finding mineral deposits and oil reserves—they’d turned around Brody Oil and Gas.

He was back in Houston now, which was a relief. He hated being away from home for any length of time. He liked his life the way it was. Liked the roughness of his roughneck oil workers, liked the comfy feeling his secretary Kate gave him and liked that he had a home at the oil refinery that he’d never found anywhere else.

Few people knew that their old man had drunk away his fortune. Mitch and he had borne the brunt of the old man’s anger at the loss of that fortune.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he pulled his truck into the reserved parking spot at the offices of Brody Oil and Gas.

His cell phone rang as he was getting out of the truck. He checked the ID. “Hey, Mitch. What’s up?”

“I’m going to have to stay in DC a bit longer to work out the rest of the deal we put in place with your engagement.”

“No problem. Do you think you’ll be back for the Fourth?”

“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.”

Katie-girl. He called her that stupid nickname that made her feel like she was five years old. And like a sister to him. She realized that she’d let the relationship develop that way, happy to have at least some sort of affection from him.

“That’s the problem for me, Lance, you don’t really need me. You might have back in the beginning when you hired me, but now any efficient office manager will be able to handle this. I think we both know that.”

“That’s been true for the last two years. Why are you leaving now?”

She shrugged. She hadn’t thought that Lance would care, to be honest. “It just seems like a good time to make a move. Everything is going well here, you’re engaged and Mitch is spending more time in DC. A new person will be able to transition smoothly.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Is anything the matter, Kate? Did I do something I shouldn’t have?”

“Not at all. It’s me, Lance. I keep staying here year after year because it’s comfortable, and I think we both know that isn’t the way to really have a successful career.”

“Is that what this is about? We can promote you into a different role,” he said.

She shook her head. “No. Thank you for the offer but I’m ready to try something new.”

Kate was tempted to say yes to anything that Lance suggested, but she refused to let go of the fact that he was getting married, and to stay here… well, it would be the dumbest thing she could ever do.

“Will you stay until I can hire a replacement?”

She nodded. That sounded fair to her. “Of course I will.”

“Thanks for that.”

“I guess… here is my resignation. I’ll be at my desk if you need anything else from me.”

She turned to leave and felt as if she was running away. A part of her wondered if she shouldn’t try to stay here and make things different between her and Lance. But how?

She’d Googled Lexi Cavanaugh as soon as Lance had told her about the engagement, and there was no way that she could compete with a woman like that.

“Kate?”

“Yes, Lance.”

“I would like to have a cake at the barbecue to celebrate my engagement to Lexi. Can you order one from the bakery for me?”

“Of course,” she said.

It was definitely time for her to leave Brody Oil and Gas.

She realized that she and Lance hadn’t hammered out the details of her leaving the company. “I’ll stay for two weeks.”

“It might take longer than that to hire your replacement.”

“I’d like to try to fit it into that time schedule,” she said.

“Have I done something to upset you, Kate? You know I’m more of a roughneck than an executive,” he said.

She steeled herself against responding to that rough aw-shucks-ma’am charm that he was able to pull off so easily. She liked that he wasn’t as sophisticated and polished as Mitch was. That was why she’d fallen for him. At heart, Lance was a good old boy, a Texas man like her daddy and her brothers. The kind of guy that knew how to charm the pants off any lady.

And he hadn’t had to work hard to win her affections. But she realized now that the charm was just part of his practiced act. It was as much a part of the savvy millionaire as his thousand-dollar cowboy boots and million-dollar mansion. He pulled out the charm when he needed it.

“No, Lance. You didn’t do anything other than treat me like your secretary.”

“Is that a problem?” he asked, his shrewd gaze on her.

“Not at all. But that’s all I am to you and I decided I want more.”

She walked out of his office and closed the door behind her. She knew she should stay and work the rest of the day but she needed to get away. And she didn’t care if it made her seem cowardly. She went downstairs and put the top down on her Miata convertible and drove out of Houston, leaving Brody Oil and Gas behind. She only wished it were as easy to convince her heart to leave Lance Brody in the dust.

Two

Lance was speechless as Kate not only walked out of his office, but left early. He knew he’d missed something important as far as she was concerned. She said she wanted to be more than his secretary—did she mean professionally, or personally?

He started to go after her but realized he had no idea where she went when she left the offices. To be honest, she was always here when he arrived and she stayed until after he left. How was he going to operate without her? Kate was more than just his secretary. She was the most important piece of the office, the person who kept everything running smoothly and kept him in line.

“Damn it,” he said to no one in particular. He hadn’t gotten to where he was by letting things like this go. He speed-dialed her cell phone.

“I can’t talk now, Lance,” she said.

“Then pull over or use the headset I gave you, because you can’t just walk away like that and expect me to let this go.”

“Hold on,” she said. He heard her fumbling around and then cursing, and a minute later she was back. “What do you want to talk about?”

“The fact that you left like you did.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “That was so unprofessional, but I just didn’t think I could be productive anymore today.”

“I can understand that. Want to tell me why?”

“No. It’ll just make you uncomfortable and make me feel like a big dummy.”

Lance didn’t like the sound of that. “Kate, if I’ve done something, just flat out tell me. I’ll apologize and we can move on.”

“I don’t think we can,” she said. Her words were sad and he wished she were still in the office so he could see her expressions. Kate had the most expressive eyes of any woman he’d ever met.

“You won’t know until we talk,” Lance said. He would fix this problem with Kate—he couldn’t afford to lose her. “Where are you?”

“On the interstate headed toward Somerset.”

“Going to your parents house?” he asked, knowing that Kate had grown up in Somerset, a wealthy suburb of Houston. He had a house there now.

“I guess so. I just got in the car and kind of drove on autopilot. I didn’t realize where I was headed.”

“Katie-girl—”

“Don’t call me that, Lance. It makes me feel like we have a relationship beyond boss-secretary and I know that’s not true.”

He cursed under his breath. “We do have one. We’re friends, Kate. And we have been all these long years.”

“Are we really friends?”

“Of course we are. We are more than friends… you’re like part of the family to Mitch and me, and to be honest, Kate, I don’t think either of us will know what to do without you.”

She was quiet for a few seconds.

“Kate?”

“I just can’t talk about this anymore, Lance. I know to you it probably seems… how does it seem?”

“Like I’ve done something to upset you. Listen, whatever it is, I can fix it. You know that, right?”

“You can’t.”

“Kate, when have we ever encountered a problem or obstacle that I couldn’t figure a way out of?”

“Lance…”

She was weakening as he’d known she would. His other line was ringing and he ignored it.

“Tell me, Kate.”

“I’m not sure I can. I feel silly that you are making such a big deal out of it now,” she said.

One of the first things he’d liked about Kate was her voice. It was soft and sweet and even when she got mad, which wasn’t often, she kept it pleasant.

“Why don’t you come back to the office and we can talk,” Lance said.

“We can talk tomorrow when I come in. I think I need the night to get my mind together.”

Lance knew it was important to get Kate back and convince her to stay on before too much time had passed. He knew that she could find other jobs that would pay her as much as he did. But he needed her.

The other line started ringing again and his cell phone beeped with a text message from Frank Japlin, the head of operations at their main refinery.

“Kate, can you hold on a minute?”

“What?”

“I’ve got to take a call from the refinery,” he said.

“Sure,” she said.

He put her on hold and answered the call. “It’s Brody.”

“Frank here. We have a fire at the refinery. I think you need to get down here right away.”

“Have you called the fire department?”

“First thing. But this blaze is burning to beat the band.”

“I’m in the middle of another emergency.”

“There is a lot of damage. And I heard one of the investigators say they thought the cause of the fire wasn’t accidental.”

Great. Just what he needed today. “See what else you can find out. I’ll give you a call in fifteen minutes or so.”

“Okay, boss,” Frank said, hanging up.

Lance rubbed the back of his neck, thinking that damage was the last thing they needed at the refineries. The hurricane they’d had last fall had already done enough damage to them.

He needed Kate back in her chair, taking care of this mess. He’d have to call the press, the families and the insurance company. He glanced down at his phone and noticed that the line where she’d been holding was now off. She’d hung up.

Just what he needed, he thought.

Kate realized, as she was hanging on the phone waiting for Lance, that she’d spent too much of her time in that static role. Lance had gotten engaged. There was nothing he could say or do that was going to make staying on at Brody Oil and Gas okay.

She hung up the call and kept on driving. Going home to her folks’place wasn’t the smartest idea. Her mom would just tell her that if she wore makeup and dressed nicer, she wouldn’t still be single. And honestly, who could deal with that?

But she didn’t want to go to her town house and spend the night alone. She needed some good advice. She needed to be with her best friend, Becca Huntington. Becca would commiserate with her and tell her not to go back, not to listen to Lance… wouldn’t she?

She called Becca at Sweet Nothings, the lingerie shop she owned in Somerset.

“Sweet Nothings.”

“Becca, it’s Kate.”

“Hey, there. How’s things in the big city?” Becca asked.

“Horrible.”

“What? Why?”

“Lance is engaged.”

Becca didn’t say anything for a moment and Kate realized she probably seemed like a loser to her friend. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he was dating anyone.”

“He wasn’t.”

“Are you sure he’s engaged? Lance doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d do something that spontaneous.”

He wasn’t spontaneous and he was careful not to be tied down by any of the women he got involved with. “Yes, he told me the news himself.”

“Who is she?”

“Lexi Cavanaugh.”

“Senator Cavanaugh’s daughter?”

“Yes.”

“Is it politically motivated?” Becca asked.

“I don’t know. And I don’t care. I quit my job.”

“You did what?”

“Was that crazy? I’m so confused, I don’t know what to do,” Kate admitted. She’d hoped that Lance would realize she was waiting there and fall for her.

“It may have been a little crazy. I know you’ve had a bit of a crush on him,” Becca said.

Kate took a deep breath. “It’s more than a crush. I’m in love with him.”

It was the first time she’d said the words out loud, and she had to admit they felt good. Or they would have if Lance wasn’t engaged to another woman.”

“Oh, Kate.”

“He doesn’t even know I’m a woman.

“Let’s fix that,” Becca said.

“How?”

“Come to the shop and we’ll give you a makeover.”

“A makeover? I don’t think so. Remember the last time we tried.”

Kate had felt so uncomfortable in the makeup and clothing that Becca had suggested, she’d ended up going straight home and taking it all off. She needed the comfort of her old clothing… or did she?

“I just don’t know what to do,” she repeated.

“Only you can figure that out. But if it were me, I’d change my hair and my clothes. Just start over and find a new love.”

“I have to work for Lance for two more weeks.”

“Why?”

“I couldn’t just quit and walk out on him.”

“All the better,” Becca said. “You can go back to work looking like a million bucks and then leave. It will be a chance to get back a little of your pride.”

Would her pride feel any better if she came back to Brody Oil and Gas and Lance looked at her like a woman instead of his assistant?

“I’m coming to your shop,” Kate said.

“Good, we can talk once you get here. I’ll have the white wine chilled.”

“Thanks, Becca.”

“For what?”

“Being here. Listening to me and not thinking I’m being silly.”

“Why would I think you’re silly? I’ve been in love before and I know what it can do to you.”

Kate swallowed, glad she had a friend like Becca to turn to. “I’ve never loved anyone before Lance.”

“Not even in high school?”

“I had a crush or two,” Kate admitted.

They’d been friends for what seemed like forever and Becca had always been the sister she’d never had—the one person who accepted her the way she was. At home, her brothers teased her if she did anything girly and her mother was never satisfied with any of the choices that Kate made.

“That was different. And don’t ask me why. I can’t explain it, but Lance Brody has always been different.”

“I know he has. I’ve never heard you talk about one person as much as you do him.”

“Am I annoying?”

Becca laughed, and the familiar sound of it made Kate smile.

“No, you aren’t annoying. Just in love. I’m sorry that he didn’t turn out to be the guy you hoped he would be.”

Kate was, too. “Maybe he is that guy, but just not the one for me.”

“Probably,” Becca said. “When will you be here?”

“In about twenty minutes. I just left work without asking or anything.”

“I think you’re ready for a change,” Becca said.

“Why?”

“Because you’re already acting like a rebel.”

Kate thought about that. “I guess I am. Maybe Lance’s engagement will turn out to be good for me.”

“I bet it will. If not you’ll be stronger for having loved and lost him.”

Kate hung up the phone and continued driving toward Somerset. She didn’t think about Lance or Brody Oil and Gas. She just concentrated on herself and the new woman she was becoming. It was way past time for her to change.

It was hot and smoky at the refinery. The fire burned for almost three hours before the firefighters got it under control. Frank was busy talking to local media and Lance was calling his brother. Mitch was in a meeting and Lance had to leave a voice mail.

“Catch me up on what’s going on,” Lance said to Frank.

“We have four injured.”

“Have you talked to their families?”

“As soon as we identified the men who’d been injured. They’re in the emergency room now. I sent JP down there to talk to the families and make certain that there were no questions as to insurance coverage, et cetera. And I asked him to keep me posted on any pressing health issues,” Frank said.

“Good. Do you think we’re going to have to shut down?”

Frank rubbed the top of his balding head. “I won’t know more until we have a chance to talk to the fire chief.”

“When will that be?”

“Soon, I hope.”

“Have you stopped the flow of oil into the refinery?”

“First thing we did. We enacted our emergency protocols. And everything went exactly as it should have. I’m going to send you some suggestions for commendation for some of our guys who went beyond the call of duty.”

“I’ll look for that,” Lance said. His cell phone rang and he glanced at it. “It’s Mitch.”

“I’ll go see if I can talk to the fire chief,” Frank said.

“We’ve had a fire at the main refinery,” Lance told Mitch.

“Is everyone okay? How bad is the damage?” Mitch asked.

Lance caught him up. “Do you think this will impact the senator’s plan to allow us more drilling?”

“Not if I have anything to say about it. I’m going to go to his office right now.”

“I’ll get this under control. I’m going to have a press conference later on to let everyone know we’re okay and still in business.”

“Sounds good. I’ll get back with you after I’ve spoken to the senator.”

Lance hung up with his brother and surveyed the mess at the refinery. Employees were clustered to one side, all of them waiting to see what the verdict would be. They were a 67,000-barrel-a-day refinery, and if they had to shut down, all of those people would be without work. And they wouldn’t make their quarterly revenues.

He dialed Kate’s number. She usually served as a hub during these kinds of emergencies, when he couldn’t be in the office.

Her phone went to voice mail and he realized that she was serious about leaving the company. “It’s Lance. I need your help. We’ve had a fire at our main refinery. Call me when you get this message.”