a romantic candlelight meal with wine and flowers. When he’d slipped the ring on her finger, she knew she was the luckiest woman alive.
Strange, she thought, staring at the plastic coffee mugs in her hand, how quickly and how cruelly happiness can be snatched away.
“Annie?”
Startled, she turned abruptly and dropped one of the mugs. It bounced on the tile of the kitchen floor, then landed on the living-room floor.
“I—I’m sorry,” she gasped, scrambling after the cup. Jared reached for it at the same time, and their fingers touched. She quickly pulled hers away, and they both straightened.
This time, when his gaze met hers, he smiled. “No harm done,” he said, mimicking the words she’d used earlier.
He took the other mug from her and moved to the coffeepot. It was still sputtering and bubbling, but he filled the cups anyway. The hot liquid dripped and sizzled on the burner.
She took a calming breath, watching as Jared poured the steaming coffee. He’d combed his hair, and the thick dark ends brushed the back of his neck. He looked the same physically as he had four years ago, except his arms and shoulders appeared more muscular than she remembered. He was almost a foot taller than her own five-foot-four frame, and she had to look up to meet his eyes when he turned and offered her a cup. They were the same deep blue as Jonathan’s had been. Stone blue, she’d called it, since all the Stone children had the same incredible eye color. It reminded her of the ocean at sunrise.
He handed her a mug. “Black all right?”
“Fine.” She accepted the cup, thankful to have something to hold on to.
“Annie—”
She raised a hand to stop him. “Jared, please, before we get to business, can we just talk a little? Maybe catch up on a few things?”
He stared at her over his coffee cup for a long moment, then leaned back against the counter. “All right.”
They both stood there.
She cleared her throat. “So how are you?”
What an inane thing to say. Blast it! Why was this so difficult?
He just nodded. “Okay. You?”
She nodded, too. “Fine.”
He sipped his coffee, watching her, and Annie felt a heat scurry through her at the intensity of his gaze.
“You look different,” he said at last.
He didn’t, she thought. He was as handsome as she remembered. Jonathan’s good looks had been more refined somehow, while Jared had been more rugged. “It has been almost four years.”
His gaze skimmed over her face. “Your hair.”
Embarrassed, she ran a hand through her newly cropped hair, suddenly wishing she hadn’t let the stylist talk her into the shorter cut. She’d nearly cried when she’d seen six inches of blond hair lying on the floor. “It’s supposed to be easier,” she said self-consciously.
The corners of his mouth tilted up slightly. “I like it.”
She thought she was in control again, but her cheeks suddenly felt warm. She blew away the steam rising from the cup in her hand, then took a sip of the hot liquid. “I heard you were in Venezuela.”
His lips thinned. “I was.”
Wrong subject, Annie, she thought with a silent groan. From the hard expression on Jared’s face, she guessed that South America hadn’t exactly been a picnic. It was also perfectly clear that he didn’t want to talk about it.
Jared’s reticence seemed to be another area where he and Jonathan had differed. Annie had never met anyone more open and verbal than Jonathan had been. Something told her that it would take a crowbar to extract anything more than superficial conversation out of Jared.
“Jake and Jessica?” she inquired about his sister and brother, intentionally changing the subject.
Jared’s smile returned, and she couldn’t help but notice the attractive lift of his dark eyebrows. “Jessica’s living in town. She’s applying for a grant so she can turn the ghost town she inherited into a camp for troubled kids.”
“Ghost town?”
Jared laughed. “I’ll let her tell you about it when she gets back from San Antonio. Jake and his wife, Savannah, took Emma to the Fall Festival there and she went with them.”
“Jake married! So there are snowballs in hell, huh?” she joked, remembering a remark Jared’s older brother had repeated more than once in the short time she’d known him. He’d been recently divorced back then and the subject of marriage was not his favorite. “And who’s Emma?”
“My half sister.” He chuckled at her confused stare. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain everything later.”
Obviously a lot had transpired since she’d last seen the Stones, Annie thought in amazement. A great number of changes had taken place with the family. Except for one thing.
The oil well.
Which brought her back to why she was here.
The lightness she’d felt a moment ago was gone now. In its place was an ache that settled over her like a lead weight.
The silence stretched around them as taut and thin as a spider’s web. If she touched one delicate strand, the entire web would either fall apart or ensnare her. Either way, someone lost.
As if sensing her plight, Jared made the first move. “How long have you worked for Arloco?”
“Almost two years. My first few months out of school I worked for a major oil company, mostly desk work. It’s not easy being a woman in a male-dominated industry, but I suppose being the youngest and only daughter of six children was a good training ground. When Arloco offered me a job, I jumped at the opportunity to work in the field for an independent company.” She made a small gesture with her hand. “So here I am.”
So here she was.
The awkwardness was back between them.
“Look, Annie,” Jared said, pushing away from the counter, “this is difficult for both of us. There’s a lot of...history here. It might be easier if we put that book on the shelf and just deal with the present. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. You’re here to do a job. Just do it.” She lifted her gaze to his. His eyes were narrowed, his lips drawn tightly together. He was right, of course. This was business, no matter what the past.
“Jared,” she said carefully, “you know that after I review everything here I have to draw up a report.”
“And based on your report, Arloco either gives or doesn’t give its support.”
It was bad enough, knowing that she was the one person who could destroy his dream, but hearing him speak the words made her stomach twist into a knot.
Her
