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.
Chapter 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
