Millionaire Magnates

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.”

The receptionist at the Brody Oil and Gas office wasn’t experienced enough to handle all the calls that were coming in. But the secretaries who worked for his duty managers could. Lance usually relied on Kate to take care of liaising with them. Guess it was time to figure out how to work without Kate. He called the finance manager and asked him to send every secretary they had down to help out. He then composed a short memo on his BlackBerry and sent it to the entire company apprising them of the situation and telling them that no one was authorized to speak to the media.

Frank waved Lance over to where he was with the fire chief.

“Lance Brody, this is Chief Ingle,” Frank said.

“Thanks for getting the fire under control so quickly,” Lance said, shaking the fire chief’s hand.

“You’re welcome. It is our job.”

“I know that. But I’m grateful all the same. What are we looking at here?” Lance asked him.

“We thought it was started by an explosion, but we’ve been talking to the men closest to the location where the fire started and none of them reported hearing one,” Chief Ingle said.

“That’s odd. How do you think the fire started?” Lance asked.

“I’ve called for our fire-scene investigators to do a thorough examination of the area. But one of my men thought he saw cans of fire accelerant.”

“What kind?”

“We don’t have any details but I wanted you to know what we suspected. I’ve called the arson investigator and he’s sending his team out, as well.”

“Crap. I have to notify our insurance company. They will want to work with your arson team.”

Chief Ingle nodded. “They always do.”

Insurance companies were very well versed in arson investigations—they didn’t mess around with fires. Lance wanted someone who had Brody Oil and Gas’s interests in mind. “Is it okay if I hire my own security team to be part of the investigation?”

“We’d rather not have extra people on the site,” Chief Ingle said.

“Darius won’t get in the way. He’s the best at what he does.”

“Darius who?”

“Darius Franklin. He owns his own security firm.”

“Okay, but only him.”

Lance understood that. The chief didn’t want a bunch of men trampling over the fire scene.

“When can we go back into production?” Lance asked.

“I think we’ll need at least 24 hours before I’d feel comfortable saying you can go back on line. More, if the investigation proves to be complicated.”

Lance made a note of that. And when the chief moved on, he turned to Frank. “Tell all of our employees to gather in the parking lot in fifteen minutes. Then set up a number so they can call in and get a message about when to report back to work and give them that number.”

“I’m on it,” Frank said, walking away.

Lance dialed his best friend, Darius, and got his voice mail. Being as succinct as possible, he told Darius what had happened, that the fire chief suspected arson, and he asked Darius to come and help with the investigation. Now if he could just get Kate back, he’d have the best team any man could ask for in this situation. He reached for his phone.

Three

Kate put her phone on silence after the second call from Lance. She was tired of hurting and questioning herself and everything she’d done. She arrived at Sweet Nothings to find that Becca had made her an appointment with her hairstylist.

“I don’t know that a haircut is going to change anything,” Kate said.

“Don’t think of it as just a haircut. You need to change,” Becca said. “I’ve been thinking about this since you called and the only way you are going to be able to make these next few weeks bearable is to make Lance Brody realize what he’s missing.”

Kate took one look at herself in the mirror behind the counter and shrugged. “Not much.”

“Soon, he’ll see a whole new woman.”

“But I’ll still be me,” Kate said.

“Of course you will, silly. And Lance already likes you. This will just make him lust after you.”

“He’s engaged to be married, Becca.”

“So what? You’re not going to make him do anything. Just tease him a bit and maybe get your heart back.”

Kate liked the sound of that. She’d given Lance five years. And wasn’t it past time to get over him?

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Good.”

Becca gave her directions to the salon. As Kate drove over there, her cell phone rang again. It was Lance. She answered the call as she parked her car. “It’s Kate.”

“Where have you been?”

“Driving,” she said.

“There’s been a fire at our main refinery. I need you in the office to be my information hub.”

Kate was shocked. Brody Oil and Gas was one of the safest refineries in the business. “Was there an explosion?”

“They aren’t sure. I’m done looking over the fire scene at the refinery. When can you get to the office?”

She almost said tonight, but what was the point of that? This was an emergency situation but they didn’t really need her. Paula and Joan, two of the other secretaries at Brody Oil and Gas, could handle the phones in this situation.

“Tomorrow morning,” she said.

“Kate, I need you.”

Her heart almost skipped a beat.

“The company needs you. This is one of those times when we really want to have our best players on the field.”

Lance had played football and she had noticed early on that he fell back on sports analogies when he was stressed.

“You’ve got your best players,” she said. “I’m being traded, remember?”

“Damn it. We haven’t decided that yet.”

“Yes, we have. Or maybe I should say I have. I will call Paula and make sure she’s prepared to collect information and disseminate it. I made a procedure file for this type of emergency after the hurricane last year.”

Lance didn’t say anything. “I guess that’ll have to do. Leave your phone on so I can get in touch with you.”

“Why? I’m not—”

“Stop arguing with me, Kate. I don’t like it. What’s gotten into you?”

She looked at herself in the rearview mirror and realized this was the first time she’d ever said no to Lance. And he didn’t like it. Maybe the way to get his attention was actually easier than changing her hair and clothes. She realized that she’d been too accommodating, and that was part of the reason he’d taken her for granted.

“I don’t know, Lance. I just decided it was time for a change. Don’t make this into anything other than that.”

“It feels like…”

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Will you be in the office tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’ll be there.”

“Good,” Lance said.

“I’m sorry about the refinery,” she said, feeling bad because of the way he sounded. “Were there injuries?”

“Four men are at the hospital now.”

“I’ll have Paula send flowers to them and food baskets to their families.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome.” She felt a little guilty about not going in and taking care of the details herself, but Lance and she both needed to get used to other people working for him because Kate couldn’t continue to be his Girl Friday and be in love with him. That was the path to pain and destruction for her. And she was tired of living for the few brief moments when she and Lance were in the office together.

“Goodbye, Lance,” she said, hanging up the phone. She sat in the car for another minute but the heat was getting to her. Or at least that was what she told herself. She didn’t want to think that the idea of being without Lance was causing her to feel light-headed.

Lance spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening at the main refinery. Darius had arrived late and had agreed to stay and work with the fire investigators. Since he wasn’t an arson investigator per se, all Darius could really do was narrow down the list of suspects and conduct investigations into the backgrounds of those who might have had probable cause to start the fire.

Lance left the refinery and drove back toward Houston deciding that he was ready for a new day. This one had been too… crazy, he thought.

When he’d been a boy, he’d longed for a busy day so he wouldn’t have time to go home or to think about the home he had waiting for him. But that was long ago, he thought. Now he lived alone and liked it that way.

Well, he lived alone for now. Soon he’d be bringing a bride to his mansion in Somerset and he wasn’t sure he was ready to try suburban living with a wife yet. But he and Mitch had agreed he was the one who should marry Lexi.

Damn, he thought, rubbing the back of his neck. Tension seemed to take up residence there when things weren’t going well.

His cell phone rang and he checked the caller ID before answering it.

“Hello, Mitch.”

“Hey, big bro. How are things at the refinery?”

“A mess, but I have Darius working with the fire investigators to try to make sense of it. How’s DC?”

Mitch let out a long breath. “It could be worse. I handled most of it with Senator Cavanaugh’s office. Let them know the proactive things that Brody Oil and Gas are doing to minimize damage to the community and the environment. I think that helped to soothe his fears over backing expanding oil production.”

“Did you tell him that with additional refineries we could rotate operations so the loss of this one for a day wouldn’t impact oil prices?” Lance asked.

“Yes, I did. I’m watching the markets as they open in Japan. I think we will see US crude prices jump.”

“I know we will. With the economy being what it is, that’s the last thing we need right now.”

“We can’t control the actions of investors,” Mitch said.

“I am stopping by the hospital on my way home. I think it’d be a good idea for you to call the injured workers—I’ll send you a text with their names when I’m done.”

“All right, that sounds good. Lexi and I are going to fly back to Houston together tomorrow.”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to her. She called me earlier. Will you let her know that until the mess at the refinery settles down, I can’t talk?”

“Sure thing,” Mitch said.

“Did you come up with any ideas for a gift yet?” Lance asked.

“Not yet. I haven’t been thinking about your love life.”

Lance hadn’t been, either. “This is business, Mitch. Remember, you told me that. We need the Cavanaugh connection. Today proves that.”

Mitch didn’t add anything to that. And Lance had to guess that being a brilliant strategist meant his brother wasn’t surprised that his planning had worked to their advantage.

“I forgot to mention that Kate gave her notice today.”

“She did? Why?”

“She thinks this will be a good time for her transition out of her job with us. She’s not being challenged enough or something like that.”

“Maybe it is time she moved on.”

“I’m trying to convince her to stay,” Lance said.

“Why?”

Lance didn’t know, but there was no way in hell he’d admit it. “She’s part of the Brody Oil and Gas family and we need her.”

“Maybe she wants to be more.”

“Like how?” Lance asked remembering Kate’s comment earlier.

“Think about it,” Mitch said. “I’ve got to run. Don’t forget to send me the names of the injured men.”

“I won’t. Ally got them interviews on the morning shows for tomorrow. She’s going to talk to the families and prep them on what to say.”

“Good. I’ll advise the senator of this so maybe he can get a sound bite in, as well.”

“This could have been a lot worse,” Lance said.

“Why wasn’t it?” Mitch asked.

“I think because of all the preparedness we worked on after the hurricane last fall. The guys really knew what to do and how to handle things.”

Lance pulled into the hospital parking lot and chatted a few more minutes with his brother before hanging up. He didn’t like hospitals. Never had, to be honest. Maybe because he’d visited more than his share of emergency rooms as a child.

His father had always been blunt in the parking lot. Telling him what to say when the doctors asked about how he’d broken his arm or his leg—bicycle accident; how he’d hurt his ribs or broken his fingers—skateboard accident. Never did he tell anyone the truth. And after a while, Lance realized even he kind of believed his dad’s stories.

He rubbed his hand over the scars on the back of his left knuckles. Some days he felt damned old, older than his years. He knew he had to be careful with Lexi. Had to remember to keep the engagement and their eventual marriage manageable.

Lance was always conscious that he’d inherited his father’s legendary temper. And as he sat in his truck looking at the modern hospital, he couldn’t help but remember the promise he’d made to himself when he was thirteen. The promise that he’d never bring a child of his to the emergency room, because he’d never have children.

He wondered if that was going to be an issue for Lexi Cavanaugh. A part of him hoped it would be so he could end the engagement and get his life back to the way it had been.

Kate was nervous as she got of out of her car the next morning. Last night the new clothes she’d purchased with Becca in Houston had seemed fun and daring but this morning when she’d put on the slim-fitting sundress and styled her new hair, she’d felt like an imposter.

It had taken her three tries to get her contacts in but at last she had her look as close as possible to the way the stylist had done it last night.

But she was nervous… and babbling, she thought. She always talked to herself but this morning her internal talk bordered on inane.

It all boiled down to one thing. What if everyone saw her and laughed?

Wasn’t that silly? She was a grown woman and shouldn’t care what anyone else thought but she was trying a new look—one that she was not certain of, despite Becca’s reassurances that she looked hot. Kate still felt like fat, frumpy Kate, trying to be someone she wasn’t.

She walked into the lobby, and Stan the security guard looked up. “Good morning….”

“Morning, Stan,” she said, feeling awkward as the older gentleman just kept staring at her.

“You look nice today, Miss Thornton,” Stan said. “Real pretty.”

“Thank you, Stan,” she said, the warmth of a blush on her cheeks.

She scanned her ID card and went to the executive elevator. While she waited, she stared at her reflection in the polished, mirrored wall that surrounded the elevator bank.

The hardest part about this makeover was that she simply didn’t recognize herself.

“Excuse me, miss, but this elevator is for executive personnel only,” Lance said, coming up behind her.

She turned around.

“Kate?”

She waited to see if he’d say anything else, but he didn’t. That hurt a little bit but it was okay. Last night she’d decided to stop trying to please Lance, something that she’d done without much thought for a long time.

“I saw the workers on the Today show this morning. I thought they sounded good.”

“Ally did a good job of prepping them. I’m glad they will all make a full recovery,” Lance said.

The elevator car arrived and he waited for her to enter. She felt his eyes on her back as she moved in front of him. Was the skirt too short for the office?

But when she turned and saw him staring at her legs, she realized that the dress was having its desired effect on him. He was finally seeing her as a woman. Kate felt… weird, actually.

Lance’s attention was the one thing she’d craved and now she had it. But she wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“How was your night?” she asked.

“I spent most of it on the phone… something that would have been easier if my assistant had been here.”

She pursed her lips. “Maybe your assistant decided it was time to get herself a life.”

“Did you, Kate? Is that what this is all about?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been ignoring myself for too long. I know my timing stunk last night but I had no idea there would be a fire at the main refinery.”

“Who could have known? I don’t mind if you take an afternoon off. In fact, if it would convince you to stay then I think we could work out more time off in your schedule,” Lance said.

The elevator arrived at their floor and once again he gestured for her to go in front of him. As she walked past him, she heard him inhale sharply.

“Are you wearing perfume?” he asked.

She raised both eyebrows at him. “I am.”

He shook his head. “Sorry. It’s a very nice scent.”

“Thank you,” she said. Her new look seemed to be bothering Lance. Or maybe he just wasn’t himself this morning. “I can handle the office this morning if you want to go back to the refinery.”

“Thanks, Kate, but I think I am needed here. Especially if you are determined to quit.”

She nodded and entered her office. The voice - mail light on her phone was flashing and she imagined she had a lot of messages waiting for her.

Lance closed the door and brushed past her to go into his office, knocking her off balance in the one-inch heels she was wearing. Lance steadied her with a hand on her waist. She turned her head and her hair brushed his shoulder.

Lance smelled good this morning but then she had always liked the scent of his aftershave. He put his other hand on her shoulder and looked down at her.

“I never realized how pretty your brown eyes are,” he said.

She flushed. “I guess you couldn’t really see them behind my glasses.”

“Or maybe I never looked,” Lance said.

“I think that there wasn’t anything to look at before,” Kate said. Becca had made a good point last night when she’d said that Kate hid behind her clothes and glasses.

“You are always worth a second look, Kate.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t notice before now.”

“Why sorry?”

“Because you are so damned pretty.”

“It’s not me, it’s the haircut and makeup,” she said, uncomfortable with the compliment. She started pointing out all the things her mom had always told her were wrong with her. “My mouth is too big for my face.”

He shook his head, rubbing his thumb over her bottom lip. “Your mouth is perfect for your face. Very lush and tempting….”

“Tempting? It’s me, Lance. Kate Thornton. You’ve never thought I was tempting before.”

“I must have been blind, Kate, because you are tempting me now,” he said, lowering his mouth to hers. He kissed her.

She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him back. The moment was everything she’d imagined it would be and also completely unexpected. There was no way she could have imagined the way he tasted as his tongue slid over hers. Or the feel of his big hands in her hair. Or the way that one kiss could change her life completely.

Four

Kate tasted like heaven. She was pure temptation in his arms and he knew he’d never get enough of her. He didn’t want to.

He slid his hands down the sides of her body. How had he missed this curvy body and those big, pretty eyes? Glasses and baggy clothes be damned, he’d have to have been blind to not see what a hottie his secretary was.

He turned to lean on the edge of her desk and pulled her more fully against him. Her breasts were full and felt good against his chest. He angled his head for deeper access to her mouth. He wanted more. He couldn’t get enough of the taste of her. How had he missed this Kate all these years?

He lifted his head, rubbed his lips over hers and realized her eyes were closed. She looked so innocent in his arms. He remembered that he was a man who’d never learned how to handle the softer things in life. Having a lover was one thing, but this could never go beyond the physical.

As he traced the line of her face with her hair hanging free, he realized how delicate she was. “Should I apologize for that kiss?”

She opened her eyes and looked dazed for a moment but then she recovered. “Do you want to?”

“Not at all. I want to do it again but I don’t think the office is the place for it.”

“I agree.”

His line rang, and Kate smiled at him as she reached over to answer it. “Brody Oil and Gas, Kate speaking.”

Her smile faded. “Please hold.”

“Who is it?”

“Your fiancée. You probably want to take that in your office.”

Lance nodded. He didn’t like that Lexi had interrupted his moment with Kate but he couldn’t ignore her again.

“We’re not done talking,” Lance said.

“Of course not. We have the next two weeks to get through,” Kate said, pulling out her chair and sitting down.

“When I’m done I want to see you in my office,” he said. He wasn’t going to pretend there wasn’t a fierce attraction between them, but he didn’t know how to deal with this new Kate who argued with him and didn’t just do everything the way he wanted her to.

“Sure thing. You better go, you don’t want to keep your fiancée waiting.”

He pivoted on his heel and walked away from her. He went to his desk, sprawling in his leather chair. He reached for the phone and picked up the line where Lexi was holding.

“Hi, there, Lexi.”

“Hi, Lance. I know you must be busy this morning but I wanted to thank you for the invitation to come to your Fourth of July party. I wanted to know what you need from me as your hostess.”

Lance hadn’t thought about Lexi acting as hostess. “My secretary has taken care of all the details.”

“I’ll give her a call and see if I can help with anything. I think if we are going to make our marriage work, I should be involved with Brody Oil and Gas.”

“Why?” Lance asked.

“Because that’s where you spend all of your time,” she said. “I know what it takes to be a good wife. You need a partner who can understand where you are coming from.”

Lance knew that was the truth. But he didn’t want Lexi here. He realized with a shock that when he thought of a partner—a female partner—at Brody Oil and Gas, he thought of Kate.

Why hadn’t he realized that he wanted her before this? It was too late to change the past but he wanted to make things different between them going forward. But Kate didn’t want any part of the company anymore and he was engaged to Lexi. He needed to sort this mess out. Was he going to try to make the match with Lexi work? And where did that leave Kate?

Mitch and Lance had determined that the connection to Cavanaugh was needed. And Lance had always put Brody Oil and Gas before everything else. He knew exactly what he needed to do, and how he needed to act. This was his chance to prove he wasn’t the bastard his father had been.

He needed to be a better man. A man who wouldn’t kiss Kate unless he could make a commitment to her. A man who would honor his commitment to Lexi. A man who was proud of who he was.

“You don’t need to do anything for the picnic, but we can talk when you get here. Kate—my secretary—has given her two-weeks notice. If you are serious about wanting to be more involved, the picnic would be a great time for you to talk to her about the details of our events.”

“I am serious, Lance. I want to make our marriage work.”

There was a sincerity in Lexi’s words that shamed him. He’d asked her to marry him and it was time to step up and honor that.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lance said.

“I’m looking forward to it. Mitch has raved about the Brody Oil and Gas Fourth of July party.”

“It’s the one time of year when we pull out all the stops for our workers. When we were rebuilding the business we decided that if we were going to be successful, we had to make everyone who worked for us feel like they were a part of the Brody Oil and Gas family.”

“If your success is any indication, I’d say you’ve achieved that.”

But at what cost? Mitch was determined and a workaholic just like Lance was. And this marriage wasn’t real—it was purely business. Lexi was just another step in their plan to be successful. Was that any way to go through life, especially when he had a woman like Kate on his hands? What was he doing?

Kate couldn’t believe she’d lost her head and let Lance kiss her. It was wonderful… incredible, really, but so stupid. She was here to get over him. She was supposed to be using these two weeks to put him in her past.

She wanted to go out looking her best and she supposed she could count herself successful on that item. Lance hadn’t even recognized her.

The sad part about that was she hadn’t done anything except wear clothes that fit her. What a difference new clothes made. She would never have believed it. Mainly because her mother had been the one to say clothes made the man, and that woman had been wrong about so many things.

She glanced down at the phone and saw that Lance was still on the line with Lexi Cavanaugh. She knew next to nothing about the woman. But at the end of the day, Kate felt she’d owe Lexi a word of thanks.

If it hadn’t been for that woman’s engagement to Lance, Kate might have stayed stuck in her frumpy rut until she died an old lady spinster.

A wolf-whistle brought her head up as Marcus Wall walked into the office. He was one of the petroleum geologists who worked for them, one of the men who helped decide where Brody Oil and Gas drilled and he was an expert at picking the right location for their wells. “Dang, Kate, you look good today.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“I never noticed how big your eyes were before,” he said, coming into her office and leaning on her desk. He must have come into the office at least a hundred times before and he’d never sat close or really even talked to her.

She wanted to be flattered but instead she was uncomfortable. She didn’t want a lot of male attention. She had wanted one male’s attention, and now that she had it she didn’t want to let it go.

That was her problem. Lance had moved forward and she was supposed to be, too, but if her reaction to Marcus’s friendly flirting was any indication, her plan was a failure. She only had eyes for Lance.

“Kate?”

“Hmm?”

He shook his head. “Is there a man behind this change?”

“How’d you guess?”

He shrugged. “I know women.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, three sisters. I was raised by wolves.”

“I don’t think women like to be called wolves.”

“True enough, but I know that when a girl—I don’t mean any offense calling you a girl—gets dolled up like you are, there’s a reason for it.”

“Maybe I just want a change,” she said, surprised that Marcus was actually helping her to understand herself. There was something hollow about the changes she’d made.

When Lance had kissed her and held her in his arms she’d felt like a queen. But now she was back to just feeling like Old Kate, the same way she’d felt for the last few years as Lance treated her like some kind of favored pet.

“Well, this change looks very good on you. Is the big man in?”

Kate glanced down at the phone. Lance was off of his line. And it was probably way past time for Marcus to leave her office. She hoped that she didn’t have guys talking to her all day. “Yes, he is.”

“I’ll announce myself,” Marcus said.

She nodded. Marcus usually did just that. “Thanks, Marcus.”

“For what?”

“For being you,” she said.

“I can be so much more if you let me,” Marcus said.

“For a few weeks, right?” she asked, knowing that Marcus would be the right man for a fling but nothing more. Even if she was leaving the company, she didn’t want to have an affair with someone who worked with Lance.

This plan—which had been concocted when she’d had two glasses of wine—now seemed… silly. She needed to just keep doing her job, find a replacement for herself and get out of Brody Oil and Gas before she hurt herself any further.

“Definitely. I’m not a forever kind of man.”

“Marcus, are you here to see me?”

“Sure thing, boss man. I’ve got good news on the new mineral rights we purchased.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Lance said. “Go on in my office. I need a word with Kate.”

Marcus winked at her and then left. Lance reached over and closed the door leading to his office.

“What do you need?” she asked. She was trying to come off cool and sophisticated, but it was really hard when she felt like she was twelve. Why had she given this man so much power over her?

“I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier.”

“I think we already covered that,” Kate said. The last thing she wanted to do was rehash that kiss. For her, it had been incredible and the answer to many long fantasies about this man.

She turned away from him, but he put his hand on her chair and turned her back to face him. “I don’t know why this is happening to us, Kate, but I am not going to be able to ignore it. You are—”

“Don’t say anything else. You have a fiancée and I’m leaving this job.”

“Why are you leaving?”

Kate looked up at him and thought about blasting him with the truth. But somehow she didn’t think he’d react well if she said she was leaving because she loved him and watching him get married would be about the same as ripping her heart out of her body.

“I’m leaving because I can’t work for you anymore.”

That was as close to the truth as she could get. Lucky for her he seemed to accept that answer.

She spent the rest of the day doing her job and realizing that all of the men in the office were starting to notice her as a woman. It should have given her hope that she’d find another man and fall in love, but instead it just made her sad because the one man she’d changed for still seemed to be oblivious—even after he’d finally kissed her.

The Fourth of July barbecue was held at Lance’s home in Somerset. He lived on acreage and had set up the party out near the lake on his property. There was an area for beach volleyball, which Lance had started playing when he was in college. Later on they would play the annual management-versus-workers match.