The Barons of Texas: Tess

by Fayrene Preston

  But how could she expect him to give up trying to attain his goal when she wasn’t willing to give up trying to reach hers?

  She hadn’t done any research on the subject, yet common sense told her that the use of submersibles was the safest way to go. True, something from the ship could fall on the submersible and trap both it and the person inside it. But the danger of that happening was minuscule compared to the inherent dangers of the diving Nick was doing.

  She’d flown out to the rig yesterday, and the helicopter had passed over Nick’s support ship. The divers’ flag had been up. When he’d come to her last night, it had taken every last ounce of willpower she possessed to keep from begging him to stop diving. She hadn’t done it, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from clinging to him a little harder.

  She heard the phone ring on Ron’s desk and returned to her chair just as Ron called to her. “It’s Vega.”

  She picked up the phone. “Hi, Jimmy. Everything going okay?”

  “It is now, but, Tess, a little while ago we came as close to a blowout as I’ve ever been or want to be again.”

  She could feel the blood drain from her face. “Oh, my God. What happened?”

  “We drilled into an unexpected high pressure pocket, and if I hadn’t been there watching the instruments, it could have been disaster.”

  “Thank God you caught it in time.”

  “Yeah.”

  She shut her eyes. “Jimmy…”

  “I know. Believe me, I know.”

  She couldn’t think of any words adequate enough, but then, with Jimmy she didn’t have to. He knew the ramifications as well as she did, probably even better.

  If a blowout had occurred, it would have been a disaster too horrible to contemplate. Any pipes or equipment in the bore hole would have come shooting out with enough pressure to cause a catastrophe of massive proportions. In addition, any fuel or gas in the bore hole would have been propelled to the surface and ignited into an instant fire that would have created an explosion big enough to kill everyone on the rig.

  And if Nick had been diving, he would also have been killed. His death would have been caused by the percussion of the explosion or by the ocean floor earthquake or by flying pipes and equipment that, if they had enough force behind them, could have reached him. Any one of the three things would have been enough to kill him, and it very well could have been all three.

  The earthquake alone would have sent both him and the Águila plunging over the side of the scarp into the abyss. And when the Aguila finally came to rest, Nick’s body would have been buried, his lifeline cut.

  Jimmy kept talking, but her mind was on Nick.

  When she hung up, she was shaking. She quickly filled Ron in, then asked him to hold all her calls. She went to the terrace and stared at the point on the horizon where she knew Nick’s crew and ship were. God, if it hadn’t been for Jimmy’s fast action, Nick would almost certainly have been killed today.

  She started to pace, her mind locked on the horror of what had almost happened. With today’s modern technology, blowouts were very rare. Unfortunately, though, the very genuine possibility still existed.

  They’d already known they were drilling in an overpressurized zone, and they’d been prepared. But they’d also known that the conditions the drill encountered could change within a few meters and they could hit a pocket that contained an even higher amount of pressure than was the norm for their site, which was exactly what had happened today. It was why everyone on the rig had to stay on their toes at all times. It was also why she’d hired Jimmy Vega as her supervisor. He was the best.

  She lost track of how many times she paced the length of the terrace and back. She had no idea what time it was. Fear had her in a viselike grip. Her mind was spinning, racing, but always it returned to the same subject. If Nick had been killed today…

  Suddenly she whirled and returned to her office. Without a word to Ron, she placed a call to Jimmy. When he answered, she didn’t hesitate. “I want the drilling stopped now, Jimmy. Now.”

  “What?”

  “I want it stopped for at least two months.”

  “Tess, are you crazy? We had a close call today, but—”

  “Listen to me, Jimmy. Stop the drilling now. Keep all personnel on the payroll. Make up a schedule so that you have a maintenance crew working on the rig at all times, but rotate them so that everyone will have a chance for a paid vacation.”

  “Tess, what in the hell is going on? I thought—”

  “And you thought right, but this is just something I have to do for now, and I won’t explain it. Two months, Jimmy. Then, at the end of that time, we’ll start back up again at full speed. So make sure the rig is ready to go at that time.”

  “Sure. Okay, but…?”

  He sounded bewildered, and she couldn’t blame him. “You did a great job today, Jimmy. Arrange it so that you can get in some vacation time, too. In the meantime, I’ll be in contact, and I’ll definitely be back in two months.” She hung up the phone and stared at it. She’d just cut her own throat.

  “Tess?”

  She glanced up. Ron was standing in the doorway of her office, looking thunderstruck. “You heard?”

  He nodded. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

  She flashed him a rueful smile. “Unfortunately, I do. Pack up. I want to be ready to leave here in an hour.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Dallas, to start with.”

  Nick climbed the steps to the terrace. It had been a brutal day, and all he could think of was getting to Tess. He could think of nothing he would like better than to soak in a nice hot bath with her, then make slow, hot love until steam was coming off the water. He smiled in anticipation.

  The lights were off in Tess’s bedroom, he noticed, but that wasn’t unusual. Maybe she was already in the tub, waiting for him, with candles lit. But her French doors were closed. That was unusual.

  He turned the handle, and the door opened. “Tess?” He looked around for a light switch and found it. The room was quiet, and Tess was no where to be seen. “Tess?”

  He walked into the bathroom. The tub was empty. The area on the marble counter where she kept her makeup and perfume was bare. A chill crawled down his spine. An investigation of her closet revealed that almost three-fourths of her clothes were missing. Had a sudden business trip come up? He’d given her the phone number on his support ship. Why hadn’t she called him to tell him where she was going?

  Then he saw it. An envelope was propped up on one of the pillows on the bed. He tore it open and read. I’ve ordered the drilling stopped for two months. I hope that will give you the time you need.

  Stupefied, he stared at the paper. She hadn’t even bothered signing it.

  “Guadalupe!” he bellowed, striding angrily out of the bedroom and through the house. “Guadalupe!”

  “Yes, sir?” An apprehensive Guadalupe appeared.

  “Where did Miss Baron go?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “She didn’t tell any of the staff?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then did she say when she would return?”

  She nodded. “In two months.”

  Nick let out a string of oaths that had Guadalupe backing up. As soon as he saw her reaction, he stopped. “I’m sorry, Guadalupe. I apologize.” He let out a long, shaky breath. “Do you have any other information about her? Did she say anything, perhaps even something small, that might help me know where she went?”

  “No.” Despite his apology, Guadalupe continued to eye him cautiously.

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  Guadalupe turned to leave.

  “Wait. Please, could you get me a pen and piece of paper? I want to give you a number so that if you hear anything from Ms. Baron, anything at all, you can call and tell me. Okay?”

  She nodded and went off to get the pen and paper.

  Now that the rig had stopped drilling, Nick could do what he h
ad to do with the assurance that, if anything went wrong, it wouldn’t come from outside forces. It was up to him to continue to make sure his operation ran safely. But keeping his mind on his work was much harder than he would have expected.

  The days were difficult, but the nights were impossible. He ached, he missed Tess so much, and he spent a lot of time taking cold showers that did absolutely no good.

  At first he tried to track her down. He called her Dallas office and spoke to the now all-too familiar Ron, but according to Ron, she wasn’t there. When Nick pushed, the assistant finally told him that Tess was making an inspection tour of all her business sites. When he asked for her itinerary, Ron informed him that Tess had specifically asked that it not be given to him.

  He attempted to reach her two sisters. At first he was rebuffed, but after telling each of their assistants that he was calling about Tess, he was put through. Jill took the news of Tess’s abrupt departure strangely. She muttered something about Tess crying wolf one too many times, and that this time, she was going to call Des herself and tell him not to bother. Then she’d hung up. Kit’s response had been one he could better understand. She’d simply informed him that if Ron had said Tess had gone off on a business trip, then that was where she’d gone, but that no, she didn’t have a clue where she would be.

  Those short conversations had left Nick frustrated. He couldn’t believe that Tess’s trip had been a planned one. If it had been, then why hadn’t she told him? What had happened to cause her to bolt?

  Had he done something wrong? Said something that hurt her? He searched his mind for some sort of clue but could find nothing. His memory of their last night together was strong. As usual, their time in each other’s arms had consisted of sheer, unadulterated pleasure, and they’d both been left sated and drowsy.

  Afterward, she had fallen asleep in his arms. He remembered he’d watched her for a while, listening to her breathe, something he’d done before. It was such a simple pleasure and one he’d never bothered to analyze.

  After their lovemaking, when all the energy had been drained from her, she slept with the peace of a child. It was the only time he ever saw her truly relaxed. He didn’t need to think twice to know she was under pressure she never talked about.

  He’d always understood that by asking her to stop the drilling, he was asking her to give up an enormous amount of money that would have a long, long line of zeros in it. And he’d known that if she agreed, it would be a sacrifice that would show up on her profit-and-loss statement at the end of the year. But he’d also known it wouldn’t come near to breaking her financially.

  Plus, although he could be wrong, he’d never received the impression that it was financial greed that kept her drilling. He’d taunted her with that at the beginning, but after he’d gotten to know her, he’d come to the conclusion that there was something else at the core of it all. But no matter how he’d poked and prodded at her, trying to figure out why she wouldn’t give an inch on the matter, he hadn’t been able to get any closer to an answer he could understand.

  The night after he’d contacted Tess’s two sisters, he went to her house. Guadalupe let him in.

  “Thank you.” He made a point of smiling at her. “I’m not going to stay long.”

  She nodded, her demeanor formal. “Is there anything I can get you while you are here?”

  “No.” Then he hastened to add, “Thank you, anyway.”

  With another nod, she disappeared.

  He slowly walked through the big main living room with its walls of windows that overlooked the terrace, the sloping green lawn and the Gulf beyond. But it wasn’t the view he was there for. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure why he was there. He just wanted to be where Tess had been and where the two of them had been together.

  But there was an empty feel about the whole house. By rights, it shouldn’t feel so deserted, because he knew the staff was there, and all the rooms looked just as they had when Tess had been there, giving the impression that she would walk in at any minute. But the house still felt empty.

  In her bedroom, he sat on the end of the bed and looked around. God, he would give anything, do anything, to have her back with him here. Physically, he craved her in the worst possible way, his body felt tormented with need for her. But surprisingly, his desire for her went beyond the physical. Emotionally, he realized, he needed simply to cradle her in his arms and hold her with no sex in mind.

  He loved her.

  There it was, out in the open at last. He’d finally let himself admit what his heart and soul must have secretly known for a long while. He was in love with Tess.

  In all probability his heart had been lost the moment he first laid eyes on her. Then he’d possessed her and found that he couldn’t get enough of her. Even when he’d been mad as hell at her, he’d still wanted her. But he’d never let himself think beyond that point.

  Things had settled into something of a routine with them. Each night he’d showed up here and she’d opened her arms to welcome him. He’d known that it wouldn’t last. He’d also known he wanted to find a way to keep her with him, but he hadn’t thought of being in love with her. For some reason, it just never occurred to him. He lived in the present with her. He lived for the nights they spent together.

  Then she’d disappeared from his life, and in the process of trying to figure out what had happened, he hadn’t had any choice but to face the truth, and when he did, he wondered why it had taken him so long to figure it out. He loved her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, each day, each night. He had to have her back.

  If only he could find something that would help him make sense of why she’d left in the first place. And, maybe more importantly, he needed to understand why she had finally decided to stop drilling.

  The last time they’d talked about it had been the night of the storm. She’d told him then in no uncertain terms that she couldn’t stop. Yet now she had.

  Why? He shoved himself off the bed and began to pace. Could it conceivably be that she’d made the decision because she’d fallen in love with him? That thought stopped him in his tracks. But if that had been the reason, why in the hell had she left?

  No, she couldn’t possibly be in love him. She’d never shared any of herself with him other than the physical. She was too independent. She’d left too abruptly. She didn’t, couldn’t love him.

  But facts were definitely missing.

  As much as he’d told her and showed her about himself and his reasons for wanting to preserve the Águila and harvest the gold, she’d never once hinted at the reason she couldn’t stop the drilling. There had to be something more at stake than money. Except now she’d given the decision to stop. Had that something, whatever it was, simply gone away or ceased to be vital?

  He shook his head. No matter which route he took with his thoughts, there wasn’t one damn thing about any of this that made sense.

  He moved around the bed and grabbed the phone. After punching in his credit card number, he dialed the number of an old college friend who worked as a journalist for the Dallas Morning News. Without preamble, he asked him for a favor.

  The next morning he was at work at the Águila. For whatever reason, Tess had given him this gift of two months. He didn’t plan to waste a minute of it. Besides, the one thing he was positive of was that in less than two months she would return.

  It was good to be back, Tess reflected, as she unpacked her suitcases. If nothing else, returning to the house in Corpus Christi and settling in meant that she could finally stay in one place for longer than three days. And she was way past ready for that. She’d had enough of hotels and airplanes.

  She’d already been in contact with Jimmy Vega and given the order to resume drilling first thing in the morning. Though she didn’t know whether she’d given Nick enough time to finish shoring up the ship, she’d given him most of the time he’d asked for, and that was all she could do.

  Now she would have to sweat out the n
ext few months and pray like hell that they would strike oil. After that, she wasn’t sure what would be possible in regards to meeting the will’s condition. She just knew one thing. Giving up was not in her genes.

  “Hello, Tess.”

  She whirled. “Nick.” She was stunned. “How did you know I was back?”

  “I didn’t know for sure.” He walked slowly through the open French doors, his gaze fixed firmly on her. “But during the last few days there’s been increased activity out at your rig. I’ve checked here each night since.”

  “How did you know about the increased activity? You can’t see the rig from your site.”

  “Helicopter flights increased, plus I would drive the runabout out a bit so I could use binoculars.”

  “Oh.” She turned to her unpacking, trying not to think too hard about how her heart had jumped when she’d seen him or how fast it was pounding. She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath.

  During the last two months she’d spent long, lonely, sleepless nights, trying to push all thoughts of Nick from her mind. It had been useless. Her body had constantly ached for him, and her mind had retained perfect recall of every moment she’d spent with him. But most of all, her heart had hurt because of her love for him that would never be returned.

  Now he was here, standing in front of her, dressed at his most casual in jeans and a dark teal T-shirt. With the dark color so close to his face, the already vivid color of his amber eyes was more pronounced, their strength more piercing.

  “Your grandparents—are they both okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “How’s the Águila? Have you been able to shore it up sufficiently?”

  “It’s as good as it’s going to get. Why did you leave, Tess?”

  She could feel the waves of his anger surging toward her. It was almost like the night of the storm, when they’d first made love. Then it had been waves of lust and passion that had overwhelmed her. Now it was anger, and she had very few weapons against it. The only thing she could do to protect herself was try to keep her guard up.