by Jill Sanders
CHAPTER NINETEEN Kristen stood outside in the crisp air, hoping it would cool her temper some. It didn’t. By the time Mr. Burnett walked out, she was ready to give her notice. First, he’d shown up unannounced. Then he’d treated Tyler like he was . . . Her anger deflated when she realized Mr. Burnett had treated Tyler the same way she had when she’d met him at the airport. How had so much changed in such a short time? Mr. Burnett walked out and took her arm. “Come on, let’s go find someplace decent to eat lunch and talk.” She followed him for a few steps, then realized there was a new BMW sitting in the gravel parking lot. “You rented a car?” she asked. “I flew into Helena this morning. The first charter flight I could get here was next week.” He rolled his eyes as he opened her door for her. When she slid into the leather seats, she looked up and saw Tyler watching them from his office window. Her heart sank a little. If Mr. Burnett was in town, she would have to put the brakes on her
CHAPTER TWENTY Kristen stood at the baggage claim and waited for her luggage. Mr. Burnett had only had a carry-on and had left her almost half an hour earlier. As the luggage circled in front of her, she thought about Tyler. She’d crawled out of his bed early yesterday morning and crept around, pulling on her clothes in the dark. She’d left him without even writing a note or saying good-bye. It hurt too much. She hadn’t trusted herself to let go. But she knew she had to. Her life was here, she thought as she looked around the busy airport. The city was where she’d only ever felt like she belonged. Up until a small town in Montana had melted her heart. She shook that thought from her mind and reached down to grab her luggage. Instead of hiring a mover, she stacked the two cases and pulled them through the airport herself. By the time she reached the curb in front of the taxi stations, she was winded. It took her no time at all to get through the line for a cab, and as the older man put
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Kristen stood slowly, her eyes moving around the beautiful conference room. She hadn’t seen these offices when she’d been in Haven the first time. She’d driven by the building, but since Tyler had been working out of the trailer, she’d never actually gone inside. She was more than impressed with the building. It was stunning. On the inside and out. Mr. Burnett cleared his throat again and she focused on the task at hand. Her stomach had been uneasy since the short flight from Billings to Haven, and when she saw Tyler again she knew it would be a while before it settled. “On behalf of JB Holding . . .” She swallowed deep and locked eyes with Tyler. “A subsidiary of DW Petroleum Industries, we would like to . . .” “No.” Tyler’s eyes narrowed at Mr. Burnett, then he turned to Kristen and she felt her heart kick in her chest and her stomach roll. “. . . to license your proprietary drilling technology intellectual property for use by our companies and subsidiaries.” She f
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Kristen’s heart skipped beats in her chest as she watched the hurt behind Tyler’s eyes. “That will never happen again,” she promised. He held her gaze for a moment, then broke contact as her dessert was delivered. “So, tell me about this new offer. What does it mean for you?” he asked. “Mr. Burnett brought me along on this trip because he believes I’ve built trust with your family. He’s clearly trying to use me as a means to an end. To be honest, I’m not sure how much longer I can work for a man like him.” She took a bite of her pie before continuing. “But this deal—I wanted to come back to present the offer because this means that you finally know who’s behind all the offers.” “DW Petroleum Industries. They own a stake in JB Holding?” he asked. “Yes, and now maybe you could . . .” He cut her off. “Kristen, I’ve always suspected as much. I mean, DW pretty much runs the oil refinery industry in these parts. They’ve made some noise about adding another big pipeline tha
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Kristen held her breath as the men’s argument escalated. Finally, she’d had enough, so she stood and walked out of Tyler’s office without a word. Believing the men fully absorbed in their shouts, she was surprised when someone grabbed her arm. Turning, she looked up at a very angry Mr. Burnett. “We’re done here,” he said as he maneuvered her down the hallway toward the front door. She glanced back and noticed Tyler standing inside his office door, watching her. She jerked her arm away from him. “Why are you so insistent on closing this deal?” He glanced toward Tyler and then lifted his hand to grab her once more, but she moved beyond his reach. He lowered his voice so that Tyler wouldn’t be able to hear him. “It’s my job. Our job.” She glanced over at Tyler, who glared at her boss. “It’s my job to present a compelling offer and a solid case for selling,” she said. “But we can’t force a client into a decision.” Mr. Burnett brushed past her and didn’t stop until he w
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR A constant dripping sound woke Kristen from a deep sleep. The moment her mind kicked in gear was the exact moment the pain roared in. At first, she believed that she’d left the bathroom sink on, then the pain spiked further and she cried out and tried to reach for her head. Only her hands wouldn’t move. It took her a few moments before her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The throbbing in her head didn’t help as she tried to focus. She pulled air into her lungs to scream, but when she let it out her head spun and her stomach rolled and she knew that if she tried it again, she’d be sick. Her voice echoed, which gave her a clue that wherever she was, it was large and empty. She allowed herself a small rest, then wiggled until she was in a sitting position. The ground was soft enough, but it was damn cold. She shivered but forced her body into stillness. If she was going to figure out where she was, she’d need to overcome her discomfort. She realized she’d lost a shoe. T
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE They drove back into town together, Tyler’s worry increasing with each flake of snow that fell. They planned to question Darla at the Wet Spot but wanted to check in at the police station first. Tyler wasn’t surprised to see his mother there, working with the police to set up volunteer search parties to go out at first light. He was surprised to see Mr. Burnett helping. The man looked as concerned as he was. Maybe Tyler had misjudged him. Everyone spent a few minutes updating the group and debating their next move. Then Mr. Burnett pulled him aside. “I think we should call Kristen’s mother,” he said. “I . . .” He hadn’t thought about calling Kristen’s family. At least not yet. Not until they knew more. Tyler’s throat closed, so he turned and walked over to Mike’s desk. “Have you contacted Kristen’s family?” he asked. “Not yet,” Mike said. “We were just about to . . .” “I’ll do it,” Tyler said. “It’s against protocol, Tyler.” Tyler sat down and listened while Mike ma
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Tyler marched toward the house. When he banged on the door, both his hearing and eyesight had narrowed. He was ready for anything. Anything except Dennis’s second wife, Crystal, opening the door a minute later, instead of Dennis himself. Her hair was tousled and she held a bathrobe tightly around her body against the chill wind outside. “Where’s Dennis?” Tyler barked. He wanted to shove past the woman but knew they had two small kids in the house and he didn’t want to scare them. “He’s asleep. Is there a problem?” she asked, looking worried. Crystal was easily half Dennis’s age and everyone had wondered why the woman had married the man several years back. “Wake him.” As Crystal disappeared, he punched a text to Trent. Over at Dennis’s place. Found one of Kristen’s shoes in his truck. Call Mike & get your ass over here. Now. He tucked his phone back into his pocket without waiting for a response. Thankfully, he hadn’t touched the shoe. The police should still be able
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Tyler drove like the hounds of hell were chasing him. He knew that Tom and the guys from the station were following him, but didn’t care if they issued him a ticket . . . later. He made it to the parking area in record time. “I’ve got a flashlight in the glove box,” he told Trey. “We should have stopped . . .” Trey stopped talking when Tyler pulled out the other flashlight from his pocket. “Never mind,” he said, following Tyler out of the truck. “There are three caves,” he said, starting up the path. “Let’s hit the first one together, then we ca
n split and take the last two separately.” He broke into a run. His body screamed at him. He’d gone without dinner and the frigid cold seeped through his heavy jacket. Snow and ice made the trail treacherous. “The first cave is about a quarter of a mile up,” Trey said, just behind him. Their flashlights barely lit up the pathway, causing them to slow to a stumble. “It’s got to be below freezing,” Trey said, earning him a gla
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT “Here.” He moved the table toward her as she shifted and pulled it closer to her. Just smelling the soup had her stomach growling. She was extremely happy to see that there was a small roll next to the bowl and some Jell-O as well. Tyler sat beside her on the bed as she downed the soup. “Slowly,” he said, touching her arm. “My god, this is so good.” She sighed as the warmth spread throughout her system. “Here’s some hot tea.” He pulled the lid off the cup. “Sugar?” She nodded, then took the cup from him after he dropped the sugar into the cup. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the tea. “You doing okay?” he asked. She smiled. “I never thought how wonderful simple hot tea could taste.” When she was done eating, she leaned back and pushed the tray away. “What’s going to happen now?” she asked as Tyler moved back over and sat next to her. “Now?” He sighed and pulled her close. “You get some rest and when you’re feeling better, we go home.” “I mean with Dennis.” She glanc
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Photo © 2015 Daryl Sanders Jill Sanders is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Pride Series, Secret Series, West Series, and Grayton Series romance novels. Her sweet and sexy stories, available in print and audio in every English-speaking country, continue to lure new readers and are currently being translated into six different languages. Born an identical twin to a large family in the Pacific Northwest, she relocated to Colorado for college and a successful IT career. She then discovered her talent as a writer. Now she makes her home along the Emerald Coast in Florida, where she enjoys the beach, hiking, swimming, wine tasting, and of course, writing. Visit her at www.JillSanders.com.
ALSO BY JILL SANDERS
The Pride Series
Finding Pride
Discovering Pride
Returning Pride
Lasting Pride
Serving Pride
Red Hot Christmas
My Sweet Valentine
Return To Me
Rescue Me
The Secret Series
Secret Seduction
Secret Pleasure
Secret Guardian
Secret Passions
Secret Identity
Secret Sauce
The West Series
Loving Lauren
Taming Alex
Holding Haley
Missy’s Moment
Breaking Travis
Roping Ryan
Wild Bride
Corey’s Catch
The Grayton Series
Last Resort
Someday Beach
Rip Current
In Too Deep
Swept Away
The Lucky Series
Unlucky In Love
Sweet Resolve
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2017 by Jill Sanders
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle
www.apub.com
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781542047388
ISBN-10: 1542047382
Cover design by Erin Dameron Hill
To all my wonderful friends in HB
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
Tyler was pissed. Not just pissed, but pissed pissed. He stormed into his office and slammed the thin door behind him, sending a few hanging pictures to the floor and breaking the glass and frames along the way. That didn’t stop him from dropping into the chair behind his desk and pounding on the heavy wood a few times.
“What the hell?” he growled. But, at this point, nothing was going to calm his anger. Nothing except seeing Haven, Montana, in his rearview mirror for the last time.
Closing his eyes, he realized that was a dream that, if he was being honest with himself, he couldn’t expect to happen anytime in the near future. Haven, the small little hometown he thought he’d escaped, was his penance for all his years of partying. He was doomed to be stuck in this hellhole for the rest of his miserable life.
“Hey.” The office door creaked open and his brother Trent’s head poked in. “Everything okay?”
His younger brother was almost a spitting image of Tyler. His shaggy brown hair was a little too long and both brothers were sporting almost a full day’s growth of stubble on their faces. They even had the same dimples and deep-brown eyes, eyes they had gotten from their mother’s side of the family.
Only Trey, the youngest of the three brothers, had won the lottery and inherited blue eyes and curly blonde hair, much like their late father’s.
“Can you believe this shit?” Tyler said, leaning back in the big leather chair, one that had been their father’s only a few short weeks ago.
“Well.” Trent walked in and quietly shut the door behind him. Tyler continued to brood silently. Then, when that wasn’t making him feel any better, he stood up and paced the small room.
“What?” Tyler finally turned on his brother after almost a minute of silence. “You think I had this coming?” His brother chuckled in response. “Damn it,” Tyler growled. “Okay, so I forgot about the meeting yesterday.” He turned away and glanced down at the broken glass on the floor.
Feeling guilty, he stooped and started cleaning up the mess. “It’s not like skipping one meeting gives them the right to cancel the deal on us.” He stopped when he realized the picture he held in his hand was that of his father and the three of them at a young age. He’d been eleven at the time and his parents had taken the entire family to Yellowstone Park.
Without realizing he’d shed it, he felt a tear slide down his face. Dashing it away before his brother could give him shit, he set the picture on the desk and dusted off his hands.
“It was a pretty important meeting,” Trent said.
“So? There’ll be plenty more.” He sighed.
“Yeah, it just sucks that this deal would have been our first . . .” Trent let the rest drop.
“Without the old man,” Tyler finished.
Trent nodded. “It’s not like we have a lot of options lately. Once the word got out that Dad had died, it’s like everyone jumped the sinking ship.”
Tyler banged his hand on the desk, startling his brother. “Damn it, we deserve a chance.”
Trent stood up and faced him. “Yeah, but didn’t they deserve to have us show up o
n time?”
Tyler sighed and closed his eyes. “I’ll make the call and see if we can reschedule.”
Trent slapped him on the shoulder. “And this time, maybe the night before the big meeting, you shouldn’t hit the Wet Spot for drinks.”
“Yeah,” he growled, really wanting to hit something, but decided he’d done enough damage in his father’s office. Scratch that. His office.
He watched his brother walk out, then moved over to finish cleaning up the glass before he made the phone calls he knew needed to be made.
Two hours later Tyler locked up his office for the night and felt like bitching to someone about a massive headache he had, but instead kept his mouth shut as he walked out of the small trailer and headed toward his truck. He passed by Rea, his father’s faithful secretary for the past twenty-some years. The woman was older than the hills but could type faster than his eyes could track.
He’d assumed that she’d guessed he’d been in a sour mood, since she’d avoided eye contact as he made his way out.
The small trailer that housed his father’s mobile office traveled all over the state, wherever the most lucrative jobs were. He’d rather be working out of the old brick building in town, which housed the larger, official offices of McGowan Enterprises. But, since he was required, as the new boss of the family business, to be on the site of the current leases, he was stuck in the small trailer for the next few months. That was until he could convince one of his brothers to take over for him.
