Chasing Trouble (Texas Trouble) Page 12

  "I don't blame you, your ex-wife made a mockery of what it represents," Jenny told him gently.

  "Buck up, Joel," Terri told him unsympathetically from across the top of the car. "It's not the end of the world, you'll survive. If you don't want to talk about it, just tell her that and don't budge."

  "It's not that easy," he said looking up at her. "You don't know my mama..."

  "She's just a woman, and you have a right to your privacy. Just tell her no," Terri reiterated then huffed out a breath. "You're leaving tomorrow, you can hold out until then."

  He slapped a palm on the roof then stepped back and shut the door. "We'll see..." he replied then strode around the car and headed toward the front door.

  Jenny followed him, walking beside Terri into the high-ceilinged entryway. Her breath lodged in her throat as the opulence of the inside of the home struck her dumb.

  The foyer alone was bigger than her apartment in Henrietta had been. Her brain went into sensory overload noting the beamed ceiling that must be twenty feet tall, the beautiful brown and gold flecked tiles that made the room seem to glow, and the rich heavy mahogany tables lining the walls, a few topped with mirrors and the others with expensive oil paintings.

  The whole effect should have been dark and intimidating, but it wasn't. The eggshell colored walls lightened it up and highlighted the elegance of the furniture and the vibrancy of the brightly colored abstract paintings. Tall ornate vases full of flowers topped most of the surfaces sending out a calming aroma into the space.

  "This place is amazing," Terri whispered reverently.

  "Overwhelming," Jenny corrected and walked farther into the long room. Terri shut the door behind them and followed her. The entry opened to a room with curved walls and heavily carved white cornice work. Painted on the high round ceiling was a mural with fanciful cherubs playing in a garden. Salmon covered drapes trimmed in gold cording hung in the arched windows. In the center of the room was a large round sofa of a slightly darker color with gold-tasseled pillows all the way around it. Near one wall, by the window was a spectacular ebony grand piano.

  In between each bank of windows was a tall archway that opened to a hall. Off to the right a wide stairway looked like it led straight to heaven, because it ended close to the ceiling. There was a catwalk up there that circled the room.

  A squeaking noise on the marble floor caught Jenny's notice and she dragged her eyes from the fresco on the ceiling to see a tall lanky man in hip waders and a flannel shirt walking toward them.

  "Well, hello pretty ladies," he said brightly and his voice bounced off the walls of the big open room. Fine wrinkles bunched up around his eyes and lips as a beautiful and very familiar smile split his face. This must be Chase's grandpa, he had to be. The resemblance was uncanny.

  "Papa Jack?" she ventured with a grin and walked toward him.

  "I see my reputation precedes me...don't believe anything they've told you," he said with a snort and his smile got wider, if that was possible. She stuck out her hand, but he pulled her into a hug instead. He smelled like sandalwood mixed with a mossy lake. When he pushed her back he said, "And you must be Jenny, my grandson told me all about you too."

  Jenny groaned and felt blood heat her face. "Don't believe everything he told you about me either."

  "He said you were beautiful and a doctor, and wouldn't give him the time of day...smart girl," he told her with a chuckle and a wink. "Make him work for it."

  Jenny shook her head. Chase had evidently told his grandpa that he was interested in her, and he thought she was playing hard to get. "It's not like that between us, Papa Jack. I work for him now. I'm just staying here until I find a place."

  "Well that's too damned bad...looks like my grandson needs some tips. Maybe I'll have a talk with him," the older man told her with another wink.

  She could also see where Chase Rhodes got his charm. Five minutes is all it had taken him to charm her. "Oh, he's got the lines, Papa Jack. I just don't have the inclination now that I work for him. Too many problems, you know?"

  "Well, Jack had to chase Curly all over Texas until he got her, and my grandson has the same blood in his veins, so I imagine he won't be taking no for an answer, sugar. Just warning you. And if Curly has anything to do with it, you can bet your pretty ass he won't be giving up...and she does, my daughter-in-law doesn't quit. She always gets what she's after."

  Jenny sucked in a breath, shocked that her worst fear had just been confirmed. Although she already knew what his answer would be, Jenny asked in a trembling voice, "And what exactly would that be, Mr. Rhodes?"

  "You and Chase to give her grandbabies," he told her with a laugh.

  The blood in Jenny's face dropped to her toes and a buzzing started in her ears. She'd given up a good job, at a reputable hospital and torpedoed her career, because Chase Rhodes's mama wanted grandbabies and had bought herself a breeder, by having them offer her a job at Rhodes Drilling and Exploration.

  Her voice sounded strange even to her when she asked him, "Where is he?"

  "Aw, hell, I didn't mean to upset you, darlin'. You're pale, come over here and sit down," he said and went to take her arm. "I'm a crazy old man, and have lake sludge for brains, don't pay me no mind."

  She pulled away from him and stepped back, then met his clear blue gaze. "No, sir, I think you're the only Rhodes family member who's been straight with me, and I appreciate it. Now, please help me find your grandson."

  He studied her for a minute with his intelligent blue eyes, then nodded and walked back toward the hallway where he'd emerged a few minutes ago. She followed him, her legs feeling like rubber beneath her, her anger increasing with every step she took. A silent and solemn Terri trailed behind her.

  Papa Jack led them through several turns and into a huge kitchen with a curved center island surrounded by bar stools. Jenny was too stunned to stop and appreciate the gorgeous dream kitchen, she just zeroed in on the back door where she could see the pool and the building behind it through the window. He led them outside, across a wide concrete patio set up with several tables and chairs and a massive stainless steel outdoor grill, down a short flight of stairs, and along a pathway to a side door into the building by the pool.

  He twisted the knob then stopped and turned back to face her. "Sugar, I think you need to calm down before you talk to him. Just sit out on the patio and think about things. I don't think Chase knew what his mama was up to..." he told her.

  "He had to know, he offered me the job," Jenny replied and sickness rolled in her stomach. "If he didn't know, he let her manipulate him in to it...which is just as bad."

  "I think you're wrong, honey. Chase is a good boy, and he might have a soft spot for his mama, but he's not going to do what he doesn't feel is right."

  "Well, maybe he wasn't adverse to the idea. It doesn't matter...they tricked me into quitting my job and moving here. I'm not staying."

  Terri stepped up beside her and put her arm around Jenny's waist. "I'm your friend, so whatever you decide, I'm here for you. You can stay with me in Henrietta, until you decide what to do. I'll bet the hospital would hire you back in a heartbeat," Terry told her kindly.

  "No, they won't. The director was pretty mad when I quit. By the time I'd served my notice, he had someone else hired to fill my spot."

  "Well, you could probably get on at the hospital here," she suggested.

  "Not with the mark on my record. It happened here, and people have long memories. I moved to Henrietta, so I could start over. Now I'm stuck...I guess I'll have to go to Africa now. By the time my two years are up, maybe they'll have forgotten and just look at my service."

  "You're not fucking going to Africa, Jenny. I'm not letting you go!" Terri shouted.

  The door opened and Chase stood in the doorway looking at them curiously.

  "What the hell's going on?" he asked, his eyebrows knitted together.

  "That's what I'm here to ask you," Jenny spat and shoved him back into the pool house
.

  Chase staggered back into the pool house and caught himself against the wall. Disbelief shot through him as he looked at Jenny's pinched face and figured out she was madder than a wet hen...at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

  Jenny's full lips twisted ruefully, then she put a finger beside her mouth and glared at him. "Let's see..."

  She paused to think for a minute, organizing her thoughts, before she stalked over to him and poked her finger into his chest. "Could I be upset that you've ruined my life?" she asked sarcastically, then punctuated each point with another poke of her finger in his chest. "I quit my job, let go of my apartment and moved five hours from the place I've called home for two years," she hissed then leaned her face toward his until they were nose to nose before she finished, "All to bear the children of the wealthy Rhodes heir. What could possibly be wrong with me?"

  Chase shook his head and tried to make sense of what the angry woman in front of him was saying. "What the fuck are you talking about? I hired you to work for me, paid off your student loans, helped you move..." he said in confusion.

  "Evidently, you're a little dense, probably because you're a Mama's Boy and she does all your thinking for you. I'm not for sale, Chase Rhodes. I don't give a shit what you've done to get me here, I'm not staying. You can put up with your mother's manipulation, but I'll be damned if I will. I'll pay you back every fucking penny you spent getting me here, but you'll have to get in line right now, since I'm unemployed, thanks to you." Jenny pushed both hands against his chest and curled her lip in disgust.

  He looked at Papa Jack who was standing by the door shaking his head, then he glanced at his mother who had faded back by the front door and was shuffling her weight from foot to foot nervously.

  Dragging his gaze back to Jenny's enraged face, told her, "You've got it wrong, sugar. I had nothing to do with that if it's true. I hired you because I need a health and safety officer, and you fit the bill. My dad even agr--" Chase stopped speaking as the pieces of the puzzle slid into place and stunned him.

  He groaned and shoved a hand through his hair, then turned toward his mother who was just grabbing the door knob to leave.

  "Stop right there," he growled and stomped over to her. "This is the last straw," he told her and spun her to face him. "You have interfered in my life for the last time, mama."

  "I, uh...well, um..." she stuttered and her face flushed.

  "You told daddy to put the idea in my head to hire Jenny didn't you? Because you thought you could use her to trap me into giving you grandkids. I'm thirty-two years old, mother, and I think I'm more than capable of finding a woman on my own. Your interference in my life is over, is that clear?"

  She lifted her chin and said indignantly, "I didn't mean to--"

  "I don't give a damn what you meant to do--I'm a grown man--stay out of my business. As soon as I can pull it off, I'm moving. I think we both need a little space."

  Tears filled his mother's eyes and he felt like a sonofabitch, but this conversation had been too long in coming. "I love you mama, but I'm not going to put up with this anymore. You need to get a life and leave mine alone," he told her a little gentler.

  The front door burst open behind his mother and Joel rushed inside huffing for air. He stepped around his mother and pushed Chase back a few steps. "Why the hell are you yelling at mama?" his brother demanded. "I heard you from outside!"

  "None of your business," Chase told him belligerently and shoved him back. "Every fucking one of you just needs to mind your own business...."

  "I've had enough of this family drama...I left Amarillo to escape my own. I'm leaving," Jenny told them and walked to the back door and flung it open. Chase was behind her before she could take a step outside. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her out then shut the door behind him.

  "You're not leaving," he told her bluntly. "I need you...the company needs you."

  "I'm not staying," she repeated through gritted teeth and glared at him.

  "You're under contract," he reminded.

  "Contracts were made to be broken, especially when they're entered into under false pretenses," she said and crossed her arms over her chest.

  "This one is rock solid, you're locked into working for Rhodes for two years." He knew it was solid, because he'd worked with their staff attorney to make sure of it.

  "You can take your offer and shove it where the sun don't shine, bucko. You wanna take me to court on the contract? Do it and I'll sue you for sexual harassment," she threatened.

  Evidently, she hadn't read the contract thoroughly enough, because she was forgetting one thing. "You're not employed yet, sweetheart. The contract doesn't start until next week, even though I've paid your loans off. And it definitely will never be contingent on whether or not you and I have a relationship."

  Her beautiful ocean blue eyes narrowed and she spat, "Well, you can take it to hell with you and burn it for all I care. I'm not working for you. You only hired me, because your mother manipulated your father."

  "Not true. I hired you because you're a goddamned trauma doctor, a good one, and I need someone with your knowledge to train and supervise my onsite medics. Have more faith in your abilities, doctor."

  She sucked in a breath, then blew it out slowly and her lower lip trembled as she told him, "My abilities aren't in question here, but your motives sure are."

  If she cried, Chase was going to lose his mind, and it looked like she was real close. He knew that wasn't a common thing for her. Jenny Anderson was a strong woman. Him being the cause of her doing it now would kill him.

  Gently, he took her shoulders in his hands and told her, "I'm not gonna lie to you, sugar...I want you like I've never wanted any other woman, but my company needs you. Once your contract starts, even though it will be absolute hell, I give you my word I'll keep my hands to myself...if that's what you want. We'll be friends and nothing more."

  "And until then?" she asked.

  "Until then, I'm going to do everything I can to make you want to continue a relationship with me," he told her bluntly. "We need to settle what's going on between us, for both our sakes."

  "I don't want to mess this up, Chase. I want to do a good job."

  "You're going to do a good job, I have ultimate faith in you, and besides you'll be trained by the best, me...how could you not be good?" he said with a wink.

  "Handsome and humble, an irresistible combination..." she told him with a watery chuckle, then a tremor moved through her body and Chase pulled her to him for a hug.

  "I'm sorry my mama did what she did, she was way out of line...but it didn't have anything to do with why I hired you, neither did the fact that I want you," he murmured into her hair then pushed her away from him to look down into her eyes. "You believe me?"

  When she nodded, Chase breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed her again. He was going to use the next week to figure out if what they had going on between them was a flash in the pan, or if it had staying power.

  Either way, the decision as to whether it continued after next week was totally hers.

  He didn't like it, but he'd have to live with it.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The smell of bacon frying drifted into the bedroom and teased Jenny awake. She inhaled deeply, then stretched and opened her eyes. Chloe stirred on her chest kneading there, before stretching too.

  "Morning, baby girl," she said groggily then scratched behind her cat's ears. She'd expected the finicky animal to be scared in a new place, maybe hide under something for a while, but she'd surprised Jenny.

  Biscuits baking teased her senses and she wondered who was cooking in her kitchen.

  It couldn't be Terri, because they'd said goodbye late last night, actually early this morning, before they finally turned in. She and Joel had slept at Chase's house and were planning to leave early this morning.

  All four of them had stayed up late talking and drinking way too much, so she figured they'd have a hard time getting up this morning. Maybe
they'd delayed leaving, she thought and threw back the covers to sit up on the side of the bed and rub her eyes.

  Chloe followed Jenny into the bathroom while she washed her face, brushed her teeth and took care of business. Last night she'd been so tired, she had just shucked her shorts and shirt and climbed into bed in her underwear. Her clothes were still packed in the back of the moving truck, so she'd have to wear the same clothes again until she could retrieve her suitcase.

  Jenny snorted, thinking of how much Joel and Terri had helped her unpack. All of her stuff was still in the truck. Not one box had been moved, but they sure had a good time together last night by the pool. Chase and Jenny had too. It had been like they were all old friends, rehashing childhood stories that made them laugh until their sides hurt. Worn out from the drama earlier in the day, they had all relaxed. Chase had insisted that they weren't doing a damned thing other than relaxing.

  Joel turned to be a hoot once he got a little wine in him, and Jenny kind of thought there might be some sparks flying between him and Terri.

  It seemed to be a good distraction for the handsome heartbroken attorney. Jenny was worried though that if something came of those sparks, her friend could get hurt. Joel was newly single, and devastated by his wife's betrayal. He was most likely on the rebound, trying to make the pain go away by reaffirming he was still among the living.

  That could spell trouble for Terri who was five years over her own breakup, and looking to settle down again. Jenny had enough of her own troubles to worry about right now, though.

  Chase had told her that his mission for the next week was to make her want him as much as he wanted her. Wanting him wasn't the problem. Letting herself act on her intense attraction to him was the issue. It could complicate everything, and he seemed determined to pursue it, even though she'd related her concerns.

  In addition to her medical knowledge, she was going to have to learn the oil drilling industry to do her job properly. Focus would be as important to her here as it had been in at the hospital in Henrietta. She wasn't treating patients, but she had huge learning curve, and lives would still be in her hands.