Texas Heat

Texas Heat

by Gerry Bartlett
Texas Heat

Texas Heat

by Gerry Bartlett

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Overview

A surprise inheritance. A family of strangers. And a man she can't avoid . . .

Cassidy Calhoun can't believe she's the secret daughter of an oil billionaire. This small-town Texas girl with student loans by the barrel has never gotten a thing she didn't earn for herself.

The terms of her late father's will say Cassidy-and her newfound spoiled half-siblings-must work a year at the family's floundering business before they inherit a dime. Too bad the only thing Cass knows about oil is that it makes the junker she drives go.

Mason MacKenzie, the evaluator for their test, will help her get up to speed. Or will he? Mason is a boot-wearing, truck-driving Houston hottie who runs Calhoun Petroleum's biggest rival. The sparks between him and Cassidy could combust any minute. But the closer they get, the more strange near-accidents Cassidy seems to be having. And Mason has plenty of reasons to play up their attraction for his own benefit.

If she can trust him, the two of them working together might save a crumbling dynasty. But if she can't, Cass might just lose both her fortune and her heart . . .


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781601839831
Publisher: Kensington
Publication date: 12/06/2016
Pages: 250
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.57(d)

Read an Excerpt

Texas Heat


By Gerry Bartlett

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

Copyright © 2016 Gerry Bartlett
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60183-983-1


CHAPTER 1

Cassidy Calhoun must have had worse days before, but she sure couldn't remember them. With the heat near 100, her car's AC giving out halfway to downtown Houston and the freeway in gridlock, she was going to be late. Plus, one jerk had almost killed her trying to move into her lane. Twice. Jeez. Her hands were still shaking.

This whole inheritance thing had better not be a scam. But then the man had tracked her down at work, handed her a business card from a fancy law firm, and claimed showing up at this lawyer's office today would be worth her while. That was an awful lot of trouble for a scam.

So she'd arranged for a personal day off from work. Why not? If some long-lost relative had left her enough money to trade in this hunk of junk and maybe pay down some bills, then this morning's drive would be worth every painful minute. Cass pulled into a parking garage with a twenty-dollar minimum. Great. It was as if someone had peeked into her purse. These people had better validate.

Minutes later she tried to smooth the wrinkles out of her dress. Black wasn't her color, but some poor soul had died, right? When she checked in the mirrored walls as the elevator took her up to the thirtieth floor she wasn't surprised to see she'd sweated off her makeup. Of course the heat had frizzed her hair from professional to Jane of the jungle. But her hopes rose with the elevator. This building was high-end. If she was the right Cassidy Calhoun and actually about to come into some money, her whole life could change.

Leaning against the cool mirror, Cass imagined what she could do with some extra money. Priority one? She'd get a place of her own without a horny roommate who was a screamer when her boyfriend stayed over. And speaking of boyfriends ... The elevator door swished open and that thought vanished as she laid eyes on the most beautiful male specimen she'd seen outside the pages of a magazine ad. He had a cell phone to his ear.

"Gorikai itadaki arigat gozaimasu." He ended the call, then bowed. "Did I just do what I think I did?"

Cass couldn't resist. She bowed back.

He laughed a loud, from-the-belly laugh that was irresistibly infectious. Cass grinned and felt some of the tension that had started a headache behind her right eye ease a little. His laugh cut off abruptly, as if someone had turned the handle on a spigot, when his phone rang in his hand. "Shit." He leaned against the elevator door when it tried to shut on him.

Cass tucked her purse under her arm. Was this her floor? No, twenty-eight.

"Yeah, I just got through talking to them. The deal's still on." He listened for a moment. "No, you're not getting near the Japanese. I don't care if you do think they have their heads up their asses. I handled it and they sure as hell don't want to talk to you again." He stepped inside and glanced at the keypad next to the doors, then gave Cass a thorough inspection that made her brush her hair behind her ears, the less seen of it the better. "Listen, I'm going into a meeting and turning off my phone. I did my job, which should be enough to make you happy, Ed. Talk to you later." He made a point of shoving his phone in his breast pocket after shutting it down.

"You going to thirty too?" He kept his finger on the button that kept the doors open. The elevator had started buzzing while he'd been on the phone.

"No, thirty." Cass eased away from him into her own corner of the elevator. Not that he intimidated her with his expensive suit and the kind of confidence that she certainly didn't feel today.

"That's what I meant." He finally let the elevator do its thing and grinned, his whiter-than-white teeth perfect in his tanned face. "That's where I'm heading. Is there any chance you're Cassidy Calhoun?"

"Um, yes, I am. Cass." Cass blinked when he offered his hand. Clean, buffed nails, but calluses on his fingers. She clasped his hand. Firm handshake. Nice. None of that limp, pseudo-shake some men thought a woman expected or deserved.

"Mason MacKenzie." He gestured when the elevator doors opened again. "We're here."

"Are you one of the lawyers?" The business card had read MacKenzie and Harper. As she slid by the man and stepped into the spacious foyer with gleaming hardwood floors, she got a whiff of a subtle fragrance from him. Delicious. Almost as delicious as his broad shoulders in what had to be a custom-made Italian suit. She stumbled when her heel caught on the edge of the oriental rug in front of the receptionist's desk. He caught her elbow before she could hit the floor.

Cool move, Cass.

"Careful." He squeezed her arm, then let go when she was steady again. "No, not a lawyer. That's my brother Dylan. You'll meet him in a moment."

Cass noticed he wore shiny black cowboy boots with his suit. Interesting. He also had on a class ring from a Texas college she wished she could have afforded. His dark suit set off his dark hair and the pale blue tie could have been dyed to match his eyes. Which were also looking her over. Cass focused on the woman who'd shot out of her chair behind the chrome and glass desk centered under the name of the law firm. Killer shoes, dress-for-success suit in red and she was model-thin and tall. Cass hadn't looked that polished even before her ride from hell.

"Mr. MacKenzie! They're waiting for you in the big conference room. Is this Miss Calhoun? She's the last to arrive. Besides you, of course." The woman flushed, like she realized she'd just handed both of them a tardy slip. "Can I get either of you a water, or something stronger?" She said this last to Mason with a flirty look, practically dancing in her high heels.

"I'm fine, Amber. Yes, this is Ms. Calhoun. Cass?" Mason stayed by Cass's side, like he was ready to catch her if she stumbled again.

"Are we going to the same meeting? The reading of a will?" Cass looked up at him. He was awfully close, close enough that she could see the sweep of his thick, dark lashes as he nodded and took her elbow again.

"Oh, yes. I think you'll find it very interesting." Mason smiled and moved her forward. "It'll be down this hall."

"What about that water?" The receptionist kept pace with them, checking out Cass with a frown. "No offense, Ms. Calhoun, but you look like you're suffering from the heat."

"Cass? She's right." Mason stopped. "Your face is red."

"Car trouble — my AC went out. Water would be great. But like you said, we're late. Can you bring it to me in the conference room? Please?" Cass hated to ask, but she also hated to keep people waiting.

"Sure. Still or sparkling?"

Cass shook her head. "What?"

Mason started moving her down the hall again. "She means do you want water with or without bubbles."

"Oh. Without, please. And thank you." Now she felt like an idiot.

"Relax. The fun's just begun. Wait till you meet the rest of the Calhouns." Mason pushed open a door and conversation in the room suddenly stopped as the people inside turned to stare. "Everyone, this is Cassidy Calhoun. Goes by Cass. Be nice. She had car trouble and may pass out from heat exhaustion any minute." He held out a vacant chair. "The man at the end of the table is my brother Dylan, the lawyer who asked you to come here."

"You feel faint? Can't have that. Is someone getting you water?" This came from a middle-aged woman with pretty blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. "I'm Missy Calhoun, Connie's wife number two."

"Water. Yes, thank you." Cass settled into a comfortable leather armchair. Connie? She was about to ask when a girl who seemed several years younger than her own twenty-nine sat on the conference table in front of her.

"Why, she's the spittin' image of Daddy, isn't she, Mama?" The girl, who had the older woman's blond hair and blue eyes, bumped her mother with her knees and seemed determined to get into her space.

"I'll say. Dark hair and that unfortunate stubborn chin. Are you stubborn, girl?" Missy obviously didn't mince words.

"I've been known to be. Who do I look like?" Daddy? And there was nothing wrong with her chin, damn it. Except that it was square and tended to stick out when she was mad. Okay, so it was unfortunate. And stubborn.

"You don't know who I'm talking about?" The girl raised her eyebrows. "You've got to be kidding. Anyway, I'm Megan. This is my sister Shannon and that guy over there who won't quit texting is my brother Ethan." Megan smiled and left her perch on the table. "We had no idea Daddy had you first. It'll take some getting used to. Don't know why it was a big secret all these years." She glanced around and the girl who looked a lot like her nodded. The boy, who also had Cass's unfortunate chin and dark hair, ignored them, more interested in his phone.

"Drink." Mason thrust a cold glass into her hand. The receptionist set a tray with a pitcher of ice water and more glasses on the table then hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind her.

Cass gulped the water gratefully. When she reached to refill her glass, her hand shook and she spilled water on the tray. She gave up and sat back.

"Relax, honey, we don't bite. I swear it." Missy Calhoun gave her a sympathetic smile, then touched her eyes with a hanky. "It's a sad day for us. Did your daddy ever come see you?"

"I don't know who or what you're talking about." Cass scanned the room. Mason had moved down the table to talk to his brother the lawyer. Now everyone stared at her. "I never knew my father and he sure as hell never came to see me. If that's who this is about, I'm out of here." She stood and her purse slid off her lap to hit the floor. Just her luck that her phone and wallet spilled out of it, along with a wad of tissues and her freaking keys.

"Hold it." Mason leaned down to shove everything back inside her black patent purse. Then he held it out of reach. "Are you telling us that your mother never told you Conrad Calhoun was your father?"

"She certainly didn't." Cass refused to jump for her purse. He was too damned tall and she was not going to look the fool in front of these well-dressed people who were examining her like she was a bug under a microscope. "My father abandoned her when she was pregnant, never gave her one dime of support. He left us to fend for ourselves. Why would I expect anything from him now?"

Mason put her purse in her hands but didn't release it. "Will you listen to my brother for a minute? And consider that maybe your mother didn't tell you the whole story? Or the true story?"

Missy took a glass of water. "Connie could be a mean son of a bitch, of course, but he loved his family. I can't believe he would abandon his wife and child." She glanced at the lawyer. "Maybe this is a mistake."

"I'm sure it is. He may have loved this family, but not mine." Cass gestured around the table. "If this Connie person claimed he was my father, then believe it, lady. He left us high and dry. I have thousands of dollars of student-loan debt to prove it. Hey, girls, did you have to work the McDonald's drive-through to help pay for college? Ever sleep through a test because you'd pulled the late-night shift at Hooters?" Oh, she shouldn't have said that. Now Ethan, the guy who was supposedly her brother, had looked up to check out her rack. Mason had already done that, but was giving it a second look. Dylan the lawyer did it automatically, then must have remembered he was supposed to be serious on this sad occasion. He cleared his throat and shuffled papers.

"It wasn't just a claim ..." Dylan kept his eyes on hers.

"We're sorry, Cassidy." Megan's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sure if Daddy had known ..."

"What makes you think he didn't?" Cass started toward the door. "And just didn't give a damn about me." Yes, her chin was doing its thing. Well, she was mad. Who were these people to talk about "Daddy" like he was someone they'd loved? She'd never had a father to love.

She faced the room and knew all of them were staring and judging her. "Hey, it's not like I lived in Siberia. If your 'Daddy' raised you here in Houston, then we were only about thirty minutes from each other. But I never heard his name before today. Never got so much as a birthday card from him." Cass gripped the doorknob, seconds from opening it and storming out. "I don't need this." But she couldn't open that door. High priced lawyer, well-dressed people. Conrad Calhoun. Where had she heard that name before?

She hesitated. All of this shouted money. Which meant there might, might be some of it coming her way. She wasn't so mad or so proud that she could afford to bolt and miss out on a chance to ease some of her debt burden. She was trying to figure out a way to back down from her dramatic exit line when Dylan stepped forward, a sheaf of papers in his hand.

"Wait. Please. Conrad had his reasons for ignoring you, Cassidy." He gestured toward the chair she'd abandoned. "Will you sit and listen? Give me five minutes. I can see you have your father's temper, but I promise that if you'll let me explain things, it will help you understand why he couldn't contact you. Or help you financially." The man who looked a lot like Mason stepped closer and held out a file folder. "Until now."

"I'm the lawyer Connie trusted with his estate and his private affairs after my father died. He and Dad were best friends. I have the paperwork from your parents' divorce right here." Dylan opened the folder. "Which prohibited him from contacting you. I'll sum it up for you, if you'll let me."

Cass sat. "Prohibited? That seems a little extreme." What could he have done that had made her mother refuse to let him see her? Contact her? Throw money at her? Cass looked around the room at her so-called sisters and brother, who were clearly hearing all of this for the first time if their expressions could be believed. Missy, wife number two, just pursed her lips, obviously not shocked at all. "Please, go ahead."

"All right, then." Dylan picked up the folder and began going through papers. "Your parents were married for a couple of years when your mother got pregnant with you. Apparently the marriage was rocky from the start. Then something happened and your mother sued for divorce. Conrad was willing to deal generously with her. His business had started to take off and he was already worth plenty. She could have had a settlement in the millions and as well as generous child support."

Cass held up her hand. "Wait. His business. What was it?" Conrad Calhoun. It rang a bell but she couldn't —

"Calhoun Petroleum, Cassidy. Maybe you've heard of it? It's worth billions today." This from another woman who was sipping a glass of white wine. She sat in a chair in one corner of the room, clearly not part of the other Calhoun family. She was beautiful, with carefully styled red hair and porcelain skin. Cass didn't need a fashion magazine to recognize that her elegant gray dress probably had a designer label.

"No one bothered to introduce me. I'm Alexandra, wife number three. No children with Conrad. We liked to travel and play." She smiled at Missy. "I'm the fun wife."

"Of course you are." Missy turned away from her. "I'm sorry you never knew your father, Cassidy. He was great with his children. Not so good with his wives." She glanced back at Alexandra. "I heard you were separated and he'd moved back to the house. You got lucky he kicked off before you had to deal with the prenup he made you sign."

"Poor Missy. Maybe if you'd had a facelift when you needed it, he wouldn't have dumped you for me." Alexandra flashed her enormous diamond ring. "Can we get on with this?"

"Getting on with it right now." Dylan looked ready to step between the two women, though neither of them had bothered to get out of their chairs.

"Daddy was a wonderful father." Megan patted Cass on the shoulder. "No matter what happened with your mama." She glanced at her mother. "Cutting you off from him, that's harsh. And not taking the money? That's awfully prideful."

"This is how it was stipulated in the divorce decree. Liz wouldn't take any money from Connie and he relinquished his parental rights, including the right to contact the child — you, Cassidy. He signed off on it without a fight and never would say why. His friends, including my own father, speculated that it was because he was sick of their fighting and he needed to be free to handle a bid for a hostile takeover going on at that time. He couldn't afford a big court battle then." Dylan shook his head. "I'm sorry."


(Continues...)

Excerpted from Texas Heat by Gerry Bartlett. Copyright © 2016 Gerry Bartlett. Excerpted by permission of KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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