Read Online Texas Temptation by Bárbara McCauley - Free Book Online

closed.
    He removed the pencil from her ear.
    She jerked her eyes open again, but he’d already bent over the map she’d been working on and was busy scribbling a note.
    She wanted to throw something at him. Something large, with sharp edges. Instead, she ground her teeth and counted to ten, then cursed silently. She moved away from him on legs with the consistency of warm molasses.
    â€œBy the way,” she said coolly, “there’re some logs I can’t find that Jonathan generated when he worked this map up. Did I leave them in your trailer?”
    Jared laid the pencil down and straightened. “They’re on my coffee table. I was cross-referencing them to my copy.”
    She sat back down in the desk chair. “I’ll need them to refigure the proposed fault line. Something’s not quite right, but I haven’t been able to figure out what yet. I’ll pick them up on my way back to town tonight.”
    He nodded, watching her with a quiet intensity that threatened to be her undoing. She looked away from him, forcing her hands to pick up the pencil and turn back to her work.
    And when he walked out of the office, she resolved to get—and keep—her mind on business. Even if it killed her.
    * * *
    Jared parked his truck in front of his trailer and stepped out into the still night air. He stared at the ceiling of stars and raked his hands through his hair. The moon was nearly full, and it cast long shadows over the Texas land, dark lonely shadows that seemed to reach out and close around him.
    He had the strangest desire to howl at that moon.
    He was bone-tired. He’d had a long week getting everything ready to drill on Monday, and at last it looked as if everything was in place and ready to go. Slater had even managed to find replacements for the men who’d quit.
    He grabbed the paper bag off the front seat of his pickup and slammed the door, thankful to be home. What he needed now was a tall stiff drink and a bed.
    What he needed now was a woman.
    Not just any woman, he acknowledged as he strode toward the trailer door. He could easily have that. Marie Lambert had spotted him at the restaurant where he’d been having dinner with Slater earlier and had slid into the booth beside him. Marie, a beautiful redhead he’d gone to high school with, had made it plain for years that she was interested.
    Tonight had been the first time he’d almost taken her up on her unspoken offer. He’d almost convinced himself that taking Marie to bed would ease the ache inside him, the constant burning need that left his temper on high every day and his bed a shambles every night.
    But it wasn’t a redhead that woke him every night in a cold sweat. It was a blonde. An obstinate determined long-legged blonde with a voice smoother than Southern Comfort and eyes with more shades of gold and green than an autumn meadow.
    He’d almost kissed that blonde earlier, when they’d stood so close in the office. His body was still screaming at him because he hadn’t. But when he’d run his fingertips over the soft curve of her ear and she’d leaned toward him, her eyes darkening with sensuality, he’d realized that he couldn’t. He realized that even the simplest touch, or the simplest kiss, would never be enough.
    Annie Bailey was driving him crazy.
    With a weary sigh, Jared opened the door to his trailer, dreading another night of endless tossing. He had a full bottle of whiskey, and tomorrow was Saturday. He’d told Annie to take the weekend off, since once they started drilling there would be few breaks. He cradled the paper bag in his arm and thought that maybe, with a little help from his friend here, he could just sleep the weekend away. Once they started drilling, he’d be too distracted and too busy to think about Annie, he told himself.
    He made his way to the kitchen in the darkness. The paper bag crinkled as he pulled out the bottle.
    He