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Daddy Lessons
Stella Bagwell
Savannah Starr's new boss, Joe McCann, was a rugged, blue-eyed hunk. But the man didn't know a thing about raising a child…so Savannah decided it was her job to give Joe some daddy lessons.Joe didn't need anybody telling him how to be a good father…especially not Savannah! Why, he was just about to fire his sassy, sexy secretary when she captured his daughter's heart. Joe couldn't deny that he needed some help on the homefront. But he'd already learned his lesson about love and no woman was going to steal his heart again.
Joe McCann on Fatherhood:
Dear Megan,
For ten years I had to watch you grow through only snapshots and weekend visits. Then the unexpected chance came for me to be your full-time father, and I was thrilled at the prospect of having my daughter back in my life again.
When you moved into the house with your loud rock music, messy room and headstrong attitude, I was lost. I realized I didn’t know how to be a father. Much less a father to a teenage daughter. All I knew was that I loved you and wanted you to be happy.
Then Savanna stepped in and taught me that being a father didn’t necessarily mean seeing that you went to private school or trying to give you the very best of everything. It simply meant loving you. And I do, my little darling. I do.
Daddy
Daddy Lessons
Stella Bagwell
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
STELLA BAGWELL
has written close to seventy novels for Silhouette Books. She credits her longevity in the business to her loyal readers and hopes her stories have brightened their lives in some small way.
A cowgirl through and through, she loves to watch old Westerns, and has recently learned how to rope a steer by the horns and the feet. Her days begin and end helping her husband care for a beloved herd of horses on their little ranch located on the south Texas coast. When she’s not ropin’ and ridin’, you’ll find her at her desk, creating her next tale of love.
The couple have a son, who is a high school math teacher and athletic coach.
To Jason, who’s dedicated his life
to giving lessons.
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 One
Savanna Starr furiously pumped the handle of the hydraulic jack and tried to ignore the honks of the traffic whizzing by her. She was fully aware that she and her Volkswagen Beetle were creating a road hazard. But, darn it, I-40 in downtown Oklahoma City wasn’t blessed with a lot of shoulder to safely park on, and she could hardly keep driving with a tire that resembled a black pancake!
Even though it wasn’t yet eight in the morning, the June sun was unbelievably hot. As she worked to jack the little car off its back left wheel, Savanna could feel perspiration popping out beneath her linen shift, on her brow and upper lip.
Great, just great, she muttered to herself. By the time she got to her new job she was going to be covered with sweat and grease. What was her boss going to think?
Never mind that, she told herself as she hurriedly grabbed the spare tire from the trunk and heaved it to the ground. What was he going to say if, God forbid, she was late?
Joe McCann poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot he’d brewed forty minutes ago, then peeped through the slatted blinds on the window.
Where was she? It was fifteen minutes past eight. Joe knew his full-time secretary, Edie, had clearly informed the temporary service that he expected the new girl to be here in the office at eight. That didn’t mean fifteen after!
Hell, he snorted to himself as he sank back into a leather desk chair. He should have interviewed the woman himself. Now, while Edie was away on maternity leave, he was going to have to put up with some irresponsible nitwit in the office for six long weeks. With a pile of worries already on his mind, he didn’t know how he could deal with that, too.
McCann Drilling, the company his late father had built from the ground up, was crying for business. And then there was Megan, his thirteen-year-old daughter. She’d only been back in his life for less than a week now and he was learning what it was like to be a full-time parent all over again.
Damn it all, he silently cursed, a lax secretary was the last thing he needed!
Three miles away, Savanna tossed the lug wrench in with the dilapidated tire and hydraulic jack, slammed the trunk, then jumped back into the driver’s seat. She couldn’t believe her luck. A flat tire and not one person had stopped to offer her a helping hand. She’d strained and tugged at least ten minutes just to loosen the lug nuts. So much for chivalry these days!
After a quick glance over her shoulder, Savanna merged the little orange car back into the heavy stream of traffic, then jammed the accelerator all the way to the floor. She wasn’t worried about getting a speeding ticket. Right now she was more concerned about Joe McCann. According to his secretary, he was a stickler for punctuality.
The thought dared Savanna to glance at her wristwatch. What she saw made her wail loud enough to drown out the rock music playing on the radio. “I’m twenty minutes late! I’m going to be fired before I ever go to work!”
Back at the McCann Drilling office, Joe got up from his desk, tossed the remainder of his coffee into the trash, then began to pace around the sparsely furnished room. He didn’t like waiting for anyone or anything. It was a waste of time.
His mother had often told him that he needed to be more patient with people. And Joe figured that was probably true now that he was trying to deal with his daughter. But he’d always lived his life by hard discipline. He didn’t know how to be patient with his employees or his daughter.
The thought of Megan had him pausing by the corner of his desk where her photo sat smiling up at him. He hated to admit it, but he didn’t know her. At least, not in the ways that really counted. But since his divorce ten years ago he’d been forced to watch her grow up through snapshots and brief weekends spent together in the summer months.
Then a month ago he’d been surprised by a call from his ex-wife, Deirdre. Her husband’s job was taking them to Africa and she believed it would be best for Megan to remain in the States and live with her father.
Joe had been quick to agree. He hadn’t wanted his daughter in a country where civil unrest was rampant and living conditions less than ideal, to say the least. Moreover, for years he’d wanted full custody of his daughter and he wasn’t about to pass up the chance.
But so far, having Megan living under the same roof with him was nothing like he’d expected it to be. Fathering a teenage girl around the clock was like handling a stick of dynamite. One wrong word brought on an explosion. And most of the time he was the one doing the exploding!
The squeal of brakes and the slam of a car door brought Joe out of his thoughts. Quickly he walked over to the window and glanced out the blinds.
An orange Volkswagen Beetle was parked next to his pickup truck. No one was in the ancient little car, and he could only guess that the blond woman streaking up the sidewalk to the front entrance of the building had been the driver.
Could that have been his new secretary? Surely not! She’d looked like a teenager!
Joe sat at his desk, but before he had time to consider that horrible idea the tapping of high heels sounded outside in the corridor, then a softer knock came at the door.
Leaning up in his seat, Joe sucked in a bracing breath, then folded his hands atop the walnut desk.
“Come in,” he called.
Dear Lord, was that her boss’s voice? Savanna swallowed nervously, then forced herself to reach for the doorknob. Even if the man sounded like a grizzly bear, she couldn’t stay out here in the corridor, she scolded herself.
After wiping her sweaty palms down her hips, Savanna slowly turned the knob and pushed open the door. Yet before she could step inside, a male voice barked loudly.
“I said come in!”
The unexpected summons caused Savanna to practically jump over the threshold and into the office.
“Good morning,” she said in a breathless rush to the man staring at her from behind a wide desk. “I’m Savanna Starr. The temporary help. Are you Mr. Joe McCann?”
He nodded, then stood. Savanna’s eyes followed his movements and she was instantly struck by his tall, muscular body, thick, tawny blond hair and piercing blue eyes.
“I am,” he said brusquely. “And you’re late. Did you know you were supposed to be here at eight o’clock?”
Color flooded Savanna’s cheeks, but she bravely held his gaze. Dear Lord, she thought with surprise, Joe McCann was a young man! She hadn’t expected that. How many men in their mid-thirties were capable of drilling for gas or oil, much less owning their own drilling company? She’d been expecting an old man with gray hair and a pot belly. Joe McCann wasn’t anything like that. He was—all man!
Finally managing to unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth, she said, “Yes, sir, I did. But—”
“I don’t like tardiness, Ms. Starr.”
Carefully, she placed her purse and lunch sack on the floor beside her feet, then straightened before she spoke. “Neither do I, Mr. McCann,” she said in her most crisp, businesslike voice. “But unfortunately it couldn’t be helped. You see, I—”
“Save the explanations,” he interrupted. “You should have started earlier.”
Before Savanna could stop it, a gasp of disbelief rushed past her lips. She needed this job. But did she really want to work for a man who was looking at her as if he’d never seen a woman before? Much less a woman who had happened to commit the evil sin of being late? What sort of man was he, anyway?
Feeling an unusual spurt of temper, Savanna decided to damn the consequences and speak her mind. “For your information, Mr. McCann, I did start early. But I had a flat tire on I-40. Do you know how many big, strong, macho men like you stopped to help me?”
Joe’s eyebrows shot up as Savanna Starr impatiently tapped the toe of her beige high heel. Obviously she was waiting for his answer, but he could only stare at her. He’d never seen anything like this woman.
When he didn’t immediately respond, Savanna felt inclined to go on before she lost her nerve. “I’ll tell you, Mr. McCann. Not one stopped to give me a hand. I guess they all had bosses like you and were afraid of being late themselves.”
Joe’s lips parted, but still he didn’t say anything. He was too busy trying to figure out what a woman like her was doing in his office. She didn’t look anything like a secretary. And as far as he was concerned, she wasn’t behaving like one, either. What had he done to deserve this? he wondered as frustration poured through him. First Megan and now Savanna Starr. A man couldn’t be expected to deal with two unpredictable females in his life at the same time. It would be impossible. Pure hell, in fact.
From the grim expression on Joe McCann’s face, Savanna knew it was too late to worry about making a first impression on him. She’d opened her big fat mouth before she could stop herself and now he couldn’t get rid of her fast enough.
Well, that was the story of her life, Savanna thought miserably. Until a few months ago she’d hopped from one town and one state to the next. Her jobs had been mixed, some of them several weeks here, or a few short days there. Here today and gone tomorrow. That was the way things went for Savanna Starr. But this time it looked as if she’d be moving on even faster than usual. Like in a matter of minutes!
“Oh, brother,” she groaned aloud as she glanced down at the dress she was wearing. The plain linen sheath was the color of a spring daffodil and had been one of her very favorites. Now grease marks striped her hips where she’d inadvertently wiped her dirty hands. “Looks like I’ve ruined my dress along with my chance for this job. I guess today just wasn’t my day.”
Picking up her purse and lunch sack, she turned toward the door. “I’ll tell the service to send you someone else. I’m sure they can have a secretary here for you within the hour. Goodbye, Mr. McCann.”
She was about to step into the hallway when the telephone began to ring. Joe’s eyes jerked over to the jangling instrument. God help him, it was probably Megan already. He couldn’t deal with another twenty or so calls from her again today. Before he could consider his actions, he reached out and grabbed Savanna’s arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked her.
What did he care? she wondered. He obviously didn’t want her services. And even though she’d been excited about taking this job, she wasn’t completely sure she wanted to work for Joe McCann. He not only angered her, he disturbed her in a primal sort of way. She wanted to lash out at him. Not as an offended employee. But as a woman. Which didn’t make sense. She didn’t know this man. So why was he getting under her skin?
“I think I’m going down to Lilly’s,” she finally answered.
Joe looked as blank as if Savanna had said she was headed to the moon. Behind them the telephone continued to ring.
“Pardon me, did you say Lilly’s?”
Even though Savanna was annoyed with him, she decided to explain anyway. “You know where Lilly’s is, don’t you? That little bakery down on the corner. She has great apple fritters and since I had to miss breakfast this morning, I think I’ll indulge myself. Who gives a damn about sugar and fat? I won’t get to wear this dress again anyway.”
“Ms. Starr!” he practically shouted. “Did I dismiss you?”
Savanna’s chin tilted a fraction higher. She’d never been fired from a job in her life. But if this man was going to make a big issue of terminating her chance to work here, she wished he’d get it over with and let her be on her way. “Not verbally. But—”
His face darkened with color. “Oh, I see,” he drawled mockingly. “Along with your secretarial skills you also read minds. I guess the temporary service forgot to tell me that.”
Savanna couldn’t ever remember meeting any man as obnoxious as Joe McCann. Which was really too bad, she thought. He had the rough sort of looks that turned women’s heads. And she’d be lying if she didn’t admit to herself that just for a second, when she’d walked through the door, he’d turned hers. His tall, well-muscled body was without an ounce of fat. His face was lean, too, with strong, bony features and eyes as blue as a western sky.
But Savanna wasn’t in the market for a man. Especially a man like this one, who looked as though he rarely smiled, if ever. No, she’d tried romance before and her young heart had wound up shattered. She wasn’t ready, or brave enough, to set herself up for that kind of pain again.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t read minds, Mr. McCann. However, I can read faces. And at the moment I’d say yours looks about as happy as a hound with a flea on its back.”
Joe rubbed his fingers against his throbbing temples. The woman might be an irresponsible oddball, but she’d certainly gotten that much right. “What did you come here for in the first place?”
His voice had suddenly gone weary and dull. As Savanna watched him scrub his face with both hands, she wondered if he was physically ill. Could that account for his waspish attitude?
“I came here to work. But I thought—”
“I believe it would be safer for both of us if you didn’t think, Ms. Starr!”
Savanna’s teeth ground together. She’d be crazy to be concerned about the man. He wasn’t ill. He was an ass! Still, she couldn’t entirely ignore the desperation in his eyes or the fatigue on his face. It was plain to her the man needed help—he just didn’t quite know it yet.
Thankfully, the telephone finally quieted. Joe dropped his hold on her arm and took a step back. He didn’t know why he’d grabbed hold of her in the first place. Normally he wouldn’t lay a hand on any employee. Particularly a woman. But something about Savanna Starr was making him act totally out of character.
Tingling from his touch, Savanna stared at him, her mind spinning as she watched him rake a hand through his wavy blond hair.
“Are you suggesting you still want me?” she asked incredulously.
Joe’s blue gaze swept over her petite but very shapely form. Savanna Starr. What kind of name was that? he wondered. It sounded like something a damn Hollywood producer would make up.
Walking over to his desk, he glanced back at her to see she was still standing in the middle of the room, staring at him with eyes the color of a fawn’s coat in summer. He’d never seen such rich brown eyes on a blonde before, but then Joe rarely looked at women that closely. Since he and Deirdre had divorced, he hadn’t had the time or the urge to involve himself with a woman. McCann Drilling took all his attention, and he figured that was the way it always would be. “If you think—”
Before he could go on, the telephone began to ring again. Grimacing, he motioned with his hand for Savanna to answer it. “Get that. And if it’s my daughter, Megan, tell her I’m out in the work yard and that I can’t talk to her now!”
Savanna quickly walked over to the desk and picked up the telephone.
“McCann Drilling,” she said cheerfully. “May I help you?”
“Who are you?” A young female voice blurted the question.
Savanna glanced uncertainly at Joe McCann. Right now she didn’t know if she was a secretary or an unemployed mediator.
“I’m Savanna.”
“Oh, you’re the one who’s taking Edie’s place?”
“That’s right. And who are you?”
“I’m Megan. Joe is my daddy. I need to talk to him.”
Obviously the girl had been forewarned there would be a change in secretaries at her father’s office, Savanna concluded. “Well, Megan, right now your father is unable to come to the telephone. Perhaps I can help?”
The young girl let out a huge sigh of frustration. “I doubt it. But I guess I could tell you, anyway. I want to go to the library, but Ophelia, the housekeeper, isn’t here this morning. She won’t be here until two this afternoon! And I’m only thirteen. I’m not old enough to drive.”
“Oh, I see. Well, you are in a fix, aren’t you? I don’t suppose you’d settle for watching some videos until the housekeeper is there to take you?”
Megan groaned loudly. “What videos? Joe—I mean, Daddy doesn’t even have a VCR. He’s old-fashioned and says time spent in front of the TV isn’t productive.”
Savanna couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s imitation of her father’s voice. “Perhaps you could walk, Megan. Is it very far from your house?”
“Eight blocks,” she said glumly. “But Daddy would never let me walk. He says it’s too dangerous for kids to walk on the streets nowadays. Especially for a girl.”
Savanna dared another glance at Joe McCann and was surprised to see he’d skirted around the desk to stand beside her. At the moment he was shaking his head and mouthing the word no. Savanna couldn’t believe he was being so overprotective. It wasn’t as if the girl was a kindergartner!
“That’s true in many cases,” Savanna said, careful not to go against anything her father might have already instructed her. “But if you had a friend to walk with you, then he might consider it.”
She looked up to see Joe still shaking his head. A burst of anger suddenly spurted through Savanna. Didn’t the man remember what it was like to be thirteen years old, out of school on summer vacation and stuck in the house alone with nothing to do?
“Well, I just came here to live with Daddy last week. So I don’t really know many people,” she said, then suddenly her small, dispirited voice brightened. “But there is someone I’ve made friends with. Cindy. She’s my age and lives across the street. She’d want to go with me!”
If Megan had just now come to live with her father, Savanna mused, that could only mean Joe McCann was widowed or divorced. She didn’t know why that bit of news should strike a nerve in her, but it did. So did the lost, lonely sound in Megan’s voice. Savanna knew what it was like to be in a strange place surrounded by unfamiliar things and people she didn’t know. Joe McCann probably didn’t understand that. But Savanna did. She’d spent her whole life living in places where she felt as if she didn’t belong and that no one cared whether she was around or not. In fact, she was still searching for that place she could call her real home.
“Tell you what, Megan. As soon as your father comes back in the office, I’ll talk to him about it. In the meantime, why don’t you call Cindy and see if she can go.”
“Gee, thanks, Savanna. And please beg him if you have to. I can’t stay in this dreary old house all day!”
Begging Joe McCann was the last thing Savanna intended to do. Aloud, she told Megan, “I’ll do my best. ’Bye, now.”
“So where is Megan wanting to trot off to now?” Joe demanded the moment Savanna hung up the phone. “You should have told her an emphatic no.”
Then why didn’t you answer the phone and give her a no yourself? Savanna wanted to ask him. Instead, she bit her tongue and tried to be pleasant. “Do you want her to keep calling back and asking?”
Joe rubbed a weary hand across the back of his neck. He had to admit the woman had a point. “From the time Megan moved in with me last week, she’s called me constantly here at work. I can’t get anything done and when I point this out to her, she bursts into tears and accuses me of not loving her.”
Poor little girl, Savanna thought sadly. She must be miserable. “Do you love her?” Savanna couldn’t help asking.
Joe stared at her as if she belonged in a mental institution instead of his office. “What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I love her. She’s my daughter!”
Her question had offended him, but it was obvious to Savanna that this man needed some daddy lessons in the worst kind of way. “And just because she’s your daughter, she’s supposed to know that?”
He shot her a look that said she was inching onto dangerous ground. Savanna decided she’d better let well enough alone for the time being. She’d already put herself in a bad light with this man. If she intended to help Megan with her daddy she had to hold on to this job for a few more minutes, at least.
After moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, she started again. “Your daughter wants to walk to the library with a friend. The friend’s name is Cindy and she lives across the street from you. Shall I tell Megan she has your permission to go?”
Joe opened his mouth to utter a curse word, then just as quickly snapped it shut. A whole string of expletives wouldn’t relieve the pressure boiling in his head. “Why does she constantly need to be going somewhere? Why can’t she find something to do at home, like any normal person?”
“Because your daughter isn’t any normal person. She’s a teenager.”
His mouth twisted. “That’s supposed to explain everything?”
Savanna was struggling not to lose her patience with him. “Surely you can remember being one, can’t you?”
One eyebrow arched upward as he looked at Savanna. Did he look that old to this woman?
“I’m sure the next thing you’re going to tell me is that I should let her go,” he said, more as a statement than a question.
What was he doing, Savanna wondered. Testing her? Was this job really being a secretary for a drilling company, or in the end would it be more about dealing with his daughter?
“Thirteen is certainly old enough to walk to the library. And it would show her you trust her to be responsible.”
“I haven’t been around my daughter enough to know whether I can trust her or not,” he said with a pang of regret, then wondered why it had taken this woman to point that out to him. Damn it, if he’d been a better father he would have used the few weekends he’d spent with Megan to get to know her better instead of trying to entertain her.
Savanna inwardly shook her head. The man was totally serious. He’d had a daughter for thirteen years. Yet he’d just insinuated he really didn’t know her. Savanna’s own father was hardly perfect, but at least he’d always been there for her. But then, maybe she wasn’t being entirely fair to Joe McCann, Savanna reconsidered. He might not have ever had much time with his daughter. Especially if his ex-wife hadn’t wanted him in the picture.
“Well, you’ll never know whether you can trust her until you give her the chance to prove herself,” Savanna told him.
Joe didn’t know anything about this woman except that she’d been late to work and didn’t have any qualms about speaking her mind. But she had managed to pacify Megan without sticking the phone into his hand. And after several days of his daughter’s endless calls, he could only see that as a major improvement.
“When she calls back, tell her she may go. But she has to be back in an hour and a half. And that you’ll call the house to make sure she’s returned on time.”
Smiling gladly, Savanna nodded.
That settled, Joe turned and headed toward a coffee machine situated in the far corner of the room.
Bemused, Savanna asked, “Does this mean you still want me for the job?”
He glanced at her over his shoulder, and Savanna didn’t miss the wry twist on his lips.
“Against my better judgment.”
Chapter Two
The smile faded from Savanna’s face as she folded her arms defensively over her breasts. “You really know how to make a girl feel needed, Mr. McCann.”
His eyebrows peaked at her remark. It had been a long time since Joe had wanted to make anyone feel needed, he realized. Especially a woman.
“Believe me, Ms. Starr, making you feel needed was not on my agenda this morning.”
Savanna’s nostrils flared and Joe watched her rose-colored lips purse with disdain. He’d never particularly liked short hair on a woman. Certainly not as short as Savanna Starr’s, which left her ears and neck exposed and a shock of thick blond bangs falling over her forehead. But he had to admit that it looked damn sexy on her.
“Having a flat wasn’t on my agenda, either,” she couldn’t help retorting.
Joe glanced over at his desk. Not because he was searching for something. He merely needed to get his eyes off her and remind himself that just because she had a cute little face with warm brown eyes and a body that curved in all the right places didn’t mean he needed her for a secretary. He already had enough on his mind without adding a woman to his problems.
But the way she’d dealt with Megan led him to believe she could actually help matters where his daughter was concerned. And right now that was the most important thing he needed to consider.
As though they couldn’t bear it any longer, his eyes traveled back to her. “Tell me, Ms. Starr, do you normally have flat tires on your way to work? Or can I depend on you to be here on time?”
Savanna decided not to let his gibes anger her. She didn’t like the wasteful emotion, and from what she could gather from the few minutes since she’d arrived, things hadn’t been running very smoothly for him. She could only wonder how long it had been since he and his daughter had actually lived in the same house. And what had happened to his marriage in the first place?
Dear Lord, had she lost her mind? Joe McCann’s past family life was none of her business. She shouldn’t be thinking of him as a man. He was her boss! And even that was a shaky deal.
Giving herself a hard mental slap, she said, “No, I don’t normally have flats and I’m rarely late.”
“That’s good. Because I don’t need you out on Interstate 40 waiting for some macho man to come to your rescue. I need you here.”
I need you. Why did those words blot out everything else he’d said up until now? Whenever she looked at him, why did she want to peel back the layers of his sarcasm and look for the real man she suspected was underneath? Changing that flat this morning must have addled her brain!
“I’ll tell you what, Mr. McCann. In the future, if I need rescuing on I-40, I’ll be sure to call you.”
He could tell from the impish light in her eyes and the curve of her lips that she was teasing. In spite of his sour mood, he found himself wanting to smile back at her. But he didn’t. He had serious things to consider. He couldn’t let himself be drawn into her teasing humor.
Turning his back on her, he reached for the coffeepot. By now the liquid was burned to a bitter black, but Joe poured himself a mugful anyway. After these few minutes with Savanna he figured a shot of Scotch would have been more fitting. But since he wasn’t a drinker, he’d have to rely on the caffeine to fortify him.
A few steps away, Savanna watched him swallow a mouthful of coffee, then allowed her eyes to slip down the hard-rock length of his body. He was dressed casually in blue jeans, laced-up work boots and a khaki shirt with the cuffs turned back against his forearms. He wore the clothes well, she decided. Too well for her peace of mind.
Joe took another sip of coffee, then moved back to his desk. Once there he motioned with his head for her to join him.
“Right now I think it’s time we both got to work.”
Her hands laced loosely in front of her, Savanna walked over and stood in front of his desk.
“I don’t know how much Edie told you about the job you’ll be doing here,” he said, “but it’s mainly answering the phone, typing correspondence and making out the payroll. Delta, our dispatcher, works in the back of the building. You’ll be talking to her from time to time. Otherwise, you’ll be working in this room with me.”
For the first time since she’d arrived, Savanna took the time to glance around the long room. It wasn’t anything fancy. Calendars, charts, maps and photographs of gas and oil wells covered most of the paneled walls. In one corner there was a small table with a coffee machine, foam cups and a bag of stale-looking doughnuts on it. Next to the table were a couple of plastic chairs. On the opposite side of the room, a few feet away from where she stood, was another metal desk and typing-style chair.
As she looked at the desk, the first thing that ran through Savanna’s mind was that she’d be facing Joe McCann all day long. She couldn’t imagine what that would be like. She’d worked as a temporary for several years, and during that time she’d had all sorts of bosses. But none of them had looked like Joe. Nor had they raised her hackles the way he had in the very first minute she’d met him.
Still, she wasn’t about to tuck tail and run just because Joe McCann wasn’t the ideal boss. She was going to stick around and make him sorry for his sarcastic attitude!
Looking at her new boss, she said, “Your secretary explained the duties of my job and how the books are set up. I’m sure I won’t have any problems.” Unless it’s with you, she mentally added.
Joe looped his thumbs over the top of his jean pockets and continued to regard Savanna through narrowed eyes. “Edie said you’ve worked as a temporary for nearly five years and that you come highly recommended.”
He sounded as though he found that hard to believe. Savanna decided then and there he was going to make her prove her capabilities. Well, that was all right with her. She knew how to do her job. But more than that, she knew how to adapt to new places, people and situations. She’d been doing it for as long as she could remember. And she’d do her damnedest to show he was wrong.
In spite of Joe McCann, Savanna wanted this job. She believed working for a drilling company would be interesting and helpful to the career she planned to have in accounting. Petroleum was one of the state’s major industries, and gas and oil companies would always need CPAs.
True, she needed her degree in accounting before she could land a job of that importance. But Savanna only needed a few more hours of college to acquire it. And thankfully, the chance for her to complete her education had finally come to her here in Oklahoma City. She didn’t intend to let anything stand in her way of that. Not even a difficult boss.
Smiling as brightly as she could manage, she said, “I’ve never had any complaints.”
Edie had already told him that Savanna Starr was twenty-five. Yet as he looked at her smooth face and slender body, he found it hard to believe. A woman with her looks was usually married by that age. But then, maybe she was married. He hadn’t asked Edie. Normally that sort of information didn’t interest him and it irked the hell out of him that it did now.
“So why have you worked as a temp for so long? Wouldn’t you rather have a permanent job?”
Her eyes dropped to his desktop. He’d never know just how much she wanted—needed—permanency in her life. From the time Savanna had been a small child she’d lived her life on a part-time basis. Her father’s job had demanded the family move from one town and state to the next. As she’d grown older she’d planned to escape the vagabond existence as soon as she was old enough to make a permanent home for herself.
But things hadn’t worked out that way. Just about the time Savanna had planned to move out, her mother had suddenly died from a stroke. After that, she knew she couldn’t leave. Her father had a mild heart condition. He’d needed someone to look after him and make sure he took care of himself. Because she loved him, Savanna had stayed and never regretted it.
“Working as a temp fits my lifestyle. Since I’ve never really been sure where I was going to be living or for how long, temporary work was all I could commit myself to.”
So she was a gypsy, he thought. Joe couldn’t imagine such a life. He was a man who always stuck to his plan and never deviated for any reason. He couldn’t imagine flitting around from one place to the next, never knowing if he’d be able to find a job or not. He worked hard to keep stability and security in his life. Yet this past month both of those things seemed to be slipping away.
Megan’s arrival had definitely wrecked the stability of his day-to-day schedule. As for his drilling company, it desperately needed new revenue to stay afloat. Now, on top of everything else, he had to get used to a new secretary, one that created some strange sort of upheaval inside him every time he looked at her.
“So you move around a lot?” he asked. “You like that sort of living?”
From the expression on his face, Savanna figured he was summing her up as a flighty female who probably couldn’t hang on to a job, a man or a home. The idea irked her, but she decided now wasn’t the time to set him straight. She needed money for college tuition and rent for her new apartment. And this job with Joe McCann was the way to get it.
Shrugging, she said, “It’s been—necessary for me to move around. But now it’s not and I’m hoping to stay permanently here in Oklahoma City.”
Joe shuffled a stack of papers on his desk and tried his best to appear indifferent. “Why is that? Did you marry someone here in the city?”
Surprised by his question, Savanna shook her head. “Mercy, no! I’m not looking to get married. Actually, my father remarried a couple of months ago and—well, he doesn’t need me to travel with him anymore. So I’m free to sink my roots,” she explained, then cast him a speculative glance. “Are you married?”
This wasn’t a normal conversation between a boss and a new temporary secretary, Joe thought. He should have already pointed out her duties and gotten on with his work. But somehow one word had led to another and he still hadn’t found a stopping place.
“No. I’m not. Why?”
Savanna shrugged again. “Just curious. Megan mentioned a housekeeper. I wondered if her stepmother was at work or something.”
Joe heard her speaking but the words barely registered with him. He didn’t know what it was about her, but she was the first woman he’d really wanted to look at in a long time. Which didn’t make a bit of sense. She wasn’t his type at all.
Still, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from noticing the most minute things about her. Like the tiny pearl earrings she was wearing. He had the strangest urge to see what it would feel like to nibble it loose and sink his teeth into her earlobe.
Irritated by his unexpected thoughts, Joe cleared his throat and said, “No. There’s no stepmother around to come between me and my daughter.”
Savanna looked at him curiously. “What makes you think a stepmother would come between you and your daughter? A second mother figure might be just what she needs.”
Maybe so, Joe thought, but a wife was the very last thing he needed or wanted. “And what makes you think you know so much about children? Are you a mother?” he asked.
“No. But I was a child once.”
Grimacing, he picked up several pieces of correspondence. “Everyone is a child once in their life.”
She was beginning to wonder if Joe McCann had ever been eight years old with freckles on his nose and a gap between his front teeth. “It’s unfortunate some of us forget what that’s like,” she couldn’t help replying.
With a warning glint in his blue eyes he thrust the papers at her. “Here’s a few letters you can begin working on. I’ve attached notes to the things that need immediate replies. You might attend to those now.”
Relieved to be out from under his scrutiny, Savanna carried the letters over to the empty desk. Before she had time to put her things away, the telephone rang. It was Megan again, who seemed very surprised when Savanna informed her that her father was allowing her to walk with her friend to the library.
“He really said I could go?”
Megan screeched the question with disbelief and Savanna could only wonder if Joe McCann was actually that strict with his daughter or if Megan was simply displaying typical teenage exaggeration. She hoped it was the latter, but from what little she’d seen of her boss this morning, she thought he probably ruled his daughter the way he ran his office. With a stern hand.
“Yes. As long as you’re back in an hour and a half. I’ll be calling then to make sure you’re home.”
“Wow, I can’t wait to meet you, Savanna! Edie would never have talked Daddy into letting me go!”
Savanna glanced over at Joe, who’d now taken a seat at his desk. His attention seemed to be focused on a long piece of green graph paper with a bunch of squiggly lines that looked something like an electrocardiogram. However, Savanna got the feeling that he was actually listening to her instead of studying what she figured was a seismograph report.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Savanna said carefully. “It really wasn’t that hard.”
Megan giggled then and Savanna tried to picture the child in her mind. She sounded impish and sweet and full of life. Nothing like her father, she thought as she glanced once again at Joe McCann’s bent head.
“You don’t know him yet! But you will after today.”
“Serious, huh?”
Megan groaned. “Look up the word in the dictionary, Savanna, and you’ll find Daddy’s picture beside it.”
Savanna could hardly keep from laughing at the teenager’s old joke, but she managed to clamp her lips together just as Joe looked up at her. “Uh, I’ve got to go to work, Megan.”
“He’s giving you one of those looks, isn’t he?”
Savanna breathed deeply. Joe was giving her some sort of look. Whether it was the kind Megan meant, she didn’t know. She only knew it was sending a peculiar sensation up and down her spine.
“Sorta,” Savanna told her.
“Okay. Talk to you later. ’Bye!”
Savanna hung up the phone, then began searching for an empty drawer to store her purse.
“I take it that was my daughter on the phone?”
Savanna glanced over at him. “It was. She was very pleased that you’re allowing her to go.”
Leaning back in his chair, he regarded his new secretary with a speculative look. “The two of you seemed awfully chatty.”
Savanna’s brown eyes glided over his face. Was that surprise she heard in his voice, or disbelief? And why did it matter to her what he was thinking, anyway?
“I wouldn’t call it chatty. Just getting acquainted.”
His features suddenly growing thoughtful, Joe tapped a pen against the graph spread in front of him. “That’s strange. Megan wasn’t interested in getting to know Edie. In fact, they didn’t get on together at all.”
“Well, I’m sure you know how it is sometimes. Some people just rub each other the wrong way.”
Without even knowing it, his eyes left her face to travel slowly down her body. “And how do I rub you, Ms. Starr?”
Stunned by his question, Savanna unconsciously took a step toward him. “I beg your pardon?”
What in the hell had come over him? Joe wondered wildly. He didn’t talk to women that way! In fact, he didn’t talk to women at all, unless it was necessary.
Clearing his throat he said, “I—that didn’t come out right. What I mean is—do you think we’ll be able to get along? To work together?”
From the sound of his voice, Savanna could have sworn their working together had been the last thing on his mind. But she could be wrong. After all, it would be crazy to think Joe McCann was thinking of her in that sort of way. The man didn’t even appear to like her very much.
Releasing a pent-up breath, she said, “I’m a flexible person, Mr. McCann. I’m sure we can get along without too much friction between us.”
“That’s good,” he told her with a short nod of his head. The last thing he needed between him and this delicious-looking blonde was friction of any sort.
Feeling suddenly awkward, Savanna said, “If that’s all, then I’ll get back to work.”
Before he could say anything, the telephone rang. As he reached for it, he said, “I’ll answer it this time. You go ahead and do whatever you need to do.”
Relieved, Savanna went back to her desk and began organizing her things. As she did, she noticed her hands were still grimy from changing the flat tire she’d had on her way to work.
She found a rest room at the end of the same corridor she’d used to enter the office. As she scrubbed her hands clean, she looked at her image in the mirror hanging over the lavatory. There was a tiny smudge of grease along her cheekbone and she quickly wiped it away with a corner of a brown paper towel.
Maybe Joe McCann had taken the black spot for a beauty mark, Savanna thought, then laughed to herself at that idea. She doubted her new boss had even noticed the dab of grease on her face. He’d been too busy chewing her up and spitting her out for being late.
Well, he might come on like a bear, but deep down she didn’t think he really was so tough. She could deal with him, Savanna promised herself. Before her job here was finished, Megan wouldn’t have to beg her father to walk a few blocks to the local library and Joe McCann might even learn how to loosen up and smile.
Chapter Three
Joe’s home was in a quiet, residential area that had been established years ago before the city had grown to such mammoth proportions. The house itself was red brick and situated on a large cul-de-sac. He’d lived in it with his parents from the time he was five years old. When his father died several years back, his mother had moved to Florida to retire near her sister. Since then he’d lived alone. Until last week, when Megan had moved in with him.
Tonight as he parked in the driveway and walked to the entrance, the tight ache between his shoulders reminded him how little rest he’d been getting lately. Hopefully he’d be able to eat supper and spend a quiet evening before work tomorrow.
The minute Joe stepped through the front door he was greeted with the loud blare of Megan’s rock music. Tossing his briefcase full of reports into an armchair, he walked down the hallway and knocked on her door.
“Come in,” Megan called loudly.
Joe pushed open the door to see his daughter lying on her stomach across the end of the bed, her elbows propped on either side of an open book.
He stepped into the room, then stared around him in disbelief. “What the he—heck has been going on in here?” Joe demanded.
Megan’s head of thick brown curls bobbed wildly as she jerked her head around toward her father. “What do you mean? Nothing has been going on.”
Joe went over to the stereo system and jabbed a finger on the Off button. “I’m talking about these clothes!”
Joe pointed at the countless number of garments strewn over the bed, the floor and part of the dresser.
Unconcerned, Megan pushed herself to a sitting position, then with a negligent wave of her hand she said, “Oh, I’ve just been trying a few things on.”
A few things? It looked to him as if there were enough things on the floor alone to stock a whole boutique. “And none of them could find their way back into the closet. Is that it?” he asked.
Megan giggled at her father’s grim expression. “Oh, Daddy, you’re so funny. It’s just clothes. They’re not hurting anything. I’ll pick them up before I go to bed,” she promised.
Deciding it might be best to relent for now and wait to see if she kept her promise, Joe nodded toward the book she’d been so engrossed in when he’d come into the room. “Is that one of the books you got at the library today?”
She gave him a sweet smile. “Thanks, Daddy, for letting me go. The library was great! I found all sorts of stuff I want to read.”
He tilted his head in an attempt to read the title printed on the spine of the book. “You didn’t, uh—get anything with…”
“Sex, murder or corruption?” she finished for him, then, giggling, she shook her head. “No. I can get plenty of that stuff on TV.”
Joe could hardly argue that point and he realized how different things were now than when he’d been Megan’s age. Savanna Starr thought he didn’t remember being a child, but he did.
Unlike Megan, his parents had lived together. But they’d never gotten along. Joe knew his father was a big reason for that. Joseph McCann had been a tough man, who’d liked his liquor and the expensive gamble of wildcatting. Joe could still hear his parents’ shouting matches and how alone and miserable they’d made him feel.
There’d been times he’d looked at Megan and felt guilty because he hadn’t been able to hold his marriage to her mother together. But now when those thoughts assaulted him, he deliberately remembered back to his own childhood, and he knew that giving Deirdre the divorce she’d wanted had been the right thing to do.
“Have you eaten yet?” he asked his daughter.
With a cheerful smile she jumped up from the bed and looped her arm through his. “Yes. But I’ll come fix your plate for you. Ophelia showed me how to heat everything up in case you were late.”
Out in the kitchen Megan made a big production of heating the casserole and preparing him a glass of iced tea. When everything was ready she carried it over to him on a plastic tray, then plopped down on a chair next to him.
Joe took a bite of the food, then glanced at his daughter. Her chin was in her hand and she was studying him as if she couldn’t quite decide whether he was her hero or the devil himself.
“Well, how are things going?”
“I mostly miss all my friends. It’s boring around here without anyone to talk to or do things with.”
“You’ll make plenty of friends once you start school this fall,” Joe said matter-of-factly.
Megan’s mouth turned down at the corners. “I doubt it. I don’t want to go to some dumb ole private school. I’ll have to wear some childish uniform and look like all the other nerdy girls there!”
Joe cast her a stern look of warning. “I don’t want to hear you call anyone nerdy. You don’t know what the girls at school will be like. You’ve never been there before.”
She lifted her chin defiantly and glared at him with eyes as blue as his own. “And I won’t go, either.”
Joe shoveled another bite of food to his mouth before he lost his appetite. “You’ll go if I say so.”
Megan jumped up from the chair and jammed her fists on either side of her waist. “Daddy, I want to be a cheerleader and go to football games! I want to go to proms and dances. You can’t do that without boys around!”
Joe put his fork down beside his plate and leaned back in his chair. He’d almost forgotten how quiet the house used to be before Megan arrived. Still, he loved her utterly, and more than anything he wanted the very best for her.
“You’re far too young to be thinking about boys. Besides, school is about getting an education, not playing sports and dancing.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “You’re always so serious, Daddy. Don’t you know a person has to have some fun once in a while?”
“Fun is knowing you’ve succeeded at achieving your goals.”
Groaning with disbelief, Megan flounced over to the refrigerator and pulled out a can of soda. “Fun is going to the beach or the movies. But I guess you don’t do those things,” she said sullenly.
He picked up his fork and stabbed it at the pile of noodles on his plate. Hell, if he let Megan’s temperament spoil his appetite every time he sat down to supper, he’d soon turn into a skeleton.
Megan came back to the table and sank into the same seat she’d just vacated moments earlier. Swiping her hair out of her eyes, she said in a perkier voice. “Your new secretary sounds very nice. When am I going to get to meet her?”
He glanced at his daughter with surprise. “Why would you want to meet my new secretary?”
The teenager let out another loud groan. “Because everyone around here is a stranger to me. And she sounded like someone I’d like to know.”
“How could you tell? You only talked to her on the phone for a few short minutes,” Joe observed.
“Well, I could just tell. Is she pretty?”
He choked on the tea he’d been about to swallow. “Pretty? Why in the world would you want to know that?”
“Because if she was pretty, you might not come home in such a cranky mood,” Megan reasoned. “Is she married?”
Knowing his daughter probably wouldn’t hush until he answered, he said, “No. Ms. Starr isn’t married. And yes, she’s very beautiful. But I doubt you’ll have a chance to meet her before Edie comes back to work.”
Megan eyed her father over the rim of her soda can. “What if I go to the office for a while?”
“Maybe later. I’ve got too much going on right now.”
A grimace twisted her young face. “Then let’s invite Ms. Starr to supper. Yeah! That would be fun. Will you ask her, Daddy? Will you?”
“No. She’s a secretary. Bosses don’t do that sort of thing with their secretaries. It isn’t—proper.”
“Daddy, it’s not like you’re going to have an affair with her!”
Dear Lord, did all thirteen-year-olds talk like his? Joe wondered. “And what do you know about affairs? That word shouldn’t even be in your vocabulary, yet.”
Tilting her head to one side, Megan said, “Back home, my friend Amy’s father had an affair. After that, her parents got a divorce. Is that what happened to you and Mom? Did you have an affair with some woman you liked better than her?”
Joe frowned at his daughter’s speculation. “No, neither one of us did anything of the sort. Your mother and I were simply too young to be married. Both of us wanted totally different life-styles and because we did, we argued all the time. So we decided it would be better if we didn’t live together anymore. We’ve told you this before. Don’t you remember?”
Megan nodded, while absently winding a strand of hair around her finger. “Yeah, I remember. But I thought you might not be telling me the truth.”
Joe reached out and gently touched his daughter’s face. She was so young and innocent and full of life. He didn’t want her ever to be hurt by anything. Especially from mistakes he’d made in the past or any he might make in the future.
“Megan, I’ll never lie to you. Not about anything. Okay?”
She nodded, then gave him an impish grin. “So why haven’t you gotten married again? I think you should.”
A second mother figure might be just what she needs.
Joe inwardly shook his head as Savanna’s voice came back to him. He’d thought the woman had been totally on the wrong track, that Megan would resent the very idea of a stepmother. Obviously he’d been wrong about Savanna and his daughter.
“And why do you think that?”
“You don’t seem too happy like this.”
Savanna had implied the same thing when she’d compared him to that hound with a flea on its back. But just because two females made the same conjecture about him didn’t mean they were right, Joe told himself. He was happy, damn it. As happy as he could ever hope to be.
“My job gives me a lot to worry about, Megan. Believe me, the last thing I need to make me happy is a wife.”
Across town Savanna carried paper plates, sodas and iced glasses to a card table set up on a small patio outside her father’s apartment.
A few feet away from her, in one corner of the tiny square of yard, Thurman Starr was turning steaks on a smoking barbecue grill. Beside him, standing a good foot shorter than his six-foot frame, her new stepmother, Gloria, swiped a hand across her damp brow.
“I don’t know which is cooking the most out here, us or the steaks,” the older woman said.
Savanna gave her father a teasing grin, then winked at Gloria.
“I think Dad would haul that grill with him as far as the equator. When he’s barbecuing, he doesn’t know if the weather is ten degrees or a hundred.”
Thurman laughed. “You two girls are getting soft on me. This is lovely weather. Couldn’t wish for better. Besides, I have to have my grill with me. Otherwise, every piece of meat Gloria gets her hands on turns into a piece of black shoe leather.”
Gloria wrinkled her nose at her husband. “Well, we’ll see who cooks your breakfast in the morning,” she warned playfully.
Savanna smiled to herself. It was was wonderful to see her father so happily married. At fifty, with dark brown hair and a slim, petite figure, Gloria was still youthful and pretty. But more importantly, she was a sweet, giving person. She adored Thurman and made it her job to make him feel wanted and loved.
Sadly, that hadn’t been the case with Savanna’s mother, Joan. She’d been a discontented woman and no matter how hard Thurman had tried to please her, she’d never seemed to be truly satisfied. Joan had always wished for things, but she’d been unwilling to bend and work to get them.
Savanna had grown up vowing not to make the same mistakes her mother had. Whatever she decided she wanted in life, she was going to go after it full force. If she had to deviate from her plan at times, she would. But she’d never give up her dreams.
And she hadn’t given up that vow to be happy, Savanna thought as she placed silverware beside the three plates. But she’d certainly learned the hard way that determination alone wasn’t quite enough to make all her dreams come true.
In her senior year of high school she’d fallen in love and had become engaged to be married shortly after graduation. But only days before the wedding Bruce had left town with another girl.
The betrayal had angered and humiliated Savanna, but she’d resolved not to let it sour her outlook on love and marriage. By the time she’d entered college the following fall, her heart had mended and before long she’d met a young man in one of her accounting classes. Terry had been charming and had seemed to genuinely love her. After a few months of dating Savanna had been certain that she’d found her true soul mate this time. They’d become engaged and had begun to plan their life together. But fate had stepped in once again and Terry had been killed in a car accident a month before their wedding day.
Savanna had been devastated. Not only had she lost the man she loved, but Terry’s death had made her look at life with new eyes. And it was clear to her that marriage and a family wasn’t supposed to be a part of her life.
Then a month later her mother had died. And suddenly love and marriage didn’t matter to Savanna anymore. Her father was grieving, she was grieving and they needed each other.
That had been five years ago, and even though she’d put all the pain and loss of that time behind her, Savanna wasn’t ready to put marriage back into her hopes and dreams. She’d learned that loving a man and having him love her back didn’t make for any sort of guarantees. One day she’d been deliriously happy, the next her whole world had shattered.
No, Savanna firmly told herself, unlike her mother she was going to be happy. Only now she was going to find happiness in something more predictable than love and marriage.
A few minutes later the steaks were done and the table set. As the three of them filled their plates Thurman asked his daughter, “How was your first day on the job, honey? Think you’re gonna like it?”
Reaching for her glass of soda, Savanna groaned, albeit good-naturedly. “I don’t know whether like is the right word. Maybe you should have asked if I was going to be able to endure it.”
Gloria looked at her stepdaughter with concern. “Was it that bad? I was hoping this was going to be an interesting job for you.”
Savanna shrugged as Joe McCann’s face floated in front of her eyes. “Well, I suppose you could call it interesting. Tense, but interesting.”
“What about your new boss, is he a nice man?” Gloria questioned.
Unconsciously Savanna drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly. Throughout the day she hadn’t been able to forget that her boss was sitting only a few feet away from her. Every few minutes she’d found herself forgetting her work and glancing over at him.
To make matters worse, each time Savanna had looked, Joe McCann had lifted his head and their eyes had clashed. Exchanging glances with the man had been unsettling, to say the least. It was as if arcs of electricity had passed between them and she didn’t know why. Her boss hadn’t so much as given her a smile!
Yet she’d been home for several hours and still couldn’t get her mind off him. It was crazy! A part of her dreaded the morning and seeing him again, while the other part was eager to be back in his company.
Savanna grimaced. “If he’s nice, he keeps it well hidden. At best, I’d describe him as sober.”
“Look, baby,” her father said as he sliced into the juicy beef, “if the man is that bad, you don’t have to work for him. I can give you enough money to tide you over until you find something better.”
Savanna had stopped taking financial help from her father a long time ago, but he never ceased offering, anyway.
“Thanks, Dad,” she told Thurman, “but I have no intentions of quitting. In fact, the drilling business is far more interesting than I thought it would be. So far today, I’ve learned it takes all sorts of people to drill for gas or oil. Geologist, seismologist, construction crews, truck drivers, drillers, tool pushers, rigworkers, roustabout crews and especially some rich financier to back it all. I think it will be a good learning experience to find out just what these people do to get petroleum out of the ground.”
“Well, perhaps your boss simply had a bad day. It might be that tomorrow he’ll loosen up and you’ll be able to enjoy your job,” Gloria put in hopefully.
Joe McCann loosen up? Savanna had held hopes for that this morning. But after spending a whole day with him? Well, she was still trying to figure out just exactly what it would take to put a smile on the man’s face.
“I don’t know, Gloria,” Savanna said doubtfully. “I have a feeling every day is a bad day for Mr. McCann.”
Across the table Thurman chuckled. “If anybody can loosen him up, it’ll be you, Savanna. He’ll think a hurricane has hit his office before you get through with him.”
Savanna laughed along with her father. She might as well. It was too late to fret now. She’d stayed at McCann’s this morning in spite of the shaky start she’d gotten off to with her stern-faced boss, and in doing so, she’d committed herself to the job. Savanna had never backed out of a commitment for any reason and she wasn’t about to now. She only hoped Joe McCann didn’t make her regret it.
Chapter Four
McCann Drilling was located on the west edge of Oklahoma City and several miles from Savanna’s apartment.
The next morning Savanna made doubly sure she had plenty of time to drive to work and, if necessary, change a flat. In fact, she got to McCann’s so early she discovered the door to the office building still locked and Joe nowhere in sight.
Deciding she didn’t want to sit in her Volkswagen until he arrived, she climbed out of the car and walked over to a high chain-link fence. It started at one end of the office building and stretched far into the distance. Behind the fence, more than a hundred yards away, several men were already at work loading a mammoth piece of iron derrick onto a long flatbed trailer.
The work yard appeared to cover at least five acres of land. Savanna knew practically nothing about the petroleum industry, yet in spite of her ignorance, one thing stood out loud and clear. McCann Drilling wasn’t busy.
A long line of blue-and-white transport trucks were sitting idle, mountains of drilling pipe lay stacked on its sides, while pieces of derrick were piled end upon end of each other, lying in useless wait. The rows of huge motors, which she guessed were used as power to turn the drilling pipe as it worked its way into the ground, were all quiet. How long had it been this way? she wondered.
“I see you made it safely to work on time this morning, Ms. Starr.”
At the sound of Joe’s voice, she turned away from the link fence to see him walking down the sidewalk toward her. As her eyes drank in the sight of him, her heart began to thud like a bass drum.
He was dressed all in blue denim this morning. The jeans were obviously worn and faded to a lighter shade than the shirt and clung to his long, muscled legs like an old familiar glove. Like yesterday, the sleeves on his shirt were rolled back against his forearms. A thin gold watch circled his left wrist, but other than that he wore no jewelry.
Savanna had never worked for a man who dressed as if he were part cowboy. But then, she’d never really lived in the Midwest before, either. Maybe the men here were different. Or maybe Joe McCann had his own ideas about business clothes. Whatever the reason, she found it very hard not to think of him as a man, when every inch of him looked tough and masculine. Right down to the laced boots on his feet.
Once he finally reached her, she smiled and said, “Fortunately, I didn’t have a breakdown this morning.”
“That’s good. I didn’t want to have to go after you in one of the gin trucks.”
Was he actually teasing her? Savanna quickly studied his face, then felt strangely disappointed when she found nothing there. Not even the merest hint of a smile.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to plead my ignorance. I don’t know what a gin truck is.”
Joe pointed to a truck the workmen were using to hoist up a piece of derrick. “The one that looks like a big wrecker.”
She nodded that she understood, then glanced back over to him. “I’ve been standing here trying to figure out what most of this stuff is,” she said, waving her hand out toward the work yard. “You have so much of everything. McCann Drilling must be a big operation.”
The corners of his mouth twisted wryly. “It’s not Exxon or Texaco by any means.”
“Lucky for you.”
Frowning, he looked at her. “What do you mean, lucky for me?”
She laughed at his nonplussed expression and Joe was struck by the freshness of her face, the vibrancy of her voice. She was wearing a sundress printed with large black-eyed Susans. It had a full skirt and two little straps over each shoulder. It wasn’t a dress he considered fitting for a secretary, but on Savanna he had to admit that somehow it managed to look sexy and charming at the same time.
“I meant it would be terrible to be saddled with something that big,” she told him.
He grunted as though her remark was addlebrained. “Every oilman dreams of making it big someday.”
Since Savanna had moved to this city, the wind had never ceased to blow. Now she watched it tug strands of Joe’s tawny blond hair across his forehead. “Are you an oilman, Mr. McCann?”
Obviously from the droll look on his face, he thought Savanna’s question a waste of time. “That is what I do, Ms. Starr. I search for oil or gas.”
“But is that what you really strive for, to make it big in the business? Do you want to be able to look up some day and say I’m the new king of the American road?”
From the moment Joe had met this woman yesterday morning she’d put him to thinking about things he’d never stopped to examine that closely before. First his daughter and now his work. What was it about her, anyway? Was she trying to practice psychology on the side and using him for a new patient?
“As far as I’m concerned I don’t think Texaco has anything to worry about. Hell, just look out there, Ms. Starr. You see all those stacked out-rigs? That’s not a work yard anymore, it’s a damn graveyard.”
She followed the line of his vision. “Well, I do know that the price of raw crude is down now. I guess your work is constantly affected by supply and demand.”
He grimaced as he continued to watch the skeleton crew of men at work. “You’re right, Ms. Starr. And this past year demand has been at rock bottom.”
So business had been bad for a whole year, Savanna concluded. Was that the reason he’d forgotten how to smile? The question made her look at him and wonder what kind of man he’d been before business had gone downhill. Was it possible that he’d actually been a happy, carefree man back then, or had something other than his business stepped in to change him? A woman? His daughter?
Savanna, stop wondering about your boss, she silently scolded herself. It shouldn’t make any difference to her if the man used to be a stand-up comedian. He was simply her boss and a few weeks from now, when her job for him had come to an end, he’d merely be a man she used to work for.
But it did matter, a part of her argued. She could see dark clouds of weariness in his eyes and the sight of it saddened her. She knew what it was like to wake up each morning and feel as if a dreadful weight was hanging around her neck. She wanted to help him. She wanted to see him laugh. She wanted him to be able to face whatever problems he had to face with a light heart and a hopeful smile.
“Things will pick up,” she said with bright encouragement.
“I’ve been telling myself that for a long time now.”
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