The Texan's Baby (Texas Rodeo Barons)

She tucked the phone away and unwrapped her sandwich. She was looking forward to seeing him—perhaps too much.

* * *

CHRIS STEPPED INTO the coffee shop and scanned the customers. There she was, her dark brown hair tucked up in a no-nonsense bun, clicking away on her smartphone. One thing he could say about Nicole Bennett—she was one hell of a hard worker. She was a one-woman dynamo, always at the forefront of anything happening with the company. Everyone knew she was Adele Black’s right hand at AB Windpower.

He grabbed a plain black coffee from the barista and made his way over to her table. “Hey, thanks for meeting me,” he said, pulling out a chair. “I could have come into the office.”

Nicole looked up and smiled, putting down her phone. “That’s okay. I like to get out of the office now and again. And it gives me an excuse to grab a chocolate pecan bar.”

The empty paper wrapper sat under her coffee cup.

“So,” she said, picking up her beverage, “you’re looking to come back to work already. Rodeo not all you expected?” She took a sip, a curious expression on her face as she asked him the question.

“Actually, the rodeo’s been great.” Too great. The more he thought about it the more he knew this was the right thing but he was choked that he was going to miss the rest of the season. “Something’s come up, is all.”

“Yeah, earning a living wage is kind of important, huh.” She grinned again. “And you won’t hear complaints from us anyway. I know Adele gave you the leave because she wanted to keep you happy and make sure you came back. She was thrilled when I told her you’d called.”

Which should have made him happy. Instead all he felt was locked in, inside a career he didn’t truly want.

“Nothing’s written in stone yet, Nicole.” He blew on his coffee before taking a hot sip. “I was wondering if there’s any chance to work somewhere other than San Antonio. If there’s anything closer to the Dallas–Fort Worth area.” He’d thought about it all day yesterday and figured at least that way he’d be a bit closer to his kid. He was pretty sure Lizzie had no plans to leave Baron and her family and move this way, and really, why would she?

Nicole met his gaze evenly. “You turned down the management offer before.”

Management. Talk about being locked in even more. At least in his position here, he’d been out in the field some of the time. It wasn’t the same thing day in and day out. If he moved into something supervisory, those opportunities would be gone.

Then again, he’d be in a more secure position to be a dad. He kept thinking what his own father would say. And it would center around providing the best life possible for his kid. That’s what his dad had done for him, and without the benefit of the education Chris had. Didn’t his kid deserve the same?

“It would depend on the position,” he responded cautiously.

“We’re still looking for someone to manage a satellite office in Dallas. I know you didn’t want to be that far from your family before, so what’s changed?”

They hadn’t told anyone about the baby yet and he wasn’t about to tell Nicole before they’d even announced it to family. “Some personal circumstances,” he answered cryptically.

“Well, it’d be a bump in salary for you. You’d head up the office there, manage the engineers and technicians for our local interests. Right now we have an admin assistant there who is reporting to head office, but it’s not the most efficient way to run it. It needs someone on site. Anything to do with head office can be done over the phone. And you’d have to travel here a little, for meetings, but that would be minimal. You’d be our front person in that part of the state.”

She took a napkin and wrote a number down on it. “This is the salary offer. The benefits package is a little nicer, as well. I can email you those details.”

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. When they’d first approached him about the job, he hadn’t even considered it. He wanted the year off and he wanted to be close to his parents, not have to move. This was a good offer. A damned good offer. And he could drive to see his mom and dad now and again, especially if he had a son or daughter to take with him.

A son or daughter. Sometimes thinking about that still freaked him out, made his chest tighten and his heart race. He was so not ready for fatherhood!

“Can I have a few days to think about it?”

She smiled. “Of course you can.”

Her coffee was gone and she reached down for her bag. “I’ve got to get back to the office for a meeting. It’s kind of an exciting time to be in energy. And hey, when you’re in Dallas you’ll be in the heart of it. What do you hear about Baron Energies these days?”

It was too casual a question for it to not be intentional. His eyes narrowed. “Why? I’ve met the brothers before. They’re a big rodeo family, as well as being in the oil business.”

“Just curious. There was a press release this morning about Brock Baron being injured late last week and being out of commission for a while. His daughter, Elizabeth, is taking over. Do you know her?”

His throat felt tight. “A little.”

“It’ll be interesting to see how she handles being at the helm—if she’s a Daddy’s girl with a token position or if she can really stand the heat. They lost a big contract not long ago.”

The words to defend Lizzie rose to his tongue but he wisely refrained. “Knowing that family, you’d be smart not to underestimate them,” he advised. “What’s the big interest all of a sudden? They’re oil. We’re alternative energy.”

Nicole shrugged. “It’s interesting, that’s all. Besides, Elizabeth has publicly said that she’s interested in other energy alternatives.”