tryout Eric had asked for, and though she felt like she hadn’t accomplished much, she was pretty sure the company would renew her contract—unless he found out she wasn’t the woman she seemed to be.
If this job didn’t work out, her next one might be in San Francisco, or Boston, or New York. That would mean leaving Kelsey and Katie, and she couldn’t do that. Kelsey was doing a great job raising Katie without Mike, but lately the stress was getting to her and she was having migraines. She needed Sarah close.
“I won’t tell your secrets,” he said. “But you need to stop lying to yourself.” He reached up as if to tip the brim of his hat, but the hat wasn’t there; he’d left it in Eric’s office.
He made the tipping gesture anyway, gave her a wry smile, and walked out of the room.
***
Lane scooped his hat off his brother’s desk.
“You coming tonight?” Eric asked.
“Don’t think so. I ride this afternoon.”
“So you’re giving up on her?”
Lane gritted his teeth. He didn’t believe in giving up, and Eric knew it.
“Dinner’s at seven if you change your mind. I’m having a limo pick up the girls.”
“Girls? Plural?”
“Sarah and her friend Gloria. She’s a barista at Starbucks. Peppy little thing. Think I might get lucky.” Eric ran a hand through his dark hair. “But hey, let’s pretend I didn’t tell you Sarah’d be at the club though, okay? She’ll be furious if she finds out I set her up.” He laughed. “Never thought I’d have to get a woman for you, that’s for sure.”
Lane had a sudden urge to lunge over the desk and sucker punch his brother—not to hurt him, just to take him by surprise and remind him who was the stronger brother. They’d tussled all the time as kids—Eric with his brains, Lane with his brawn. Which brother won didn’t mean anything; it was the sparring that mattered. It was a tradition, a ritual that defined all their differences and confirmed their strengths.
“So did you get what you came for?”
Lane scowled. Sarah had him spinning in circles, but nobody else needed to know that.
“I came to talk to you.”
“Right. Why? Did Sarah change your mind about the drilling?”
Lane looked down at the toes of his boots. She hadn’t changed his mind, but she’d hijacked it. He’d practically forgotten how this whole thing started. It was about the ranch, the landscape, the traditions of the West. It was about Two Shot, even though Sarah didn’t want it to be.
In fact, she’d only increased his determination to save the town from the curse of an oil boom. Sarah might be ashamed of her hometown, but it had made her the woman she was—resourceful, hardworking, and ready for anything. The world needed more people like her, and more places like Two Shot.
“Don’t you care about Two Shot?” he asked his brother.
He knew the answer to the question. Lane had always longed for a hometown, a place to belong, but the small town near their grandfather’s ranch had barely been a blip on Eric’s radar.
“Not really,” Eric said. “I know you don’t want it to change, but it’s inevitable. It’ll either die and be absorbed back into the prairie, or it’ll grow and thrive. Which would you prefer?”
“I’d like it to thrive, but not the way you mean. The guys that work the platforms don’t care about the towns or the people. They’re there for what, six months, maybe a year? They move into trailers and cheap rentals, work all day, and screw around on weekends. Then they leave.”
“They leave a lot of money there.”
“They do more harm than good, and you know it.” Lane set his fists on the edge of the desk and leaned forward, looming over his brother. For the second time in under an hour, he wanted to punch his little brother.
But dominating Eric physically wouldn’t change anything. It didn’t matter that he was the bigger brother anymore. They were grown-ups now, and for once, he was going to have to act like one.
He was going to have to learn a whole new way to fight.
Chapter 15
Sarah spent the day immersed in work, fighting thoughts of Lane with facts and figures. It was well past five when she glanced at her watch and realized she was going to be late. She barely had time to rush home, shower, and slip into a little black dress before the company’s long black Town Car rolled to a halt outside the apartment