on the bottom of the table.
“Ow.”
He knelt down beside her but she scooted away, her hand feeling for the bump on her noggin. “Why the hell would I stay?”
“Because you need to go back to the diner and try again. You should have stuck it out, Sarah. These people won’t respect you if you run away. You’ll never get them to accept the Carrigan project that way.”
She shrugged and stood up, still gazing around the room in search of her watch. “I’ll never get them to accept it anyway.”
He squinted at her, trying to figure out where the spunky Sarah he knew had disappeared to. She wore an air of defeat he’d never seen before. Looking at her slumped shoulders and downcast eyes, he felt like a hard fist had grabbed his heart and squeezed it.
“Look,” he said. “You know I don’t want the drilling here. But I hate to see you just give up like this.”
“I didn’t give up. Not willingly. Your brother fired me.”
“My brother…” He swallowed. Shit. Eric must have heard something somehow. It wasn’t too surprising. Once Sarah had left the diner, the conversations around the diner’s scarred tabletops focused on nothing but her and the Carrigan project—and nobody had anything very nice to say about either one. Knowing Eric, there was someone else from Carrigan keeping a finger on the pulse of the town. But man, that was quick. How had news traveled so fast? “My brother fired you? Already?”
“Yes, already. And don’t act so surprised.”
She walked over to the mantel, scanning its surface. That watch must be some kind of family heirloom. She was still focused on finding it, even though she’d just lost her job.
And getting fired had to be devastating for her. He was sure she needed the money, plus she was one of those people who would answer the question “Who are you?” with her job description.
“You won, okay?” She moved over to a cabinet in the corner and pushed a couple of candles to one side, still searching. “Game over. I’m gone. Maybe you and Trevor should have a beer or something to celebrate.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Actually, he had some idea what she was talking about—part of it, anyway. She’d caught on to the fact that relationships were about winning for him. Despite his efforts to change his thinking last night, she still thought he was tallying points with every word.
But she only recognized it because she was like that herself. So she ought to like it, or at least find it charming and roguish. But she’d turned to face him now, and she didn’t look charmed. She looked angry. But that was a big improvement over that lost look she’d had a moment before.
“I’m talking about your little smear campaign. I’m talking about how you got a couple flunkies from town to make anonymous phone calls about me.”
“Smear campaign? Anonymous phone calls?” He went over her words in his mind. “Hell, Sarah, I’m not that bad.”
“You might not have realized he’d fire me,” she conceded. “But I know it was you, Lane. Nobody else knew I was in town until this morning.”
“Nobody knew?” He flipped through the events of the previous day in his mind. “Trevor knew. And Emmy, who cleans the house.” She looked startled for a moment and he knew she genuinely hadn’t remembered that fact. “And if Trevor knew, Gena did too, and she and Emmy both work for Suze.” He reached her in two long steps and took her wrists in his hands, turning her to face him. “Suze has been against the project from the start. Remember how she used to go on about the environment?”
She nodded, looking doubtful.
“And anyway, what makes you think I’d sneak around and make anonymous phone calls? You know me better than that. Don’t you?”
She refused to meet his eyes.
“Look, Sarah. You’re right. I don’t want the project to succeed. But I don’t want you to fail, either.” She started to tug her hands away, but he held fast. “You know there’s something between us. Something that matters a lot more than your job.”
He shook her slightly. “We’re just alike. You’re the first woman I ever met who’s as competitive as I am, who can give me a run for my money and everything else I’ve got. I want to see where we’re headed. I think it might be a good place for both of us.” He put his hands on her shoulders and figured he