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One
The entire population of Royal, Texas, thought Heath Thurston was a bullheaded jerk. Or at least it seemed that way. They talked about him like he was a mean dog with a bone. A veritable thorn in everyone’s side. Heath did not care. Not one whit. They could call him names until they were blue in the face. He wasn’t about to let go of his mission, especially not on account of public opinion. If he had to scrap and fight until his dying breath, he’d have some semblance of justice for his mother, Cynthia, and half sister, Ashley. They were no longer on this earth to fight for themselves. And no one else seemed to care that they’d both been wronged while they were alive.
Even his twin brother, Nolan, was shrugging off what the Grandins and Lattimores, two of the biggest and most powerful families in the town, had done to Cynthia and Ashley.Let it go, Nolan had said.It’s time to move on.But that was easy for Nolan to say. He’d hardly been around at all over the last fifteen years after heading off for greener pastures and leaving Heath to take care of everything at home. Sure, Nolan had finally returned to Royal, but that was only to turn around and be blinded by love—the love of a Grandin, no less. Chelsea. The woman he’d married. Heath could hardly believe the state of affairs. Nine months ago, he’d started his crusade against the Grandin and Lattimore families. And now he was related by marriage to one of them.
To make things worse, it was snowing. “What in the hell is going on?” he muttered under his breath. He peered out the windshield of his Ford F-150 Limited, a truck that was tough as nails on the outside and pure luxury inside. This was not typical weather for Royal, not even a few days after Christmas. It had never occurred to him to check the forecast before he headed out to Ruby Rose Bennett’s house so he could talk to her about the oil survey she’d done on the Grandin and Lattimore properties. Her report’s ultimate finding was “inconclusive,” which Heath found unacceptable. An old report had said there wasn’t oil, but he didn’t trust it. So either there was oil on that land or there wasn’t, and it was her job to find the answer. If there was oil, his mother and half sister had been entitled to it when they were alive. Since they were no longer here to fight for themselves, Heath was going to have to continue to do it for them on his own.
He would not fail. Even though he could admit to himself that things were looking bleak, he was also sure that he was not out of chances. He still had a few cards tucked up his sleeve. And he hoped that Ruby Rose Bennett might be able to help him play a winning hand.
His GPS told him that her driveway was ahead on the right, so he slowed down and made the turn. He was well beyond the city limits of Royal, out in a quiet rural area where there weren’t many homes visible from the road and the parcels of land were vast. He started up the winding gravel road and drove up and over the crest of a hill, then began crawling along through a stand of trees that became more dense with every passing minute. He had to wonder what Ruby Rose Bennett was doing living this far out, in such an isolated and remote location. Perhaps she was a loner.
He’d never met the woman, but he imagined her to be in her late fifties or early sixties, possibly with a head of gray hair. Land surveyor was a rugged vocation, especially in Texas, where the terrain could be as unforgiving as it was beautiful.Surveyorconjured images of an ornery old man, so he could only envision that a woman in that line of work might have a similar aesthetic. Her email address, their main mode of communication, tipped him off to her age as well, since it suggested someone who did not keep pace with technology. The final hint had been their one phone call. Ruby Rose had a gruff voice that made her sound like a woman who’d been through a lot. He could relate. He’d been through the wringer as well.
The snow seemed to be coming down faster with every passing minute. It really was the most bizarre sight. Heath had lived in Royal his entire life and could count on one hand the number of times they’d had this sort of winter weather. He tried to take it as an omen that things were changing. Hopefully, that included his luck. He was tired of battling the Grandins and the Lattimores. He wanted them to turn over what they’d promised so he could begin the process of moving on in his life. What that might look like, however, he wasn’t sure.
Eventually, he spotted the house he presumed to belong to Ms. Bennett. A paved driveway led him to the cute and tidy cottage, painted deep blue with crisp white trim, a high-pitched roof and a stone foundation. Window boxes sat at the sills of leaded-glass panes, overflowing with Christmas greenery of cedar, pine and holly, which now had a frosty coating of fresh snow. Perhaps old Ruby Rose Bennett kept herself busy during her leisure time by decorating for the holidays.
He parked his car off to the far right side, near a cluster of tall trees he hoped would shield his vehicle from any heavy accumulation of snow. He killed the engine and climbed out, bracing for the icy air. He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and marched up the steps and onto her front porch, his cowboy boots thumping on the wide decking boards. Heath knocked on her door, which was adorned with a rather elaborate holiday wreath. After several moments, there was no answer, but he could see a light on inside, so he knocked again.Must be taking her some time to get here.Perhaps that was the problem with the survey Ruby Rose had done. She might not be as able-bodied as the job required. If that was the case, he’d have to find someone else to do it.
When the door finally opened, it felt as though the air was knocked right out of his lungs. Before him stood a stunning woman. Scratch that—she was drop-dead gorgeous. She was tall and willowy, with wavy blond hair, bright green eyes and full pink lips that, unfortunately, weren’t saying a thing.
“Yes. Uh, hello.” He glanced down at his feet, just to take a breather from her considerable beauty. “I’m looking for Ruby Rose Bennett. Is she home?”
“You’re Heath Thurston, aren’t you?” The woman eyed him up and down, making him incredibly self-conscious. And if he was being honest, a little turned on. Still, he was taken aback by the fact that she knew who he was. Had his reputation preceded him?
“That’s me. I hired Ms. Bennett to do some survey work for me and I need to speak to her about it.” He peered into the foyer for some sign of Ruby Rose.
“Okay. Although, I’m hardly dressed to discuss business.” The woman looked down at herself. She was wearing a white sweater that hung off her shoulder, revealing a particularly enticing stretch of very touchable skin. Her somewhat beat-up blue jeans fit her like a glove. “A call or an email to set up a meeting would’ve been nice.”
“Wait. What?” It felt as though his brain was fighting him as he struggled to reconcile his assumptions about Ruby Rose Bennett’s appearance and the reality of the person standing before him. “You’re Ruby Rose?”
“Most people call me Ruby. Add in the Rose and it sounds a little old-fashioned. Although, there’s nothing wrong with that, and I do like the name. It was my mother’s.”
Heath wanted to laugh at how he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion about her. He was normally on the mark when summing up people. This time, he’d been more than a little off base. “Okay, then, Ruby. We need to talk.”
“And as I just said, a call or an email would’ve been nice. At the very least, a text.”
“I did call. And email you.”
“When, exactly?”
Heath did not appreciate her attitude. He had a legitimate reason to be here. “Yesterday. And this morning.”
“It’s Saturday. Two days after Christmas. I take time off at the holidays, Mr. Thurston. Curl up with a good book. Drink a mug of hot cocoa. Maybe even with a shot of rum in it. Relax. Perhaps you should try it.”
Heath narrowed his vision on her. Dammit, she was pretty, but he did not like the words coming out of her mouth, or more specifically, the condescension with which she delivered them. “I don’t need a lesson in how to conduct myself, Ms. Bennett. I hired you to survey the Grandin and Lattimore properties for oil, and I’m not happy with the results. ‘Inconclusive’ is not an answer.”
“I’m sorry about that, but just like the sun coming up in the morning, I have no control over some things. Either Mother Nature spent millions of years creating crude oil on that property, or she didn’t. And although I’d love to give you the exact answer, the terrain doesn’t allow for it unless you want to spend a whole lot more money.”
“More money? You haven’t given me what I paid for in the first place, which is a yes or no answer.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that.” As if Mother Nature herself was on Ruby’s side in this argument, a fierce and bitter wind whipped over Heath’s shoulders and straight into her foyer. She wrapped her arms around her midsection. “My gut is to tell you to go home, Mr. Thurston, but with the weather the way it is, you should come inside if you still want to talk about this.”
Heath didn’t appreciate that her inclination was to send him on his way, but he was thankful she was willing to reconsider. “Yes. That would be great. Thank you.” He stepped inside and stomped his feet on the rug.
“Take your boots off.”
“I’d prefer to keep them on, if it’s all the same to you.” Heath didn’t walk around in his socks, especially not in front of a beautiful woman when they were about to discuss business.
