The Oil Prince (Contemporary Romance) (2 page)

***

Two days later, Emily and Basil had to go see the land they were going to drill. They both had had the opportunity to read over the paperwork Fady had prepared for them. They went to the field in separate cars. Basil had his driver drive him there. Emily drove herself there. She arrived a few moments after Basil. She got out of the car and walked over to where he was standing.

“Good afternoon,” Emily greeted Basil when she approached him. She wondered if she was to refer to him as “sir” or “your highness.” He was holding his phone and texting.

“You’re here,” he responded coldly. To him, his tone was natural but to Emily, it was cold.

“I am,” she replied. She did not know how else to respond to him. She hated that he was standing there looking at his phone and had not looked at her when she greeted him. The first and second time she met him, he had been on his phone. She wondered what so important that he could not tear himself away from. “We have engineers coming here to meet us. Shall we look around first?” she asked him.

“There is nothing but land here. What is there to see?” Basil replied. Emily frowned. It sounded as though he did not care.

“I will go look,” she said.

“Suit yourself,” he replied without lifting his head. He was so focused on his phone. Emily rolled her eyes and walked off.

Emily strolled as she looked at the field. The field was not that big but it was big enough. It was what was underneath that mattered. The land was neat, there were no rocks or grass. This meant that they would be able to drill quicker with no obstacles. The engineers arrived on time. Emily did not have to wait for too long. There were three engineers and a geophysicist, and they arrived in the same car. They got out and approached Emily.

“Good afternoon, Miss Gibson,” one of the engineers greeted Emily as he extended his hand to her for a handshake.

“Hello,” Emily said as she shook his hand. He introduced himself as Mr. Lyons. He was the head of the engineers. While he was speaking to Emily, she could not help but wonder why Basil was not standing next to her, greeting the engineers also. When she turned her head, she saw him walking towards them. He looked so relaxed and not bothered with what was going on. He had not rushed towards the engineers when they had arrived.

When Basil approached them, he stood beside Emily with one hand in his pocket. Emily was already annoyed by his lack of professionalism. “This is Prince Basil Tadros,” Emily quickly introduced him to the engineers. The four men looked at Basil and bowed their heads to him.

“It's good to meet you, your highness,” Mr. Lyons said. Basil just nodded. He looked so uninterested, Emily wanted to smack some sense into him.

“So what do we need to discuss?” Basil asked. It was going to take some time for Basil to adjust to everything. He was not used to attending meetings and having an office. He was never involved in the family business and he had no interest in it. So he just wanted to hurry the process up.

“Mr. Lyons, we want to drill this land for methane,” Emily began. After all, the engineers relied on the geophysicist and the petrophysicist to direct the drilling. They were the ones who would study the land and do their calculations, and then work with the engineers on a plan to drill.

Emily explained that they needed to drill for 200 barrels within three months. The four men looked surprised. They stared at Emily in disbelief. “I know the time is short but we have to get it done,” Emily said. Even she was still shocked about the timeline. She did not know why it was so short. There was so much to do in just three months.

Mr. Lyons told Emily and Basil that since the timeline was short, they would need to start drilling in two weeks. So that meant that the geophysicist and petrophysicist had two weeks to analyze the soil samples. Emily nervously smiled and told the engineers that they could get it done, even though she was not entirely sure.

Emily felt relieved when the meeting was finished. She was glad that the engineers seemed to be up for the challenge. Most people would have been nervous about the time scale. As she and Basil returned to their cars, she asked him, “Do you think that went well?” since he had not said much. He had only asked two questions, what they were going to discuss and whether they could get the job done. Other than that he had not said much.

“I guess,” he replied plainly.

“I mean you were rather quiet.” Emily was treading carefully since he was her boss’s brother. So she had to pick her words wisely. Basil responded with a grunt and just quickened his pace. He just disliked Emily and did not want to talk too much to her. He also felt like she was going to question him and he did not want that.

Emily watched Basil walking away with her jaw hung open. She could not believe his attitude. He really did not care about the project. It annoyed her. Maybe it was because he was a prince, he did not care about anything other than himself. That being said, he was so different from his brother. Fady was much more professional. He cared about his work and he communicated with his staff. Emily could not understand why it was Basil she had to work with. She just sighed and got into her car. Basil had gotten into his also. They headed their separate ways.

The next morning, Emily was in her office working when Fady came in. Emily stood up from her desk immediately. “Good morning, your highness,” she greeted him. She gave him a small bow.

“Morning, Miss Gibson,” he replied. His voice and presence were so regal.

“What can I do for you?”

“Come with me.”

Emily walked around her desk and approached Fady. “Where are we going?” she asked him. Fady opened the door for Emily and gestured for her to walk out first. “Thank you,” she said and walked out of her office.

“I have a new office ready for you and my brother to work in for this project,” said Fady.
What?
Emily’s subconscious screamed out. She was going to share an office with Basil for the duration of the project? She could not believe it. She liked having her own office.

“A new office for us?” she asked. She did not know what else to say. She did not want to express her displeasure to the boss.

“Yes, I figured that it would make it easier for the two of you to communicate and get the work done.” Fady knew that Basil was not going to like the idea of sharing an office. His brother did not warm up to people easily. He had poor interpersonal skills. However the idea was to put his brother in an environment that would force him to work. If he was left in an office on his own, he would not work.

Fady and Emily walked down the hall and took a left turn. There was a door right at the end. Emily was not too familiar with that part of the building. Fady opened the door and gestured for Emily to walk in first. She glared around the room as she walked in. There was a long table in the middle of the room and leather chairs around it. There were two laptops on the table. The room had large windows with no blinds or curtains. Emily liked that because it allowed the sun to shine into the room. There was also a cute seating area with a loveseat sofa and two armchairs. There was a coffee table in front of the sofas.

“It’s nice,” Emily said to Fady.

“I am glad that it is to your liking,” he replied.

“How come the time scale is so short for the project?” Emily spat out. She was so curious. She had to ask.

“It’s a customer’s requirement and also my brother is in a bit of bind. He has to be successful on this project.”

Emily was not satisfied with the answer but she could not further interrogate him. She just nodded. The word “bind”
resonated in her head. What kind of bind was Basil in? It only made her more curious.

After Fady had left, Emily returned to her office to collect her bag. She also picked up a few items that she thought she would need and then headed back to the office that Fady had chosen for her and Basil. The office was nice, it was beautiful and comfortable. When she re-entered the room, she noticed that there was a small fridge. She opened it and found some drinks and snacks. She shut the door and went to sit at the table. Emily flipped open one of the brand-new looking laptops that sat on the table and was glad to see that the software she used to analyze land had already been installed.

Almost an hour and a half later, Basil finally arrived. He walked into the room dressed in black trousers and a navy blue shirt. Emily looked up from the laptop at him. He looked at Emily with his eyebrows crossed. “Good morning,” she greeted him. He turned on his heel and walked back out of the room. He headed to his brother's office.

Basil opened the door to Fady’s office and let himself in. Fady was sitting at his desk. He looked up when Basil walked in. “You forgot to mention one important thing to me when you told me about my office,” Basil said, still standing in the doorway. Fady gave Basil a questioning look. He put his pen down and leaned back in his seat.

“What did I forget to mention?” Fady asked.

“That I am to share the office.”

A small smile appeared on Fady’s face. He knew that his brother was not going to like the idea. It did not shock him that his brother had stormed into his office to discuss the matter. “Well, the two of you are going to be working together. It makes sense to share an office,” said Fady.

“No, it does not. We can work from separate offices.” Basil had never had to share anything with anyone. The only time he was in a room with someone else, it was either a servant serving him, or a member of his family or a female companion. Other than that, there was no reason for him to sit in the same room with a mere person.

“The two of you need to come up with a plan and discuss everything. You cannot be communicating through secretaries,” said Fady. Basil stared at him with a blank facial expression.

“So you are telling me that I have to share an office, with her, every day, for three months?”

“Basil, stop overreacting and go do your work.”

“This is a terrible idea, I am telling you.”

Fady laughed a little. He understood that his brother had never worked or had to get along with people he did not know. “All you have to do is be cordial and professional,” he said. Basil grunted and turned on his heel. He headed out of Fady’s office and returned to the office that he was sharing with Emily.

When he walked back into the room, Emily was still sitting at the table looking at her laptop. She looked at him when he walked back in. He pulled out a chair and sat down. He flipped the laptop open and tapped a key. It was just around 11:30 a.m., and he could not wait to get the day over and done with.

Emily felt awkward. She did not know why he had walked out of the office after he first came in. He had not even replied to her when she greeted him. She did not know whether to greet him again or not. She took a deep breath and started speaking.

“Given the time we have, I do not think we should do coring,” Emily began. Every time she had tried to be polite to Basil, he had not returned her politeness. So this time she just went straight to the point.

“Why not?” Basil asked without looking up from his laptop. At least this time it was not his phone that he was holding onto.

“Takes long and it’s too expensive.”

“What then?”

“Well logging,” she said. Both well logging and coring were methods of analyzing rock and earth samples. The petrophysicists then studied the data obtained from the analysis and formed their conclusions on whether there was fuel or not, the quantity of the fuel, and how to proceed with the drilling.

“Okay,” Basil replied.

“Shall I explain well logging to you?” Emily asked. She thought maybe he was not aware of the methods, since he was not saying much.

“I know what well logging is.” Basil finally looked up.

“It’s just that you are not saying much.” Emily was losing her patience with him.

“Do I need to talk to you? I just need to do my work.”

“Yes, you do need to talk to me. We have to work together, we cannot just work separately and then compare notes later.”

“It works for me.”

“We have no time to spare,” said Emily.  

“Three months is plenty,” said Basil lazily.

“It is just enough time if we put all our effort in.” Emily sighed. “Prince Fady says that you’re in a bit of a bind,” she added.

“It is none of your business,” Basil replied.

“It is clear to me that you do not want to work with me but we have no choice in the matter. So we should just get on with it,” Emily said. She tried to ignore his rudeness. He probably felt that he could get away with it just because he was a prince.

Basil sighed. “We should,” he said. In the end it was him who was going to lose out if the project was not successful. Emily nodded. Finally, something they both agreed on.

They discussed well logging in more detail. They needed to start that very day. Everything had to be done fast. Emily called the geology department and asked them to start the well logging that day. They talked some more about the project. Emily did most of the talking, of course.

She was surprised, however, whenever Basil spoke. He did not talk much but he was quite smart. He came up with very good points. When it was four in the afternoon, Basil left first. Emily buried her head in her hands. She was glad that they were no longer together. He was just frustrating. He had come late and now he had left early. He was a piece of work. She stayed behind and did some work until it was six. She tidied up the office and then headed home.