Wilde Fire (6 page)
had ushered her to a conference room with a huge table with twelve
leather chairs, then left. Several hours later and still no Austin, Edna had informed her that the eldest Wilde brother was at the mine and
wouldn’t be returning.
After learning about the on-site offices from Edna, she’d tried,
and failed, to arrange a meeting with Austin. Selby, his secretary, had said he was working in town and to try there. This went on for days.
Jessie wasn’t a fool and knew the two women had been sending her
on a goose chase.
Phoenix told her the suites in town were for show, unlike the ones
they were about to enter. Austin worked almost exclusively at the
mine from his office there.
“Angel, this could get ugly. You ready to meet my brother?”
Phoenix asked.
“Beyond ready.”
Several of the miners looked at them with curiosity, but none
spoke to them. A couple of them frowned at Phoenix, but he acted as if he didn’t notice. Jessie felt like the most hated woman in Nevada, and she bet that Phoenix looked like Judas to these men.
When she and Phoenix stepped up to the office of Austin Wilde,
Selby sat at a desk by the big oak door. The woman was a tiny thing
Wilde Fire
43
with long, blonde hair. She shot Phoenix a big, toothy grin. “Good to see you.”
He frowned. “Cut the crap, Selby. Where is Austin?”
“In town.”
“Bullshit.”
Selby shook her head. “I know you and Dallas don’t come off
your family’s ranch very often to visit us, but you should understand that kind of language is inappropriate here, Phoenix.” The woman
turned to her. “Ms. Greene. How may I help you?”
Phoenix slapped his hand down on the desk, and the secretary
jerked her head back around, facing him. “Austin is on his dinner
break, right?”
The woman answered nervously, “Yes, but—”
Phoenix grabbed Jessie’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Selby picked up the phone.
Phoenix cursed, “Damn it! Don’t even think about it.”
She hesitated, holding the phone’s receiver in her hand. He glared
at her, and she put the handset back in the cradle.
Jessie liked how Phoenix’s commanding demeanor and tone had
the woman snapping to obey. She doubted even she could resist him if he ever spoke to her that way. He put his arm around her, placing his hand on her hip. Jessie felt a bit of moisture in her panties.
“You ready?” Phoenix asked.
Selby’s eyes crinkled up, and her lips turned into a jealous frown.
Jessie knew she shouldn’t be happy with being touched by
Phoenix and the young woman’s response, but she was. In fact, she
was thrilled. “I am.” She’d never been good at keeping secrets
anyway.
It took them five minutes to find Austin Wilde’s location. The
place looked like a men’s locker room. The man who’d been avoiding
her for days sat on a bench alone, reading some papers while
munching on a sandwich. As she and Phoenix stepped into the room,
Austin looked up. Like his other brothers, he was incredibly
44
Chloe Lang
handsome. He wore a black shirt and jeans. Jessie spotted what
looked to her like depth and fierceness in his dark eyes. His goatee made his features even more comely. He stood up, revealing a six-foot-three stature.
The seductive, intimidating man pointed to one of the benches.
“Please, have a seat.”
Jessie wanted to get a read on Austin, but it wasn’t clear to her
what the man was thinking. The only clue to his possible anger
toward Phoenix bringing her unannounced was the glare he shot his
younger brother.
Remaining standing, she held out her hand. “Thank you, Mr.
Wilde. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
He took her hand and brought it up to his lips. “Ms. Greene, the
pleasure is mine.” He kissed the back of her hand, and a spark shot through her, flattening her out. He released her hand and turned to Phoenix. “I need you in the B-shaft. I’ll take care of Ms. Greene.”
Phoenix looked like he was going to protest but then didn’t.
“Jessie, just tell Selby when you’re ready to leave. She’ll reach me on the com, and I’ll be back in a flash to take you back to your hotel.”
“No need.” Austin set his papers neatly on the bench next to him.
“I’ll have a driver take her.”
Phoenix frowned. “Austin, I’m taking her. Understand?”
The older Wilde brother’s eyebrow shot up. At first, Jessie
thought he might punch Phoenix, but he didn’t. “All right, bro.”
“Perfect. Don’t keep her too long. See you later, Jessie.”
After Phoenix left, Jessie felt strangely uncomfortable. She
wished that she’d asked him to stay.
Austin Wilde stared at her, causing butterflies to take flight in her belly. The man had a presence that was thick in the room—and
unnerving. How long they remained without saying a word to one
another, she wasn’t sure. But the silence was deafening. Was this
some kind of challenge? Well, she wasn’t about to play games. She
was proud of how well she’d proved herself at her job. Besides being
Wilde Fire
45
the youngest analyst, she was one of only two female special
investigators at the agency. The backwoods cowboy’s intimidation
tactics needed to be dealt with right away.
“Mr. Wilde, I think we better set the ground rules.”
He stood up and placed his large hands on her shoulders. Jessie
felt electricity shoot down her arms and body from his warm touch.
What the hell?
She stood up.
“Have a seat.”
“Excuse me? You want to have our first meeting here? Wouldn’t
your office be more suited for that?”
“Sit down!”
Austin Wilde’s tone was more forceful and sexy than she’d ever
heard from any other man before in her life. She swallowed and fell back into the chair, unable to refuse.
He looked at her like a scientist studying a specimen. After a long pause, he spoke. “Interesting.”
Shaking, she said, “I–I’m not sure this is the way we should get
started.”
“I think this is exactly how we should get started, Ms. Greene.”
Austin unabashedly ogled her body.
What is it about these Wilde brothers and their wicked stares?
When he finished, his gaze moved to her eyes, holding her like a vise.
“You may not believe this, but like you, I want to discover the facts of these accidents.”
A shiver rolled down her spine. “I sure hope that is true, Mr.
Wilde…or shall I call you Austin?”
“Mr. Wilde is fine, Jessie.”
She was blowing it. He was making her understand that he was in
the driver’s seat, not her. That was exactly what she didn’t want or need. But the more he talked with his demanding tone, the more he
leered at her with those sexy dark eyes, the more nervous she became.
Not good at all.
If she was going to have half a chance of succeeding with her investigation, she needed to get a grip on herself. She had a
46
Chloe Lang
job to do, damn it.
“I think I’d rather call you Austin.”
“Suit yourself, Ms. Greene.”
So that was how he was going to play it. Fine. “So you say that
you really want to get to the truth of all these accidents?”
He nodded.
“I find that hard to believe. Especially given how much you have
been avoiding me.”
“I’m a busy man. I have a full schedule. I understand why you
would think coming unannounced would help you uncover something
in your investigation. You must also understand that since I was
unaware of your arrival. I could not drop everything to babysit you.”
“Babysit?”
“Perhaps a poor choice of word. Would
entertain
be a better choice? Since you seem a bit overly sensitive, I’ll be careful what words I choose going forward. Anyway, I needed some time to get
my calendar cleared, so I could spend more time with you. That’s
been done. I’m all yours.”
Anger filled her up. This guy was arrogant, demanding, a pain in
the ass...and insanely all she could think about was what he might be like in bed.
No.
I have a job to do.
“Mr. Wilde, I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot. But you do need to understand one thing. If I find any infraction that I deem serious enough to merit closure of the mine, I will do my duty to make sure no one else gets hurt.”
Austin’s face grew dark, and his eyes narrowed. “My job is to
make sure that the miners whose families depend on this place staying open continue to earn a living.”
“Even if that means some of them might get hurt, or worse—
killed.”
He slammed his fist into one of the lockers, causing her to gasp.
Still, when he spoke, his voice was steady and controlled. “Ms.
Greene, I’m certain you will not find any infraction that points to something lacking in our policies and procedures at Wilde Mine.”
Wilde Fire
47
She shivered. The man was so intense. And so sexy. “I’m here to
make sure it’s safe. Do you agree with me that something is odd about the accidents? Wilde Mine has been free of incidents for years. Now, there’s several in a month. Even I was nearly injured in one just a few days ago.”
His hands curled into fists. She’d hit a nerve. Good.
“I apologize for that. You do understand that the driver of the
machinery had an episode with his heart?”
“Yes. How is he?”
“I checked with the doctor this morning. He says that Paul should
be going home sometime tomorrow.” For the first time, Jessie spotted a softer emotion on this stoic man’s face. It was relief.
“I’m glad to hear that he’s doing well.”
“What do you need to help you speed your investigation along,
Ms. Greene? The quicker you get through it, the quicker you can get home.”
“Well, I’d like to look into the files around the areas where the
initial accidents occurred. Then, I’d like to read the reports that were filed by the supervisors that were on site.”
He stood up and gathered up his papers and the remainder of his
meal. “Follow me.” Without waiting for her, Austin walked out of the locker room.
Jessie leapt to her feet and trailed him.
He’s got me hopping like a
trained pup.
When she finally caught up to Austin, he was standing in front of
his secretary’s desk.
“Yes, sir?” Selby asked.
“Whatever Ms. Greene needs, make sure she gets it. Understand?”
The woman looked up at him with stars in her eyes. “Sure thing.
Mr. Winters has called three times. Said it’s urgent.”
“Bankers think everything is urgent. Fine. I’ll call him. I’d like
some coffee.”
Selby nodded. “I’ll make some fresh for you, sir.”
48
Chloe Lang
“It’s going to be a long night. I’ll need you to stay late, too.”
Austin wasn’t asking the woman, he was commanding her. Arrogant.
Chauvinistic. Asshole.
Steamy.
“Yes, sir.” Clearly, Selby was totally smitten by the man and
didn’t mind his dominating nature. Austin seemed to like her mooning gaze on him, too.
Jessie suspected there was a lot more than just business going on
between these two. Well, she wasn’t some airhead girl from this small town that didn’t know a thing or two about dealing with jerks. There were more than one or two at work that had tried to go toe-to-toe with her. They’d lost.
She decided to push him. “If you really mean that, Mr. Wilde, I
would like one thing from now on.”
“Of course I meant it. What do you want?”
“I’d like to have better access to you.”
The corners of his mouth turned up, warming her entire body.
“Interesting request, Jessie.”
She felt all her skin burn from embarrassment. “I–I mean I would
like to be able to meet with you on a regular basis and not have to go through your gatekeeper.”
Selby stood up and folded her arms over her chest. “That’s not
how it works here, Ms. Greene. If you want to see him, you’ll have to deal with me.”
Austin kept staring at Jessie, until nervousness had her wringing
her hands. Without turning to his secretary, he ordered, “Sit down, Selby.”
The woman slammed back into her chair, frowning.
“Good.” He smiled, and everything went woozy inside Jessie. “I’d
like to spend more time with you, too.”
Jessie needed to clear her head.
Think about work. Think about the
investigation.
It helped, and her mind snapped back to the here and now. “Trust me, Mr. Wilde. My investigation will get to the bottom of these accidents.”
Wilde Fire
49
“I like your tenacity. My mind was on a bottom, too, though a
very different one.” He looked at her as if he could read her thoughts.
Her insides felt like popcorn, and Austin was the microwave. “So,
I’m ready to get started right away.”
“You’re going to be trouble. I think I need to reconsider how to
handle your visit to Wilde, Ms. Greene. Perhaps I’ve been going
about this all wrong.”
50
Chloe Lang
Chapter Six
Jessie sat alone in one of the outside buildings that doubled as a
kind of waiting room for the mine, talking on her cell phone to her ex.
Michael had called her twenty minutes ago, and she hadn’t been
able to get him off the phone. She tried to sound relaxed and calm, but her insides were still quaking from her meeting with Austin Wilde.
The guy had pushed all her buttons, even some she didn’t know she