“There’s a cache around here, I just know it. If only I can find it. This is the kind of thing a conservation easement could protect. And take safety measures to secure—at their expense, not yours. And bring in potential funding for research, which would protect it from predatory companies like Fossyl in the future.”
His mind slowed down a degree. His eyes darted back to hers. If she thought there was something significant out here—and the eagerness sparkling her amber eyes said she did—coupled with the fact that a fault line had recently been active…
“Fossyl’s still not gonna give up their lease, no matter how much pressure I put on them,” he replied. “If a judge refuses to find in favor of me, they’re gonna cling to this if they think there’s a chance for profit.”
Heather shrugged. Jammed her hands back in her rear pockets in that way that looked cute.
“And that’s why I say you’re going about this in the wrong way,” she said. “You need to put pressure on the state. It’s wasted effort on Fossyl.”
He mulled over what she was saying. Tingling prickled his skin as he deliberated, wishing he could put it all in a spreadsheet to make sense of it. She…wasn’t wrong.
“The state’s the one who can approve these wells. They’re also the ones who can determine if the conservation integrity is worth more than the oil development. From the state’s perspective, what’s going to bring them more revenue? How’s the oil company planning to develop the land?”
He nodded. Anticipation licked through his blood. Holy hell, Heart really had figured out a way to get him out of this lease and get the pumps removed before someone got hurt on them.
“An oil refinery. Just a small one, but if there’s an active fault line running through here where they want to lay their foundation, that ain’t happening.”
She grinned. “Even if that fault is never active again for the rest of your lifetime, you have the argument, physical evidence”—she gestured around them—“and documented seismology that this ground can be unstable. That, and in some cases, if a company abandons their equipment, you can nullify the lease—usually a period of years where it’s become derelict. And if there’s no record of the wells pumping and they’re clearly overgrown…the fencing you put up is still there, years later, well…” She bit her plump lip. “I know a damn good contracts attorney who could probably use that to his advantage.”
He wanted those lips right now and drew her in for a rough, excited kiss, gripping her nape. “I don’t believe it,” he murmured against her lips. Sparks coursed through his blood. For the first time since inheriting, he felt inspired, felt like there was hope, for his legal practice, this land, and his boys.
Fossyl had scrubbed any evidence of payments from the ’90s, but Tyler had seen the pumps operating as a kid. He could use their own deceit against them to prove that they’d been abandoned.
Lips mashed together and Heart’s notebook smashed against his belly between them, she replied, “I may have mentioned a geoseismic event in my survey report to the State Committee as being of concern, too.”
Their eyes locked, so close, he could see every amber and golden hue of her irises, could see every detail in her skin and eyelashes. His throat tightened. He pulled his brows together, resting his forehead to hers.
“You put your job on the line anyway.”
He pulled upright, looked down his chest upon her, hooking his arm around her waist to rest on the rise of her rear. Haphazard tendrils framed her face. Stringy from wind and sweat. What was it he was feeling? He’d never felt like this about a woman. This happiness that came so easily. Tenderness that didn’t leave hurt and wreckage in its wake. With someone who didn’t tolerate his stubborn streaks but softened him. He was ass over head for her.
“Why?” he croaked.
The tightness in his chest only squeezed harder, awaiting her answer.
She held his gaze. “Because it’s worth it,” she whispered. “You, and your boys, and the legacy of this land, all the things I wish I had, you’re all worth it. Because I lo—” her face bloomed hot, bright red, “—love it here,” she stammered, but that premonition in his gut told him the truth. That wasn’t what she’d been about to say.
He took her notebook from her fingers and tossed it onto the rock, pulling her arms around him, as happiness, as yearning that he couldn’t describe, drew him to her. He slid his fingers along her jaw and cheeks, holding her mouth to his as he reverently leaned down to kiss her again and savored the peppermint taste of her tongue.
“Stay with us.” The words rushed out of him, and he felt her whole body tense against him.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I sounded clingy, and—”
“Be part of us, sweetheart. We can take it slow. I know you never wanted an attachment.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” She picked at his shirt as if it was covered in specks, her words growing tight, eyes rimming red but refusing to look at him. “I’ve always wanted roots. But no one’s ever wanted them with me.”
Until he’d said it, he thought. He wasn’t asking her to marry him—that would be a blatant disregard of rule number three—but he was still putting his kids out there to become attached to her.
“I swear I won’t stifle you. I swear I won’t make you hate it here, I won’t chase you off like I did Isabel—” Fuck. He pinched his eyes shut and grimaced, still holding her face so close.
It was becoming harder and harder not to divulge his ex’s identity, and it pissed him off. Only marriage in the eyes of the law protected his ability to tell her.
Yet she began nodding in his grip. He opened his eyes to see her entire face light up. Her arms were thrown around his neck. “You can’t run someone off who doesn’t want to be run off, Tyler.” Her lips pushed up to his. “You can also talk to me about your kids’ mother.”
He gritted his teeth.
“We’re taking it slow, remember?”
“Nothing about this, about you, has been slow and”—His phone vibrated with an incoming call in his pocket.
He pulled it out and looked at the number. Not one he recognized. An international country code by the look of it. Huh. He silenced it.