he said very firmly.
“Why do I have the feeling that you just came to a decision about something?” she asked.
“Because I did,” Tyler said, shoving his plate away and tossing down his napkin. He took one last swallow of coffee, then stood. “Thanks, Maddie Kent. Order something. Breakfast’s on me.”
“Why?”
He grinned. “Just because.”
“You’re a very enigmatic man, Tyler Delacourt.”
“I certainly hope so.” In fact, he’d always been the most tight-lipped of the Delacourts, the one who displayed a lot of flash and dazzle for the world but kept his innermost thoughts to himself.
Why, then, had Maddie Kent—a woman who’d known him for only a few days—been able to read him like a book? He had a feeling he’d better figure that out soon, before she zeroed in on things he’d never shared with anyone.
In the meantime he had his father to deal with. He arrived at Delacourt Oil twenty minutes later and went straight to his father’s office.
“You sure you want to go in there?” his father’s secretary asked. “You’ve been avoiding his calls. He is not amused.”
“All the more reason to get this over with,” Tyler said. “You might want to go to the coffee shop in case there’s fallout from the explosion.”
She winked at him. “I can take it. I’ve known the man since before you were born. He doesn’t scare me.”
“Then you’re the only one.”
Tyler drew in a deep breath and opened the door. His father was on the phone. He scowled at the interruption, but when he spotted Tyler, he muttered a curt goodbye to whoever was on the other end of the line.
“Where the devil have you been?” Bryce demanded.
“Home.”
“Then why haven’t you been answering your phone or returning my calls?”
“I think that should be obvious.”
“Not to me. Explain it.”
“I didn’t want to have this conversation,” Tyler said honestly. “I didn’t want you to bulldoze right over me, the way you usually do.”
“Since when have I ever been able to get you to do a blasted thing you didn’t want to do?” his father said with a hint of exasperation. “There’s not a one of my kids who pays a bit of attention to what I want. And you’re the worst of all.”
“Aren’t you forgetting about Michael? He would walk through fire for you. He loves this company every bit as much as you do.”
His father waved off the reminder. “Where is he now? We’re in the middle of a critical negotiation.”
“He’s on his honeymoon. For once in his life, he put himself first. Surely you’re not going to fault him for that?”
His father flushed guiltily. “No, of course not. He married a fine woman.” His expression brightened ever so slightly. “And those two boys they’ve adopted, they’re something. Could have been born Delacourts. They’ll be a part of this company someday. Michael will see to that.”
“He probably will,” Tyler agreed.
“A man works his whole life to create something to leave to his children and what happens? Mine turn right around and throw the opportunity out the door.”
Tyler bit back a sigh. How many times had he heard this? A hundred? More? “That’s not how it is,” he said mildly.
“You see Dylan anywhere around here? Or Trish?”
“No, but—”
“Jeb might as well not be here,” his father complained. “He’s taking on more and more private cases, instead of learning the ropes here at Delacourt. And that corporate spy case he pursued for us turned into a fiasco.”
Tyler chuckled at his father’s interpretation of that particular event. “Whose fault was that, Dad? There was no selling of Delacourt secrets. You set Jeb up because you wanted him to fall for Brianna.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is, then?”
“That not a one of you show any gratitude at all for what I’ve built for you.”
“I repeat, Michael is here a thousand percent. Can’t you be satisfied with that? It’s no wonder he works himself to death. You take what he does for granted, and it’s never enough.”
“That’s absurd.”
Tyler leveled a look straight at his father. “Is it?”
“Okay, okay, you’ve made your point. You sound like your mother. She’s always on my case about showing more appreciation for the job he does.”
“It couldn’t hurt.”
“Well, once you’re back here full-time, you’ll pick up some of the slack, take a little of the pressure off Michael.”
“I’m not coming back,” Tyler responded, quietly but emphatically.
His father reacted as if he’d uttered blasphemy. “Why the hell not?”
Tyler gave a resigned sigh. “You know why not, Dad. How many times do we have to have this conversation? I tried to do it your way. I’ve worked in every department in this place. The job I love, the one I’m suited for, is on the rigs.”
“That’s Corrigan’s influence talking,” his father said impatiently. “I knew it was a mistake letting you go over there and work for him.”
“This has nothing to do with Daniel.”
“It has everything to do with him. If the man had an ounce of gratitude in him, he’d follow my wishes and send my son packing.”
Tyler grinned ruefully. “Yeah, I heard you’d told him I wasn’t coming back.”
“And he couldn’t wait to run to you, could he?”
“Gee, he seemed to think it might be my decision to make. Now there’s a crazy notion, isn’t it?”
“Don’t get sarcastic with me, boy. I’m still your father.”
“I know that.”
“Then give me a little credit. I know what’s best for you.”
“No, Dad, you don’t. You know what you want for me, not what I want.”
“If it’s money you’re after…”
“Don’t be absurd, Dad. This isn’t about money. I know what you pay your top executives. It’s more than I could make working eighty hours a week for Daniel, and that’s saying something.”
“Then I just don’t get it.”
“I like the physical work, the challenge, being outdoors. I’d suffocate being cooped up in here all day.”
“Dammit, Tyler, working those rigs is dangerous. There was a time when I was learning the ropes that I did it, too. Came damned near to getting killed in a fire on one of them. Your mother would never forgive me if anything happened to you.”
Tyler saw the ploy for exactly what it was, a pitiful attempt by his father to shift the blame for his own hardheadedness onto his wife by suggesting that she was the one who feared for Tyler’s safety.
“Then I’ll just have to see that nothing happens.” He met his father’s gaze evenly. “And if you want me to, I’ll explain my decision to Mother. I’ll assure her you did your absolute best to keep me right here in Houston.”
For