those oil fields in the sky, but that doesn’t seem likely now. However, I’d die a happy man if I knew you’d, at least, found yourself a wife. You’re thirty-seven. A man should be putting down roots at that age.”
“We Bennett men don’t have much luck at finding women whose roots take hold,” Alex reminded him.
The old man scowled. “Be that as it may. Your dad and I both tried. If we hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here today. You need an heir, boy. When I’m gone you’ll be the last of our line.”
Alex had been certain the old man was too ornery to die. At twelve, William had gone to work in the oil fields, learning the business from the bottom up. He was tough as leather and had the determination of a bull with a purpose. It had been by sheer grit, willpower and the sweat of his brow that he’d held his fledgling drilling company together until they’d hit their first oil well some sixty years ago.
The muscles in Alex’s throat constricted. William Bennett was the only real family he had. He’d raised Alex and taught him all he knew about the oil business. The day Alex turned twenty-one, William had made him a full partner. He loved the old man and hated to feel he’d let him down in any way. A small lie couldn’t hurt, he reasoned. “I have found someone.”
William Bennett’s eyes, jade green like those of his grandson, flashed with pleasure. “You have?”
“She’s got raven hair…so black it shines in candlelight. Her eyes are hazel with tiny gold flecks.” Startled, Alex realized he was describing the woman he’d encountered more than three weeks earlier at Randi Howell’s nonwedding. Grudgingly, he admitted she’d haunted his dreams that night. The next day, he’d thought he’d seen her on the street, but when he’d caught up with the woman he’d thought was her, he realized his mistake. He’d felt like an idiot. He’d made it a practice never to get too interested in any woman.
Still, after the incident on the street, he’d made an attempt to find her, but no one he asked knew a Nina who fitted her description. Then he’d had to leave Grand Springs on business and had only been back once, just long enough to attend Olivia Stuart’s funeral. He’d thought he’d put the dark-haired Nina out of his mind. Apparently, he hadn’t.
“Sounds very tempting,” William said.
“She is,” Alex admitted, recalling how much he’d wanted to taste her lips.
“I want to meet her.”
“She doesn’t live here in Denver. She lives in Grand Springs.” Even as he said this, Alex had his doubts. His inability to find anyone who knew her had caused him to come very close to concluding that she had merely been in town for the wedding…probably a school chum of the bride. The only thing keeping him from being absolutely certain of this was the nagging feeling that there had been something familiar about her. As a part-time resident of Grand Springs, he only attended a few social functions a year there. It was possible he’d seen her across a room but never spoken to her. Again her face haunted him. Had she been with someone, and that was why he hadn’t approached her one of those other times he’d seen her? It occurred to him that she might already be spoken for and had only been alone the night of the wedding because the man in her life couldn’t attend or they’d had a lover’s quarrel. An emotional attachment to another man would explain her sudden flight. This thought caused a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Grand Springs. That’s that town where your school buddy, Noah…something or other…” William said, jerking Alex’s attention back to his grandfather.
“Noah Howell,” Alex said, filling in the blank and marveling at how completely his mysterious black-haired woman could take over his mind.
“Noah Howell, the doctor. Right. That’s where you built that vacation place you run away to when you want to get off by yourself. And you donated some money to a children’s wing for their hospital there, didn’t you?”
“That’s the place.”
William nodded, satisfied he knew the locale about which they were speaking. “Have you two set a date?”
“Not yet,” Alex hedged.
“I hope you don’t plan to wait long. No sense in cooling your heels. That ain’t going to get you heirs.”
“I’m sure we’ll set the date soon.” Alex didn’t like the way this lie was escalating, but he didn’t see any way to stop it, short of disappointing the old man.
“I probably won’t live to see the wedding, anyway.” William sighed heavily and grasped Alex’s hand. “Bring her here. I want to meet her before I meet my Maker.”
Mentally Alex kicked himself. He should have known the old man would make this request. “I’m not too sure she can get away.”
“Persuade her,” William insisted. He tried to rise, then sank back. “Otherwise, I’m going to get to Grand Springs on a gurney if I have to. I want to meet my future granddaughter-in-law.”
Alex read the determination in his grandfather’s eyes. There was no stopping William Bennett once he set his mind to something. “All right, I will,” he promised.
William smiled triumphantly. “Well, get cracking,” he ordered.
* * *
As Alex drove back to Grand Springs, the scowl on his face deepened with each mile. He didn’t like lying to his grandfather. On the other hand, seeking this Nina out and enlisting her aid wasn’t a bad idea. That he could close his eyes and actually feel her in his arms made him uneasy. No other woman had ever had such a lasting effect on him. He was certain it was merely a residual effect induced by the strangeness of that night. But she had disturbed his peace of mind. However, once he found her, she would no longer be a mystery woman and he’d no longer be haunted by her.
He’d offer to pay her to play his fiancée for a couple of days. A sudden worry that she wouldn’t cooperate crossed his mind. A cynical smirk distorted his features. Any woman could be bought for the right price.
* * *
“What you did to Mr. Alex was unconscionable,” Matilda Hastings scolded. Knowing the old man was up to something, she’d remained in a far corner of the room during his grandson’s visit. William, she knew, had allowed her presence because her hovering over him had made him seem even more ill. Now, returning from seeing Alex off, she approached William Bennett’s bed. Coming to a halt beside it, the fifty-seven-year-old, short, plump woman, her auburn hair dulled by strands of gray, stood, her arms akimbo, frowning reprovingly. “I helped you raise that boy, first as his nanny and then staying on as your housekeeper. I know how much he loves and admires you. He must have made me swear a dozen times that I’d let him know if there was any change in your condition, and I’m to see that the doctor comes both morning and night to check on you. He’s heartsick thinking you’re dying.”
William shrugged. “We’re all dying from the day we’re born. It’s the cycle of nature.”
The frown on Matilda’s face darkened even more. “But you are not currently in any danger of meeting your Maker. We both know you’re going to live to be a hundred. You’re just exhausted from staying day and night at that last drill site until oil was struck.”
William drew in a robust breath and smiled broadly. “You don’t understand the invigorating smell of fresh crude.”
Matilda crinkled her nose. “You’re right, I don’t.”
“As for my grandson, it’s time he married and sired an heir or two.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that he simply hasn’t met the right woman?”
William suddenly frowned. “I’m not so sure that there is a ‘right woman’ for us Bennett men. Our luck in that area doesn’t run too good. But he needs a wife at least long enough to give him a child.” His frown turned to a speculative smile. “This should light a fire under his feet. And, if there is a female like