Natural Born Trouble Read Free Page A

wanted to meet the formidable Duke Jenkins on his home turf, especially when his mood was likely to be surly. Still, she really did have to find a home for the kittens. She had a hunch a face-to-face chat with Mr. Jenkins was the only way these boys were going to get permission to bring one home. Besides, it might be interesting to see what sort of scars Duke Jenkins bore from his battle with Jordan. She’d known few men who daredto stand up to him and lived to tell about it, other than her uncles and grandfather, of course.
    â€œI’ll stop by as soon as I close up for the day,” she agreed.
    â€œWill you bring the kitten with you?” Joshua asked hopefully.
    She shook her head. “That might be a tactical mistake, boys. I’d better talk to your dad first.”
    â€œHe would probably like Mittens a lot if he saw her,” Zachary argued.
    â€œTrust me,” Dani said, thinking that Zachary’s tactical approach was very reminiscent of one she had used quite often at his age. Now she reacted with an adult’s sense of caution. “We should get his permission first.”
    Let the man at least think he was in charge. It was a motto that made sense to her. It didn’t mean he had to actually be in charge, as long as he thought he was. Being around a whole clan of master manipulators, most of them hardheaded males, had given her an edge on understanding the masculine thought process. She doubted Duke Jenkins veered too far from the same mold. In fact, Donna’s report had just pretty much confirmed it.
    â€œDr. Adams?” Joshua asked, sounding suspiciously meek.
    â€œYes?” She noticed his gaze was pinned to the kittens again.
    Blue eyes lifted and regarded her hopefully. “As long as you’re going to talk to Dad anyway, do you think maybe you could see if we could keep all three kittens?” Joshua asked. “One for me and one for Zack and one for Dad.”
    â€œI don’t know,” she said. “Maybe we should start with just one. Besides, your dad might not want a kitten of his own.”
    â€œI’ll bet he would,” Zachary said. “He’s kinda lonely now that Mom’s gone.”
    Definitely another budding manipulator, she thought, fighting the salty sting of tears at the hitch in his voice. Probably a trait he’d picked up at his father’s knee. That reference to his mom was definitely calculated to stir sympathy.
    No problem, though. She was an Adams, by name and upbringing, if not by birth. When it came to manipulation, she had learned from the best authorities in the whole state of Texas, if not the entire world. Resisting Duke Jenkins and his sons would be a snap.
    Then she recalled Donna’s awestruck reaction at the mention of Duke’s name. Maybe now would be a good time to start praying that she wasn’t unwittingly about to start flirting with disaster.

Chapter Two
    D uke Jenkins was mad enough to bend a steel beam in two, preferably around Jordan Adams’s neck. The man was stubborn, arrogant and, without question, the best oil man in the state of Texas. Maybe in the world. Duke figured he was no slouch himself, which suggested that maybe once, just once, Jordan ought to listen to him.
    They were going to be wasting time and money drilling that new field. Every instinct he possessed told him that. He didn’t give two hoots about the ream of geological surveys piled up on his desk. If he’d been able to get out there and look things over firsthand, run the dirt through his fingers, get a deep whiff of the scent of it, he would have been able to put some real strength into his arguments.
    As it was, he was going with his gut, instinct honed by years of wildcatting. Jordan preferred cold, hard facts. Scientific facts, which in this instance Duke suspected had been doctored to someone else’s benefit.
    If he’d had somebody to look after the boys, Duke would have given Jordan all the