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  ONE SECRET DARKENED THEIR DAWNING LOVE

  When Leslie Kairns met oil man Steve McRory at a business lunch, the air between them sizzled. She found it difficult to concentrate on selling either her skills as a geologist or her revolutionary theory on natural gas. His blue eyes were so incredible.

  When Steve offered her a job, Leslie was ecstatic—for more reasons than one. Their initial rapport soon blossomed...into a fierce and breathless love.

  But, like the leading edge of a storm, one thing threatened her blinding happiness. The truth of her past—her only lie—irrevocably betrayed his trust in her...

  Published August 1983

  First Printing June 1983

  ISBN 0-373-70077-6

  Copyright © Judith Duncan. All rights reserved.

  Phillippine copyright 1983. Australian copyright 1983

  Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of the publisher, Worldwide Library, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada, M3B 3K9

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  The Superromance trademark, consisting of the word SUPERROMANCE, and the Worldwide trademark, consisting of a globe and the word WORLDWIDE in which the letter "O" is represented by a depiction of a globe, are the trademarks of Worldwide Library.

  Printed in Canada

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE ORNATE LUXURY of the richly appointed oak-paneled office was marred by a brittle tension that almost crackled. Leslie Kairns sat in the leather chair facing the large oaken desk, her fingers clenched tightly around the pencil she held, her face pale and taut. Apprehensively she studied her stepfather's face for some indication as to what kind of temper he was in.

  She had never been adept at reading his moods. His aquiline features and hooded eyes gave him a predatory air that had always unsettled her. His dark hair, brushed back from his forehead, made him look like an eagle that was ready to strike.

  Leslie sighed softly. His expression was enigmatic, controlled—like a plastic mask, she thought.

  Her eyes strayed to the blue-bound report that was lying on the corner of his desk. She wished he would say something—anything—that would end this silent ordeal. But Luther Denver totally ignored his stepdaughter as he made notations in another document that lay on the desk before him.

  Leslie forced herself to take deep even breaths in an attempt to ease the tension within her. He would be annoyed with her over the report; of that she was sure. But then, he always was annoyed with her. She had learned a long time ago that Luther resented her, that her existence was a source of irritation to him.

  She had been five years old when he married her mother, and for a number of years she'd tried every trick in the book to worm her way into his affections. All of her efforts had been appalling failures. Luther consistently treated her like some piece of objectionable trash that the dog had dragged in. Consequently, Leslie had developed into an uncertain child who had often escaped from reality into a world of fantasy.

  It wasn't until her adolescent years that she finally realized Luther detested children, all children. Especially her.

  As she grew older, his loathing turned into a less frightening, but still painful, attitude of bored disdain. He made no effort to conceal his feelings from her, or from anyone else who happened to be around. That he recognized her at all was because, unfortunately, she happened to be the daughter of his beautiful remote wife, whom he adored.

  Accepting his rejection of her had been a major and very agonizing hurdle in Leslie's life. Once she struggled through the painful realization that he would have disliked her no matter what, she was able to finally come to terms with the unpleasant situation. From then on she made a point of staying out of his way.

  During her high-school years there had been a cold guarded lull in their difficult relationship, but that shattered when she enrolled in university. Leslie still could not fathom why he should be so deadly opposed to her career selection. If anything, she'd expected that for once he would extend grudging approval.

  Since Luther was the president and major stockholder of Denver Oil Company, Leslie had been indirectly exposed to the oil industry for most of her life. Through this exposure she had developed a fascination for the science of geology. When as a child she'd discovered that rock formations could tell the story of what had happened to the earth aeons ago, the doors of her imaginative and clever mind had opened wide. Her interest had continued to grow, until it felt only natural that she major in the subject.

  Instead of being pleased, or even slightly flattered by her choice, Luther had been enraged. There had been a horrible scene, with the result that Leslie left Calgary and attended a university in the east.

  When she graduated with first-class standings, she had received numerous job offers—partly because of her marks, and partly, Leslie was realistic enough to realize, because she was a woman. Industries were looking for their token females.

  She had just made up her mind to accept a position with one of the major oil companies when she received a very stiff letter from Luther. Her mother had cancer, he'd written. And although her doctors felt very positive about the treatment, Vivian Denver was faced with a complete mastectomy and several months of chemotherapy. Luther wanted Leslie to move back home to be with her mother during the ordeal. If she returned to Calgary, he would guarantee her a position in the geological department of Denver Oil.

  It was an out-and-out bribe, and Leslie recognized it as such...and she knew why he had done it. Beneath Vivian's cool elegant exterior, there was an emotional fragility that could very easily shatter under stress. Luther would go to any lengths to insulate his wife from the fear and uncertainty of the trail she faced, and if that meant tolerating his stepdaughter in his home, he would do so, as long as having her there would give Vivian some measure of comfort and support.

  Leslie was caught in a nightmare of a trap. Her conscience dictated that she must go, while her need for independence bade her not to.

  Leaving Alberta in the first place had been a frightening ordeal for Leslie. She was extremely shy, and surviving the impersonality of a huge university had been a challenging experience. But she had learned to cope, and her tenuous grip on independence was something she valued above all else.

  But her sense of duty won out, and with a certain amount of dread, Leslie reluctantly returned to the stifling inhospitable existence.

  The only respite from the pressure at home was her job. Granted, she was low man on the totem pole in the geological department, but she was gaining valuable experience, and she loved the work. No one in the company had any idea that she was the boss's stepdaughter, and she cautiously protected that anonymity. She promised herself that as soon as Vivian was able to cope, she would find a job with a different company.

  She had been at Denver Oil for only a few months when Ted McAllister came to work for the company as exploration manager. Ted had worked for one of the major oil companies for many years and had reached a high management level. He was approaching retirement age when he decided, like a bolt out of the blue, that he was tired of "flying a desk." The search for oil was his first love; he wanted to be back in exploration.


  He had been a close friend of Leslie's grandfather, so he knew what her home life had been like. But he was also shrewd enough to realize that she had tremendous potential. He had taken her under his wing and had made her responsible for the lab analysis of core samples taken from promising formations at the drilling sites.

  This unexpected opportunity presented Leslie with a challenge that elated her. She was a disciplined worker who thrived on the precise research that was required. And during two years of working under Ted, she developed an uncanny sixth sense when it came to playing hunches.

  It was because of a hunch, some extensive lab work and her intense analysis of old seismic data that she was sitting in Luther's plush office now, her palms clammy, her nerves vibrating like high tension wires. If she had to sit there much longer, waiting for Luther to say something, she would come unglued, she decided. She grasped the pencil tighter in her hands and twisted it nervously.

  "Don't do that."

  Leslie nearly flew out of her chair at Luther's curt command. She swallowed with difficulty as he stared at her chillingly.

  Picking up the document from the corner of his desk, he dropped it with disdain in front of her. "Well, Leslie, this is quite a report. Needless to say, your portion of it sounds somewhat like those fairy tales you used to fabricate when you were a child."

  Leslie could feel a flush scald her cheeks, and she experienced the same feeling of humiliation Luther's sneering comments usually aroused in her. He had found her whimsical streak totally repulsive, and he still used every opportunity he could to belittle her over it. His one derisive comment shattered any small hope she had of her stepfather giving her report an iota of consideration.

  Luther was still staring at her, his arms folded rigidly across his chest, his pale gray eyes boring holes into her. A thought flashed absently through Leslie's mind: he had the same look of revulsion on his face as her mother would if she discovered mouse droppings in the pantry. Suddenly Leslie had the most awful desire to laugh. She somehow managed to quell the urge, however, and forced herself to meet Luther's unwavering gaze. He might scare the daylights out of her, but she was determined he would never know it.

  "Well, Leslie?"

  "I'll explain what happened—"

  "I don't want to hear your half-witted explanation. This piece of fantasy that you refer to as a report has been circulated throughout the entire production department. I have been forced to call a meeting of the board of directors this morning as a result. Some members of our staff have been duped by it, it seems. You will be at that meeting, where you will explain your theory to my satisfaction."

  Leslie's chin was set with a hint of defiance. "First of all, Luther, I had no intention of circulating my theory. The studies I documented were for Ted's—"

  "I hope you don't expect me to believe that. I think you deliberately included your 'studies,' as you refer to them, in the geological report of the Redwillow area. Now, you are the one who must be accountable for your rashness."

  "Luther, I can support—"

  "You can support nothing." He rose from his chair and strode angrily toward the door. "You are dismissed for now, but you'll be in the boardroom in exactly one half hour, and as I warned you, you will answer all questions to my satisfaction." He yanked open the door, stomped out and slammed it shut behind him.

  A feeling of impending disaster flooded through Leslie in a sickening rush. Luther had reacted even worse than she'd expected, and she was realistic enough to know she would pay heavily for rousing his anger. At that moment she wished she had never heard of Redwillow. It was turning into a nightmare of gigantic proportions.

  An isolated area in northwestern Alberta, Redwillow was named after the river that ran through it. Denver Oil had carried out an intensive seismic program that revealed some very promising geological anomalies. Based on that information, Luther had acquired large landholdings for further exploration. In fact, he had gambled heavily on the prospect of locating a major oil field. He had had three exploration wells drilled there, at a cost of two million dollars each. Two had been dry wells, or dusters, while the third had hit a low-volume find of natural gas.

  At this point, Luther had overextended the company's financial resources. As a last ditch effort, he had drilled one more well in Redwillow. Nothing. There was no oil, or very little, at Redwillow.

  Leslie had pored over the seismic charts and had painstakingly analyzed the core samples from all four Redwillow wells. The more research she did, the more convinced she was that she was onto something. She had told Ted McAllister about it, and he had given her the green light to intensify her research.

  As far as Leslie was concerned, her theory was no longer a theory but cold hard fact. Denver Oil had been looking specifically for oil. Her amazing discovery was that, true there was no oil; but Denver Oil's leases were sitting on top of a vast basin of natural gas.

  She had written a detailed report describing what she had found, and Ted had nearly gone through the roof with excitement. A discovery like that would be a boost to the entire industry.

  But then everything started to get complicated. Because of the financial situation the company was in, Luther needed to recover some of its losses. He had instructed Ted to prepare a report on Redwillow for the board of directors. The purpose—to gain approval to sell the massive landholdings Denver held in that area. Ted had tried to reason with him, but when Luther discovered Leslie had been involved, he refused to even look at the report.

  Ted had taken the matter into his own hands and had included Leslie's report with his own, circulating it within the production department. Since one of the petroleum engineers was a nephew of one of the senior directors, he knew the board would find out about the report and likely force Luther's hand on the issue. And that was exactly what had happened

  Uncertainty curled within Leslie's belly as she pushed herself out of the chair and stood staring at the floor. She sighed heavily and turned to leave the room. At the door she hesitated for an instant, then turned and walked back to the desk. She hesitated again, then with a burst of bravado picked up the confidential report and tucked it under her arm. What she was doing was professionally unethical, but she was going to keep a copy. Her assessment of Redwillow was correct, she was certain, and somehow, sometime, she would prove it.

  She left the office quietly and slipped past Luther's secretary unobserved. Stella was typing furiously, her back to the door. Leslie walked quickly to the elevators, heaving a shaky sigh of relief when the door slid open to reveal an empty compartment.

  The elevator stopped at the second floor. Leslie stepped out and walked rapidly down the corridor to the ladies' powder room. Again Lady Luck was with her; the room was empty. She located her coat among the others hanging on the rack. Rolling up the report, she stuffed it into the sleeve, then shook the coat vigorously until she was satisfied that the bulkiness of the manual would prevent if from slipping out. Smoothing her hair with trembling hands, she took a deep breath to steady her nerves, then left the room.

  The next half hour went by far too rapidly for Leslie. As she made notes from her research file, she tried to convince herself that she had no reason to feel as terrified as she did. She was certain that the data she had compiled would more than support her theory. It was not an idle farfetched daydream, but a theory that was supported by very technical and detailed facts. After all, geology was a science as well as an art.

  She finally quit trying to convince herself, and instead went to the window and stood staring out, her arms wrapped around herself. She was in a rotten situation. No amount of rationalization was going to change that. Luther had pushed the company to the brink of financial collapse, and his only remaining maneuver was to sell the leases at Redwillow. He would use any incident, or any employee, as cannon fodder to draw the fire of his board of directors. What he definitely did not want at this time was the board eyeing Redwillow as the pot of gold at the end of a rather battered rainbow
. What a mess.

  "Les, are you okay?"

  Leslie sighed heavily as she dropped her arms and turned around. Ted McAllister was standing by her desk, his face lined with concern. Poor Ted. She trusted this man not only because of his close friendship with her grandfather but also because of his sound judgment. He had been involved in the Alberta oil industry for years, and what he didn't know about drilling wasn't worth knowing. Now he had stuck his neck in a noose for a green, untried geologist. Damn! Damn! Damn!

  "Leslie?"

  She grinned up at him weakly and waved him into the chair beside her desk. "I'll survive, Ted. Don't worry about me, please."

  "Well, I do worry, damn it. Luther's out for blood, and I think he's being totally unreasonable about it."

  Leslie raised her hands in a gesture of hopelessness. "Luther's like a cornered rat right now. He thinks my theory on Redwillow is a fairy tale. He's not about to reconsider the possibility of drilling in that area— especially when it's based on research I did."

  Ted pulled a package of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket, lit one and stared at Leslie through a haze of swirling blue smoke. "I know, I know. But damn it, Leslie, I would bet my life on that big basin of gas. I wouldn't have included your research in that report if I didn't feel it had merit. Damn it, now you're in hot water up to your neck."

  Leslie studied the lined weathered face, the thatch of unruly gray hair and the steely gray eyes that reflected such concern and worry. Knowing that he believed in her meant so very much. She sat down on the corner of the desk and took one of Ted's massive hands in both of hers, her face reflective.

  Ted returned the pressure. "It's too bad the old man isn't still alive, Les. He would never've tolerated you being walked on by Luther—or by anyone else, for that matter."

  Leslie swallowed to try and ease the painful constriction in her throat as a wave of acute loneliness washed through her. She had adored her grandfather. He had been the only person in her life who had genuinely cared about her, the only person with whom she felt secure.