Oil Patch Romance (Mail Order Bride Series) Read Online Free Page B

Laura almost had to run to keep up.  He sat behind his desk, leaving Laura standing in the middle of the room.  She moved some papers from a chair and sat down.  “May I call you Jonathan, or do you prefer Mr. Thomas?” she asked.
     
    “Jonathon is fine,” he grunted.
     
    “I’m ready to do whatever needs to be done,” she said.  “I’m here to learn.  I’m from this area, and my family is in the business.  To my father, I’m the boy he never had.”
     
    Jonathon remained silent for a few seconds.  Then, “Miss Ingram… Laura, I don’t need, nor do I want someone new.  I prefer to work alone.  If you will just stay out of my way and get my work done, then we will get along fine.”
     
    “Are you always this rude, Mr. Thomas, or is it because I’m a woman?  I finished at the top of my class at Harvard, and I had to work harder than the men to prove myself.  I’m prepared to do that here,” she said.
     
    “That’s all, Miss Ingram.  We’re finished here,” he said.
     
    Her temper flared.  “We’re not finished here.  Mr. Barnes said you were to help me get set up and involved in your work.  If I have to go back and get a clarification of that assignment, I will.  It’s your choice.”
     
    He swept the papers from his desk.  She was as bossy as his sisters .  “I don’t need another woman telling me what to do, he said to himself.  “It would be just like her to run back to Barnes and tell on me.  I’ll have to go along with it until I can dump her off on another department.”
     
    The Thomas farm…
     
    The Thomas family was gathered on the farm to celebrate Sarah’s birthday.  Cassie had managed to trade shifts on her rotation and get the weekend off.  With train service now available to Marshall, it was easier for her to make the trip home.
     
    After passing the state bar exams, Rebecca was happily at work, progressing to a managerial position in the contracts department of one of the largest legal firms in Houston.  Her specialty was developing, and negotiating lease acquisition agreements with the oil companies. 
     
    As the baby of the family, and with his sisters progressing in their fields, Jonathon received much of the attention during family discussions.
     
    “Are you making any progress toward preventing another blowout like Spindletop?” Rebecca asked. 
     
    “A lot of work is being done on a blowout preventer but we haven’t made any breakthroughs yet.  It is a top priority for all of the oil companies,” he said.
     
    “How do you like what you’re doing?” Cassie asked.  Are you still putting in more as many hours as I do?”
     
    “I put in a lot of time,” he said.  Scowling, he went on, “Up until last week, I thought I was making progress until Barnes threw a roadblock at me.”
     
    Rebecca’s ears perked up.  Johnny usually displayed very little emotion when talking about his work.  “What happened?” she asked.
     
    “They just hired a new person fresh out of Harvard, and assigned her to my department.  Bill said, getting her up to speed quickly is one of my top priorities.  I don’t have time to waste on breaking in some female that will just get married and leave.  It’s a waste of my time.”  He put a lot of emotion into his words.
     
    “You sound just like the men I run into in the hospital,” Cassie said.  “They don’t think I belong and go out of the way to make it difficult for me.  Becky runs into the same type.  Tell him how we respond, Beck.”
     
    “It riles me, and I work harder to prove them wrong.  At least, it hasn’t gotten physical again, Rebecca said.
     
    Everyone’s ears perked at this last.  She hadn’t told anyone except Cassie about her intruder. 
     
    “Physical?” her father asked.  “What do you mean?”
     
    “I came home from studying with Josh and found my apartment had been torn up, with things on the floor, drawers emptied and such.  I walked in on him, and in his