Lindsay McKenna - Texas Wildcat

TOO HOT TO HANDLE!

A blowout in the oil fields was bad news for everyone—a loss of time and money for the owners, day and night danger for the men who fought valiantly to cap the raging flames.

Sam Tyler was one of those men, cool-headed in the midst of bedlam, unafraid even when he risked everything in the fight against the towering column of smoke and fire. But when an accident in the oil fields sent him storming into Kelly Blanchard’s office, he learned there was one kind of fire even he wasn’t equipped to handle.

Texas Wildcat

Western Lovers ™

Lindsay McKenna

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedicated to Boots Hansen and Coots Matthews, blowout specialists, who are genuine Texas heroes in the finest sense. And to Alvin Moody, whose knowledge and friends provided further insights into the Texas gas and oil industry, and Jeanne Long, surely a Texan at heart, for her friendship, creative ideas and enthusiasm.

A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR

Dear Reader,

My good friend Jeanne Long invited me down for a week to Houston, where I was wined, dined and shown everything “Texas-style,” which, to say the least, was bigger than big.

At one of the parties I attended I met Boots Hansen and Coots Matthews, oil-well-fire “blowout” specialists. They’d worked with Red Adair, the original granddaddy who had figured out how to snuff out oil-well fires, and eventually formed their own company, Boots and Coots of Houston, Texas.

I had such a great time with these two Texas wildcats that they invited me over to their company to show me videos of blowouts they’d extinguished around the world. They showed me a royal good time at their facility, and being a volunteer firefighter for West Point, Ohio, I understood what they did, how they did it and how dangerous their job really was.

So, with their technical help and guidance, Texas Wildcat was born in Houston, Texas, at a Texas-size party with Texas-size men and women-all larger than life. I hope that you enjoy reading Texas Wildcat as much as I did writing it, and as much as I enjoyed the people who inspired me to create this novel.

Dear Reader,

I don’t know about you, but I thought running my late father’s company, a Texas one at that, was an awful lot of work and responsibility. Plus, my father really hadn’t wanted me nosing around in what had made him a millionaire. Daddy thought a woman’s place was anywhere but the office, but being a Texan by birth, I felt it my duty to know his business.

It was a good thing I did, because when he died unexpectedly, the whole company fell on my shoulders. And when Sam Tyler, the number-three man in the company, came marching into my office accusing my company of making shoddy equipment-well, there was a Texas-size blowout right then and there!

Sam Tyler is a typical arrogant Texan-he knows he’s not only good-looking but he’s the best at his job. I wanted to hate him on sight for accusing my recently deceased daddy of making bad equipment that put two of Sam’s men in the hospital.

Sam met his match in me. I’m no out-of-stater come to live in Texas. I was born here! And Texas women have a backbone of steel, even though we have that sweet, sugary Southern diplomacy, too. We’re called steel magnolias. He called me a Texas Wildcat. To tell you the truth, Sam is terribly good-looking and I really liked him the instant our eyes met. There was something so proud and strong and capable in him. Little did I realize that my own stiff-necked, hot-tempered ways would get me into more trouble than a Texas frog strangler!

Kelly Blanchard

Ranch Rogues

1. Betrayed by Love

Diana Palmer

2. Blue Sage

Anne Stuart

3. Chase the Clouds

Lindsay McKenna

4. Mustang Man

Lee Magner

5. Painted Sunsets

Rebecca Flanders

6. Carved in Stone

Kathleen Eagle

Hitched in Haste

7. A Marriage of Convenience

Doreen Owens Malek

8. Where Angels Fear

Ginna Gray

9. Inheritance

Joleen Daniels

10. The Hawk and the Honey

Dixie Browning

11. Wild Horse Canyon

Elizabeth August

12. Someone Waiting

Joan Hohl

Ranchin’ Dads

13. Rancher’s Wife

Anne Marie Winston

14. His and Hers

Pamela Bauer

15. The Best Things in Life

Rita Clay Estrada

16. All That Matters

Judith Duncan

17. One Man’s Folly

Cathy Gillen Thacker

18. Sagebrush and Sunshine

Margot Dalton

Denim & Diamonds

19. Moonbeams Aplenty

Mary Lynn Baxter

20. A Home on the Range

Judith Bowen

21. The Fairy Tale Girl

Ann Major

22. Snow Bird

Lass Small

23. The Countess and the Cowboy

Linda Randall Wisdom

24. Heart of Ice

Diana Palmer

Kids & Kin

25. Fools Rush In

Ginna Gray

26. Wellspring

Curtiss Ann Matlock

27. Live-In Mom

Laurie Paige

28. Kids, Critters and Cupid

Ruth Jean Dale

29. With No Regrets

Lisa Jackson

30. Family Affair

Cathy Gillen Thacker

Reunited Hearts

31. Yesterday’s Lies

Lisa Jackson

32. The Texas Way

Jan Freed

33. Wild Lady

Ann Major

34. Cody Daniels’ Return

Marilyn Pappano

35. All Things Considered

Debbie Macomber

36. Return to Yesterday

Annette Broadrick

Reckless Renegades

37. Ambushed

Patricia Rosemoor

38. West of the Sun

Lynn Erickson

39. Bittersweet

DeLoras Scott

40. A Deadly Breed

Caroline Burnes

41. Desperado

Helen Conrad

42. Heart of the Eagle

Lindsay McKenna

Once A Cowboy…

43. Rancho Diablo

Anne Stuart

44. Big Sky Country

Jackie Merritt

45. A Family to Cherish

Cathy Gillen Thacker

46. Texas Wildcat

Lindsay McKenna

47. Not Part of the Bargain

Susan Fox

48. Destiny’s Child

Ann Major

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

One

“All hell’s broken loose, Kelly!”

Kelly tiredly raised her head. She stared blankly at Jake for a moment. Her office manager’s face was drawn. Her heart plummeted. What now? she wondered miserably. What else could go wrong? Brushing an auburn strand of hair away from her forehead, she sat up a little straighter in the huge leather chair.

“What’s wrong?” Her voice sounded tired and strained after the events of the past week.