Fort Worth, Texas

"Did I hear the name Ewing?" turning around to identify the owner of the voice purring in his ear, Jack was far from disappointed by what he saw. Returning the charming smile she was throwing his way, he nodded and confirmed her thoughts, fishing for some information of his own, "yes, you did, Miss…?"

"Wade, Jenna Wade", answering his question, she offered him her hand in a gesture completely foreign to him, outstretched but not vertical the way one would offer a hand for a handshake. He wasn't from Texas but he'd been around long enough and had met enough ladies to know that he wasn't oblivious to some local custom; whatever this pretty lady was doing was obviously customary somewhere, it just wasn't somewhere he'd ever been.

"Pleasure to meet you Jenna Wade", continuing to smile friendlily, he ignored her hand as best he could, relieved when she noticed his uncomfortableness and withdrew her invitation without a word about it.

"Likewise Mr Ewing", drawling her response, her words oozed familiarity despite there being none between them, none that he knew of at least. Connecting the dots between the Ewing name and Ewing Oil wasn't particularly difficult, especially not in a situation like they were in, as mutual guests at a mixer for various players in the wider industry. Still, despite that, her demeanour told him she wasn't asking whether she'd heard the name Ewing because she wanted an easy in to a conversation about the oil business.

"Please, Jack", replying, he immediately dismissed any need for formalities, firstly because he doubted she was there to speak to him in a formal capacity, and secondly because nobody called him Mr Ewing after the first introduction.

"Jack", repeating his name as if she was familiarising herself with it, it was really the way she enunciated, rolling the word off her tongue with the same overly friendly, vaguely flirtatious tone that made him question her intentions. Who was she? Why did she seem so keen to talk to him? He was an attractive man and she an attractive woman, those facts told him it surely wasn't that complicated, but something else, his intuition perhaps, told him it was a little more than a man and a woman coming together.

"How about I buy you a drink and you tell me all about you, so we're on an even footing", waving toward the bar, he took a step and she followed at his side, clearly keen to keep the interaction going even if she wasn't exactly forthcoming about why.

"You don't like mysterious women?" taking a seat next to him at the bar, she brought attention to his comment, though she didn't go as far as to actually give him the details he was looking for. Whoever Jenna Wade was, she was having fun withholding that information.

"Not when I'm working", reminding her that they were in fact at a business mixer, one it occurred to him now that she had likely come to on the arm of another man, his job at Ewing Oil was on his mind, though admittedly not enough to cut his interaction with Jenna short.

"Working?" questioning him as to what work he was doing at a bar, as if she didn't know, he remembered Bobby's warning about dangerous women. Everyone was there to make connections, to see if a deal could be struck, now or in the future, but with that came the potential for dirty dealings. Most work he did was clean, just good old fashioned introductions, friendly conversations and the hope that when the time came to do business, names were remembered and positive impressions had been made, however there was always the possibility that someone, somewhere was working the room in other ways, using women to lower inhibitions and exploit vulnerabilities.

"Are we going to play this game?" calling her on what he perceived to be feigned naivety, he wondered who she was working for, or if she wasn't working how she'd found herself at an event for businessmen without any idea of what it was about.

"Game?" continuing with the same act, it was as if she had no idea what he was asking, but it was unlikely that was true.

"It appears we are", muttering his response, his feelings of frustration were clear. She had approached him because of his name, which she would have heard him mention in the context of Ewing Oil, she couldn't go back on that opening line and pretend she was oblivious to her surroundings.

"Well, if we're going to play a game, I'll take that drink before we start", ignoring his frustration, she shot him an enigmatic smile before turning and getting the bartender's attention, ordering a drink for herself then handing the rest of that interaction over to him.

"Something tells me we've already started", shaking his head, he smiled in amusement at her attitude, against his better judgement. He didn't have any idea who or what she was, but he couldn't stay away from her.

Ordering his drink, he turned away from the bartender and back to Jenna, silently observing her, considering their interaction so far before trying again with her. "I feel like I'm a little behind here, you seem awfully familiar with me, but I don't know anything about you, how about we change that?"

"You know, you're very impatient. We were getting there, but if you want to know right now, I'll tell you about myself", smiling slyly, she once again shed little light on what was going on in her head, only the promise of that information. It did occur to him though that she was right, they were making progress, he was just impatient, he'd asked her about herself once, then got frustrated when she deflected and continued with her personable but reticent behaviour; he didn't like feeling like he was missing important information, but this really wasn't that important, he could just enjoy the moment.

"You're right, I am impatient", accepting her criticism, his tone was apologetic, which she appeared to appreciate if the little nod and softened, friendly expression she gave him was anything to go by.

"Just like Bobby", changing tone herself, she gave him a little of what he'd been looking for originally, context as to why she seemed so familiar with him based on little more than his name. It made sense, up until very recently, Bobby had been a regular at events like the one they were at now, in fact, on a different day he would have been right by his side. Jenna could very well have been expecting to see Bobby at the event tonight, not him, hence her interest in who he was and familiarity with his name.

"Oh, you know Bobby?" fishing for more details, mostly confirmation that his thoughts were accurate, he got the feeling there was more to the story than she was willing to tell him when her sly smile returned, her eyes glistening as she answered, "I do".

He didn't know what she'd been doing playing dumb with him about the nature of his work, she had to have known what Bobby did and why he was here, suddenly though that particular question was the furthest from his mind. What he was more interested in now was what exactly she wanted from him and whether it was the same thing he wanted from her.

Unfortunately, as he opened his mouth to respond, their conversation was interrupted by the appearance of a distinguished older man standing tall above them as they sat at the bar. He hadn't had seen him arrive, but now that he was there it was hard to ignore him, especially when he addressed Jenna by name, "Jenna, darling, I was wondering where you'd disappeared to, I turned around to introduce you and you were gone".

Looking up at the man, Jenna was quick to answer him, "I didn't go far", waving her arm toward the back of the room and then back toward the bar to indicate the short distance, offering no other explanation in response to his comments. Clearly, she'd wandered away from his side, but she wasn't apologising for it, in fact, from the look on her face and her brief glance at her watch, she wasn't even entertaining the idea of apologising for leaving, not when it had taken him a good while to notice her absence.

"No, I can see that", eyeing their seating arrangements, the man didn't seem particularly pleased, though from the way he was looking at them it seemed he was more annoyed that Jenna hadn't been where he wanted her, when he wanted her there than he was that she'd made a friend during that absence.

Making eye contact with the man, holding his gaze for a good few seconds, Jenna appeared to communicate something to him, it wasn't an apology, that much was clear, but when she finally broke the connection, the little show of petulance seemed to be replaced by acquiescence. "Jack, this is Richard, Richard, Jack, Jack works for Ewing Oil", introducing them, her commentary conveniently left out anything personal between them, though considering the atmosphere, it was probably for the best.

"Ewing Oil? Now that is interesting", appearing to perk up once he found out there was a business discussion to be had, it seemed whatever had just transpired was in the past now, as was his interest in Jenna's attention. The two clearly had a bit of an odd relationship, firstly because Jenna hadn't introduced him with any title that would indicate any relationship between them at all, personal or professional, and secondly, because the minute he started talking business she just shook her head, smirked knowingly and nodded to the bartender to prepare her another drink. She had the precision of a well-practiced woman, attuned to the exact second her man lost interest, the question Jack had about the situation was why a lady who looked and acted like her put up with such behaviour. Unfortunately, it didn't seem he'd get a chance any time soon to ask her, because at the mention of Ewing Oil, Richard had jumped to tell him all about the work his company did and before he knew it, he was back to talking business, whether he wanted to or not. Richard could talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, it was too bad none of it interested or involved his girlfriend.

To be continued…