It Happened One Night

“You look so beautiful, Kiley.”

He stepped just inside the door to take her in his arms and give her a soft, lingering kiss. “I’ll be the envy of every man at the ball.”

“I was just thinking something very similar about you and the women attending the ball,” she said, smiling.

“Is the pony princess okay with staying at your folks’?” he asked, as he helped her with her evening wrap.

Nodding, Kiley picked up her sequined clutch. “I don’t know who was more excited about her spending the night with them, Emmie or my parents. She has them wrapped around her little finger.”

Josh laughed as he placed his hand to her elbow and guided her out to his car. “She has that effect on just about everyone. She’s an adorable little girl.”

“Thank you,” Kiley said, wondering when and how she was going to tell him that Emmie was his daughter.

* * *

It Happened One Night is a Texas Cattleman’s Club: The Missing Mogul novel:

Love and scandal meet in Royal, Texas!

It Happened One Night

Kathie DeNosky

www.millsandboon.co.uk

KATHIE DENOSKY lives in her native southern Illinois on the land her family settled in 1839. She writes highly sensual stories with a generous amount of humor; her books have appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list and received numerous awards, including two National Readers’ Choice Awards. Kathie enjoys going to rodeos, traveling to research settings for her books and listening to country music. Readers may contact her by emailing [e-mail]. They can also visit her website, www.kathiedenosky.com, or find her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/Kathie-DeNosky-Author/278166445536145.

This book is dedicated to the authors of the Texas Cattleman’s Club: The Missing Mogul. Working with you all was a real pleasure.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Prologue

When Josh Gordon let himself into his girlfriend’s apartment, he wanted two things—to make love to Lori and get some much-needed sleep. He’d spent a long day preparing job bids for Gordon Construction and an even longer evening wining and dining a potential client, who couldn’t seem to make up his mind whether to give the contract for his new office building to the construction business Josh and his twin brother, Sam, co-owned or to one of their competitors.

Josh wasn’t overly proud or happy about it, but they’d had enough to drink to float a fleet of ships before the man finally gave the nod to Gordon Construction. That’s why Josh had made the decision to spend the night with Lori. The wine had dulled his normally sharp senses and he didn’t think his being behind the steering wheel of a car was in anyone’s best interest. Since she had given him a key to her apartment a few weeks back and it was only a couple of blocks from the restaurant, walking to Lori’s place had seemed wiser than trying to drive the five miles to his ranch outside of town. Besides, he hadn’t seen her in a few days and missed losing himself in her soft charms.

The fact that their relationship was more of a physical connection than it was an emotional attachment should have bothered him. But neither he nor Lori wanted anything more, and he couldn’t see any harm in two consenting adults spending their time enjoying each other for as long as the attraction lasted.

As he made his way across the dark living room and headed down the hall toward her bedroom, he decided not to turn on a lamp. The headache that had developed during the last few rounds of drinks already had his head feeling like his brain had outgrown his skull. The harsh glare of a light certainly wouldn’t make it feel any better.

Loosening his tie, he removed his suit jacket as he quietly opened the bedroom door and, stripping off the rest of his clothes, climbed into bed with the feminine form he could just make out beneath the covers. Without thinking twice he took her in his arms and teased her lips with his to wake her.

He thought he heard her murmur something a moment before she began to kiss him back, but Josh didn’t give her a chance to say more. He was too captivated by her. Lori had never tasted as sweet and the scent of whatever new shampoo she had used caused him to ache with the urgent need to sink himself deep inside of her.

When she ran her hands over his shoulders, then tangled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck as she kissed him with a passion that robbed him of breath, a shaft of longing coursed through him. She needed him as badly as he needed her. He didn’t hesitate to slide his hand down her side to her knee, then, catching the hem of her nightshirt, he brought it up to her waist. Never breaking the kiss, he made quick work of removing the scrap of silk and lace covering her feminine secrets and nudged her knees apart.

His heart felt like it might jump right out of his chest when he rose over her and she reached to guide him to her. Her desire for him to join their bodies was as strong as his and, giving them what they both wanted, he entered her in one smooth stroke.

Setting an urgent pace, he marveled at how much tighter she felt, how her body seemed to cling to his. But the white-hot haze of passion was stronger than his ability to reason and he dismissed his confusion as a result of too much wine.

When she clenched her tiny feminine muscles, he knew she was poised on the edge, and deepening his strokes, Josh pushed them both over the edge. As he emptied himself deep inside of her, her moan indicated that she was experiencing the same mind-blowing pleasure that pulsed through him, and feeling drained of energy, he collapsed on top of her.

“Oh, Mark, that was incredible.”

Josh went completely still as his mind tried to process what he had heard. The woman he had just made love with had called him Mark. If that wasn’t enough to send a cold sense of dread knifing through him, the fact that it wasn’t Lori’s voice sure as hell was.

What had he done? Where was Lori? And who was the woman he had just made love with?

Sobering faster than he could blink, Josh levered himself to her side, then quickly sat up on the side of the bed to reach for his discarded clothes. “I...um...oh, hell. I’m really sorry. I thought...you were Lori.”

The woman was silent for a moment before she gasped and he heard her jump to her feet on the other side of the bed. “Oh, dear God! No, this can’t be... We didn’t... You must be—”

“Josh,” he finished for her, since she seemed to be having problems conveying her thoughts.

He kept his back to her as he pulled on his pants and shirt. Not that she could see in the dark any more than he could. But all things considered, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

“I really am sorry.” He knew his apologies weren’t nearly adequate enough for the circumstances, but then he wasn’t sure anything he could say or do would make the situation any less humiliating for either of them. “I swear to God, I thought you were Lori.”

“I’m her...sister,” the woman said, sounding like she might be recovering her ability to speak in a complete sentence.

He knew Lori had a sister, but since their relationship was mostly physical, he and Lori hadn’t delved too deeply into the details of each other’s lives. And if she had mentioned her sister by name, he’d be damned if he could think of it now.

“I’d give anything if this hadn’t—”

“Please, don’t,” she said, cutting him off. “Just leave...Josh.”

He hesitated, then, deciding that it was probably the best—the only—thing he could do, he walked to the front door and let himself out of the apartment. He had no sooner pulled the door shut than he heard her set the dead bolt and slide the chain into place.

His heart stalled for a moment, then began to beat double time. He had been just drunk enough and she apparently had been sleepy enough for both of them to forget the use of a condom. It was something he had never forgotten before and he couldn’t believe that he’d done so this time.

Completely sober now, he shook his head as he walked the short distance to his Mercedes still sitting in the restaurant’s parking lot. He was going to drive home and when he woke up in the morning, he hoped to discover that he’d dreamed the entire incident.

But as he got into the car and started the engine, he knew as surely as the sun rose in the east each morning that wasn’t going to be the case. Nothing was going to change the fact that he had done the unthinkable. He had made love to his girlfriend’s sister—the most exciting, responsive woman he had ever met. And what was even worse, he had no clue what she looked like and didn’t even know her name.

One

Three years later

Standing in the hallway outside the meeting rooms at the Texas Cattleman’s Club, Kiley Roberts sighed heavily. If she hadn’t had enough problems dealing with the vandalism of the club’s new day care center a few months ago, now she was about to face the funding committee to ask for an increase in funds to run it. Unfortunately, from everything she had heard, she was facing an uphill battle. Several of the committeemen had been extremely vocal about not seeing the need to provide child care for club members, and among them was the chairman of the funding committee, Josh Gordon.

They had never been formally introduced and she didn’t even know if he knew who she was. But she knew him and just the thought of having to deal with the man made her cringe with embarrassment.

Every detail of what happened that night three years ago had played through her mind since discovering that Josh was a member of the club. But when she learned he was chairman of the funding committee—the very committee that controlled the money to run the day care center—she felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. Being the center’s director, she had to go to the committee for approval on everything outside of the budget they had set for it. That meant she would frequently have to deal with him.

She took a deep fortifying breath. How could fate be so cruel?

If she hadn’t been half-asleep and wanting so badly to believe that Mark—her then-boyfriend and now ex-husband—had followed her to her sister’s apartment to apologize for the argument they’d had, the incident three years ago would have never taken place. She would have realized right away that Josh wasn’t Mark and stopped him before things went too far.

Kiley shook her head at her own foolishness. She should have known when Josh kissed her with such passion that the man in bed with her wasn’t Mark. The only thing Mark had ever been passionate about was himself.

Sighing, she straightened her shoulders. There was nothing she could do about it now, and there was no sense in dwelling on something she couldn’t change. She just wished anyone other than Josh Gordon was heading up the funding committee. Aside from the humiliating incident, he had broken her sister’s heart when he abruptly ended things between them a month or so after that fateful night, and Kiley simply didn’t trust him.

When the door to the meeting room opened, interrupting her tumultuous thoughts, a man she assumed to be one of the members motioned toward her. “Ms. Roberts, the committee is ready to hear from you now.”

Nodding, Kiley took a deep breath and forced her feet to move forward when what she really wanted to do was turn around and head in the opposite direction. “Thank you.”

As she walked toward the long table at the head of the room where Josh sat with three men and a woman, she focused on them instead of Josh. The only two she recognized were Beau Hacket and Paul Windsor. Great. They seemed to be the unofficial leaders of those opposed to the day care center and it was just her luck that they both happened to be on the funding committee. Kiley’s only hope was to appeal to the lone female member and the man sitting next to her.

“Good afternoon,” she said, forcing herself to give them all a cheerful smile when she was feeling anything but optimistic.

“What can we do for you today...” Josh glanced at the papers on the table in front of him as if checking for her name “...Ms. Roberts?”

When their gazes finally met, she felt a little better. She had been hired by the club’s personnel director and had managed to avoid coming face-to-face with Josh in the short time she had been working at the Texas Cattleman’s Club. But now, she realized her nervousness had been unfounded. Apparently Lori had never mentioned her by name and thanks to the blackout curtains her sister preferred, neither of them had been able to see the other that night. Deciding he was either a good enough actor to deserve an Academy Award or he had no idea who she was, her confidence returned.

“As the director, I’m here to ask the committee to consider appropriating additional funds for the day care center,” she stated, surprised her voice sounded strong and steady in spite of her earlier case of jangled nerves.

“What for?” Beau Hacket demanded. “We’ve already budgeted more than is necessary to babysit a bunch of little kids.”

“I can’t believe you just said that,” the middle-aged woman seated to Josh’s right said, glaring at Beau.

Kiley watched Josh give the man a disapproving glare before he turned his attention back to her. “What do you think you need the additional funds for, Ms. Roberts?”

“The club members’ response to the day care center has been so positive, we have more children than we first anticipated,” she answered, already knowing from the negative expression on his face how Beau Hacket would be voting on the matter.

“All you’re doing is watching a handful of little kids for a couple of hours,” Beau spoke up. “I don’t see where you need more money for that. Sit them down with a crayon and a piece of paper and they’ll be happy.”

“Beau.”

There was a warning in Josh’s tone, but Kiley knew it was more a rule of order than any kind of support for her. Josh Gordon had been almost as vocal in his objections to the day care center as Beau Hacket and Paul Windsor had. Since the club started admitting female members a few years ago, the TCC had experienced quite a few growing pains as it made changes to accommodate the needs of women in its ranks, the most recent change being the addition of the day care center.

Focusing her attention on the others seated at the conference table and off the committee chairman, she decided it was time to set them straight. “I think some of you have a few misconceptions about the day care center. Yes, we do provide a safe environment for the members to leave their children while they attend meetings or events at the clubhouse, but we’re more than just a babysitting service. Some of the members depend on us for early childhood education, as well.”

“My granddaughter is one of your students and in the short time she’s been attending, we’ve all been amazed at how much she’s learned,” the woman seated beside Josh said, smiling.

“Why can’t they teach their own kids how to finger-paint at home?” Beau demanded, his disapproval evident in the tone of his voice as he glared at her.

“I’m trained in early childhood education,” Kiley explained, hoping to convince the man of the importance of day care, but knowing she probably wouldn’t. “The center’s programs are age appropriate and structured so that the children are engaged in learning activities for their level of development.” When the committee members frowned in obvious confusion, she rushed on to keep one of them from cutting her off. “For example, the toddlers learn how to interact and share with other children, as well as begin to develop friendships and basic social skills. The preschool class learns to recognize and print the letters of the alphabet, as well as their names. And in addition to teaching them how to count, my assistant and I play learning games with both groups designed to pique their interest in things like science and nature.” She shook her head. “The list is endless and I could stay here all day outlining the importance of early childhood education and the benefits to a child.”

When Kiley stopped to take a breath, the woman on the committee nodded. “My granddaughter has not only learned a lot, she’s conquered some of her shyness and has become more outgoing, as well.”

Appreciative of the woman’s support, Kiley smiled. At least she had one advocate on the committee.

Josh glanced down at the papers on the table in front of him. “You’re not asking for more space, just additional money for the center?”

“No, the size of the room isn’t a problem. We have enough room for the children we have now, as well as many more.” She could tell he wasn’t paying much attention to what she had to say and would probably like to deny her outright. But protocol called for the committee to hear her out, discuss her request, then take a vote on the issue. “All I’m asking for is additional money for the day-to-day operation of the center.”

“Since you don’t have utilities or rent to worry about, what specifically would the funds be used for?” Paul Windsor asked, giving her a charming smile. A ladies’ man if there ever was one, the older gentleman’s flirtatious smile didn’t fool Kiley one bit. He was just as opposed to the day care center as Beau Hacket.

“Some of the children are with us for the entire day, instead of a half day or just a few hours, Mr. Windsor,” she answered, relieved she wasn’t having to focus on Josh, even though she didn’t like Paul Windsor. “We need the extra money for the materials for their activities, as well as the additional lunches and snacks. We also need to hire an extra worker for the infants we occasionally have when their mothers have a tennis match or engage in some of the other activities here at the clubhouse.”

“We wouldn’t have this problem if we hadn’t let women into the club,” Beau muttered as he sat back in his chair to glare at her.

“What was that, Beau?” the woman demanded, looking as if she was ready to do battle.

Beau shook his head as he belligerently folded his arms across his barrel chest. “I didn’t say a damned thing, Nadine.”

Kiley wasn’t the least bit surprised at the man’s comment or the woman’s reaction. Beau Hacket was one of the men still resentful of women being permitted membership into the prestigious club, and the female members had quickly learned to stand up to the “good old boy network” and demand the respect they deserved.

“Is there anything else you’d like to add?” Josh asked, clearly ready to dismiss her and move on to the discussion phase.

“No, I believe I’ve adequately outlined the purpose of the day care center and the reasons we need the extra funds,” she said, knowing in her heart that her plea had fallen on deaf ears—at least where the male members of the committee were concerned.

He nodded. “I think we have more than enough information to consider your request. Thank you for your time and detailed explanation, Ms. Roberts.”

Looking up at her, he smiled and Kiley felt as if the floor moved beneath her feet. His bright blue eyes and engaging smile sent a shiver of awareness coursing from the top of her head to the soles of her feet and, as much as she would have liked to forget, she couldn’t stop thinking about what happened that night three years ago.

“I’ll drop by the center later this afternoon to let you know the outcome of our vote,” Josh finished, oblivious to her reaction.

Feeling as if having to listen to her had been an inconvenience for them, Kiley nodded and walked from the meeting room. There was nothing left for her to do now but await the committee’s decision. She wished she felt more positive about the results of their vote. Unfortunately, with three of the center’s biggest opponents on the committee, a favorable outcome was highly unlikely.

But as much as she feared hearing their decision, Kiley dreaded having to see Josh again even more. Why couldn’t he send one of the other members to let her know what had been decided? Didn’t she already have enough on her plate without having to worry about seeing him again?

She had a two-year-old daughter to care for and a house that seemed to be in constant need of one repair or another, and, if the additional money for the day care didn’t come through, the center might have to close due to a clause in the club’s amended bylaws assuring that no member’s child would be turned away, and she would be out of a job. And even if he didn’t know who she was, she certainly didn’t need the added stress of being reminded of the most embarrassing incident of her entire life.

* * *

As Josh walked down the hall toward the day care center, he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he felt as though he knew Kiley Roberts. He didn’t think they had met before she walked into the meeting room earlier in the afternoon. If they had, he knew for certain he would have remembered her. A woman that attractive would be damned near impossible to forget.

Normally he preferred his women tall, willowy and with an air of mystery about them. But Kiley made petite and curvy look good—real good. With her chin-length, dark blond hair and the prettiest brown eyes he had ever seen, she looked soft, sexy and very approachable.

He frowned as he tried to remember if he’d even seen her before this afternoon. She might have been at Beau Hacket’s barbecue a few months back. It seemed that Hacket had invited the entire membership of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, as well as most of the residents of Royal. Or more likely he’d seen her somewhere around the clubhouse, maybe in the restaurant or the bar. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it than that.

When he reached the door to the old billiard room—now renovated to house the day care center—he shrugged. It really didn’t matter. Once he gave her the news that she wouldn’t be getting any more money from the club, he would go straight to the top of her Grinch list and that would be the end of that.

Looking through the window in the door, he noticed that the room looked much nicer now than it had a couple of months ago when vandals broke in and tore up the place. They still hadn’t caught who was behind the destruction or their motive for doing it, but Josh felt sure the culprits would eventually be caught and dealt with accordingly. Royal, Texas, wasn’t that big of a town, and many of its residents were members of the TCC. It was just a matter of time before someone remembered seeing or hearing something that would lead the authorities to make an arrest.

He would hate to be in the vandals’ shoes when that happened, he thought as he opened the day care center’s door. Whether the place was wanted by all of the members or not, nobody came in and destroyed any part of their clubhouse without the entire membership taking great exception to it.

“I’ll be right with you, Mr. Gordon,” Kiley said from across the room.

“Take your time,” he said, looking around. Several children sat in pint-size chairs at tables that were just as small. He couldn’t imagine ever being little enough to fit into furniture that size.

As he watched, Russ and Winnie Bartlett’s youngest little girl got out of her chair and walked over to hold up a paper with crayon scribbles for Kiley’s inspection. She acted as if the kid had just drawn the Mona Lisa, causing the toddler to beam with pride.

Josh had never taken much to little kids. For one thing, he had never been around them and didn’t have a clue how to relate to them. But he found himself smiling as he watched Kiley talk to the child as she pinned the drawing to a bulletin board. Only a coldhearted bastard would ignore the fact that she had just made the little girl’s day.