Kathie DeNosky - It Happened One Night

After the Bartletts bid them a good evening, Kiley and Emmie were left alone with Josh. Turning toward her office to retrieve her purse, Kiley heard Emmie start chattering about her toy ponies. Glancing over her shoulder, she almost laughed out loud at Josh’s perplexed expression.

“Me pony,” Emmie said, reaching up to wrap her little hand around one of Josh’s fingers to tug him in the direction of the play area.

“What does she want?” Josh asked, sounding a little alarmed. He might have been bewildered about what Emmie wanted, but to his credit, he followed her over to the toy box on the other side of the room.

“She wants to show you her favorite toys,” Kiley said, quickly grabbing her things and switching off the office light.

“That’s nice.” Josh smiled when Emmie held up a purple pony with a flowing white mane and tail. “How much longer before one of her parents arrives to get her?”

“Emmie goes home with me,” Kiley said, taking their coats from the closet. “She’s my daughter.”

“I didn’t realize you had a child,” he said, glancing down at Emmie digging through the toys to find more ponies.

When he looked back at her, Kiley could tell by his expression that Josh realized her going to dinner with him wasn’t going to happen. But as they continued to stare at each other, a mischievous spark lit his brilliant blue eyes.

“So you like ponies and horses, Emmie?” he asked.

Emmie vigorously nodded her little blond head. “Yes.”

Squatting down to her level, he handed the toy pony back to her. “I like horses, too. I have several of them at my ranch.”

Emmie’s little face lit up. “Me wanna see.”

“I think that can be arranged,” Josh said, giving Kiley a triumphant grin.

Kiley didn’t like the idea in the least. “I don’t think that would be—”

“Why don’t you ask your mother to bring you over to my ranch on Saturday afternoon so I can show you my horses?” he asked before Kiley could stop him from making the offer.

“Pease, Mommy?” Emmie asked, skipping over to her. “Pease. Wanna see ponies. Wanna see ponies.”

Kiley was fit to be tied. Josh had deliberately manipulated the situation and now her daughter looked so hopeful, she hated to refuse. But on the other hand, she didn’t want to spend more time with Josh than she had to. Nor was she overly happy about his taking control of the situation.

“Is this retaliation for not going to dinner with you?” she asked, delaying her answer. A thought suddenly occurred to her. “You aren’t going to let this influence your decision about the funding for the day care center, are you?”

“Not at all.” A frown creased his forehead as he rose to his full height and walked over to her and Emmie. “I just thought your little girl might like to see a real horse.”

“You knew she would,” Kiley accused.

“Not really,” Josh said, rocking back on his heels. “I don’t know enough about little kids to know whether she would or not.”

She wasn’t buying his innocent expression for a minute. “This is punishment for not going to dinner with you and we both know it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it that.” Standing closer than she was comfortable with, he leaned over to whisper, “And no. I won’t let this influence my recommendation to the funding committee. Although you could have told me sooner that dinner wasn’t really an option.”

“You didn’t give me a chance yesterday afternoon,” she said defensively. “And you didn’t come by the center earlier for me to tell you.”

“We both know you could have called my office or left a message for me here at the clubhouse,” he reminded, his voice so intimate it sent a tiny shiver of awareness straight up her spine. “So what do you say?” he asked, smiling. “You just said yourself that Emmie would like seeing the horses.”

The woodsy scent of his cologne and the fact that he stood so close were playing havoc with her equilibrium. Taking a step away from him, she looked down at Emmie. Her daughter looked so excited and happy, how could Kiley possibly disappoint her?

“Oh, all right,” she finally conceded. “But we’ll only stop by for a few minutes.”

“Good.” Josh gave her directions to his ranch just outside of town. “I’ll expect you and Emmie around one.” Bending down, he smiled at her daughter. “I’ll see you in a few days, Emmie.” Straightening, he lightly touched her cheek with his index finger. “Have a nice evening, Kiley.”

As she watched him stroll to the door, a shiver coursed through her at his light touch and the sound of his rich baritone saying her name. She shook her head to clear it.

“This is ridiculous,” she muttered as she put Emmie’s coat on her, then stuffed her arms into the sleeves of her own.

Josh Gordon was the very last man she should be shivering over. He couldn’t be trusted. He might have given her a month’s worth of extra funds for the day care center, but that didn’t fool her for a second. She had overheard enough comments from some of the other members to know that he would like to see it fail—almost as much as Beau Hacket and Paul Windsor did.

So what was he up to? And why?

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