Kathie DeNosky - 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 Nightis 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 DENOSKYlives 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 kathie@kathiedenosky.com. They can also visit her website, www.kathiedenosky.com, or find her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/Kathie-DeNosky-Author/278166445536145.

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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.”