It Happened One Night. Kathie DeNosky
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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?
Three
When Josh entered the bar, he looked around to see if any of his friends had stopped by for happy hour since it appeared he was going to be spending his evening hanging out with the guys. Not exactly what he had planned. He had intended to have an early dinner with Kiley at the exclusive new restaurant across town, lay to rest what happened that night three years ago and convince her that he fully intended to give her day care center a fair evaluation.
Why her opinion of him mattered was still a mystery to him. He had never before cared one way or the other what others thought of him. As long as he based his decisions on what he knew was right, he could sleep at night. But for some reason it bothered him that Kiley obviously had such little faith in his integrity. Why would she think he would stoop so low as to let her not going to dinner with him influence his recommendations to the funding committee? More importantly, why couldn’t he just let it go?
Normally once he discovered a woman had a child, his interest in her took a nosedive and he moved on. But for some strange reason, Kiley and her daughter piqued his curiosity. Why would any man in his right mind willingly walk away from either of them?
“Hey, Josh,” someone called, drawing him out of his introspection.
Spotting the current TCC president, Gil Addison, seated on the far side of the room, Josh threaded his way through the crowd. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Gil,” he said when he reached the table.
“Cade was invited to have dinner with one of his friends from the day care center.” Gil shrugged. “I was just trying to decide whether to go home and raid the refrigerator or stay here and order something.”
“Mind if I join you?” Josh asked. “My plans for dinner fell through at the last minute.”
Grinning, Gil motioned toward the empty chair across from him. “Have a seat. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I had a meal that wasn’t business-related or kid-dominated.”
“You’ve had a pretty full plate since becoming president,” Josh agreed, pulling out the chair to sit down.
A single father, Gil Addison was totally devoted to his small son, and he wasn’t often seen having a beer with other members in the club’s bar just for fun. It was nice to see his friend enjoying a little downtime for a change.
“Hi, I’m Ginny. I’ll be your server tonight. What can I get for you two?” a tall, dark-haired waitress asked, placing cocktail napkins in front of them in anticipation of a drink order. “We have a steak and fries plate that’s out of this world, it’s so good.”
“I’ll have that and a beer,” Josh spoke up.
“Might as well double that order,” Gil added.
“Great choice,” Ginny said, jotting their orders on a pad of paper. “I’ll be right back with your beer.”
While they waited on Ginny to return with their drinks, Josh and Gil talked about how the club membership had grown with the addition of women to its roster.
“I know some of the older members have a problem with it,” Gil said, shrugging. “But the Texas Cattleman’s Club needs to be progressive in its thinking and recognize that this isn’t the same club Tex Langley founded around the turn of the last century. The ‘good old boy network’ was fine a hundred-plus years ago, but it just isn’t practical in today’s world.”
“I have to admit, I’ve had my share of misgivings about women belonging to the club,” Josh said honestly. “But after working with Nadine Capshaw since she was appointed to the funding committee last month, it’s given me a new perspective on the issue. I think my main concerns now revolve around some of the changes the women are lobbying for. It seems at times that the TCC is heading toward becoming more of a country club than an organization that has always set the bar with its dedication to serving the needs of the community of Royal.”
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