The Paternity Pact (Texas Cattleman's Club: Rags to Riches 3)

She’d been just the right amount of flirtatious as she’d peppered him with thoughtful questions about his work and his family’s philanthropy. He’d been utterly charmed by the frank admiration in her velvet green eyes and riveted by her playful smiles that showed off the minor gap between her two front teeth. Each time her hand had grazed against him, his libido had taken a direct hit. Famished for a taste of her sweet lips, well before the last song of the night, he’d tugged her into an isolated alcove and kissed her until neither of them could breathe.

Just thinking about that night and the two that followed awakened a rush of longing within him. He shoved down the sharp hunger even as his gaze raked the crowd, automatically searching for a slim beauty with long straight brown hair. A chaotic stew of eagerness and apprehension twisted his gut and sent awareness tickling across his skin. Grant cursed beneath his breath, calling himself all sorts of a fool.

Obviously, attending tonight’s party had been a mistake. The five years hadn’t blunted his interest in Harley. Confronting this fact revived the question he’d dwelled on far too often since learning that she’d come home from her overseas travels.

Was their thirteen-year age difference any less remarkable now that he was thirty-six and she twenty-three?

Yes. No. Maybe.

Grant touched the traces of premature gray that had touched his temples in the last year. Men dated younger women all the time without anyone making a big deal out of it. But it hadn’t just been their age gap that had set him off. It was the way being with her had awakened his emotions and made him behave in ways contrary to his normal, logical self. It continued to bother him that he’d turned a blind eye to the consequences of his actions.

Sure, the sex had been explosive, but he’d attributed their chemistry to the secrecy enveloping their tryst. Engaging in a one-night stand with a beautiful stranger was the wrong sort of behavior for a man in his position. That he’d known he was taking a risk before the hotel-room door shut behind them hadn’t stopped him from spending the next two days learning every inch of her body and very little else about her.

She’d given him only her first name and he hadn’t connected her to the Wingate family. Even once Grant had discovered Harley’s full identity, he couldn’t reconcile his vague memory of the lanky teenager he’d seen in passing at the Texas Cattleman’s Club with the passionate temptress who’d rocked his world. In the aftermath of their weekend together, he’d struggled to make sense of his body’s unrelenting desire for more nights with her.

In the grip of a craving that strengthened despite his dismay at lusting after a woman so much younger than himself, Grant had come to the decision that neglecting his personal life had caused his reckless behavior. Shortly after the TCC Ball where he’d met Harley, he’d begun dating a woman of suitable age and social status for Royal’s premier fertility doctor. The failure of their marriage after three years reinforced his previous opinion that he wasn’t cut out to be a family man.

Maybe after his weekend with Harley, he should’ve spent a week or a month indulging his appetite for her and purged her from his system. For a while, it might have been an ideal situation. She

’d declared herself a free spirit with a whole world she was dying to explore. With neither one interested in being tied down, no doubt they both would’ve enjoyed the relationship for a time and then moved on.

As if his thoughts had conjured her, the crowd before him shifted and Grant realized Harley stood twenty feet away. The years abroad had created a subtle shift in her demeanor, transforming her youthful exuberance into vibrant elegance. Yet, he sensed a hint of discomfort beneath her bright smile as if she chafed at being the focus of so much attention.

Nevertheless, even as he sympathized, the familiar flare of attraction surged to life. He ground his teeth against the unwelcome rush of longing and cursed. Grant wasn’t one for brief and casual affairs. The impulsive weekend with Harley had been completely out of character for him and the abrupt and contentious end to their interlude had left him with unanswered questions and unresolved emotions.

But as their gazes locked and a mixture of anger and joy twisted his gut into knots, he was transported to another event. From the moment he’d spied her, nothing in his life had been the same. At the same time, Grant realized that the same beliefs that kept him from pursuing a relationship with a woman thirteen years his junior were still in effect. He might desire Harley Wingate with a fiery intensity, but acting on it was a mistake he would never make again.

* * *

The shock that went through Harley as she met Grant Everett’s eyes was different than what she’d experienced five years earlier, but no less potent.

The night of that fateful Texas Cattleman’s Club ball, she’d been an impetuous teenager brimming with cocky confidence, determined that the next man she slept with would know what the hell he was doing in bed. Up until that point, she’d only slept with her former boyfriend of nine months and found those experiences less than memorable. From what she’d gleaned from her friends, sex should be a lot more enjoyable than what she had been getting from Dean.

She’d set her sights on Grant after noticing several women watching him with intense interest. Some had even approached and flirted outrageously to catch his attention. His utter indifference had been the challenge Harley had been looking for. She’d been determined to succeed where all those beautiful ladies had failed and confident that by the end of the night, she’d have him wrapped around her finger.

While the evening hadn’t exactly gone according to plan, the next two days and nights had been more amazing than she could’ve dreamed possible. Surrendering herself to Grant’s masterful tutelage, she learned just how much pleasure her body could bear and by the end of their passionate weekend, she’d been forever changed.

Harley stood frozen in place while her body lit up with longing, anxiety, hope and despair. The emotions swarmed her like a cloud of hungry mosquitos. Her ears buzzed, drowning out the conversations around her. What should she do? Cross the crowded room and say hello or send him a come-hither sign and wait for him to approach her? The last time, she’d put herself in his path after which he’d pursued her with a vengeance, giving chase in a way that set her heart to pounding and awakened something hot and primitive inside her.

Before Harley decided how to proceed, Grant turned away and walked in the opposite direction. Flooded by keen disappointment, she scolded herself. Did she seriously expect that he’d see her across a crowded room and be irresistibly drawn to her side? A man like Grant wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

“You okay?” Jaymes Owens asked, her blue eyes registering concern as she peered at Harley from beneath long, thick eyelashes.

As she blinked herself free of her memories, Harley realized that Grant was no longer in her line of sight. Had she imagined that he’d recognized her? They’d spent a single weekend together. Sure, the sex had been incredible, the sort of seismic-shifting passion that set impossible standards for every encounter since, but she’d often worried her own performance had left little impression.

“Sure,” she responded after her best friend nudged her arm. “Why?”

“Because you tensed up just now. Did your mother decide to put in an appearance?”

Harley shuddered. “Hardly.”

“You never know, she might show up.”

“I really hope she doesn’t.” She shrugged at the disgusted look Jaymes shot her. “This event tonight is a big deal for Zest. I don’t need her dumping truckloads of criticism and unwanted advice on me.”

“She only wants what’s best for you.”

“More like what she thinks is best.” Harley blinked against a sudden prickle of tears. “I don’t know why I thought that I could come back after five years and things would be different. I’m not the same person who left Royal, but everyone still treats me like the entitled eighteen-year-old I was. And worse is the way I fall back into old patterns of acting like a spoiled brat who expects to be treated like an equal. Part of me wishes I’d just stayed away.” Harley pushed the air out of her lungs in a dramatic sigh. “And that’s exactly the sort of immature attitude I want to overcome.”