“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.