LITMIR.BIZ

      This book is dedicated to my mom and dad. I don’t think i say thank you enough or let you know just how lucky I am to have you as parents. So… thank you, Mom and Dad. I love you very much.

       Acknowledgements

      I’d like to give a shout-out to the other authors in the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB series—Michelle, Brenda, Charlene, Day and Jennifer. It was a lot of fun to write with you.

       One

      “Brody Oil and Gas, Kate speaking,” Kate Thornton said into the phone as she did about fifty times a day.

      “Hey, Katie-girl, any fires I need to put out?” Lance Brody asked.

      “Hi, Lance, how was DC?” she said while she sorted through the messages on her desk. Her boss was everything she’d ever wanted in a man and, embarrassingly for her, he never saw her as anything other than his ultra-efficient administrative assistant. Which was great—really it was. That’s what she was paid for.

      She’d joined Brody Oil and Gas shortly after Lance and his brother, Mitch, had inherited the failing refineries. And over the last five years, Lance and Mitch had turned their fortunes around and were now members of the famed Texas Cattleman’s Club.

      “DC was hot and the meetings were long. Messages?” Lance asked.

      “You have two that aren’t urgent but that you might want to handle before you get back to the office. One is from Sebastian Huntington regarding TCC business. Do you need his number?”

      “Nah, I got it. What’s the other one?”

      “The other one is from Lexi Cavanaugh. I didn’t recognize her name but she asked for you to call her as soon as you landed.”

      “She’s my fiancée,” Lance said.

      Kate felt all the blood leave her body. She knew Lance was still talking because she could hear his voice beyond the buzzing in her ears. But all she could think was after years of secretly loving this man, he’d gone away and gotten engaged to someone she’d never even heard of.

      “Katie-girl? You still there?”

      “Yes,” she said. “Of course I am. That’s it on the messages. When do you think you’ll be in the office?”

      “En route now. The traffic on highway 45 is heavy, though. I need one more thing from you,” he said.

      Please don’t ask me to plan your engagement party, she thought.

      “Double-check with the caterers for Thursday’s Fourth of July barbecue. I want to make sure this year’s party blows the top off of last year’s.”

      “No problem,” she said, hearing her own voice break. She didn’t know how she was going to be able to work with Lance every day now that he was clearly another woman’s man.

      “The other line is ringing,” she said, though it wasn’t. She just needed to get off the phone.

      “I’ll see you

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