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Vegas Vows, Texas Nights
Charlene Sands
He was completely off-limits, but she married him! Waking up naked next to her sister’s ex-fiance is shocking enough. But for Katie Rodgers to learn that he is now her husband! Unforgivable. An annulment is the only option. But with such sizzling chemistry—are the newlyweds really ready to untie the knot?
A night they can’t remember…
Consequences they can’t forget!
They went from completely off-limits
to husband and wife…overnight!
Waking up next to a very virile—and very naked—Luke Boone is shocking enough. But for Katie Rodgers to learn that her sister’s ex-fiancé is now her husband? Unforgivable. Katie needs an annulment of her secret marriage to Texas’s wealthiest power broker—now! But when their sizzling chemistry survives the trip back to Texas, are the newlyweds really ready to untie the knot?
USA TODAY Bestselling Author Charlene Sands
CHARLENE SANDS is a USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of more than forty romance novels. She writes sensual contemporary romances and stories of the Old West. When not writing, Charlene enjoys sunny Pacific beaches, great coffee, reading books from her favourite authors, and spending time with her “hero” husband and family. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sign up for her newsletter at www.charlenesands.com (http://www.charlenesands.com) for ongoing giveaways, discounted books and new releases!
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/CharleneSandsBooks (http://www.Facebook.com/CharleneSandsBooks)
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/CharleneSands (http://www.Twitter.com/CharleneSands)
Also by Charlene Sands (#uf54c5a9b-d07f-5a4b-a8ee-a72eea09fbc5)
The Slades of Sunset Ranch miniseries
Sunset Surrender
Sunset Seduction
The Secret Heir of Sunset Ranch
Redeeming the CEO Cowboy
Boone Brothers of Texas miniseries
Texan for the Taking
Stranded and Seduced
Vegas Vows, Texas Nights
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
Vegas Vows, Texas Nights
Charlene Sands
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-0-008-90408-1
VEGAS VOWS, TEXAS NIGHTS
© 2020 Charlene Swink
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Note to Readers (#uf54c5a9b-d07f-5a4b-a8ee-a72eea09fbc5)
This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:
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Dedicated to my lifelong friends: Mary, Allyson
and Robin. Decades of Forever Friends, keepers of
memories, hearts of gold, in good times and in bad, they
are always there. We are fortunate to have each other.
Contents
Cover (#u5d2ac628-1b79-56c2-9c4c-b3bb09724ab9)
Back Cover Text (#uf6308a51-60c4-5024-83a7-702f3aba55bb)
About the Author (#ua94717af-3190-5a36-a227-d9d451c9d7a2)
Booklist (#u40f53f71-80bd-5d55-ba50-094f35aca968)
Title Page (#u5ad8aa1b-ed69-51f5-a266-23e3d9570bce)
Copyright (#u8a669ae5-35b9-5ede-b703-ab8817c05cd5)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#ua3321f78-fd60-5640-98ae-5e99c35078d5)
One (#ub1b1e110-39ed-5b1c-b9be-28e3eb252679)
Two (#u2a2b0b56-64ca-5ea4-8599-0acb8598dbb7)
Three (#ud03562c0-0147-5434-8207-31c10e6a0759)
Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
One (#uf54c5a9b-d07f-5a4b-a8ee-a72eea09fbc5)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Katie woke slowly, snuggling into her cushy pillow, her eyes refusing to open. A warming ray coming through the hotel room window caressed her skin, telling her it was later than her usual 4:00 a.m. wake-up-and-bake time.
But she wasn’t in Boone Springs today and Katie’s Kupcakes and Bakery was closed this weekend. She’d planned a super fun bachelorette party for her best friend, Drea, and fittingly, she’d just had the best dream of her life. Though the details were fuzzy, she’d never woken up with such delicious contentment before. From head to toe, her entire body tingled.
A nudge to her shoulder popped her eyes open. What the…?
“Sorry,” a deep male voice whispered from behind her.
Her eyes opened wider as she tried to make sense of it. She hadn’t imagined or dreamed the voice, had she? No, she was fully awake now, and it had been real. She could feel the warmth of the sheets beside her. A hand brushed over her bare shoulder and she gasped.
Oh no. She recognized that voice.
Taking the sheets covering her bare body, she rolled over, hoping her mind had played a nasty trick on her. But that hope was dashed the second she laid eyes on him, Lucas Boone—her sister’s ex-fiancé, the man who’d crushed Shelly’s heart.
Her stomach began to ache.
She clutched the sheets to her chin and sat up. That’s when her head started pounding. “Luke, what on earth?” Dizzy, she swayed and struggled to focus.
“Sweetheart, lay back down. You drank me under the table last night and my head’s aching like a sonofabitch. Your hangover’s got to be much worse than mine.”
“My…hangover? Luke, damn it. Is that all you have to say? Look at us! We’re in bed together. And unless I miss my guess, you’re as stark naked under the sheets as I am.”
He reached for the sheet.
“Don’t you dare look,” she warned.
He set the sheet back down. “I guess you’d be right.”
Her cheeks burned. Being in bed with Lucas Boone was wrong on so many levels, she could hardly believe it. “What on earth did we do last night?”
Luke glanced at their shed clothes littering the hotel room and arched a brow.
“We couldn’t have. I wouldn’t… I couldn’t…”
Goodness. She thought back to how Luke had called off the wedding to Katie’s sister three days before the ceremony and had immediately enlisted in the Marines.
He’d claimed he wasn’t ready to settle down and took all the blame upon himself, but that didn’t make up for all the time he’d spent leading Shelly to believe they’d had a future together. That had been five years ago. Now Luke was living in Boone Springs again, the town founded a century ago by his ancestors. He was his brother Mason’s best man, while Katie was maid of honor for Mason’s fiancée, Drea. Unwittingly she and Luke had been thrown together in a joint bachelor/bachelorette party in Sin City. Vegas, baby. What happened here stayed here.
She thought about her sister again. How her scars remained. Poor Shelly faced the humiliation bravely but she’d never forgotten what Luke had done to her, how he’d betrayed her love and trust. She’d become bitter and sad and never let her mother, Diana, or Katie hear the end of how Luke had ruined her life. So the thought of Katie sleeping with Luke, her one-time friend, drunk or not, would be the worst of the worst.
Luke rolled over onto his side and braced his head in his hand, as if they were discussing what to have for breakfast. “What do you remember about last night?”
“What do I remember?”
“Yeah, do you remember leaving the party with me?”
She moved away from him as far as the bed would allow and thought about it. She remembered drinking and laughing and dancing with Luke most of the night. She’d felt guilty having so much fun with him, but they’d always gotten along, had always been friends until he’d backed out of the wedding.
The Boones had been good customers at her bakery. She and Luke also shared a love of horses and both volunteered at the Red Barrel Horse Rescue. Still, ever since his return from military service nearly a year ago, they’d been overly cautious with each other, their conversations often stilted and awkward. Katie, too, had been hurt when Luke had dumped her sister. Katie had also trusted him.
“I remember you offering to walk me back to my hotel.” Which was only a few blocks away from the nightclub.
“We’d both had too much to drink.”
The pain in her head was a reminder of that. “Yes.”
Luke stared into her eyes; his were clear and deep blue. Kinda mesmerizing. “You pleaded with me not to take you back to your hotel. You didn’t want the night to end. You…uh…”
Katie rubbed her aching head. This was getting worse by the second. “What?”
Luke remained silent.
